I made no Accompt of thein; that is to fay, That they were in me, because I had fomething deficient. But it could not be the fame with the Idea of a Being more perfect than mine: For to eftecm of it as of nothing, was a thing manifeftly impoffible: And because there is no lefs Repugnancy that the more perfect fhould fucceed from, and depend upon the lefs perfect, than for Something to proceed from Nothing, I cou'd no more hold it from my felf: So as it followed, that it mult have been • put into me by a Nature

which was truly more perfect than I, and even which had in it all the Perfections whereof 1 cou'd have an Idea; to wit, (to explain my felf in one word) God. Whereto I added, that fince I knew fome Perfections which I had not, I was not the only Being which has an Existence, I fhall, under favour, ule here treely the Terms of the Schools) but that of Neceffity there must be fome other

more perfect whereon I depended, and from whom I had gotten all what I had: For had I been alone, and depending upon no other thing, fo that I had had of

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my felf all that little which I participated of a perfect Being, I might have had by the fame Reason from my felf, all the Remainder which I knew I wanted, and fo have been my felf Infinite, Immutable, Allknowing, Almighty; and laftly, have had all thofe Perfections which I have obferved to be in God. For ac

cording to the way of Reafoning I have now followed, to know the Nature of God, as far as mine own was capa ble of it, I was only to confider of thofe things of which I found an Idea in me, whether the poffeffing of them were a Perfection or no; and I was fure, that any of those which had any Imperfections were not in him, but that all • others were. I faw that • Doubtfulness, Inconftancy, Sorrow, and the like, could not be in him, feeing I cou'd my felf have with'd to have 'been exempted from them. Befides this, I had the Ideas of divers fenfible and corporeal things; for although I supposed that I doted, and that all that I faw or ima

wholly perfect,. their Being must depend from his Power in fuch a Manner, that they • could not fubfift one Moment without him.

Thence I went in Search of • other Truths; and having propos'd Geometry for my Object, which I conceiv'd as a continued Body, or a Space indefinitely fpread in Length, Breadth, Heighth or Depth, divifible into divers Parts, which might take feveral Figures and Bigneffes, and be moved and tranfpofed every way. For the Geometricians fuppofe all this in their Ob ject. I pass thro' fome of their moft fimple Demonftrations; and having obferv'd that this great Certainty, which all the World grants them, is founded only on this, ⚫ that Men evidently conceived them, following the Rule I already mentioned. I obferved also that there was nothing at all in them which

ing, found its Existence com prifed in it, in the fame Manner as it was comprised in that of a Triangle, where the three Angles are equal to 'two right ones; or in that of a Sphere, were all the Farts are equally distant from the Center. Or even yet more evidently, and that by Confequence, it is at least as certain that God who is that perfect Being, is, or exifts, as any Demonflration in Geometry can be.

But that which makes many perfwade themleves that there is Difficulty in knowing it, as alfo to know what their Soul is, 'tis that they never raife their Thoughts beyond fenfible Things, and that they are fo accuftom'd to confider nothing but by Imagination, which is a particular Manner of thinking on material Things that whatsoever is not imaginable, feems to ⚫ them not intelligible: Which is manifeft enough from this, that even the Philofophers hold for a Maxim in the Schools, that there is nothing in the Understanding which was not firft in the Senfe; where notwithstand

iftence of their Object. As 'for example, I well perceive, that fuppofing a Triangle, three Angles neceffarily muft be equal to two right ones. but yet nevertheless I faw nothing which affured me that there was a Triangle in

Gg 4 ⚫ fmelling

Smelling or Hearing do: whereas neither our Imagi⚫nation nor our Senfes can ever • affure us of. any Thing, if ⚫ our Understanding intervenes not..

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To be fhort, if there remain any who are not enough perfwaded of the Existence of God, and of their Soul, from the Reasons I have produc'd, I would have them know that all other Things, whereof perhaps they think themselves more affured, as to have a Body, and that ⚫ there are Stars, and an Earth, and the like, are lefs certain. For although we had fuch • moral Affurance of thefe Things, that without being ⚫ extravagant we could not doubt of them. However, unless we be unreasonable when a metaphyfical Certain6 ty is in Queftion, we cannot deny but we have Caufe enough not to be wholly confirm'd in them, when we confider that in the fame Manner we may imagine being afleep, we have other Bodies, and that we fee other • Stars, and another Earth tho' there be no fuch Thing For how do we know that • thofe Thoughts which we have in our Dreams, are rather falfe than the others, feeing often they are no less lively and fignificant, and let the ableft Men ftudy as long as they pleafe, I believe they can give no fufficient Realon to remove this Doubt, unlefs they prefuppofe the Exiftence of God. For first of all that which I even now took

