would not at all augment the useful wealth of the world; since there would be no advantage in having two ounces of gold to purchase the goods which were before sold for one. Those therefore who were enriched, must be enriched at the cost of some others.

• There useth to be more trepidation in court upon the first breaking out of troubles than were fit

To expect to tranquillize and benefit a country by gratifying its agitators, would be like the practice of the superstitious of old with their sympathetic powders and ointments; who, instead of applying medicaments to the wound, contented themselves with salving the sword which had inflicted it. Since the days of Dane-gelt downwards,-nay, since the world was created,nothing but evil has resulted from concessions made to intimidation.

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;'2 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 5 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

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1 Convince. Convict; prove guilty. To convince all that are ungodly among themof all their ungodly deeds.'-Epistle of Jude.

2 Psalm xiv. 1.

4 That. What. See page 83.

3 As. That. See page 27.

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.

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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.' 3 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.

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.'

They that deny a God destroy a man's 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 rising 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 natura1-which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that confidence 2 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.'

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3

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

1 A better nature.

2 Confidence. Firm belief. Society is built upon trust, and trust upon confidence of one another's integrity.'-South.

3 Let 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 recognizing that all things are ordered and governed by the power of the immortal gods.'-Cic. De Har. Resp. 9.

respecting credulity; seeing plainly that 'to disbelieve is to believe.' If one man believes that there is a God, and another 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 or 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,