AS to the _Moralist_, his way of _Reasoning_ is plainer to our common Capacities. I. HE proves this _Argument_ from the _natural Disposition_ and _Propensity_ of the worst of Men, even _Atheists_ themselves, upon the Approach of Death or any heavy _Calamity_, to acknowledge some superior divine Power; as _Seneca_ witnesseth of _Caligula_, &c. II. FROM the _ultimate End_ and chief _Good_ of Man; which (according to _Plato_) is nothing _Terrestrial_: Our _Souls_ being _insatiable_ in this Life, have a constant _Tendency_ to that particular END, for which we are _created_; which (in his Words) consists only in being _inseparably_ united to GOD. III. FROM _Virtue_ and _Vice_, the _Rewards_ and _Punishments_ due to these from _Nature_ and _Reason_; which agree with _Equity_ and _Justice_, that they, who _live well_, should be _rewarded_ with this their _ultimate End_ and _final Felicity_: And those who live _otherwise_, should be _punished_ by the LOSS thereof forever. Thence they (of consequence) acknowledge, that there must be a just and powerful JUDGE, above all _created Beings_, to inflict this impartial SENTENCE. THE _Mathematician_ acknowledges _That_ to be some _Being superior_ to all others; whose _Center_ he finds every where, and whose _Circumference_ he can limit or discover no where. But because this _Sect_ borrows the better Part of their _Proofs_ from the other _three_ mentioned, I shall go no farther; designing nothing but _Brevity_ thro’out this Work, especially upon a THESIS so manifest as _This_: Which indeed I should not so much as have touched upon, considering how elegantly and copiously many very _learned Divines_, and other eminent _Writers_, have treated that _Subject_; were it not that some subsequent _Hypotheses_ depend immediately upon it. Wherefore I proceed to [Illustration] CHAP. II. _Of NATURE._ HOWEVER _extensive_ this Word NATURE may be, and whatever secundary _Definitions_ it may admit of; it is (in effect) nothing else than the _Denouncer_ of the Divine Will and Pleasure, the _Efficient_ CAUSE of natural _Works_, and the _Conservant_ of real _Existences_: Or, the _Order_ and _Series_ of Sacred Works, obeying the Divine Will, Power, and Commands. At least I think all other _Definitions_ of this Word, taken in whatsoever Sense, may be _reduced_ to _These_ following; _viz._ _NATURE_ is the implanted and _innate Quality_ of Things. _NATURE_ is the _Faculty_ and _Propensity_ of every Mind. _NATURE_ is the _Mixture_ and _Temperature_ of the four Elements. _NATURE_ is the Philosopher’s _Axiom_ of Motion and Rest. _NATURE_ is _that_ which giveth _Form_, by a specifick Difference, to every thing.