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Obj. Innate Principles may be corrupted, anfwer'd.

Contrary

the World.

cafe of dumb and deaf Men. When it fhall be made out, that Men ignorant of Words, or untaught by the Laws and Cuftoms of their Country, know that it is part of the Worship of God, Not to kill another Man; Not to know more Women than one; Not to procure Abortion; Not to expose their Children; Not to take from another what is his, tho' we want it our felves, but on the contrary, relieve and fupply his Wants; and whenever we have done the contrary, we ought to repent, be forry, and refolve to do so no more: When, I fay, all Men fhall be prov'd actually to know, and allow all these and a thoufand other fuch Rules, all which come under these two general Words made use of above, viz. Virtutes & Peccata, Vertues and Sins; there will be more reafon for admitting thefe and the like for common Notions, and practical Principles. Yet after all, univerfal Confent (were there any in moral Principles) to Truths, the knowledg whereof may be attain'd otherwife, would fcarce prove them to be Innate; which is all I contend for.

§. 20. Nor will it be of much moment here to offer that very ready, but not very material Anfwer, (viz.) That the Innate Principles of Morality, may, by Education, and Cuftom, and the general Opinion of thofe, amongst whom we converfe, be darken'd, and at laft quite worn out of the Minds of Men. Which Affertion of theirs, if true, quite takes away the Argument of universal Confent, by which this Opinion of Innate Principles is endeavour'd to be prov'd; unless those Men will think it reasonable, that their private Perfuafions, or that of their Party fhould pass for universal Confent ; a thing not unfrequently done, when Men, prefuming themselves to be the only Mafters of right Reason, caft by the Votes and Opinions of the reft of Mankind, as not worthy the reckoning. And then their Argument ftands thus: The Principles which all Mankind allow for true, are Innate; thofe that Men of right Reason admit, are the Principles allow'd by all Mankind: we and thofe of our mind are Men of reafon; therefore we agreeing, our Principles are Innate: which is a very pretty way of arguing, and a fhort cut to Infallibility. For otherwife it will be very hard to understand, how there be fome Principles, which all Men do acknowledg, and agree in; and yet there are none of thofe Principles, which are not by deprav'd Cuftom and ill Education, blotted out of the Minds of many Men; which is to fay, That all Men admit, but yet many Men do deny, and diffent from them. And indeed the Suppofition of fuch firft Principles will ferve us to very little purpose; and we fhall be as much at a lofs with, as without them, if they may by any human Power, fuch as is the Will of our Teachers or Opinions of our Companions, be alter'd or loft in us: And notwithstanding all this boast of first Principles, and Innate Light, we fhall be as much in the dark and uncertainty, as if there were no fuch thing at all; it being all one to have no Rule, and one that will warp any way; or amongst various and contrary Rules, not to know which is the right. But concerning Innate Principles, I defire these Men to say, whether they can, or cannot, by Education and Custom, be blurr❜d and blotted out: If they cannot, we must find them in all Mankind alike, and they must be clear in every body: And if they may fuffer variation from adventitious Notions, we must then find them clearest and most perfpicuous, nearest the Fountain, in Children and illiterate People, who have receiv'd leaft impreffion from foreign Opinions. Let them take which fide they please, they will certainly find it inconfiftent with visible matter of fact, and daily obfervation.

§. 21. I eafily grant, that there are great numbers of Opinions, which, by Principles in Men of different Countries, Educations and Tempers, are receiv'd and embrac'd as first and unquestionable Principles; many whereof, both for their Abfurdity, as well as Oppofitions one to another, it is impoffible fhould be true. But yet all thofe Propofitions, how remote foever from Reafon, are fo facred fomewhere or other, that Men, even of good Understanding in other matters, will fooner part with their Lives, and whatever is deareft to them, than fufter themfelves to doubt, or others to question the truth of them.

How Men commonly

come by their Principles.

