CHAP. I. _Of GOD._ REASON, and the mere Contemplation of _Nature_ (abstracted from the Light and Assistance of _Revelation_ or _Faith_) afford us sufficient convincing Arguments, for the _Existence_ of this great and incomprehensible BEING; as _Heathens_ themselves do testify. ACCORDING to _Plato_ (that most excellent Heathenish _Divine_) Philosophical Demonstrations are the only _Catharticks_ (_i. e._ Purgers) of the _Soul_; being the most proper means to cleanse it from _Error_, and give us an exact Relish of Sacred _Truths_. Wherefore I shall strictly confine myself to _These_, in proving the BEING of this _Existence_, from the _Maxims_ of all the four principal _Sects_ of Heathen Philosophers; which I shall discuss in the briefest _Terms_, by only touching upon a few of their respective _Proofs_; _viz._ THE _Naturalist_ insists chiefly upon three Heads; That of _Motion_, the _Final_, and the _Efficient Cause_. UPON the Axiom of _Motion_, that _Sect_ could not exceed, or go beyond the _Primum Mobile_ among _created Beings_; and therefore allows, that there is something _above_ it, which moves _itself_ and is not moved by _Another_. UPON that of the _Final Cause_, they could find no _created Being_ capable of directing that _Nature_, which directs and appoints all _Creatures_ to aim at some peculiar END; and thence conclude, that this _Nature_ is directed by something _superior_ to itself. UPON that of the _Efficient Cause_, they confess, from the many Vicissitudes of _created Beings_, that they’ve all had a _Beginning_: and (because no _Beginning_ can be without an _Efficient_) acknowledge, that _something_ more excellent than all _created Beings_, hath created them. THE _Metaphysician_ useth a vast Variety of sublime _Arguments_; whereof I shall only give a few Instances: _viz._ I. THAT every _finite Being_ must needs proceed from _something_ else, limiting it in that _Finiteness_, in which its _Nature_ conflicts. II. THAT all _Multitude_ must proceed from _Unity_, as the _Motions_ of the _lower Orbs_ proceed from that of the _one highest_; or as the many particular distinct _Actions_ and different _Motions_ of the Man, proceed from (their _Superior_) the SOUL. III. THAT the _Subordination_ of the _Creatures_, one serving another, and all concurring to the _Common Good_, must needs proceed from the _Disposal_ of some most wise GOVERNOUR. IV. THAT the wonderful and incomparable ART, observable in the _Make_ and _Form_ of every the minutest Part of the least and most despicable _Creature_, must necessarily proceed from some very great and omnipotent ARTIFICER. V. THIS _Sect_ acknowledges also the _Immortality_ of the SOUL, as _Cicero_ witnesses; because it is an _immaterial Substance_, and independent of the _Body_: And consequently they allow it to proceed from an _immortal Author_, and to return to the _same_, after a _Dissolution_ from the Body.