The Existence of God

About this eBook

Author

Fénelon, François de Salignac de La Mothe-, 1651-1715

Credits

Transcribed by David Price

Language

English

LoC Class

BT: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Doctrinal theology, God, Christology

Subject

Ontology

Category

Text

eBook-No.

11044

Project Gutenberg

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11044

Release Date

February 1, 2004

Copyright

Public domain in the USA.

Contents

1. 1.THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
2. 2.INTRODUCTION
3. 3.THE EXISTENCE OF GOD — SECTION I. Metaphysical Proofs of the Existence of God are not within Everybody’s reach. — SECT. II. Moral Proofs of the Existence of God are fitted to every man’s capacity. — SECT. III. Why so few Persons are attentive to the Proofs Nature affords of the Existence of God. — SECT. IV. All Nature shows the Existence of its Maker. — SECT. V. Noble Comparisons proving that Nature shows the Existence of its Maker. First Comparison, drawn from Homer’s “Iliad.” — SECT. VI. Second Comparison, drawn from the Sound of Instruments. — SECT. VII. Third Comparison, drawn from a Statue. — SECT. VIII. Fourth Comparison, drawn from a Picture. — SECT. IX. A Particular Examination of Nature. — SECT. X. Of the General Structure of the Universe. — SECT. XI. Of the Earth. — SECT. XII. Of Plants. — SECT. XIII. Of Water. — SECT. XIV. Of the Air. — SECT. XV. Of Fire. — SECT. XVI. Of Heaven. — SECT. XVII. Of the Sun. — SECT. XVIII. Of the Stars. — SECT. XIX. Of Animals, Beasts, Fowl, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects. — SECT. XX. Admirable Order in which all the Bodies that make up the Universe are ranged. — SECT. XXI. Wonders of the Infinitely Little. — SECT. XXII. Of the Structure or Frame of the Animal. — SECT. XXIII. Of the Instinct of the Animal. — SECT. XXIV. Of Food. — SECT. XXV. Of Sleep. — SECT. XXVI. Of Generation. — SECT. XXVII. Though Beasts commit some Mistakes, yet their Instinct is, in many cases, Infallible. — SECT. XXVIII. It is impossible Beasts should have Souls. — SECT. XXIX. Sentiments of some of the Ancients concerning the Soul and Knowledge of Beasts. — SECT. XXX. Of Man. — SECT. XXXI. Of the Structure of Man’s Body. — SECT. XXXII. Of the Skin. — SECT. XXXIII. Of Veins and Arteries. — SECT. XXXIV. Of the Bones, and their Jointing. — SECT. XXXV. Of the Organs. — SECT. XXXVI. Of the Inward Parts. — SECT. XXXVII. Of the Arms and their Use. — SECT. XXXVIII. Of the Neck and Head. — SECT. XXXIX. Of the Forehead and Other Parts of the Face. — SECT. XL. Of the Tongue and Teeth. — SECT. XLI. Of the Smell, Taste, and Hearing. — SECT. XLII. Of the Proportion of Man’s Body. — SECT. XLIII. Of the Soul, which alone, among all Creatures, Thinks and Knows. — SECT. XLIV. Matter Cannot Think. — SECT. XLV. Of the Union of the Soul and Body, of which God alone can be the Author. — SECT. XLVI. The Soul has an Absolute Command over the Body. — SECT. XLVII. The Power of the Soul over the Body is not only Supreme or Absolute, but Blind at the same time. — SECT. XLVIII. The Sovereignty of the Soul over the Body principally appears in the Images imprinted in the Brain. — SECT. XLIX. Two Wonders of the Memory and Brain. — SECT. L. The Mind of Man is mixed with Greatness and Weakness. Its Greatness consists in two things. First, the Mind has the Idea of the Infinite. — SECT. LI. The Mind knows the Finite only by the Idea of the Infinite. — SECT. LII. Secondly, the Ideas of the Mind are Universal, Eternal, and Immutable. — SECT. LIII. Weakness of Man’s Mind. — SECT. LIV. The Ideas of Man are the Immutable Rules of his Judgment. — SECT. LV. What Man’s Reason is. — SECT. LVI. Reason