§. 22. This, however ftrange it may feem, is that which every day's experience confirms; and will not, perhaps, appear fo wonderful, if we confider the Ways and Steps by which it is brought about; and how really it may come to pafs, that Doctrines, that have been deriv'd from no better Original than the Superftition of a Nurfe, or the Authority of an old Woman, may by length

of

of time, and confent of Neighbours, grow up to the Dignity of Principles in Religion or Morality. For fuch, who are careful (as they call it) to principle Children well (and few there be who have not a fet of thofe Principles for them, which they believe in) inftil into the unwary, and as yet unprejudic'd Underftanding (for white Paper receives any Characters) thofe Doctrines they would have them retain and profefs. Thefe being taught them as foon as they have any apprehenfion; and ftill as they grow up, confirm'd to them, either by the open Profeffion, or tacit Confent of all they have to do with; or at leaft by thofe of whofe Wisdom, Knowledg and Piety, they have an Opinion, who never fuffer those Propofitions to be otherwife mention'd, but as the Bafis and Foundation on which they build their Religion or Manners; come, by these means, to have the reputation of unquestionable, felf-evident and innate Truths.

§. 23. To which we may add, That when Men, fo inftructed, are grown up, and reflect on their own Minds, they cannot find any thing more antient there than those Opinions which were taught them before their Memory began to keep a Register of their Actions, or date the time when any new thing appear'd to them; and therefore make no fcruple to conclude, That those Propofitions, of whofe Knowledge they can find in themselves no Original, were certainly the imprefs of God and Nature upon their Minds, and not taught them by any one else. These they entertain and submit to, as many do to their Parents, with Veneration; not because it is natural; nor do Children do it, where they are not so taught; but because, having been always fo educated, and having no remembrance of the beginning of this Refpe&t, they think it is natural.

S. 24. This will appear very likely, and almoft unavoidable to come to pass, if we confider the Nature of Mankind, and the Conftitution of human Affairs; wherein moft Men cannot live without employing their time in the daily Labours of their Callings; nor be at quiet in their Minds, without fome Foundation or Principles to reft their Thoughts on. There is scarce any one fo floating and fuperficial in his Understanding, who hath not fome reverenc'd Propofitions, which are to him the Principles on which he bottoms his Reasonings; and by which he judg eth of Truth and Falfhood, Right and Wrong: which, fome wanting skill and leisure, and others the inclination, and fome being taught, that they ought not to examine; there are few to be found who are not expos'd by their Ignorance, Laziness, Education, or Precipitancy to take them upon truft.

§. 25. This is evidently the cafe of all Children and young Folk; and Cuf tom, a greater Power than Nature, feldom failing to make them worship for Divine, what he hath inur'd them to bow their Minds, and fubmit their Understandings to, it is no wonder that grown Men, either perplex'd in the neceffary Affairs of Life, or hot in the pursuit of Pleafures, fhould not seriously fit down to examine their own Tenets; efpecially when one of their Principles is, That Principles ought not be queftion'd. And had Men Leifure, Parts, and Will, who is there almoft that dare fhake the Foundations of all his past Thoughts and Actions, and endure to bring upon himself the fhame of having been a long time wholly in mistake and error? Who is there, hardy enough to contend with the reproach which is every where prepar'd for those who dare venture to diffent from the receiv'd Opinions of their Country or Party? And where is the Man to be found that can patiently prepare himself to bear the name of Whimsical, Sceptical, or Atheift, which he is fure to meet with, who does in the leaft fcruple any of the common Opinions? And he will be much more afraid to question thofe Principles, when he fhall think them, as most men do, the Standards fet up by God in his Mind, to be the Rule and Touchstone of all other Opinions. And what can hinder him from thinking them Sacred, when he finds them the earlieft of all his own Thoughts, and the most reverenc'd by others?

§. 26. It is easy to imagine how by thefe means it comes to pafs, that Men worship the Idols that have been fet up in their Minds; grow fond of the Notions they have been long acquainted with there; and ftamp the Characters of Divinity upon Abfurdities and Errors, become zealous Votaries to Bulls and Monkeys; and contend too, fight, and die in defence of their Opinion. Dum Joles credit habendos effe Deos, quos ipfe colit. For fince the reafoning Faculties of the Soul,

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Principles

min'd.

