Matthew Tindal

“ It is impossible men should have an just idea of the perfections of God, who think that the dictates of infinite wisdom do not carry their own evidence with them; or are not by their own innate worth discoverable to all mankind. Were it not so, how could they be distinguished from the uncertain opinions of weak and fallible men; not to say the whimsies and reveries of crack-brained Enthusiasts? How shocking it is to hear divines cry that, "Certain things were they not to be adored as mysteries, ought to be exploded as absurdities." ”

“ Again, "Let us love one another; every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loves not, knoweth not God. But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him; how dwelleth the Love of God in him?" And it was this consideration that made the great Emperor and Philosopher Marcus Antoninus say, "Thou wilt never do anything purely humane in a right manner, unless thou knowest the relation it bears to things divine; nor anything divine, unless thou knowest all the ties it has to things humane." ”

“ If all God's laws are of a piece, must they not all be built on the eternal Reason of Things? Nay, if that be sufficient to determine him in one case, it must be so in all; but on the contrary, if God acts arbitrarily in any one instance, he must, or at least may, do so in all; since no foreign cause, nothing but his nature, could make him act so. But God forbid we should imagine that any of his laws have not impressed on them the same character of the highest wisdom and goodness that is impressed on the whole frame of nature, and on every part of it. ”

“ If he once commanded things without reason, there can be no reason why he may not endlessly change such commands.
I think, no man has more fully done justice to the Law of Nature, than a divine of the church which requires so many things contrary to that law; I mean the celebrated "Charron," in his treatise "Of Wisdom," whose authority is certainly not the less for being translated by the late Dean of Canterbury: He says, "The Law of Nature, by which I mean Universal Reason and Equity, is the candle of our maker, lighted up in every breast, to guide, and shine perpetually. ”

“ In a word, to suppose anything in revelation inconsistent with Reason, and, at the same time, pretend it to be the will of God, is not only to destroy that proof on which we conclude it to be the will of God, but even the proof of the Being of a God; since if our reasoning faculties duly attended to can deceive us, we can't be sure of the truth of any one proposition; but everything would be alike uncertain, and we should forever fluctuate in a state of universal skepticism. Which shows how absurdly they act, who, on pretense of magnifying tradition, endeavor to weaken the force of Reason ”

“ And if all mankind are creatures of the same creator, and fellow-creatures with one another, must not all their religious duties, as they are creatures of the same God, and fellow-creatures with one another, be the same?
And let me add, that if men are religious, as they are rational; must they not be capable, when they come to the use of their Reason, of knowing a religion founded on Reason? Or must they be obliged to leave their country, and endlessly rove up and down, in search of such opinions as have no foundation in Reason? ”

“ Thus we see how the Reason of Things, or the relation they have to each other, teaches us our duty in all cases whatever. And I may add, that the better to cause men to observe those rules, which make for their mutual benefit, infinite goodness has sown in their hearts seeds of pity, humanity and tenderness, which, without much difficulty, cannot be eradicated; but nothing operates more strongly than that desire men have of being in esteem, credit, and reputation with their fellow creatures; not to be obtained without acting on the principles of natural justice, equity, benevolence, etc. ”

“ And if God designed all mankind should at all times know what he wills them to know, believe, profess and practice; and has given them no other means for this but the use of Reason; Reason, human Reason, must then be that means; for as God has made us rational creatures, and Reason tells us that it is his will that we act up to the dignity of our natures; so it is Reason must tell when we do so. What God requires us to know, believe, profess and practice, must be in itself a reasonable service; but whether what is offered to us as such be really so, it is Reason alone that must judge ”

“ He builds nothing on a thing so uncertain as Tradition, which differs in most countries; and of which, in all countries, the bulk of mankind are incapable of judging. But he thinks he has laid down such plain and evident rules, as may enable men of the meanest capacity to distinguish between Religion and Superstition; and has reprepresented the former in every part so beautiful, so amiable, and so strongly affecting, that they, who in the least reflect, must be highly in love with it; and easily perceive that their duty and happiness are inseparable. ”

