whole with the name of natural religion. It cannot be denied, that it is a real and great service to religion, to show that the main principles and duties of it are what right reason must approve. And no small praise is certainly due to those who have set themselves to demonstrate this with great clearness and force of argument. But it does not follow, that because these things, when once clearly discovered, may be proved to be agreeable to reason, and to have a real foundation in the nature of things, that therefore reason alone, in the present state of mankind, if left to itself, without higher assistance, would merely, by its own force, have discovered all these things with their genuine consequences, and have applied them to their proper uses, for directing men in the true knowledge and practice of religion. It is a just observation of that great man, Mr. Locke, that “a great many things which we have been "bred up in the belief of from our cradles (and are notions 56 grown familiar, and, as it were, natural to us under the 66 gospel) we take for unquestionable truths, and easily de"monstrable, without considering how long we might have "been in doubt or ignorance of them, had revelation been "silent." And he had said before, that "every one may "observe a great many truths, which he receives at first from "others, and readily affirms to be consonant to reason, which "he would have found it hard, and perhaps beyond his "strength, to have discovered himself. Native and original "truth is not so easily wrought out of the mine, as we, who "have it ready dug and fashioned to our hands, are apt to "imagine." To the same purpose the learned Dr. Clarke observes, that it is one thing to see that these rules of "life, which are before-hand plainly and particularly laid "before us, are perfectly agreeable to reason, and another thing to find out these rules merely by the light of reason, * Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity, in his Works, vol. II. p. 535. ed. 3. + Ibid. p. 532. "without their having been first any otherwise known."* Accordingly, some able and strenuous assertors of natural religion, or the law of nature, though they contend that it is founded in the nature of things, and agreeable to right reason, yet derive the original promulgation of it from divine revelation. Puffendorf observes, that "it is very probable "that God taught the first men the chief heads of natural "law, which were afterwards preserved and spread among "their descendants by means of education and custom: yet "this does not hinder, but that the knowledge of these laws "may be called natural, inasmuch as the truth and certainty "of them may be discovered in a way of reasoning, and in "the use of that reason which is natural to all men." Puffend. de Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. II. c. iii. sect. 20. According to this account, natural religion, or the law of nature, is not so called because it was originally discovered by natural reason, but because, when once made known, it is what the reason of mankind, duly exercised, approves, as founded in truth and nature. Natural religion, in the sense now explained, is very consistent with the supposition of an extraordinary divine revelation, both to discover and promulgate it at first, and to reestablish and confirm it, when, through the corruption of mankind, the important principles and duties of it were fallen into such darkness and obscurity, and so confounded with pernicious errors and obscure mixtures, that there needed an extraordinary assistance to recover men to the right knowledge and practice of it. There are others who take natural religion in a sense which is absolutely exclusive of all extraordinary revelation, and in direct opposition to it. By natural religion they understand that religion which men discover in the sole exercise of their natural faculties and powers, without any other See Dr. Clarke's Discourse on Nat. and Rev. Religion, proposition viii. p. 515 edit. 7. or higher assistance. And they discard all pretences to extraordinary revelation, as the effects of enthusiasm or imposture. It is in this sense, that those who call themselves Deists understand natural religion, which they highly extol as the only true religion, the only discovery of truth and duty which can be safely depended upon; and which comprehends the whole of what is necessary to be known and done, in order to the obtaining the favour of God, and attaining true happiness. But they who take natural religion in this sense are not entirely agreed in their scheme. The ablest advocates for natural religion, as opposed to revelation, assert it to be perfectly clear and obvious to the whole human race, and that it is what all men have a natural knowledge of. They argue, that since religion equally concerneth all mankind, the wisdom and goodness of God require that it should be actually known to all. That since God has given the brutes natural instincts, which guide them certainly and infallibly to answer the proper end of their being, much more must it be supposed that he hath furnished all men with infallible means to direct them to religion and happiness. Thus it is that Lord Herbert frequently argues; and on this foundation