of fuch a name, or the abfence of fuch a notion out of men's minds, any argument against the being of a God; any more than it would be a proof that there was no load-ftone in the world, becaufe a great part of mankind had neither a notion of any fuch thing, nor a name for it; or be any fhow of argument to prove, that there are no diftinct and various fpecies of angels, or intelligent beings above us, because we have no ideas of fuch diftinct fpecies, or names for them: for men being furnished with words, by the common language of their own countries, can fcarce avoid having fome

kind

of profeffed atheifts; for whatfoever is innate, must be univerfal in the ftrictest fenfe. One exception is a fufficient proof against it. So that all what I faid, and which was quite to another purpofe, did not at all tend, nor can be made ufe of, to invalidate the argument for a Deity, grounded on fuch an univerfal confent, as your lordship, and all that build on it, muft own; which is only a very difproportioned majority: fuch an univerfal confent my argument there neither affirms nor requires to be less than you will be pleafed to allow it. Your lordship therefore might, without any prejudice to thofe declarations of good-will and favour you have for the author of the Effay of Human Understanding," have fpared the mentioning his quoting authors that are in print, for matters of fact To quite another purpofe," as going about to invalidate the argument for a Deity, from the univerfal confent of mankind;" fince he leaves that univerfal confent as entire and as large as you yourfelf do, or can own, or fuppofe it. But here I have no reafon to be forry that your lordship has given me this occafion for the vindication of this paffage of my book; if there fhould be any one befides your lordship, who fhould fo far miftake it, as to think it in the leaft invalidates the argument for a God, from the univerfal confent of mankind.

But becaufe you question the credibility of thofe authors I have quoted, which you fay were very ill chofen; I will crave leave to fay, that he whom I relied on for his teftimony concerning the Hottentots of Soldania, was no lefs a man than an ambaffador from the king of England to she Great Mogul of whofe relation, monfieur Thevenot, no ill judge in the cafe, had fo great an efteem, that he was at the pains to tranflate into French, and publifh it in his (which is counted no injudicious) colLection of travels. Eut to intercede with your loadfhip, for a little more favourable allowance of credit to fir Thomas Roe's relation; Coore, an inhabitant of the country, who could fpeak English, affured Mr. Terry that they of Soldania had no God. But if he too have the ill luck to find no credit with you, I hope you will be a little more favourable to a divine of the church of England, now living, and admit of his teftimony in confirmation of fir Thomas Roe's. This worthy gentleman, in the relation of his voyage to Surat, printed but two years fince, fpeaking of

kind of ideas of those things, whofe names, those they converfe with, have occafion frequently to mention to them. And if they carry with it the notion of exceilency, greatness, or fomething extraordinary; if apprehenfion and concernment accompany it; if the fear of abfolute and irresistible power fet it on upon the mind, the idea is likely to fink the deeper, and fpread the farther: especially if it be fuch an idea as is agreeable to the common light of reason, and naturally deducible from every part of our knowledge, as that of a God is. For the vifible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of the creation, that a rational creature, who will but seriously reflect on them, cannot miss the difcovery of a deity.

the fame people, has these words: + They are funk even below idolatry, are deftiture of both prieft and temple, and faving a little fhow of rejoicing, which is made at the full and new moon, have loft all kind of religious devotion. Nature has fo richly provided for their convenience in this life, that they have drowned all fense of the God of it, and are grown quite careless of the next."

a

But to provide against the cleareft evidence of atheism in these people, you fay, that the account given of them, makes them not fit to be a ftandard for the fense of mankind." This, I think, may pafs for nothing. till fomebody be found, that makes them to be a ftandard for the fenfe of mankind. All the ufe I made of them was to show, that there were men in the world that had no innate idea of a God. But to keep fomething like an argument going (for what will not that do?) you go near denying thofe Cafers to be men. What elfe do these words fignify? people fo frangely bereft of common fenfe, that they can hardly be reckoned among mankind, as appears by the best accounts of the Cafers of Soldania, &c." I hope, if any of them were called Peter, James, or John, it would be paft fcruple that they were men: however, Courwee, Wewena, and Cowfheda, and thofe others who had names, that had nɔ places in your nomenclator, would hardly pafs mufter with your lordship. My lord, I fhould not mention this, but that what you yourself say here, may be a motive to you to confider, that what you have laid fuch a ftrefs on concerning the general nature of man, as a real being, and the fubject of properties, amounts to nothing for the diftinguishing of fpecies; fince you yourself own that there may be individuals, wherein there is a common nature with a particular fubfiftence proper to each of them; whereby you are fo little able to know of which of the ranks or forts they are, into which you fay God has ordered beings, and which he hath diftinguished by effential properties, that you are in doubt whether they ought to be reckoned among mankind or nc.

+ Mr. Ovington, p. 489.

And

And the influence that the difcovery of fuch a being muft neceffarily have on the minds of all, that have but once heard of it, is fo great, and carries fuch a weight of thought and communication with it, that it feems stranger to me, that a whole nation of men should be any where found fo brutish, as to want the notion of a God; than that they should be without any notion of numbers, or fire.