Soul, which are almost conftantly, tho' not always warily nor wifely employ'd, would not know how to move, for want of a foundation and footing, in moft Men; who thro' Laziness or Avocation do not, or for want of time, or true helps, or for other causes, cannot penetrate into the Principles of Knowledg, and trace Truth to its Fountain and Original; 'tis natural for them, and almost unavoidable, to take up with fome borrow'd Principles; which being reputed and prefum'd to be the evident proofs of other things, are thought not to need any other proof themselves. Whoever fhall receive any of these into his Mind, and entertain them there with the reverence ufually paid to Principles, never venturing to examine them, but accustoming himself to believe them; because they are to be believ'd, may take up from his Education, and the Fashions of his Country, any Abfurdity for innate Principles; and by long poring on the fame Objects, fo dim his Sight, as to take Monsters lodg'd in his own Brain, for the Images of the Deity, and the Workmanship of his Hands.

§. 27. By this progrefs, how many there are who arrive at Principles, which must be exa-they believe innate, may be easily obferv'd, in the variety of oppofite Principles held and contended for by all forts and degrees of Men. And he that shall deny this to be the method, wherein moft Men proceed to the affurance they have of the Truth and Evidence of their Principles, will perhaps find it a hard matter any other way to account for the contrary Tenets, which are firmly believ'd, confidently afferted, and which great numbers are ready at any time to feal with their Blood. And, indeed, if it be the privilege of innate Principles, to be receiv'd upon their own Authority, without examination, I know not what may not be believ'd, or how any one's Principles can be question'd. If they may, and ought to be examin'd, and try'd, I defire to know how first and innate Principles can be try'd; or at least it is reasonable to demand the Marks and Characters, whereby the genuine innate Principles may be distinguish'd from others; that fo, amidft the great variety of Pretenders, I may be kept from miftakes, in fo material a point as this. When this is done, I fhall be ready to embrace fuch welcome and ufeful Propofitions; and till then I may with modefty doubt, fince I fear univerfal Confent, which is the only one produc'd, will fcarce prove a fufficient mark to direct my Choice, and affure me of any innate Principles. From what has been faid, I think it paft doubt, that there are no Practical Principles wherein all Men agree; and therefore none Innate.

CHA P. IV.

Other Confiderations concerning Innate Principles, both
Speculative and Practical.

Principles not §. 1.
İnnate, unless
their Ideas be
Innate.

Ideas, efpecially those be longing to Principles,not born with Children.

HA

AD thofe, who would perfuade us that there are Innate Principles, not taken them together in grofs, but confider'd feparately the parts out of which thofe Propofitions are made; they would not, perhaps, have been fo forward to believe they were Innate: Since, if the Ideas which made up those Truths were not, it was impoffible that the Propofitions made up of them should be Innate, or our Knowledg of them be born with us. For if the Ideas be not Innate, there was a time when the Mind was without thofe Principles; and then they will not be Innate, but be deriv'd from fome other Original. For, where the Ideas themfelves are not, there can be no Knowledg, no Assent, no mental or verbal Propofitions about them.

§. 2. If we will attentively confider new-born Children, we fhall have little reason to think, that they bring many Ideas into the World with them. For bating perhaps fome faint Ideas of Hunger, and Thirst, and Warmth, and fome Pains which they may have felt in the Womb, there is not the least appearance of any fettled Ideas at all in them; efpecially of Ideas, anfwering the Terms, which make up thofe univerfal Propofitions, that are esteem'd Innate Principles. One may perceive how, by degrees, afterwards, Ideas come into their Minds;

and

and that they get no more, nor no other, than what Experience, and the Obfervation of things that come in their way, furnish them with; which might be enough to fatisfy us, that they are not original Characters, ftamp'd on the Mind.

