Fear) especially in times of Difficulty, Danger, and Adverfity. And he commends this *Saying of EPICURUS as divine, “That "wife Men are not profane when they "deny the Gods of the common People, "but they are profane when they think "the Gods are fuch as the common People "believe in."

HE likewife shows his Sufpicion of the Facts upon which moft of the Superftitions of the World are grounded, when he fays, That whatever any way has the leaft relation to Religion, is particularly liable to Sufpicion as for inftance, the strange Storys and Prodigys recorded by LIVY.

LASTLY, He faw clearly into the Mifchief of Superftition, when he prefer'd Atheifm to it in his Effay upon that Subject.

(18.) THOMAS HOBBES of Malmef bury, notwithstanding his feveral falfe Opinions and his High-Church Politicks, is a great inftance of Learning, Virtue, and Free-Thinking. My Lord CLARENDON

* Ut Divine Epicurus locutus fit, Non Deos vulgi nëgare profanum, fed vulgi opiniones Diis applicare profanum. Ibid.

+ Maxime habenda funt pro fufpeétis quæ quomodocunque dependent à Religione, ut prodigia Livii. Nov. Org. 1.2. aph. 29.

fays,

fays, His Leviathan contains in it good Learning of all kinds, politely extracted, and very wittily and cunningly digested in a very commendable Method, and in a vigorous and pleafant Stile.That among the excellent P. 16. Qualitys, Parts, and Facultys with which Mr. HOBBES is plentifully endow'd, his Order and Method, and his clear Expreffions, his Conceptions in weighty, proper, and fignificant Words, are very remarkable and commendable.

That his whole Book difcovers a Master- P. 21. Faculty in making hard things eafy to be understood. But for his Virtue, my Lord fays, He is one of his oldeft Acquaintance, and P. 3. of whom he has always had a great esteem, as a Man who, befides his eminent Parts of Learning and Knowledg, hath been always look'd on as a Man of Probity, and of a Life free from Scandal.

(19.) THE next Inftance I fhall lay before you, fhall be Archbishop TILLOTSON; whom all English Free-Thinkers own as their Head, and whom even the Enemys of Free-Thinking will allow to be a proper Inftance to my purpofe. His Learning and Good Senfe are difputed by none. And for his Virtue and FreeThinking, I appeal to Dr. HICK ES, who

* Survey, P. 2.

fays,

fays, He caus'd feveral to turn Atheists, and ridicule the Priesthood and Religion; and who records him for the Graveft Atheift that ever was. Where by a Promoter of Atheism and Contempt of the Priestbood, and by Atheist, ought to be understood (confidering whofe Language it is, and to whom it is apply'd) a Man who did not take up his Opinions upon the Authority of any Man, or encourage others to do fo, that is, a FreeThinker; and by Grave, ought to be underftood a Man of Virtue and Morals. But his Works are the nobleft Teftimony. They, tho chiefly confifting of Sermons, tend to the promoting of true Religion or Virtue (in the practice whereof the Peace and Happinefs of Society confift) and Free-Thinking: and in them he has greatly exceeded the Idea he us'd to give of the Goodness of a Sermon, by frequently repeating the words of a witty Man, That it was a good Sermon which bad no hurt in it.

WHAT a charming Idea does he give us of the Deity? It is alone fufficient, without any further Argument, to make the Atheist with there were a Deity, and by filencing his Prejudices difpofe him to Conviction. † Did but Men, fays he, confider

*Hickes's Difc. on Tillotson and Burnet, p. 38, 40, 74Sermons, vol. 1. p. 69.

the

the true Notion of God, he would appear fo lovely a Being, and so full of Goodness, and of all defirable Perfections, that even those very Perfons who are of fuch irregular UnderStandings as not to believe there is a God, yet could not refrain from wishing with all their bearts that there were one. For is it not really defirable to every Man, that there should be fuch a Being, as takes particular care of every one of us, and loves us, and delights to do us good; as understands all our Wants, and is able and willing to relieve us in our greatest Is it not every ftraits, when nothing else can? Man's intereft, that there should be fuch a Governour of the World, as really defigns our Happiness, and bath omitted nothing that is neceffary to it; as would govern us for our advantage, and will require nothing of us but what is for our good, and yet will infinitely reward us for the doing of that which is best for our felves? And we have reason to believe God to be fuch a Being, if he be at all.

WHAT a Christianity, and how different from that of the Impofers of Creeds, Ceremonies, and particular Forms of Ecclefiaftical Government, does he fet before us? *All the Dutys, fays he, of Chriftian Religion which respect God, are no other but what natural Light prompt Men to, excepting

P. 18.

P. 73.

P.77.

the two Sacraments, and praying to God in the Name aud by the Mediation of Chrift. And even thefe things (which lay no Obligation upon us, but as they are the pure pofitive Commands of God) he justly observes, are of lefs moment than any of those parts of Religion which in their own nature tend to the Happiness of human Society. * For, fays he, I think my felf oblig'd to deal plainly, and to be fo faithful to Mothers, as to tell them that nurfing their own Children is a natural Duty; and because it is fo, of a more indifpenfable Obligation than any pofitive Precept of Reveal'd Religion. And as he plainly faw, That all Sects are commonly moft hot and furious for those things for which there is leaft reafon fo he had the courage to say, Better it were that there were no Reveal'd Religion, and that human Nature were left to the Conduct of its own Principles and Inclinations, which are much more mild and merciful, much more for the Peace and Happiness of human Society, than to be acted by a Religion which inspires Men with fo wild a Fury.

THEN, in the Interpretation of what God has reveal'd, he fays we are to govern our felves by our natural Notions; and that a Miracle is not enough to give credit to a

* Six Sermons, &c. p. 73.

+ Vol. 3. p. 350.

Prophet,