[Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 381 who are led by men of fuch wrong heads, can have very- good ones of their own. Such, for inftance, was Spinofa, the great leader of our modern infidels, in whom are to be found many fchemes and notions, much admired and followed of late years: Such as undermining religion, under the pretence of vindicating and explaining it: The maintaining it, not neceflary to believe in Chrift according to the fiefh: The perfuading men, that miracles are to be underftood only in a fpiritual and alegorical fenfe: That vice is not fo bad a thing as we are apt to think: That men are mere machines, impelled by fatal neceffity. I have heard, faid I, Spinofa reprefented as a man of clofe argu- ment and demonftration. He did, replied Crito, demon- ftrate; but it was after fuch a manner, as any one may demonftrate any thing- Allow a man the privilege to make his own definitions of common words, and it will be no hard matter for him to infer conclufions, which in one fenfe fhall be true, and in another falfe, at once feeming paradoxes and manifeft truifms. For example, let but Spinofa define natural right to be natural power, and he will eafily demonftrate, that whatever a man can doy he hath a right to do. * Nothing can be plainer than the folly of this proceeding; but our pretenders to the lumen Jiccum, are fo paflionately prejudiced againft reli- gion, as to fwallow the grofieft nonfenfe and fophiftry of weak and wicked writers for demonftration.
XXVII. And fo great a noife do thefe men make, with their thinking, reafoning, and demonftrating, as to prej- udice fome well-meaning perfons againft all ufe and im- provement of reafon. Hone ft Demea, having feen a neighbor of his ruined by the vices of a free-thinking fon, contracted fuch a prejudice againft thinking, that he would not fulFer his own to read Euc/id, being told it 38a MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.]
might teach him to think; till a friend convinced him the epidemical diftemper was not thinking, but only the want and affectation of it. I know an eminent free- thinker, who never goes to bed, without a gallon of wine in his belly, and is fure to replenifh before the fumes are off his brain, by which means he has not had one fober thought thefe feven years; another, that would not for the world, lofe the privilege and reputation of free-think- ing, who games all night, and lies in bed all day: And as for the outfide, or appearance of thought in that mea- gre Minute Philofopher, Ibycus, it is an efFecl:, not of thinking, but of carking, cheating, and writing in an office. Strange, faid he, that fuch men fhould fet up for free-thinkers! But it is yet more ftrange, that other men fhould be out of conceit with thinking and reafon- ing, for the fake of fuch pretenders. I anfwered, that fome good men conceived an oppofition between reafon and religion, faith and knowledge, nature and grace; and that, confequently, the way to promote religion, was to quench the light of nature, and difcourage all rational inquiry.
XXVIII. How right the intentions of thefe men may be, replied Crito, I fhall not fay; but furely their notions are very wrong. Can any thing be more difhonorable to re- ligion, than the reprefenting it as an unreafonable, unnat- ural, ignorant inftitution? God is the Father of all lights, whether natural or revealed. Natural concupifence is one thing, and the light of nature another. You cannot, therefore, argue from the former againfl the latter: Nei- ther can you from fcience, falfely fo called, againfl real knowledge. Whatever, therefore, is faid of the one in Holy Scripture, is not to be interpreted of the other. I infilled that human learning in the hands of divines, had from time to time created great difputes and divifions in [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 383 the church. As abftratted mfitaphyfics, replied Crito, have always had a tendency to produce difputes among chriftians, as well as other men \ fo it mould feem, that genuine truth and knowledge would allay this humor, which makes men facrifice the undifputed duties of peace and charity to difputable notions. After all, faid I, what- ever may be faid for reafon, it is plain, the fceptics and infidels of the age are not to be cured by it. I will not difpute this point, faid Crito; in order to cure a diftem- per, you mould confider what produced it. Had men reafoned themfelves into a wrong opinion, one might hope to reafon them out of it. But this is not the cafe *, the infidelity of Minute Philofophers feeming an effe£t of very different motives from thought and reafon. Little incidents, vanity, difguft, humor, inclination, without the leaft afliftance from reafon, are often known to make infidels. Where the general tendency of a doctrine is difagreeable, the mind is prepared to relifh and improve every thing that with the leaft pretence feems to make againft it. Hence the coarfe manners of a country cu- rate, the polite manners of a chaplain, the wit of a Mi- nute Philofopher, a jeft, a fong, a tale can ferve inflead of a reafon for infidelity. Bupalus preferred a rake in the church, and then made ufe of him as an argument againft it. Vice, indolence, faction, and fafhion produce Mi- nute Philofophers, and mere petulancy, not a few.— • Who then can expect a thing fo irrational and capricious fhould yield to reafon? It may, neverthelefs, be worth while to argue againft fuch men, and expofe their falla- cies, if not for their own fake, yet for the fake of others; as it may lefTen their credit, and prevent the growth of their fe£t, by removing a prejudice in their favor, which fometimes inclines others as well as themfelves to think they have made a monopoly of human reafon.
