Physico-theology : $b Or, a demonstration of the being and attributes of God, from His works of creation

PHYSICO-THEOLOGY

=Transcriber’s Note:= Due to the age of this book, spelling, grammar,
hyphenation, capitalization etc do not conform to modern standards,
and in many cases are not even consistent within the text itself.
Text has been retained as printed. Exceptions were made for a few
extremely obvious printer’s errors (such as RAEDER for READER in the
heading TO THE READER, and confusion between similar-looking Hebrew
letters).

Italic text is denoted _like this_; upright text within italic passages
~like this~; bold text =like this=.




                           _PHYSICO-THEOLOGY_:
                                  OR, A
                              DEMONSTRATION
                                  OF THE
                       BEING and ATTRIBUTES of GOD,
                                 FROM HIS
                          _Works_ of _Creation_.

                          Being the Substance of
                             Sixteen SERMONS
              Preached in St. _Mary-le-Bow-Church, London_;
                At the Honourable Mr. _BOYLE_’s LECTURES,
                       in the Years 1711, and 1712.

             With large NOTES, and many curious OBSERVATIONS.

                 By W: DERHAM, Canon of _Windsor_, Rector
                 of _Upminster_ in _Essex_, and F. R. S.

    _Mala & impia consuetudo est contra Deos disputare, sive animo id
           fit, sive simulatè._ Cicer. de Nat. Deor. L. 2. fine.

        _The FIFTH EDITION, more Correct than any of the former._

                              [Illustration]

              _LONDON_: Printed for W. and J. INNYS, at the
          _Prince’~s~-Arms_ the West End of St. _Paul_’s. 1720.




[Illustration]




TO THE

Most Reverend Father in GOD,

_THOMAS_,

Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY.

Primate of all _ENGLAND_, &c.

The Surviving TRUSTEE of the Honourable Mr. _BOYLE_’s LECTURES.


_May it please Your Grace_,

I may justly put these LECTURES under your Graces Patronage, their
Publication being wholly owing to You: For having the Honour to be a
Member of the ROYAL SOCIETY, as well as a _Divine_, I was minded to try
what I could do towards the Improvement of _Philosophical_ Matters to
_Theological_ Uses; and accordingly laid a Scheme of what I have here
published a Part of, and when I had little else to do, I drew up what
I had to say, making it rather the diverting Exercises of my _Leisure
Hours_, than more serious _Theological Studies_. This Work, (although
I made a considerable Progress in it at first, whilst a Novelty, yet)
having no Thoughts of Publishing, I laid aside, until your Grace,
being informed of my Design by some of my Learned Friends, both of the
Clergy and Laity, was pleased to call me to the unexpected Honour of
Preaching Mr. _Boyle_’s LECTURES: An Honour I was little aware of in my
Country-Privacy, and not much acquainted with Persons in high Stations,
and not at all, particularly, with your Grace. So that therefore as it
pleased your Grace, not only to confer an unsought profitable Honour upon
me (a Stranger) but also to continue it for Two Years, out of Your good
Opinion of my Performance, in some measure, answering Mr. _Boyle_’s End;
so I can do no less than make this publick, grateful Acknowledgment of
your Grace’s great and unexpected Favour.

But it is not my self alone; but the whole LECTURE also is beholden to
your _Grace_’s kind and pious Endeavours. It was You that encouraged this
noble Charity, and assisted in the Settlement of it, in the Honourable
_Founder_’s Life-time; and since his Death, it was You that procured a
more certain Salary for the LECTURERS, paid more constantly and duly
than it was before[a].

These Benefits as I my self have been a Sharer of, so I should be very
ungrateful should I not duly acknowledge, and repay with my repeated
Thanks and good Wishes And that the infinite Rewarder of well-doing may
give Your _Grace_ a plentiful Reward of these, and Your many other, both
Publick and Private Benefactions, is the hearty Wish of,

                              _Your GRACE’s
                         Most Humble and Thankful
                            Son and Servant_,

                                                                W. DERHAM.


FOOTNOTES:

[a] It may not only gratify the Reader’s Curiosity, but also be of Use
for preventing Encroachments in Time to come, to give the following
Account of Mr. _Boyle_’s Lectures.

Mr. _Boyle_, by a Codicil, dated _July 28. 1691._ and annexed to
his Will, charged his Messuage or Dwelling-House in St. _Michael_’s
_Crooked-Lane, London_, with the Payment of the clear Yearly Rents and
Profits thereof, to some Learned Divine in _London_, or within the Bills
of Mortality, to be Elected for a Term not exceeding Three Years, by his
Grace the present _Lord Archbishop_ of _Canterbury_ (then Dr. _Tenison_),
Sir _Henry Ashurst_, Sir _John Rotheram_, and _John Evelyn_, Esq; The
Business he appointed those Lectures for, was, among others, _to be
ready to satisfie real Scruples, and to answer such new Objections and
Difficulties, as might be started: to which good Answers had not been
made_.