3. It is impoffible for the fame thing to be, and not to be, is certainly (if there be any fuch) an Innate Principle. But can any one think, or will any one fay, that Impoffibility and Identity are two Innate Ideas? Are they fuch as all Mankind have, and bring into the World with them? And are they thofe that are the first in Children, and antecedent to all acquir'd ones? If they are Innate, they muft needs be fo. Hath a Child an Idea of Impoffibility and Identity, before it has of White or Black, Sweet or Bitter? And is it from the Knowledg of this Principle, that it concludes, that Wormwood rubb'd on the Nipple hath not the fame tafte that it used to receive from thence? Is it the actual Knowledg of Impoffibile eft idem effe, & non effe, that makes a Child diftinguish between its Mother and a Stranger; or that makes it fond of the one, and fly the other? Or does the Mind regulate it felf and its Affent by Ideas, that it never yet had? Or the Understanding draw Conclufions from Principles, which it never yet knew or understood? The names Impoffibility and Identity ftand for two Ideas, fo far from being Innate, or born with us, that I think it requires great Care and Attention to form them right in our Understandings. They are fo far from being brought into the World with us, fo remote from the Thoughts of Infancy and Childhood; that, I believe, upon examination it will be found, that many grown Men want them.

§. 4. If Identity (to inftance in that alone) be a native Impreffion, and confe- Identity, an quently fo clear and obvious to us, that we muft needs know it even from our Idea not InCradles; I would gladly be refolv'd by one of Seven, or Seventy Years old, nate. Whether a Man, being a Creature confifting of Soul and Body, be the fame Man when his Body is chang'd? Whether Euphorbus and Pythagoras, having had the fame Soul, were the fame Man, tho' they liv'd several Ages afunder? Nay, Whether the Cock too, which had the fame Soul, were not the fame with both of them? Whereby, perhaps, it will appear, that our Idea of Sameness is not fo fettled and clear, as to deferve to be thought Innate in us. For if thofe Innate Ideas are not clear and diftinct, fo as to be univerfally known, and naturally agreed on, they cannot be Subjects of univerfal and undoubted Truths; but will be the unavoidable Occafion of perpetual Uncertainty. For, I fuppofe, every one's Idea of Identity will not be the fame that Pythagoras, and thousands others of his Followers have: And which then shall be the true? Which Innate? Or are there two different Ideas of Identity, both Innate ?

§. 5. Nor let any one think, that the Queftions I have here propos'd about the Identity of Man, are bare empty Speculations; which if they were, would be enough to fhew, That there was in the Understandings of Men no Innate Idea of Identity. He that fhall, with a little attention, reflect on the Refurrection, and confider that Divine Juftice fhall bring to Judgment, at the last Day, the very fame Perfons, to be happy or miferable in the other, who did well or ill in this Life; will find it perhaps not easy to refolve with himself, what makes the fame Man, or wherein Identity confifts: And will not be forward to think he, and every one, even Children themselves, have naturally a clear Idea of it.

nate Ideas.

§. 6. Let us examine that Principle of Mathematicks, viz. That the Whole Whole and is bigger than a Part. This, I take it, is reckon'd amongst innate Principles. Part not InI am fure it has as good a title as any to be thought fo; which yet no body can think it to be, when he confiders the Ideas it comprehends in it, Whole and Part, are perfectly relative: but the pofitive Ideas, to which they properly and immediately belong, are Extenfion and Number, of which alone Whole and Part are Relations. So that if Whole and Part are innate Ideas, Extenfion and Number must be so too; it being impoffible to have an Idea of a Relation, without having any at all of the thing to which it belongs, and in which it is founded. Now, whether the Minds of Men have naturally imprinted on them the Ideas of Extenfion and Number, I leave to be confider'd by thofe, who are the Patrons of innate Principles.

$.7.

Idea of WorShip not In

nate.

Idea of God

not Innate.

201

niere 22

11

Terry 5

& 343 Ovington, 432.

