It must be a slight fabric1, indeed, said DEMEA, which can be erected2 on so tottering3 a foundation. While we are uncertain whether there is one deity4 or many; whether the deity or deities5, to whom we owe our existence, be perfect or imperfect, subordinate or supreme6, dead or alive, what trust or confidence can we repose7 in them? What devotion or worship address to them? What veneration8 or obedience9 pay them? To all the purposes of life the theory of religion becomes altogether useless: and even with regard to speculative10 consequences, its uncertainty11, according to you, must render it totally precarious12 and unsatisfactory.
To render it still more unsatisfactory, said PHILO, there occurs to me another hypothesis, which must acquire an air of probability from the method of reasoning so much insisted on by CLEANTHES. That like effects arise from like causes: this principle he supposes the foundation of all religion. But there is another principle of the same kind, no less certain, and derived13 from the same source of experience; that where several known circumstances are observed to be similar, the unknown will also be found similar. Thus, if we see the limbs of a human body, we conclude that it is also attended with a human head, though hid from us. Thus, if we see, through a chink in a wall, a small part of the sun, we conclude, that, were the wall removed, we should see the whole body. In short, this method of reasoning is so obvious and familiar, that no scruple14 can ever be made with regard to its solidity.
Now, if we survey the universe, so far as it falls under our knowledge, it bears a great resemblance to an animal or organised body, and seems actuated with a like principle of life and motion. A continual circulation of matter in it produces no disorder15: a continual waste in every part is incessantly16 repaired: the closest sympathy is perceived throughout the entire system: and each part or member, in performing its proper offices, operates both to its own preservation18 and to that of the whole. The world, therefore, I infer, is an animal; and the Deity is the SOUL of the world, actuating it, and actuated by it.
You have too much learning, CLEANTHES, to be at all surprised at this opinion, which, you know, was maintained by almost all the Theists of antiquity19, and chiefly prevails in their discourses20 and reasonings. For though, sometimes, the ancient philosophers reason from final causes, as if they thought the world the workmanship of God; yet it appears rather their favourite notion to consider it as his body, whose organisation21 renders it subservient22 to him. And it must be confessed, that, as the universe resembles more a human body than it does the works of human art and contrivance, if our limited analogy could ever, with any propriety23, be extended to the whole of nature, the inference seems juster in favour of the ancient than the modern theory.
There are many other advantages, too, in the former theory, which recommended it to the ancient theologians. Nothing more repugnant to all their notions, because nothing more repugnant to common experience, than mind without body; a mere24 spiritual substance, which fell not under their senses nor comprehension, and of which they had not observed one single instance throughout all nature. Mind and body they knew, because they felt both: an order, arrangement, organisation, or internal machinery25, in both, they likewise knew, after the same manner: and it could not but seem reasonable to transfer this experience to the universe; and to suppose the divine mind and body to be also coeval26, and to have, both of them, order and arrangement naturally inherent in them, and inseparable from them.
Here, therefore, is a new species of Anthropomorphism, CLEANTHES, on which you may deliberate; and a theory which seems not liable to any considerable difficulties. You are too much superior, surely, to systematical prejudices, to find any more difficulty in supposing an animal body to be, originally, of itself, or from unknown causes, possessed27 of order and organisation, than in supposing a similar order to belong to mind. But the vulgar prejudice, that body and mind ought always to accompany each other, ought not, one should think, to be entirely28 neglected; since it is founded on vulgar experience, the only guide which you profess29 to follow in all these theological inquiries30. And if you assert, that our limited experience is an unequal standard, by which to judge of the unlimited31 extent of nature; you entirely abandon your own hypothesis, and must thenceforward adopt our Mysticism, as you call it, and admit of the absolute incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature.
This theory, I own, replied CLEANTHES, has never before occurred to me, though a pretty natural one; and I cannot readily, upon so short an examination and reflection, deliver any opinion with regard to it. You are very scrupulous32, indeed, said PHILO: were I to examine any system of yours, I should not have acted with half that caution and reserve, in starting objections and difficulties to it. However, if any thing occur to you, you will oblige us by proposing it.
Why then, replied CLEANTHES, it seems to me, that, though the world does, in many circumstances, resemble an animal body; yet is the analogy also defective33 in many circumstances the most material: no organs of sense; no seat of thought or reason; no one precise origin of motion and action. In short, it seems to bear a stronger resemblance to a vegetable than to an animal, and your inference would be so far inconclusive in favour of the soul of the world.