is the Same in all Men, of all Ages and Countries. — SECT. LVII. Reason in Man is Independent of and above Him. — SECT. LVIII. It is the Primitive Truth, that Lights all Minds, by communicating itself to them. — SECT. LIX. It is by the Light of Primitive Truth a Man Judges whether what one says to him be True or False. — SECT. LX. The Superior Reason that resides in Man is God Himself; and whatever has been above discovered to be in Man, are evident Footsteps of the Deity. — SECT. LXI. New sensible Notices of the Deity in Man, drawn from the Knowledge he has of Unity. — SECT. LXII. The Idea of the Unity proves that there are Immaterial Substances; and that there is a Being Perfectly One, who is God. — SECT. LXIII. Dependence and Independence of Man. His Dependence Proves the Existence of his Creator. — SECT. LXIV. Good Will cannot Proceed but from a Superior Being. — SECT. LXV. As a Superior Being is the Cause of All the Modifications of Creatures, so it is Impossible for Man’s Will to Will Good by Itself or of its own Accord. — SECT. LXVI. Of Man’s Liberty. — SECT. LXVII. Man’s Liberty Consists in that his Will by determining, Modifies Itself. — SECT. LXVIII. Will may Resist Grace, and Its Liberty is the Foundation of Merit and Demerit. — SECT. LXIX. A Character of the Deity, both in the Dependence and Independence of Man. — SECT. LXX. The Seal and Stamp of the Deity in His Works. — SECT. LXXI. Objection of the Epicureans, who Ascribe Everything to Chance, considered. — SECT. LXXII. Answer to the Objection of the Epicureans, who Ascribe all to Chance. — SECT. LXXIII. Comparison of the World with a Regular House. A Continuation of the Answer to the Objection of the Epicureans. — SECT. LXXIV. Another Objection of the Epicureans drawn from the Eternal Motion of Atoms. — SECT. LXXV. Answers to the Objection of the Epicureans drawn from the Eternal Motion of Atoms. — SECT. LXXVI. The Epicureans confound the Works of Art with those of Nature. — SECT. LXXVII. The Epicureans take whatever they please for granted, without any Proof. — SECT. LXXVIII. The Suppositions of the Epicureans are False and Chimerical. — SECT. LXXIX. It is Falsely supposed that Motion is Essential to Bodies. — SECT. LXXX. The Rules of Motion, which the Epicureans suppose do not render it essential to Bodies. — SECT. LXXXI. To give a satisfactory Account of Motion we must recur to the First Mover. — SECT. LXXXII. No Law of Motion has its Foundation in the Essence of the Body; and most of those Laws are Arbitrary. — SECT. LXXXIII. The Epicureans can draw no Consequence from all their Suppositions, although the same should be granted them. — SECT. LXXXIV. Atoms cannot make any Compound by the Motion the Epicureans assign them. — SECT. LXXXV. The Clinamen, Declination, or Sending of Atoms is a Chimerical Notion that throws the Epicureans into a gross Contradiction. — SECT. LXXXVI. Strange Absurdity of the Epicureans, who endeavour to account for the Nature of the Soul by the Declination of Atoms. — SECT. LXXXVII. The Epicureans cast a Mist before their own Eyes by endeavouring to explain the Liberty of Man by the Declination of Atoms. — SECT. LXXXVIII. We must necessarily acknowledge the Hand of a First Cause in the Universe without inquiring why that first Cause has left Defects in it. — SECT. LXXXIX. The Defects of the Universe compared with those of a Picture. — SECT. XC. We must necessarily conclude that there is a First Being that created the Universe. — SECT. XCI. Reasons why Men do not acknowledge God in the Universe, wherein He shows Himself to them, as in a faithful glass. — SECT. XCII. A Prayer to God.

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