“ As able a divine as this, or perhaps any other age has produced, observes, that "Nothing can be more false, or contrary to the nature of the Gospel, than to fancy God in part-designed to show he was Master, by enjoining some commands, which have no relation to the good of mankind. Religion was revealed to us, and not for God; who, absolutely speaking, neither wants what we think of him, nor the worship we pay him, but has manifested himself to us, only to make us happy." ”

“ If the interest of truth, and the honor of man's nature require them to perform this grand duty, must not their Reason, antecedently to all external revelation, afford certain tests to distinguish between truth and falsehood in all religious matters? It would be ridiculous to tell men, that it is a crime worse than Atheism, to admit a religion which prescribes, or encourages foolish of superstitious practices; unless upon a supposition, that their Reason can tell them what are such practices; and thereby hinder them from embracing a religion which requires things of this nature. ”

“ If, then, it be absurd to suppose that men, though they lived ever so impiously and immorally, could do nothing which God has forbid them; or if ever so piously and virtuously, could not do anything God has commanded them; must there not always have been a universal law so fully promulgated to mankind, that they could have no just plea from their ignorance not to be tried by it; and consequently, nothing less than its being founded on the nature of things, and the relation they stand in to God, and one another, visible at all times to mankind, could make it thus universally promulgated. ”

“ Scot, to root out all such injurious notions as derogate from the goodness of God, very justly observes that, "God being infinitely good in his own nature, it is impossible we should conceive him to be better than he is; and therefore every false notion we entertain of his goodness must detract from it; and so much as we detract from his goodness, so much we detract from the principle reason and motive of our loving him."
And indeed, power and knowledge of themselves can't engage our love; if they could, we should love the Devil in proportion to his power and knowledge ”

“ No sooner are actions viewed, no sooner the 'human affections' and 'passions' discerned (and they are most of them as soon discerned as felt) than straight 'an inward eye' distinguishes, and sees the 'fair' and 'shapely', the 'amiable' and 'admirable' apart from the 'deformed', the 'foul', the 'odious', or the 'despicable'." How is it possible therefore not to own, "That as the distinctions have their foundation in nature, the discernment itself is natural, and from nature alone." ”

“ If we dare consult our Reason, it will tell us that jealousy in point of honor and power, love of fame and glory, can only belong to limited creatures; but are as necessarily excluded from an unlimited, absolutely perfect being, as anger, revenge, and such like passions; which would make the Deity resemble the weak, womanish, and impotent part of our nature, rather than the manly, noble and generous. ”

“ Faith considered in itself can neither be a virtue, or a vice; because men can no otherwise believe than as things appear to them. Nay, can there be higher affront to God than to suppose he requires men to judge otherwise than the faculties he has given them enable them to do? Or what can be more absurd than to imagine that God will show his favor to one for believing what he could not but believe ”

“ To plead, that the Gospel is incapable of any additions, because the will of God is immutable, and his law too perfect to need them, is an argument, was Christianity a new religion, which destroys itself; since from the time it commenced, you must own God is mutable; and that such additions have been made to the all-perfect laws of infinite wisdom, as constitute a new religion. The reason why the Law of Nature is immutable, is, because it is founded on the unalterable Reason of Things; but if God is an arbitrary being, and can command things merely from will and pleasure ”

“ Thus, I think, I have fully proved from the nature of God and man, and the relations we stand in to him and one another, that the divine precepts can't vary; and that these relations which are the permanent voice of God, by which he speaks to all mankind, do, at all times, infallibly point out to us our duty in all the various circumstances of life. ”