384 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.]
XXIX. The mod general pretext which looks like reafon, is taken from the variety of opinions about re- ligion. This is a reding {tone to a hzy and fuperficial mind. But one of more fpirit and a jufter way of thinking, makes it a ftep whence he looks about, and proceeds to examine, and compare the differing inftitu- tions of religion. He will obferve, which of thefe is the mod fublime and rational in its doctrines, molt ven- erable in its myderies, moil ufeful in its precepts, naoft decent in its worfhip? Which createth the noble ft hopes, and moil worthy views? He will confider their rife and progrefs, which oweth leaft to human arts or arms? Which flatters the fenfes and grofs inclinations of men? Which adorns and improves the moil excellent part of our nature? Which hath been propagated in the mod wonderful manner? Which hath furmounted the greated difficulties, or mewed the moft difinterefted zeal and fin- cerity in its profeflbrs?* He will inquire, which bed accords with nature and hiftory? He will confider, what favours of the. world, and what looks like wifdom from above? He will be careful to feparate human allay from that which is divine; and upon the whole, form his judgment like a reafonable free-thinker. But inftead of taking fuch a rational courfe, one of thofe hady^fceptics {hall conclude without demurring, that there is no wif- dom in politics, no honefty in dealings, no knowledge in philofophy, no truth in religion: And all by one and the fame fort of inference, from the numerous examples of folly, knavery, ignorance, and error, which are to be met with in the world. But, as thofe, who are unknow- ing in every thing elfe, imagine themfelves (harp-fighted in religion, this learned fophifm is oftened levelled againft chriftianity.
[Dial. VU] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 385 XXX. In my opinion, he that would convince an infidel, who can be brought to reafon, ought in the firft: place, clearly to convince him of the being of a God, it feeming to me, that any man, who is really a theift, can- not be an enemy to the chriftian religion: And that the ignorance or difbelief of this fundamental point, is that which, at bottom, conftitutes the Minute Philofopher. I imagine they, who are acquainted with the great authors In the Minute Philofophy, need not be told of this. The being of a God is capable of clear proof, and a proper object of human reafon: whereas, the myfleries of his nature, and indeed, whatever there is of myftery in re- ligion, to endeavor to explain and prove by reafon, is a vain attempt. It is fufficient, if we can (hew there is nothing abfurd, or repugnant in our belief of thofe points, and, inftead of framing hypothefis to explain them, we ufe our reafon only for anfwering the objec- tions brought again ft them. But, on all occafions, we ought to diftinguifh the ferious, modeft, ingenuous man of fenfe, who hath fcruples about religion, and behaves like a prudent man in doubt, from the Minute Philofo- phers, thofe profane and conceited men, who mull needs profelyte others to their own doubts. When one of this {tamp prefents himfelf, we mould confider what fpecies he is of: Whether a firft or a fecond-hand philofopher, a libertine, fcorner, or fceptic? Each chara&er requiring a peculiar treatment. Some men are too ignorant to be humble, without which, there can be no docility: But though a man muft, in fome degree, have thought, and confidered, to be capable of being convinced, yet it is poflible the moil ignorant may be laughed out of his opinions. I knew a woman of fenfe, reduce two Mi- nute Philofophers, who had been long a nuifance to the neighborhood, by taking her cue from their predominant affectations. The one fet up for the moft incredulous A a a 38<5 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] man upon earth, the other for the mod unbounded free- dom. She obferved to the firft, that he, who had cre- dulity fufhcient to truft the moft valuable things, his life and fortune, to his apothecary and lawyer, ridiculoufly affe£ted the character of incredulous, by refufing to truft his foul, a thing in his own account but a mere