о

(d) Relatio triplex de rebus Indicis

7. That God is to be worshipp'd, is, without doubt, as great a Truth as any can enter into the Mind of Man, and deferves the first place amongst all practical Principles. But yet it can by no means be thought innate, unless the Ideas of God and Worship are innate. That the Idea the term Worship stands for, is not in the Understanding of Children, and a Character ftamp'd on the Mind in its first Original, I think, will be easily granted by any one that confiders how few there be amongst grown Men, who have a clear and diftin& Notion of it. And, I fuppofe, there cannot be any thing more ridiculous, than to say that Children have this practical Principle innate, That God is to be worshipp'd; and yet, that they know not what that Worfhip of God is, which is their Duty. But to pass by this:

§. 8. If any Idea can be imagin'd innate, the Idea of God may, of all others, for many reasons be thought fo; fince it is hard to conceive, how there should be innate moral Principles, without an innate Idea of a Deity: Without a Notion of a Law-maker, it is impoffible to have a Notion of a Law, and an Obligation to obferve it. Befides the Atheists, taken notice of amongst the Antients, and left branded upon the Records of Hiftory, hath not Navigation dif(a) Rhoe a cover'd, in thefe latter Ages, whole Nations, at the Bay of Soldania (a), in pud Theve. Brafil (b), in Boranday (c), and the Caribbee Inlands, &c. amongst whom there not, p. 2. (b) Fo. de was to be found no Notion of a God, no Religion? Nicholaus del Techo, in literis Lery, c. 15. ex Paraquaria de Caaiguarum converfione, has these words (d): Reperi eam gentem (c) Martinullum nomen habere quod Deum ad hominis animam fignificet, nulla facra habet, nulla Idola. There are Inftances of Nations where uncultivated Nature has been left to it felf, without the help of Letters, and Difcipline, and the Improvements of Arts and Sciences. But there are others to be found, who have enjoy'd thefe in a very great measure; who yet, for want of a due application of their Thoughts this way, want the Idea and Knowledge of God. 'Twill I doubt not be a Surprize to others, as it was to me, to find the Siamites of this number. But for this, let them confult the King of France's late Envoy thither (e), who gives no better account of the Chineses themselves (f). And if we will not be(e) La Lou- lieve La Loubere, the Miffionaries of China, even the Jefuits themfelves, the bere du Roy great Encomiafts of the Chineses, do all to a man agree and will convince us that aume de Si- the Sect of the Literati, or Learned, keeping to the old Religion of China, and fect. 15, &c. the ruling Party there, are all of them Atheists. Vid. Navarette in the Col20.fedt. 22, lection of Voyages, Vol. the firft, and Hiftoria Cultus Sinenfium. And perhaps if &c. 22. fedt. we fhould, with attention, mind the Lives and Difcourfes of People not fo far off, we should have too much reafon to fear, that many in more civiliz❜d Countries have no very strong and clear Impreffions of a Deity upon their Minds; and that the Complaints of Atheism, made from the Pulpit, are not without reafon. And tho' only fome profligate Wretches own it too bare-facedly now; yet perhaps we fhould hear more than we do of it from others, did not the fear of the Magiftrate's Sword, or their Neighbour's Cenfure, tie up Peoples Tongues which, were the Apprehenfions of Punishment or Shame taken away, would as openly proclaim their Atheism, as their Lives do.

Caaiguarum 41.

am, T. 1. c. 9.

6.

(f) lb. T. 1.

c. 20. fect. 4,

&c. 23.

§. 9. But had all Mankind, every where, a Notion of a God (whereof yet History tells us the contrary) it would not from thence follow, that the Idea of him was innate. For tho' no Nation were to be found without a Name, and fome few dark Notions of him; yet that would not prove them to be natural Impreffions on the Mind, no more than the names of Fire, or the Sun, Heat, or Number, do prove the Ideas they stand for, to be innate: because the Names of those things, and the Ideas of them, are fo univerfally receiv'd and known amongst Mankind. Nor, on the contrary, is the want of fuch a Name, or the abfence of fuch a Notion out of mens 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, because a great part of Mankind had neither a Notion of any fuch thing, nor a Name for it; or be any fhew of Argument to prove, that there are no diftinct and various Species of Angels, or intelligent Beings above us, because we have no Ideas of fuch diftinct Species,or Names for them: For Men, being furnish'd with Words by the common Language of their own Countries, can scarce avoid having fome kind of Ideas of thofe things, whofe Names, those they converfe with, have occafion frequently to mention to them. And if

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