[Division out of his mouth to drown them, and striking at their shallops with his tail to overwhelm them, at last to draw this formidable creature to the shore, or to their ship, and slice him in pieces, and boil him in a cauldron, and tun him up in oil. I have provided three good harping-irons for myself to dart at this monster, and am resolved to try my skill and fortune, whether I can be as successful against this phantastic Leviathan, as they are against the true Leviathan. My first dart is aimed at his heart, or theological part of of the argu- his discourse; to shew that his principles are not consistent ment.] either with Christianity or any other religion. The second dart is aimed at the chine, whereby this vast body is united and fitted for animal motion, that is, the political part of his discourse; to shew that his principles are pernicious to all forms of government, and all societies, and destroy all relations between man and man. The third dart is aimed at his head, or rational part of his discourse; to shew that his principles are inconsistent with themselves, and contradict one another. Let him take heed. If these three darts do pierce his Leviathan home, it is not all the dittany which groweth in Crete, that can make them drop easily out of his body, without the utter overthrow of his cause. [Virg., Æn., xii. 411-419.—Plin., Hist. Nat., viii. 27. xxv. 8.] tates the ship of THE Image of God is not altogether defaced by the fall of Nature dicman, but that there will remain some practical notions of existence God and goodness; which, when the mind is free from and wor. vagrant desires and violent passions, do shine as clearly in God. the heart, as other speculative notions do in the head. Hence it is, that there never was any nation so barbarous or savage throughout the whole world, which had not their God. They who did never wear clothes upon their backs, who did never know magistrate but their father, yet have their God, and their religious rites and devotions to Him. Hence it is, that the greatest atheists in any sudden danger do unwittingly cast their eyes up to Heaven, as craving aid from thence, and in a thunder creep into some hole to hide themselves. And they who are conscious to themselves of any secret crimes, though they be secure enough from the justice of men, do yet feel the blind blows of a guilty conscience, and fear Divine vengeance. This is acknowledged by T. H. himself in his lucid intervals :-"That we may know what worship of God natural reason doth assign, let us begin with His attributes; where it is manifest, in the first place, that existency is to be attributed to Him." To which he addeth, "infiniteness-in a["Quos diri conscia facti Mens habet attonitos et surdo verbere cædit." Juv., Sat., xiii. 193, 194.] b De Cive, c. xv. § 14. [p. 182. "Ut sciamus autem quem cultum Dei PART friend to religion, comprehensibility-unity-ubiquity." Thus for attributes, next for actions :-" Concerning external actions, wherewith God is to be worshipped, the most general precept of reason is, that they be signs of honour; under which are contained T. H. no prayers-thanksgivings-oblations and sacrificesd." Yet, to let us see how inconsistent and irreconcileable he is with himself, elsewhere, reckoning up all the laws of nature at large, even twenty in number, he hath not one word that concerneth religion, or that hath the least relation in the world to God. As if a man were like the colt of a wild ass in the wilderness, without any owner or obligation. Thus, in describing the laws of nature, this great clerk forgetteth the God of nature, and the main and principal laws of nature, which contain a man's duty to his God and the principal end of his creation. Perhaps he will say, that he handleth the laws of nature there, only so far as may serve to the constitution or settlement of a commonwealth. In good time; let it be so. He hath devised us a trim commonwealth; which is neither founded upon religion towards God, nor justice towards man, but merely upon self-interest and self-preservation. Those rays of heavenly light, those natural seeds of religion, which God Himself hath imprinted in the heart of man, are more efficacious towards the preservation of a society, whether we regard the nature of the thing or the blessing of God, than all his "pacts," and "surrenders"," and "translations of powerh" He who unteacheth men [Eph. vi. 6. their duty to God, may make them 'eye-servants,' so long 22.] as their interest doth oblige them to obey, but is no fit master to teach men conscience and fidelity. -Col. iii. Without religion, societies are but like soapy bubbles, quickly dissolved. It was the judgment of as wise a man as T. H. himself (though perhaps he will hardly be persuaded to it), that Rome owed more of its grandeur to religion than either to strength or stratagems;-" We have not exceeded the Spaniards in number, nor the Gauls in strength, nor the [De Cive, c. xv. § 14. pp. 183, 184.] [Ibid., p. 185.