I ESSAY XVI. OF ATHEISM. HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind; and, therefore, God never wrought miracles to convince1 atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth Man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of Man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity: nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism, doth most demonstrate religion; that is, the school of Leucippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus-for it is a thousand times more credible, that four mutable elements and one immutable fifth essence, duly and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army of infinite small portions, or seeds unplaced, should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal. The Scripture saith, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; it is not said, 'The fool hath thought in his heart;' so as3 he rather saith it by rote to himself, as that he would have, than that he can thoroughly believe it, or be persuaded of it; for none deny there is a God, but those for whom it maketh that there were no God. It appeareth in nothing more, that atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of Man, than by this, that atheists will ever be talking of that their opinion, as if they fainted in it themselves, and would be glad to be strengthened by the consent of others; nay, more, you shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as it fareth with other sects; and, which is most of all, you shall have them that will suffer for atheism, and 1 Convince. Convict; prove guilty. To convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds.'-Epistle of Jude. 3 As. That. See page 23. 2 Psalm xiv. I. 4 That. What. See page 65. 5 For whom it maketh. To whom it would be advantageous. 6 Consent. Agreement in opinion. 'Socrates, by the consent of all excellent writers that followed him, was approved to be the wisest man of all Greece.'-Sir J. Elyot. not recant whereas, if they did truly think that there were no such thing as God, why should they trouble themselves? Epicurus is charged, that he did but dissemble for his credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blest natures, but such as enjoy themselves without having respect to the government of the world, wherein they say he did temporize, though in secret he thought there was no God; but certainly he is traduced, for his words are noble and divine; 'Non deos vulgi negare profanum: sed vulgi opiniones diis applicare profanum." Plato could have said no more; and although he had the confidence to deny the administration, he had not the power to deny the nature. The Indians of the West have names for their particular gods, though they have no name for God; as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, &c., but not the word Deus: which shows, that even those barbarous people have the notion, though they have not the latitude and extent of it; so that against atheists the very savages take part with the very subtilest philosophers. The contemplative atheist is rare-a Diagoras, a Bion, a Lucian, perhaps, and some others: and yet they seem to be more than they are, for that all that impugn a received religion, or superstition, are, by the adverse part, branded with the name of atheists; but the great atheists indeed are hypocrites, which are ever handling holy things, but without feeling, so as they must needs be cauterized in the end. The causes of atheism are, divisions in religion, if there be many; for any one main division addeth zeal to both sides, but many divisions introduce atheism: another is, scandal of priests, when it is come to that which St. Bernard saith, Non est jam dicere, ut populus, sic sacerdos; quia nec sic populus, ut sacerdos." A third is, a custom of profane scoffing in holy matters, which doth by little and little deface the reverence of religion and lastly, learned times, especially with peace and prosperity; for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. They that deny a God destroy a man's 1 It is not profane to deny the gods of the common people, but it is profane to apply to the gods the notions of the common people.'-Diog. Laert. x. 123. 2 Confidence. Boldness. 3 It is not now to be said, As the people, so the priest; because the people are not such as the priests are.' nobility, for certainly Man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, and the raising human nature; for, take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on when he finds himself maintained by a man, who to him is instead of a God, or melior natura'-which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that confidence of a better nature than his own, could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith which human nature in itself could not obtain; therefore, as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty. As it is in particular persons, so it is in nations :-never was there such a state for magnanimity as Rome. Of this state hear what Cicero saith: Quam volumus, licet, patres conscripti, nos amemus, tamen nec numero Hispanos, nec robore Gallos, nec calliditate Poenos, nec artibus Græcos, nec denique hoc ipso hujus gentis et terræ domestico nativoque sensu Italos ipsos et Latinos; sed pietate, ac religione, atque hac una sapientia, quod deorum immortalium numine omnia regi, gubernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes nationesque superavimus.” ANNOTATIONS. 