it ; fo obtained one Word, and one Idea. He ry'd again, and cry'd Waw, and tacked another Idea to this fecond Sound; fo he had two Words, and two Ideas, and fo on, till he had formed a Language for himself and Children. But this is Stuff to ftop our Noses at.

I SHALL be afked here, What! cannot Dumb. Perfons think? Yes, they can think, but not till. they have that which is fimilar to Language in a low, Degree, or Language in Miniature, viz. the Motions, Gestures, Actions, and Signs, &c. of thofe about them, who can speak, and who are. Preceptors and Examples to them, to fupply them in their want of Language with thefe Succeda-. neums in its Stead, without which they could not think, but would remain Idiots.

ALATE Inftance, and fuch an one, as the like may not happen again, may be as much to our Purpofe in this Place, as Mr. Lock's Rational Parrot was to his in another, I mean Peter, who was taken in the Woods at Hanover. Here was ahuman Creature, neither an Idiot, nor a Madman, but perfectly irrational, i. e. perfectly unable to exercife one Act of Reason, because he had never been taught. How he came into the Woods, or how he was fuftained there, no Man can tel!: He was taken a great Boy, fuppofed to be about fourteen or more, without. Ideas, Underftanding, Memory, or any perceiveable rational Power about him; and though he was dreadfully frightened at being taken, yet when after much Pains, they had him brought to the Ufe of Language, and fo to fome Degree of Reafon, he could not then, nor can he yet, recollect any, Thing that had happened to him in his whole Life before, no not his being taken; fo that his Reafon only render'd him teachable; and if there had been a Thoufand of them, it does not appear to me but

they

they must have been all in the fame Cafe; and
unlefs one among them had been taught, and
taught the reft, they had all been as ignorant as
Peter. This Man's Cafe must have been the first
Man's Cafe, and all Mens fince, without a Revela-
tion. Now I ask our moral Naturalifts, if the Light
of Nature be in the Soul? If the Law of Nature be
ingraven on the Heart, and difcoverable by the
únaffifted Reason of the Mind; Was poor Peter an
Exception to the general Rule? And if this Law
of Nature, &c. be really innate in the Mind, Why
fhould we be angry with the Quakers, and Quie-
tefts; for pray where is the Difference between
their Light within, their Chrift within, the infpo-
ken Word of the Myftics, and your Law within?
For unless we know the Difference, and where
the Law of Nature ends, we fhall never know,
where Revelation begins, nor why it was given.
If I am told the Inftance of Peter is but a fingle
one, therefore nothing ought to be concluded
from it. In anfwer to this, I ask, if the Objec-
tor had one, and but one Inftance to give of a
Man, who by mere Nature had attained to the use
of Language; and without Inftruction could rea-
fon in that Language, whether he would not
think fuch an Inftance a decifive one? But
But per-
haps Peter was a Blockhead; and if one of our
modern Philofophers had been dropt as young as,
and instead of Peter, we might have expected an
ample Account of the Manners of the woody
Inhabitants; how the Bears nurfe and fuckle their
Cubbs; how they lick, and hug, and convey In-
ftruction to them; alfo of the various Instincts
of the other Tribes of Animals, their Policies,
Laws, Battles, Food, &c. This is I own a fhrewd
Objection. But if there be any Thing in it,
'tis really pitty, for Experiment Sake, they had
not all been dropt there, for then we had not

M 2

been

heen plagued with such a senseless, falfe, and trifling Philofophy here. But as there have been feveral times found in the Defarts wild Creatures, bearing all the Marks of human Ones, both Male and Female, (Oronotons, I mean) with the Organs of Speech; but being caught old, could never be brought to Speak. This seems to corroborate the Sentiment, that Peter was naturally as cunning a Creatnre, as any of the Moderns would have been, had they been dropt in his ftead; for, befides his being a clever Fellow at running upon all four, he will climb a Tree better than any Man among them; and can prove too, that he runs up by the Law of Gravitation, as furely as they can that a Stone falls by that Law,

