wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

ecaufeyouand2:viA71 Account of the Life and Writingsaccording to him, followed from their fyftem. Monfieur Le'Clerc return'd aaanfwer in the fifth Volume of his Bihliothcqv.e Choifie * ; wherein he obfeiVd,that the plaftic or vital Natures, which thofe two Writers admit, cannotin the lealt favour the Atheills •, thefe natures are only inftruments inthe hand of God, and have no power nor efficacy, but what they receivefrom him, who rules and direfts all their aftions. I'hat they are only inftrumentalcaufes produced and empioy'd by the chief and firft Caufe -, thatit cannot be faid, that a palace has been built up without art, becaufe not onlyhammers, rules, faws, b^c. but even the arms of men, v/hich made ufe of thefeinftruments, aredeftitute of knowledge. It is fufficient, that the mind ofthe Builder direded all thefe things, and empioy'd them in the Execution ofhis Defign. It is therefore plain, that the Atheifts, who deny the Being ofan intelligent Caufe, cannot retort the argument of Dr. Cudworth and Dr.Crew upon them. Monfieur Bayle^ in his Anfwer -f,endeavour'd to fhew,that if thefe Writers had confider'd the plaftic Natures only as inftrumentsthe hand of God, this Syftem would have been expofed to all the difficulties,to which the Cartefian hypothefis is liable, and which they intend to avoid.That therefore we muft fuppofe their opinion to have been, that thefe Naturesare adive Principles, which do not want to be continually fet on and direfted ;but that it is fufficient, if God does but put them in a proper fituation, and fuperintendtheir aftions, to fet them right, if it be neceflary. This being thecafe, Monfieur Bayle pretends, that the Argument may be retorted againftthoi'e Writers. For, lays he, fince when the order and regularity of thisworld are alledg'd as a proof of the Being of a God, it is fuppofed, that aBeing cannot produce a regular work, without having an idea of it ; yet, accordingto Dr. Cudworth, the plaftic Natures, which produce plants and animals,have not the leaft idea of what they do. If it be anfwcr'd, that they havebeen created with that faculty by a Being, who knows all , and whofe Ideas theyonly put in execudon ; the Stratonician will reply, that if they do it onlyas efficientCaufes, this is as incomprehenfibleas that, which is objeded to him ; finceit is as difficult for any Being to perform a fchcme, which it does not underftand,but which another underftands, as it is to perform a fcheme, whichno Being at all has any nodon of. Since you acknowledge, will the Stratonicianfay, that God could endow fome Creatures with a power of producingexcellent works, tho' without any knowledge -, muft alfo confefs, thatthere is no neceffary connexion between the power of producing excellentworks, and the idea and knowledge of their eftencc, and of themanner of producing them : confequently you ought not to aflfert, that thefethings cannot fubfift feparately in nature, and that nature cannot have of itfelf, v/hat, according to you, the plaftic Beings received from God. In ftiort,Monfieur Bayle afk'd, whether thefe Writers maintain'd, that the Plaftic andVital Natures arc only paffive inftruments in the hand of God, as Monfieur LeClerc feem'd to fuppofe by his Comparifon of an Archited. Monfieur LeC/frr anfwer'dll, that, according to Dr. Cudworth, the plaftic Natures were notinpaffive• i*. 283, &c.II Biblioth. Choifie. low. FI. j^rtic.;. p.]• Hift. dcs Ouvrages des S:;avans, Joft 422.E704. yirt, 7. f. 380, ^e.