'I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.' It is evident from this, that Bacon had seized the just view respecting credulity; seeing plainly that 'to disbelieve is to believe.' If one man believes that there is a God, and another 1 A better nature. 2 Confidence. Firm belief. Society is built upon trust, and trust upon confi dence of one another's integrity.'-South. 3Let us be as partial to ourselves as we will, Conscript Fathers, yet we have not surpassed the Spaniards in number, nor the Gauls in strength, nor the Carthaginians in cunning, nor the Greeks in the arts, nor, lastly, the Latins and Italians of this nation and land, in natural intelligence about home-matters; but we have excelled all nations and people in piety and religion, and in this one wisdom of fully recognising that all things are ordered and governed by the power of the immortal gods.'-Cic. De Har. Resp. 9. that there is no God, whichever holds the less reasonable of these two opinions is chargeable with credulity. For, the only way to avoid credulity and incredulity-the two necessarily going together is to listen to, and yield to, the best evidence, and to believe and disbelieve on good grounds. And however imperfectly and indistinctly we may understand the attributes of God-of the Eternal Being who made and who governs all things-the 'mind of this universal frame,' the proof of the existence of a Being possessed of them is most clear and full; being, in fact, the very same evidence on which we believe in the existence of one another. How do we know that men exist? (that is, not merely Beings having a certain visible bodily form-for that is not what we chiefly imply by the word Man,-but rational agents, such as we call men). Surely not by the immediate evidence of our senses, (since mind is not an object of sight), but by observing the things performed-the manifest result of rational contrivance. If we land in a strange country, doubting whether it be inhabited, as soon as we find, for instance, a boat, or a house, we are as perfectly certain that a man has been there, as if he had appeared before our eyes. Yet the atheist believes that 'this universal frame is without a mind;' that it was the production of chance; that the particles of matter of which the world consists, moved about at random, and accidentally fell into the shape it now bears. Surely the atheist has little reason to make a boast of his 'incredulity,' while believing anything so strange and absurd as that an army of infinitely small portions of seeds unplaced, should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal.' In that phenomenon in language, that both in the Greek and Latin, nouns of the neuter gender, denoting things, invariably had the nominative and the accusative the same, or rather, had an accusative only, employed as a nominative when required,may there not be traced an indistinct consciousness of the persuasion that a mere thing is not capable of being an agent, which a person only can really be; and that the possession of power, strictly so called, by physical causes, is not conceivable, or their capacity to maintain, any more than to produce at first, the system of the Universe?-whose continued existence, as well as its origin, seems to depend on the continued operation of the great Creator. May there not be in this an admission that the laws of nature presuppose an agent, and are incapable of being the cause of their own observance ? 'Epicurus is charged, that he did but dissemble for his credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures wherein they say he did but temporize, though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is traduced.. It is remarkable that Bacon, like many others very conversant with ancient Mythology, failed to perceive that the pagan nations were in reality atheists. They mistake altogether the real character of the pagan religions.' They imagine that all men, in every age and country, had always designed to worship one Supreme God, the Maker of all things; and that the error of the Pagans consisted merely in the false accounts they gave of Him, and in their worshipping other inferior gods besides. But this is altogether a mistake. Bacon was, in this, misled by words, as so many have been,-the very delusion he so earnestly warns men against. The Pagans used the word 'God;' but in a different sense from us. For by the word God, we understand an Eternal Being, who made and who governs all things. And if any one should deny that there is any such Being, we should say that he was an atheist; even though he might believe that there do exist Beings superior to Man, such as the Fairies and Genii, in whom the uneducated in many parts of Europe still believe. Accordingly, the apotle Paul (Ephes. ii. 12) expressly calls the ancient Pagans atheists (a0eo), though he well knew that they worshipped certain supposed superior Beings which they called gods. But he says in the Epistle to the Romans, that 'they worshipped the creature more than3 (that is, instead of) the Creator.' And at Lystra (Acts xiv. 15), when the people were going to do sacrifice to him and Barnabas, mistaking them 1 See Lessons on Religious Worship, L. ii. * See Pope's Universal Prayer :— 'Father of all, in every age, * Παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα. In every clime adored; L 이 |