§. 10. The name of God being once mentioned in any part of the world, to exprefs a fuperior, powerful, wife, invisible being, the fuitableness of fuch a notion to the principles of common reason, and the interest men will always have to mention it often, must neceffarily fpread it far and wide, and continue it down to all generations; though yet the general reception of this name, and fome imperfect and unfteady notions conveyed thereby to the unthinking part of mankind, prove not the idea to be innate; but only that they, who made the discovery, had made a right use of their reafon, thought maturely of the causes of things, and traced them to their original; from whom other lefs confidering people having once received so important a notion, it could not easily be loft again.

S. II. This is all could be inferred from the notion of a God, were it to be found univerfally in all the tribes of mankind, and generally acknowledged by men grown to maturity in all countries. For the generality of the acknowledging of a God, as I imagine, is extended no farther than that; which if it be fufficient to prove the idea of God innate, will as well prove the idea of fire innate; fince, I think, it may be truly faid, that there is not a perfon in the world, who has a notion of a God, who has not alfo the idea of fire. I doubt not, but if a colony of young children should be placed in an island where no fire was, they would certainly neither have any notion of fuch a thing, nor name for it, how generally foever it were received, and known in all the world befides: and perhaps too their apprehenfions would be as far removed from any name, or notion of a God, till fome one amongst them had employed his thoughts, to inquire into the conftitution

and

and causes of things, which would eafily lead him to the notion of a God; which having once taught to others, reason, and the natural propenfity of their own thoughts, would afterwards propagate, and continue amongst them.

§. 12. Indeed it is urged, that it is fuitable to the goodness of God to imprint upon the minds of men characters and notions of himself, and not to leave them in the dark and doubt in fo grand a concernment; and also by that means to secure to himself the homage and veneration due from fo intelligent a creature as man; and there

fore he has done it.

Suitable to

God's goodnefs, that all men fhould have an idea of him, therefore naturally imprinted by him, aufwer

ed.

This argument, if it be of any force, will prove much more than those, who use it in this cafe, expect from it. For, if we may conclude, that God hath done for men all that men fhall judge is best for them, because it is fuitable to his goodness fo to do; it will prove not only that God has imprinted on the minds of men an idea of himself, but that he hath plainly stamped there, in fair characters, all that men ought to know or believe of him, all that they ought to do in obedience to his will; and that he hath given them a will and affections conformable to it. This, no doubt, every one will think better for men, than that they should in the dark grope after knowledge, as St. Paul tells us all nations did after God, Acts xvii. 27. than that their wills fhould clash with their understandings, and their appetites cross their duty. The Romanifts fay, it is beft for men, and fo fuitable to the goodness of God, that there fhould be an infallible judge of controverfies on earth; and therefore there is one. And 1, by the fame reason, fay, it is better for men that every man himself should be infallible. I leave them to confider, whether by the force of this argument they fhall think, that every man is fo. I think it a very good argument, to fay, the infinitely wife God hath made it fo: and therefore it is beft. But it seems to me a little too much confidence of our own wifdom, to fay, "I think it beft, and therefore God hath made it fo;" and, in

the

the matter in hand, it will be in vain to argue from
fuch a topick.that God hath done fo, when certain ex-
But the goodness
perience fhows us that he hath not.
of God hath not been wanting to men without fuch
original impreffions of knowledge, or ideas ftamped on
the mind: fince he hath furnished man with those fa-
culties, which will ferve for the fufficient discovery of
all things requifite to the end of fuch a being. And I
doubt not but to fhow that a man, by the right use of
his natural abilities, may, without any innate princi-
ples, attain a knowledge of a God, and other things
that concern him. God having endued man with those
faculties of knowing which he hath, was no more obliged
by his goodness to plant thofe innate notions in his
mind, than that having given him reason, hands, and
materials, he should build him bridges, or houses;
which fome people in the world, however, of good
parts, do either totally want, or are but ill provided of,
as well as others are wholly without ideas of God, and
principles of morality; or at least have but very ill
The reafon in both cafes being, that they never
employed their parts, faculties, and powers induftrioufly
that way, but contented themselves with the opinions,
fashions, and things of their country, as they found
them, without looking any farther. Had you or I been
born at the bay of Soldania, poffibly our thoughts and
notions had not exceeded thofe brutifh ones of the hot-
tentots that inhabit there: and had the Virginia king
Apochancana been educated in England, he had been
perhaps as knowing a divine, and as good a mathema-
tician, as any in it. The difference between him and
a more improved Englishman lying barely in this, that
the exercife of his faculties was bounded within the
ways, modes, and notions of his own country, and never
directed to any other, or farther inquirics: and if he
had not any idea of a God, it was only because he pur-
fued not thofe thoughts that would have led him to it.

ones.

Ideas of God various in different

men.

§. 13. I grant, that if there were any idea to be found imprinted on the minds of men, we have reafon to expect, it should be the notion of his maker, as a mark God fet on