But, in the next place, your theory seems to imply the eternity34 of the world; and that is a principle, which, I think, can be refuted by the strongest reasons and probabilities. I shall suggest an argument to this purpose, which, I believe, has not been insisted on by any writer. Those, who reason from the late origin of arts and sciences, though their inference wants not force, may perhaps be refuted by considerations derived from the nature of human society, which is in continual revolution, between ignorance and knowledge, liberty and slavery, riches and poverty; so that it is impossible for us, from our limited experience, to foretell35 with assurance what events may or may not be expected. Ancient learning and history seem to have been in great danger of entirely perishing after the inundation36 of the barbarous nations; and had these convulsions continued a little longer, or been a little more violent, we should not probably have now known what passed in the world a few centuries before us. Nay37, were it not for the superstition38 of the Popes, who preserved a little jargon39 of Latin, in order to support the appearance of an ancient and universal church, that tongue must have been utterly40 lost; in which case, the Western world, being totally barbarous, would not have been in a fit disposition41 for receiving the GREEK language and learning, which was conveyed to them after the sacking of CONSTANTINOPLE. When learning and books had been extinguished, even the mechanical arts would have fallen considerably42 to decay; and it is easily imagined, that fable43 or tradition might ascribe to them a much later origin than the true one. This vulgar argument, therefore, against the eternity of the world, seems a little precarious.
But here appears to be the foundation of a better argument. LUCULLUS was the first that brought cherry-trees from ASIA to EUROPE; though that tree thrives so well in many EUROPEAN climates, that it grows in the woods without any culture. Is it possible, that throughout a whole eternity, no EUROPEAN had ever passed into ASIA, and thought of transplanting so delicious a fruit into his own country? Or if the tree was once transplanted and propagated, how could it ever afterwards perish? Empires may rise and fall, liberty and slavery succeed alternately, ignorance and knowledge give place to each other; but the cherry-tree will still remain in the woods of GREECE, SPAIN, and ITALY, and will never be affected44 by the revolutions of human society.
It is not two thousand years since vines were transplanted into FRANCE, though there is no climate in the world more favourable45 to them. It is not three centuries since horses, cows, sheep, swine, dogs, corn, were known in AMERICA. Is it possible, that during the revolutions of a whole eternity, there never arose a COLUMBUS, who might open the communication between EUROPE and that continent? We may as well imagine, that all men would wear stockings for ten thousand years, and never have the sense to think of garters to tie them. All these seem convincing proofs of the youth, or rather infancy46, of the world; as being founded on the operation of principles more constant and steady than those by which human society is governed and directed. Nothing less than a total convulsion of the elements will ever destroy all the EUROPEAN animals and vegetables which are now to be found in the Western world.
And what argument have you against such convulsions? replied PHILO. Strong and almost incontestable proofs may be traced over the whole earth, that every part of this globe has continued for many ages entirely covered with water. And though order were supposed inseparable from matter, and inherent in it; yet may matter be susceptible47 of many and great revolutions, through the endless periods of eternal duration. The incessant17 changes, to which every part of it is subject, seem to intimate some such general transformations48; though, at the same time, it is observable, that all the changes and corruptions49 of which we have ever had experience, are but passages from one state of order to another; nor can matter ever rest in total deformity and confusion. What we see in the parts, we may infer in the whole; at least, that is the method of reasoning on which you rest your whole theory. And were I obliged to defend any particular system of this nature, which I never willingly should do, I esteem50 none more plausible51 than that which ascribes an eternal inherent principle of order to the world, though attended with great and continual revolutions and alterations52. This at once solves all difficulties; and if the solution, by being so general, is not entirely complete and satisfactory, it is at least a theory that we must sooner or later have recourse to, whatever system we embrace. How could things have been as they are, were there not an original inherent principle of order somewhere, in thought or in matter? And it is very indifferent to which of these we give the preference. Chance has no place, on any hypothesis, sceptical or religious. Every thing is surely governed by steady, inviolable laws. And were the inmost essence of things laid open to us, we should then discover a scene, of which, at present, we can have no idea. Instead of admiring the order of natural beings, we should clearly see that it was absolutely impossible for them, in the smallest article, ever to admit of any other disposition.
Were any one inclined to revive the ancient Pagan Theology, which maintained, as we learn from HESIOD, that this globe was governed by 30,000 deities, who arose from the unknown powers of nature: you would naturally object, CLEANTHES, that nothing is gained by this hypothesis; and that it is as easy to suppose all men animals, beings more numerous, but less perfect, to have sprung immediately from a like origin. Push the same inference a step further, and you will find a numerous society of deities as explicable as one universal deity, who possesses within himself the powers and perfections of the whole society. All these systems, then, of Scepticism, Polytheism, and Theism, you must allow, on your principles, to be on a like footing, and that no one of them has any advantage over the others. You may thence learn the fallacy of your principles.
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1
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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coeval
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| adj.同时代的；n.同时代的人或事物 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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foretell
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| v.预言，预告，预示 | |
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inundation
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| n.the act or fact of overflowing | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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transformations
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| n.变化( transformation的名词复数 )；转换；转换；变换 | |
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corruptions
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| n.堕落( corruption的名词复数 )；腐化；腐败；贿赂 | |
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50
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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51
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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52
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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