-" Circa actiones externas quibus Deus colendus est,.. generalissimum rationis præceptum est, ut sint signa animi honorantis; sub quo continentur, primo, preces, . . . secundo, gratiarum actio, . . . tertio, dona, id est oblationes et sacrificia."] e [Ibid., c. ii. § 3: c. iii. § 1-25: pp. 14, 24-36.] ["Pacta:" ibid., c. ii. § 9. p. 17; and passim.] h ["Donationes:" ibid., § 8. p. 16.] ["Translationes juris:" ibid., § 4. p. 14; and passim.] Carthaginians in craft, nor the Grecians in art," &c., "but DISCOURSE we have overcome all nations by our piety and religion'." Among his laws he inserteth "gratitude" to man, as “the third precept of the law of naturej;" but of the gratitude of mankind to their Creator, there is a deep silence. If men had sprung up from the earth in a night, like mushrooms or excrescences, without all sense of honour, justice, conscience, or gratitude, he could not have vilified the human nature more than he doth. From this shameful omission or preterition of the main 872 duty of mankind, a man might easily "take the height" of T. H. his religion. But he himself putteth it past all conjectures. His principles are brimfull of prodigious impiety. "In these four things, opinions of ghosts, ignorance of second causes, devotion to what men fear, and taking of things casual for prognostics, consisteth the natural seed of religion';" the "culture" and improvement whereof, he referreth only to "policy,"-"human" and "Divine politics" are but politics. And again,-"Mankind hath this from the conscience of their own weakness, and the admiration of natural events, that the most part of men believe that there is an invisible God, the Maker of all visible things"." And a little after he telleth us, that "superstition proceedeth from fear without right reason, and atheism from an opinion of reason without fear";" making atheism to be more reasonable than superstition. What is now become of that "Divine worship" which "natural reason did assign unto God," the "honour" of "existence-infiniteness-incomprehensibility-unity-ubiquity?" What is now become of that dictate or "precept of reason," concerning "prayers, thanksgivings, oblations, sacrifices ?" if uncertain "opinions, ignorance, fear," mistakes, the "conscience" of our "own weakness," and "the admiration of natural events," be the only "seeds of religion"." i Cic., De Harusp. Respons., Orat. in P. Clod., [c. ix.] De Cive, c. iii. § 8. [pp. 28, 29.] k [Qu., Animadv. upon Numb. xxxiv. pp. 323, 324.-"By this argument a man may easily take the height of the Bishop's logic."] Leviath., [Pt. I. c. xii.] p. 54. m De Cive, c. xvi. § 1. (p. 194.— Habet hoc humanum genus ab imbe cilitatis propriæ conscientiâ et admira- "[Ibid." Hæc enim" (supersti- • [See above notes b, c, d.] III. PART III. Excuseth atheism. He proceedeth further;-that atheism itself, "though it be an erroneous opinion, and therefore a sin, yet it ought to be numbered among the sins of imprudence or ignorance"." He addeth, that "an atheist is punished, not as a subject is punished by his king, because he did not observe laws, but as an enemy by an enemy, because he would not accept laws." His reason is, because the atheist never submitted his will to the will of God, Whom he never thought to be'. And he concludeth, that man's obligation to obey God proceedeth from his weakness;-" Manifestum est obligationem ad prestandum ipsi" (Deo) "obedientiam incumbere hominibus propter imbecilitatems." First, it is impossible that should be a sin of mere "ignorance" or "imprudence," which is directly contrary to the light of natural reason. The laws of nature need no new promulgation, being imprinted naturally by God in the heart of man. "The law of nature was written in our hearts by the finger of God, without our assent;" or rather, "the law of nature is the assent itself "" Then if nature dictate to us, that there is a God, and that this God is to be worshipped in such and such manner, it is not possible that atheism should be a sin of mere "ignorance." Secondly, a rebellious subject is still a subject de jure, though not de facto, by right though not by deed; and so the most cursed atheist that is, ought by right to be the subject of God, and ought to be punished, not as a just "enemy," but as a disloyal traitor : which is confessed by himself;-"This fourth sin” (that is, of those who "do not by word and deed confess one God the Supreme King of Kings") "in the natural Kingdom of God is the crime of high treason, for it is a denial of Divine power, or atheism"." Then an atheist is a traitor to God, and |