tri- fle, to his parifh-prieft. The other being what you call a beau, fhe made fenfible how abfolute a flave he was in point of drefs, to him the moft important thing in the world, while he was earneftly contending for a liberty of thinking, with which he never troubled his head; and, how much more it concerned, and became him, to aflert an independency on fafhion, and obtain fcope for his" genius, where it was beft qualified to exert itfelf. The Minute Philosophers, at firft hand, are very few, and, confidered in themfelves, of fmall confequence: But their followers, who pin their faith upon them, are numerous, and not lefs confident than credulous; there being fome- thing in the air and manner of thefe fecond-hand philo- fophers, very apt to difconcert a man of gravity and* ar- gument, and much more difficult to be bore than the weight of their objections.
XXXI. Crito having made an end, Euphranor declar* ed it to be his opinion, that it would much conduce to the public benefit, if, inftead cf difcouraging free-think- ing, there was erected in the midft of this free country, a dianoetic academy, or feminary for free-thinkers, pro- vided with retired chambers, and galleries, and fhady walks, and groves •, where, after feven years fpent in filence and meditation, a man might commence a genuine free-thinker, and from that time forward, have licence to think what he pleafed, and a badge to diftinguifh him from counterfeits. In good earneft, faid Critoy I ima- gine that thinking is the great deftderatum of the prefent [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 387 age: and that the real caufe of whatever js amifs, may juftly be reckoned the general neglect of education, in thofe who need it molt, the people of fafliion. What can be expected where thofe, who have the mod influence, have the leaft fenfe, and thofe who are lure to be follow- ed, fct the word example? Where youth fa uneducated are yet fo forward? Where modefty is efteemed pufilla- nimity, and a deference to years, knowledge, religion, laws, want of fenfe and fpirit? Such untimely growth of genius would not have been valued, or encouraged by the wife men of antiquity; whofe fentiments on this point are fo ill fuited to the genius of our times, that it is to be feared, modern ears could not bear them. But, how- ever ridiculous fuch maxims might feem to our Britijh youth, who are fo capable and fo forward to try experi- ments, and mend the conftitution of their country: I believe it will be admitted by men of fenfe, that if the governing part of mankind, would in thefe days, for ex- periment's fake, confider themfelves in that old Homerical light as paftors of the people, whofe duty it was to im- prove their flock, they would foon find, that this is to be done by an education, very different from the modern, and otherguefs maxims, than thofe of the Minute Philofophy. If our youth were really inured to thought and reflexion, and an acquaintance with the excellent writers of antiquity, we mould fee that licentious humour, vul- garly called free-thinkings banilhed from the pre fence of gentlemen, together with ignorance and ill tafte; which, as they are infeparable from vice, fo men follow vice for the fake of pleafure, and fly from virtue, through an ab- horrence of pain. Their minds, therefore, betimes fhould be formed and accuftomed to receive pleafure and pain from proper objects, or, which is the fame thing, to have their inclinations and averfions rightly placed. Kalos chairein e mifein. This, according to Plato and 388 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] Ar'tflotky was the crthe paideia, the right education. * And thofe, who, in their own minds, their health, or their fortunes, feel the curfed effects of a wrong one, would do well to confider, they cannot better make amends for what was amifs in themfelves, than by pre- venting the fame in their pofterity. While Crito was faying this, company came in, which put an end to our converfation.
* Plato in Protag. & Ariftot. ethic, ad Nicom. 1. %. c. a. & FINIS.
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Gibbon's Rife and fall of the Roman Empire. 12 Vols. 8vo.
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