A Body of Divinity, Vol. 1 (of 4): Wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are explained and defended, being the substance of several lectures on the Assembly's Larger CatechismRidgley, Thomas
Religion
A Body of Divinity, Vol. 1 (of 4): Wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are explained and defended, being the substance of several lectures on the Assembly's Larger Catechism
“Under this stupendous Being we live. Our happiness, our existence, is
in his hands. All we expect must come from him. Nor ought we to feel
our situation insecure. In every nature, and in every portion of
nature, which we can descry, we find attention bestowed upon even the
minutest parts. The hinges in the wings of an _earwig_, and the joints
of its antennæ, are as highly wrought, as if the Creator had had
nothing else to finish. We see no signs of diminution of care by
multiplicity of objects, or of distraction of thought by variety. We
have no reason to fear therefore, our being forgotten, or overlooked,
or neglected.
“The existence and character of the Deity, is, in every view, the most
interesting of all human speculations. In none, however, is it more
so, than as it facilitates the belief of the fundamental articles of
_Revelation_. It is a step to have it proved, that there must be
something in the world more than what we see. It is a further step to
know, that, amongst the invisible things of nature, there must be an
intelligent mind, concerned in its production, order, and support.
These points being assured to us by Natural Theology, we may well
leave to Revelation the disclosure of many particulars, which our
researches cannot reach, respecting either the nature of this Being as
the original cause of all things, or his character and designs as a
moral governor; and not only so, but the more full confirmation of
other particulars, of which, though they do not lie altogether beyond
our reasonings and our probabilities, the certainty is by no means
equal to the importance. The true Theist will be the first to listen
to _any_ credible communication of divine knowledge. Nothing which he
has learnt from Natural Theology, will diminish his desire of further
instruction, or his disposition to receive it with humility and
thankfulness. He wishes for light: he rejoices in light. His inward
veneration of this great Being, will incline him to attend with the
utmost seriousness, not only to all that can be discovered concerning
him by researches into nature, but to all that is taught by a
revelation, which gives reasonable proof of having proceeded from him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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