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for a Rule, to wit, that thofe Things which were moft clearly and diftinctly con'ceiv'd, are all true, is certain, only by Reason, that 'God is, or exifts, and that he is a perfect Being, and that all which we have comes from him. Whence it follows, 'that our Ideas or Notions, being real Things, and which come from God in all wherein they are clear and distinct, cannot therein be but true, So that if we have very often any which contain Falfhood, they cannot be but of fuch Things which are fomewhat 'confus'd and obfcure, because that therein they fignity nothing to us, that's to fay, that they are thus confus'd in us only, because we are not • wholly perfect. And its evident that there is no lefs • Contrariety that Falfhood and Imperfection should proceed from God, as fuch, than there is in this, that Truth and Fal'fhood proceed from nothing. But if we know not that whatsoever was true and real in us comes from a perfect ⚫ and infinite Being, how clear and diftinct foever our Ideas " were, we should have no Reafon to affure us, that they had the Perfection to be true.

also often enough cozen us when we do not fleep: As when to those who have the Jaundice, all they fee feems yellow; or, as the Stars or ⚫ other Bodies at a Distance, appear much less, than they are. For in fine, whether we fleep or wake, we ought never to fuffer our felves to be perfwaded but by the Evidence of our Reafon, I fay (which is obfervable) of our Reason, and not of our Imagination, or of our Senfes. As although we fee the Sun moft clearly, we are not therefore to judge him to be of the Bignefs we fee him of; and we may well diftinctly imagine the Head of a Lion, fet on the Body of a Goat, but therefore we ought not to conclude that there is a • Chimera in the World. For • Reafon doth not dictate to us, that what we fee or imagine fo is true: But it dictates, that all our Ideas or Notions ought to have fome Grounds of Truth; For it were not ! poffible, that God who is all

'perfect and all Truth, fhould have put them in us without that: And becaufe that our Reasonings are never so evi'dent, nor fo entire while we fleep as when we wake, although fometimes our Imaginations be then as much or more lively and exprefs. It also dictates to us, that our Thoughts, feeing they cannot be all true by Reason that we are not wholly perfect; what they have of • Truth, ought infallibly to occur in those which we have being awake, rather than in our Dreams.

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Queft. I have a Relation in Town who has a Fever every Christmas-day, being the Day of his Birth: Query, Whether it is of the fame Nature as other Fevers ? and whether curable or no?

Anfw. Meckren in his Medicochirurgical Obfervations, gives us an Account of a Man that had a Septenary Fever; and Pliny, if we may believe him, tells us of one Antipater, a sidonian, that also had a Fever (or as fome call it an Ague) every Year upon his Birth-day, and if fo, the Cafe of your Friend, tho' very rare, is not without a Precedent: As for the Nature of fuch Fevers or Agues, we look upon 'em as unaccountable as the Revolution of Sevens, a Year in which it's obferv'd a great Part of the World (that get out of Childhood) dye in, and we know now of one Family that never efcapes it. Whether an Anniverfary Ague is curable, we dare not pretend, fince we want Ex

amples,

amples, perhaps from the Few nefs of 'em; but for other Agues, we are certain they may, and we are as fure that the Remedy in one of our late Advertisements is infallible, if carefully us'd, tho' the Author pretends it cannot be fruftrated by any Carelesness what

ever.

Queft. A very wicked Wretch, (a Neighbour of mine, tho' not of the fame Parish) having brought up his Wife's Niece from a Child, has for fome Years paft made her his Whore, has feveral Children by her: Query, Whether it does not concern every good Chriftian (and Minifter especially) to take Cognizance of fuch Villany, and do as much as in them lies, all they can to fupprefs this complicated Sin of Adultery and Inceft? If it be our Duty, (as truly it feems fo to me) to endeavour the Suppreffion of this notorious Sin: I humbly beg of you to inform me what Method is most proper for fuch an Undertaking: I have waited long for an Answer to this, but I hope now to have an Answer speedily, in which you will oblige yours, &c. I know not whether or no it be material to let you know, that I am the Minifter of the next Parish, where the aforefaid Wickedness is committed, unrebuk'd.

Anfw. If the prefent Minifers and Church wardens of your Neighbouring Parish are carelefs in the Concern, and won't act in it, (which you ought firit to admonish them of) your Method is to ferve them all four into the Spiritual Court: And the Parith may, and ought

alfo to enquire after Security for the Children, where there's no vifible legal Father. The Offender may be process'd upon Common Fame, but if the Matter be notorious, and own'd, there's yet better Ground to go upon, and ftirring in it is more juftifiable, or rather a greater Duty. But if after all, (for the Cafe is not full enough ftated) i if nothing can be prov'd upon the Offender fince the laft General Pardon, he'll make that Plea in Court, as was not long fince the Cafe of a great Perfon in this Nation. Such Members are a very pernicious Scandal to the Church, and ought to be excommunicated; for ill Example has no little Intereft against all that a Minifter can teach to the Contrary: We' don't look upon the Act to be Inceft. If you please you may let us hear how you proceed in the Affair, and what it comes to.

Queft. Gentlemen, It's obferv'd, that in your Oracle you very easily pass over the Reason of the Tides, by excufing the Moon from a Regency over them; whereas fome others (and those Learned too) think, that if that Planet be herein render'd'ufeless, and in fome other Matters, wherein also you feem to deprive her of Power; it feems strongly to refult, that God and Nature have created fomewhat in vain: For if fhe were made only for Light, (of which she hath none innate) the Advantage were very small to the Sons of Men. One half of the Time he fhineth being of no Ufe to Mortals, or of fo little, that the London Lucidaries are pre

ferrable