wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

Chap. II. Nothing out of Nothing, 65yet they all agree in this, that God is, in fome fcnfe or other, the creatorof fome real entity out of nothing, or the caufe of that which otherwifewould not have been ot it felf, lb that no creation out of nothing, (in thatenlarged fenfe) no Deity. Now it is utterly impoffible, that any fubflance orreal entity (hould be created out of nothing (it being coatradiclious to thatindubitable axiom of reafon, de nihilo nihil, from nothing nothing. Theargument is thus urged by Liiaetiui, according to the minds of Epiaivus andDemocritus'Principiur.i hiiic ciijus nobis exordia fumet^Nullum rem e nihilo gigni divinitiis iinqtiam.Sluippe ita formido mortales continet cmnes,i^hd mulia in terris fieri caloque tuentur,^(orum operuni caiifas nulla ratione viderePoffimt, ac fieri divino numine rentiiri^ias ob reSy ubividerimus nil pojfie creariDe nihiloy turn quodfeqiwnur, jam tutilts indePerfpiciemus, Q itnde queat res qu^tque creari^Et quo quxque modofiant opera fine diviim.It is true indeed, that it feems to be chiefly level'd by the poet againfl: thatthird and Jaft fort of Thcifts before mentioned, fuch as Heraclitus and the Stoicks,(which latter were contemporary with Epicurus) who held the matter ofthe whole world to have been from eternity of it felf uncreated, but yet theforms of mundane things in the fucceffive generations of them (as entitiesdiftinft from the matter) to be created or made by the Deity out of nothing.But theforce of theargument muft needslie ftronger againfl: thofeother Theifts,who would have the very fubftance and matter it felf of the world, as well asthe forms, to have been created by the Deity out of nothing. Since nothingcan come out of nothing, it follows, that not fo much as the forms and qualitiesof bodies (conceiv'd as entities really diftinft from the matter,) much lefsthe lives and fouls of animals, could ever have been created by any Deity, andtherefore certainly not the fubftance and matter it lelf. But all fubftance andreal entity, whatfoever is in the world, muft needs have been from eternity,uncreated and felf-exiftent. Nothing can be made or produced but only thedifferent modifications of pre-exiftent matter. And this is done by motions,mixtures and feparations, concretions and fecretions of atoms, without thecreation of any real diftinft entity out of nothing; fo that there needs noDeity for the effe«5ling of it, according to that of Epicurus, n Selx (?)uV(? tt^oVTauT« |U»i(Ja,u>i 7rpo(raj'£(&w, no divine powcr ought to be called in fior the fiolvingof thofe ph.fno7nena. To conclude therefore, if no fubftance, nor real entitycan be made, which was not before, but all whatfoever is, will be, and canbe, was from eternity felf-exiftent ; then creative power, but efpecially thatattribute of omnipotence, can belong to nothing; and this is all one as toiay,there can be no Deity.' Lib. I. vcrf. ijo, Sec.KVII.