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

7 8 Ath2ijls contend that the World is ill- made. "Book I.This Aiofument, a cxU rationihus, from aftronomy, or the conftitution of'the heavens, is this : that the mundane fphere is fo framed, in refpeft of thedifpofition of the jequator and ecHptic, as renders the greateft part of theearth uninhabitable to men and mod other animals ;partly by that excefs ofheat in the torrid zone (containing all between the tropicks) and partly fromthe extremity of cold in both the frigid zones, towards cither pole. Again,whereas the Stoical Theifts contemporary with Epicurus concluded, that thewhole world was made by a Deity, only for the fake of men.Caijlittiijfe Deum fingunt•Horum omnia caufdit is urged on the contrary, that a great part of the habitable earth is takennp by feas, lakes and rocks, barren heaths and fands, and thereby made ufe-Jefs for mankind ; and that the remainder of it yields no fruit to them, iinlefsexpugned by obflinate labour », after all which, men are often difappointedof the fruits of thofe labours by unfeafonable weather, ftorms and tempefls.Again, that nature has not only produced many noxious and poifonous herbs,but alfo dcftrudive and devouring animals, whofe ftrength furpafTeth that ofmens ; and that the condition of mankind is fo much inferior to that of brutes,that nature feems to have been but a ftep-mother to the former, whilfl fhehath been an indulgent mother to the latter. And to this purpofe, the mannerof mens coming into the world is thus aggravated by the poet:' Turn porro puer, ut ftcvis projeSius ab undisNavita^ ntidus humijacet^ infans, indigus omniVital auxilioy cum primiim in luminis orasNixibui ex aho malris natura profudit :Vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut a-quum ^Jl,9^ioi tantimi in vita rejiet tranfire malorum.But on the contrary, the comparative advantages of brutes and their privi-Jeges, which they have above men, are defcribed after this manner• At varia crefcunt pecudes, armenta, feneque :Nee crepitacula eis opu' funt nee quoiquam adbibenda 'JiA'miS nutricis blanda atque infracta loquela ;Nee varias qu^crunt vejlespro tempore cxli.Denique non armis opus eft, non mcenibus altis,9lueisfua tutentur, quando omnibus o?nnia largeMelius ipfa paritynaturdque Djdala rerum.And laftly, the topick of evils in general, is infilled upon by them, not thofewhich are called culpa:^ evils of fault (for that is a thing which the DemocritickAtheifts utterlyexplodeinthegenuinefenfeof it) butthe evils ofpainand trouble;which theydifputeconcerning,afterthismanner. The ' fuppofed Deity and makerof^ Vid. Lucret. Lib V. ver. 205, 20^. &. 3 Id. Lib \ . ver. 225.Cicer.- in Somnio Scipionis cap.VL p. 5pSi. 4 Id. ibid.Tom.XI. Opei-. 5 Vide Laftar. dc Ira Dei. cap. XIU.* Lutret. Lib. H. ver. 174, 17J. p. 542. Edit. Walchii.