it is that he asserts, that God hath imprinted on the minds of all men innate ideas of the main principles of religion and morality. And Dr. Tindal frequently represents it, as if there was a clear universal light shining into the minds of all men, and discovering to them the whole of what is necessary for them to know, believe, and practise; and which cannot be made clearer to any man by an external extraordinary revelation, than it is naturally to all men without it. This is the principle which lies at the foundation of his celebrated book, entitled, "Christianity as old as the Creation," and which runs through the whole of that boasted performance. And it is, indeed, the only principle on which the scheme of those gentlemen, who pretend that an extraordinary revelation is absolutely needless and useless, can be consistently supported. This last mentioned author often talks as if what is called the law, or re ligion of nature, was a perfect scheme of religion and morality, fairly drawn on the mind and heart of every man, in such a manner that it is not possible for any man to mistake it. And he carries it so far as to affirm, that even the most illiterate of the human race, and who cannot so much as read in the mother tongue, have naturally and necessarily a clear and intimate perception of the whole of religion and their duty. And it will be easily owned, that there is no need of an extraordinary revelation to teach men what they all naturally and necessarily know. Nor, indeed, upon that supposition, is there the least need of instructions of any kind, whether by word or writing: and the best way would be (as this gentleman himself sometimes intimates) to leave all men entirely to themselves, and to the pure simple dictates of nature. This way of talking may, perhaps, appear fair and plausible in speculation. It seems to make a beautiful representation of the dignity of our species, and of the universal goodness of God to the whole human race. But, when brought to the test of fact and experience, it appears to be a visionary scheme, no way answering to the truth and reality of the case in the present state of human nature. And one would be apt to wonder, how such a representation could be made to pass upon any man, that has the least knowledge of the world, or of the history of mankind. It supposes religion, in its true nature and in its just extent, to be naturally known to all men; so that they cannot mistake it: and yet nothing is more certain and undeniable, from the history of mankind in all ages, than that they have mistaken it in its important principles and obligations: and that, in order to their having a right sense and discernment of those principles and obligations, they stand in great need of particular instruction and information. It is evident, in fact, that where no care is taken to instruct men, they have scarce any notion of religion at all, but are sunk into the grossest ignorance and barbarism: and, accordingly, the wisest men in all ages have been sensible of the great advantage and necessity of education and instruction. Plutarch, in his treatise, De Liberis Edu cand. goes so far as to affirm, that "nature, without learning "or instruction, is a blind thing;" v puois även μalhoews τυφλόν, * And, in his treatise, De Auditione, he says, "vice can have access to the soul through many parts of the "body, but virtue can lay hold of a young man only by his "ears," by which he receives instruction. Plato, in his sixth book of laws, after having said, that man, if, with a good natural disposition, he happens to have the advantage of right instruction and education, becomes a most divine and gentle animal, adds, that, if he be not sufficiently or properly educated, he is the wildest and most untractable of all earthly animals, ἀγριώτατον ποσὰ φύει γῆ. The philosophers frequently complain of the ignorance and stupidity of the generality of mankind: and this, even when they speak of the people of Athens and Rome, who were undoubtedly the most knowing and civilized among the heathen nations. And they would certainly have thought it a very strange hypothesis to suppose, that every man, even the meanest of the vulgar, is naturally so knowing in religion and morals, as to stand in no need of farther instruction either from God or man. § Sensible of the inconveniencies of this scheme, others, by natural religion, understand not merely that which is naturally and necessarily known to all men, but that which reason, duly exercised and improved, is able, by its own natural force, to discover, without the assistance of extraordinary revelation. And as to this, it is a question not easy to be resolved, what is the utmost possibility of human reason, or how far our natural faculties, without any higher assistance, may possibly carry us, when raised to the highest degree of improvement of which they are naturally capable. Nor is it * Plutarch Oper. Tom. ii. p. 2. B. Edit. Francof. 1620. + Ibid. p. 38. A. Plat. Oper. p. 619. D. Edit. Ficin. Lugd. 1590. § I have elsewhere more largely shown the absurdity of this scheme. Answer to Christianity as Old as the Creation, vol. I. especially chap. v. See also the view of the deistical writers, vol. I. p. 49, et seq. edit. 3. |