For an account of the opinions of other Grecian theologists, se would willingly refer to Cicero's treatise De Ncbtra Deorinn ; but we most caution our readers against relying implicitly on his authority. His enu meration is not complete, and his view of the different systems is not only incorrect, but sometimes contra dictory. Neither can we vouch for the accuracy of the lahorious Cudworth, who, in his attempt to overthrow the different atheistical hypotheses, was anxious to avail himself of every expression in the writings of the ancients which could be interpreted NO as to support his peculiar system. Bayle and Lord Bolingbroke have many observations on the subject, but they also had preconceived notions to support • Till the time of Anaxagoras, the leaders of the Ionic school were atheists in the strictest sense of ' the word. There is some doubt with regard to Thales, whose language is extremely ambiguous ; but the tenets of his immediate followers, Anax inian der and Anaximenes, are decidedly hostile to the sup position, that mind was the first principle of things. If there were gods, they were either air itself, or the progeny of air. Diogenes Apolloniates held a simi lar opinion, which approached very nearly to the system of Spinoza.
We shall only mention the names of Democritus, Leucippus, Diagoras, Protagoras, Epicurus, Theo dorus, Strato of Lampsacus, Eumerus, Hippo, and Bien of Borysthenes; all of whom either rejected the belief in God altogether, or insisted that it was un necessary to have recourse to this supposition in or der to account for the formation of things ; or at least professed themselves unable to perceive any evi dences that a God exists.
At a period equally ancient, Confucius, though he spoke sometimes of the Spirit of Heaven, is general ly believed to have propagated an atheistical creed among his followers, insomuch that from his time the literati of China have been considered as a race of atheists. It is alleged by others, that Foe, before his death, revealed to a few disciples his secret doctrine, that inanity and vacuity were the principles of all things ; and this incomprehensible dogma having transpired, is said to have given rise to the infidel no tions of the philosophers. Couplet the Jesuit en deavours to vindicate Confucius from the charge, and Sir William Jones subscribes to the opinion of that missionary ; but we must own, that neither in the writings of Confucius, nor in the religious worship of the people, is there any trace of a belief in a Supreme God, or in any powers much superior to human be ings. Sir William Temple is said to have been a follower of Confucius, and to have believed that this world existed in its present form from all eternity.
In modern times, the systems of Spinoza and Hobbes have been the most remarkable. The fol lowers of the former call themselves Pantheists, as they maintain God and the universe to be the same. The most impious among them were Meier a phy sician, Lucas, also a physician, Count Boulainvilliers, and John Toland.
Among modern atheists we may also mention Barbara, the wife of the Emperor Sigismund, a rare instance, says Bayle, of such an error being maintained by a woman. Averroes, Campanella, the Popes Leo X. and Clement VII., Cxsalpinus, Des Barreaux, and Charron, have also been accused by different writers ; but with what degree of justice, we do not pretend to decide. We know well, that the
following persons suffered death for their perverted zeal in endeavouring to disseminate atheistical prin ciples. Giordano Bruno, the author of many im pious works, was burnt at Rome in 1600.* Vanini was burnt at Toulouse, in 1629, and to the last mo ment obstinately adhered to the profession of his un belief. Casimir Leszynski, a Polish knight, was burnt at Warsaw in 16S9, and, after the body was consumed, his ashes were collected and shot from ' the mouth of a cannon. Cosmo Ruggeri, a Floren tine, one of the most audacious infidels of any age, died at Paris in 1615, uttering the most horrible im pieties. We might have mentioned also, that among the ancients, Protagoras and Diagoras, followers of Democritus, and Theodorus one of the Cyrenaic sect, were accounted martyrs for atheism. The first was banished, the second condemned and obliged to flee from his country, and the last underwent the punishment a death.
It has been common to reduce this variety of profes sed atheists to a few general classes. In the first volume of Observationes Select. ad Rem. lit. Spectant. it is said that there were three degrees of atheism among the ancients. 1. The denial of the existence of God : 2. Denying that the world is the work of the God or Gods who are acknowledged : and, 3. Asserting that God, in creating the world, was moved, not by his own free will, but by the invincible necessity of nature. Under the last head, Aristotle and the Stoics are comprehended.
We may in general terms refer all atheists to two principal divisions, those who accounted for the pre sent system of things on the supposition of chance, and those who ascribed all things to fate. Cudworth subdivides these classes into four ; two of whom be lieved matter to be animated, and the two others in animate. The first class were the Illi/ozoists, or Stra tonici, (so named from Strato of Lampsacus,). who believed all the particles of matter to have life essen tially, though without sense or knowledge. Hobbes is supposed to have borrowed some of his notions from this school. A second scheme, called the Pseudo-Zenonian, or Stoical, supposes the universe to be disposed and ordered by one regular and me thodical, but senseless plastic nature. Seneca, and the younger Pliny, appear to have adopted this opi nion. The third form, denominated the Illilopthian, or Anaximandrian, resolves every thing into tool', mat ter, and its Ircafx, affections, forms, and qualities. This was the unintelligible language of the Ionic phi losophers. The last form, the Democritic system of atoms, is by far the most considerable, and the hest known, chiefly in consequence of its having been .adopted by Epicurus,•and illustrated by Lucretius in one Of the most beautiful productions of the Ro man muse,—the poem De Rerum jVatura. The An aximandrian and Democritic atheists derive all things from a fortuitous nature, and assert the eternity of matter, but not of the world. The Stratonical and Stoical atheists suppose some life to be fundamental and original, ingenerable and incorruptible ; but they do not admit that it possesses consciousness or per ception.