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

1 1 That all Atheijls held the Eternity Book I.^ , ^ ,^be alfo things incorpereal. I fay, we have not concluded them Atheifts,merely for this reafon, becaufe they denied incorporeal fubftance, but becaufethey deduced all things whatfoever from dead and ftupid matter, andmade every thing in the world, befides the bare fubftance of matter, devoidof all quality, generablc and corruptible.Now we fliall take notice of an objeftion, made by fome late writers, a-gainft this Ariftotelick accufation of the old philofophers, founded upon apafTage of ^rj/?o//f's own, whoelfewhere in his book D^ Gy/o, fpeaking of the[p. 632. heaven or world, plainly affirms, yniy.iMv fj-vj iv a.Trx\nti ilvxiOxTiv, that all theTom. I.philofophers before himfelf did qjfert the world to have been made, or have had a^pf'' J beginning. From whence thefe writers infer, that therefore they muft needsbe all Theifts, and hold the divine creation of the world; and confequently,that Arijlotle contradicts himielf, in reprefenting many of them as Atheifts,acknowledging only one material principle of the whole univerfe, withoutany intending or efficient caufe. But wc cannot but pronounce this to be agreat error in thefe writers, to conclude all thofe, who held the world tohave been made, therefore to have been Theifts ; whereas it is certain on thecontrary, that all the firft and moft ancient Atheifts did (in Arijio tie's, language;Ht)(7^y.o7roifii 57 yinoi'j -tov y.o(Ty.o\i, make or generate to the "world, that is,fuppofe it not to have been from eternity, but to have had a temporary beginning; as likewife that it was corruptible, and would fome time or other,have an end again. The fenfe of which atheiftick philofophers is reprefentedby Lucretius in this manner ' :Et quoniani doctii, mundi mortalia templaEJfe, (sf nativo conjiftere corpore ccelum,Kt q^Uiecunque in eo fiunt, fientque, neceffeEffe ea dijjolvi.And there feems to be indeed a neceffity, in reafon, that they, who derive allthings from a fortuitous principle, and hold every thing befides the fubftanceof matter to have been generated, fhould fuppofe the world to have been generatedlikewife, as alfo to be corruptible. Wherefore it may well be reckonedfor one of the vulgar errors, that all Atheifts held the eternity of theworld.Moreover, when Ariflotle fubjoins immediately after, aXAa •ysvoy.mv, cl yhd'l'fiov, 01 St (pOa^Toi;, that though the ancient philofophers all held the world tohave been made, yet notwithftanding they were divided in this, that fomeof them fuppofed for all that, that it would continue to eternity fuch as it is,others, that it would be corrupted again ; the former of thefe, who conceivedthe world to be ysvoysvov, but ocloiov, made, but eternal, were none of themAtheifts, but all Theifts. Such as Plato, whom Arijlotle feems particularly toperftringe for this, who in his 7V;»^aj introduceth the fupreme Deity befpeakingthofe inferior gods, the fun, moon and ftars (fuppofed by that philoibpher_» Lib. VI. ver. 45. Adde Lib. V. ver. 235.to