“ But how can we say that infinite wisdom speaks plainly to mankind through all generations, except we allow that his commands extend not beyond moral things; and that in all matters of a mutable nature, which can only be considered as means, he obliges them to act according as they judge most proper for bringing about those ends.
Upon any other hypothesis, human laws have vastly the advantage of the divine; as being published in the language the subjects understand, in a plain simple style, without any allegorical, metaphorical, hyperbolical, or other forced way of expression ”

“ A. Education is justly esteemed a second nature, and its force so strong, that few can wholly shake off its prejudices, even in things unreasonable and unnatural; and must it not have the greatest efficacy in things agreeable to Reason, and suitable to humane Nature? Let those, therefore, who have the education of youth, recommend morality as the end of all religion; and let everything not tending to promote the honor of God and the Good of Man, be accounted superstition; let the youth be taught to join ideas of virtue with the ideas of beauty, pleasure, and happiness ”

“ And though there may be, even now, some, who will not forgive their being debarred the exercise of their former tyranny, and would be glad, at any rate, to destroy that hated liberty we are now blessed with; yet, I may venture to say that all who have so just an opinion of religion, as to think it requires nothing but what is for the good of mankind, are to a man zealous for the present government established on the principles of civil and religious liberty. ”

“ All punishment of punishment's sake is mere cruelty and malice, which can never be in God; nor can he hate anything he has made, or be subject to such weakness or impotence as to act arbitrarily, or out of spite, wrath, revenge, or any self-interest; and consequently, whatever punishment he inflicts, must be a mark of his love, in not suffering his creatures to remain in that miserable state, which is inseparable from sin and wickedness.
As God' infinite goodness appears in the sanctions as well as matter of his laws, so his infinite wisdom knows how to adjust the punishment to the offense ”

“ To convince you how entirely we are to depend on Reason in matters of religion, I will only ask you, Why you suppose it so absurd in the Papists to say that men bred up in their church are obliged entirely to depend on its infallibility; and that they, who have not had the happiness to be thus educated, ought, indeed, to use their Reason to bring them into their church ”

“ Did we not allow that men, by the Light of Nature, are capable of forming a sound judgment in matter of religion, they may be so imposed on by controverted, or misinterpreted, not to say forged, texts, as to admit several objects of divine worship in their practice, while in their words they own but one; or, in order to advance a supernatural charity, destroy all natural humanity; and believe our love to God may be best shown by our hatred to our fellow creatures; and introduce such abominable notions, as may make religion, instead of a benefit, become a mischief to mankind. ”

“ In short, if the relations between things, and the fitness resulting from thence, be not the sole rule of God's actions, must not God be an arbitrary being? And then what a miserable condition will mankind be in! Since an arbitrary will might change every moment, and those things which entitled men to God's favor today, might make them incur his displeasure tomorrow. Nay, he might at the same time have a secret will opposite to his revealed will; or have different wills for every different person; or might reveal his arbitrary commands so obscurely, as to cause the utmost confusion. ”

“ These reflections, which occur to every one who in the least considers, must give us a wonderful and surprising sense of the divine goodness, fill us with adoration, transport and ecstasy (of which we daily see among contemplative persons remarkable instances) and not only force us to express a never-failing gratitude in raptures of the highest praise and thanksgiving; but make us strive to imitate him in our extensive love to our fellow-creatures. ”

“ The Jews, as they were most superstitious, so were they most cruel; and as the Papists have, beyond all other Christians, introduced into religion, things which are far from contributing to the good of mankind; so they have exercised a matchless cruelty for the support of them. And no wonder; since their priests gain by the superstition of the people, and consequently, inspire them with a proportionate hatred against all who will not comply with it. ”

“ If so, can we suppose the Christian religion has superadded any outward positive things of its own, to hinder us from being wholly intent on these duties?
The Popish priests are so far from giving the people any just idea of God, that they represent him as an arbitrary and tyrannical Being, imposing, on the highest pain, the practice of ridiculous ceremonies, and the belief of absurd doctrines; as a fanatical Being, angry without cause, and pleased without Reason ”