REASON in the Soul, with refpect to its Activity, is fimilar to Fire in Bodies; it needs exciting, and till it be excited, is asleep; when by Collifion you have excited it, and if you fupply it with Pabulum, it becomes the moft active Thing in the World. So if you awaken the Reason of the Soul, and fupply it with, or reveal to it, true Data, and' fet it agoing, it becomes active as Fire, but muft, and will be ftill, till thus excited, The Manners (Stupidity) of the whole Heathen World, in focial Life, and Worship too, juftifies me in this, and I defy any Man to produce one credible Piece of Hiftory to controul this, which I hope to make appear before we have done. Reafon is the Candle of Febovab; but he himself muft light it first, and

not we.

I think the Light of Nature, and the Law of Nature, are treated generally as the fame Thing; and if I am charged with diftinguishing the fame Thing from itfelf, I fhall think it an unjuft Charge, because I do it to be understood. But

the

the Law of Nature fhould be refult of the Light of Nature; a Sett of Principles digefted into a Rule; a Law for the rational Creature to practice. The Conformity of the rational Creature to this Law, must be natural Religion (if there be any fuch Thing). The Acquitments, or the Accufations of the Mind, for its Conformity or Nonconformity to this Law, muft be natural Confcience, if there be natural Confcience, Now if I have separated Things that ought to be united, or jumbled together thofe that ought to be feparated, it gives me no Concern; for fince they are all Fictions, it's no Matter how they are treated: Befides, 'tis many Years now fince I read any Thing on this Subject; and when I did, was only fnuffing at Pandoras's Box, which scatter'd fuch a malignant Poison all around, as made me giddy. Therefore I have advised all my younger Friends not to touch, till they are fure they have the true Antidote; and the only one I know of, is plain Truth and common Senfe. With this infallible Antidote, I will truft the Box in any One's Hands; and let him fnuff as long as he will, it will do him no Harm befides the Lofs of his Time. But to return to this big-belly'd Monster, the Law of Nature, (for no other Name does it deferve) to fee if we can discover its Features by the Accounts given of it. Some fay, it takes Rife from eternal Fitness, eternal Reason, and is known by its Beauty and Excellence; others fay it is the Remains of the Law written on Adam's Heart in Innocence, and call it the moral Law; for, fay they, he loft not all, when he fell. Others fay, he did, and make it a Thing added, and given to Adam after he fell. Others think they find it refered to in Scripture, which, by the Way, is false; for the Scripture was written to cure fuch Diftracttions.

OTHERS

OTHERS fend us to the Heathen World to find it; others feek for it in their own Brains, and after all their Search cannot find it. It would be almost an endless Task to examine all thefe Dreams; and fince all its Advocates have agreed to call it a moral Law, 'twill be the fhorter Way to fee what they make of that: What they mean by a moral Law. I think the Definition of a moral Law, as it has stood for fome hundred Years past, is, that it is therefore commanded, because it is good*; they define a pofitive Law to be therefore good, becaufe commanded; but as I don't believe there are any poffitive Laws from God, I fhall take no farther Notice of them here.

IF this Difinition of a Moral Law be a juft one, we are to look beyond the Law for the Goodnefs of it. Where are we to look, I pray? Why, to the Eternal Fitness and Reafon of Things; to their intrinfick Nature, to their Eternal Relations, &c. But, how are we to arrive at any Knowledge at all about thefe Eternal Fitneffes, Reasons, and Relations, &c. What Clue has the Mind by which to come at the Knowledge of thefe abftrufe Matters? None at all, that I know of. But pray, is not this owing to your own Ignorance? I will leave the intelligent Reader to judge of that. Or whether is it not owing to the Ignorance of thofe who handle these Things, that make them think they can know any Thing about them? I believe in my Heart it is. Heart it is. What must be done then? We must continue in our Ignorance, and they muft do as they have done. How is that? Why, to lay down certain Metaphyfical Suppofitions, and

* I know there are some who found a moral Law upon the Perfections of the Divine Being. I believe they meant well ; but be they Right or Wrong, they are not the Perfons 1 am talking to.

lay