of amongst the Ancients, and left branded upon the Records of History, hath not Navigation discovered, in these latter Ages, whole Nations, at the Bay of Soldania,(α) >>> (α) Rhoe apud. Thevenott. p. 2.
(β) Jo. de Lery, c 16.in Brasil,(β) and the Caribee Islands, &c. amongst whom there was to be found no Notion of a God, Nicolaus del Techo in literis, ex Paraquaria de Caaiguarum conversione haec habet. Reperi eam gentem nullum nomen habere, quod Deum, & Hominis animam significet, nulla sacra habet, nulla Idola. Relatio triplex de rebus Indicis Caaiguarum"70.. And, perhaps, if we should, with attention, mind the Lives, and Discourses of People not so far of, we should have too much Reason to fear, that many, in more civilized Countries, have no very strong, and clear Impressions of a Deity upon their Minds; and that the Complaints of Atheism, made from the Pulpits, are not without Reason. And though only some profligate Wretches own it too barefacedly now; yet, perhaps, we should hear, more than we do, of it from others, did not the fear of the Magistrate's Sword, or their Neighbour's Censure, tie up Peoples Tongues; which, were the Apprehensions of Punishment, or Shame taken away, would as openly proclaim their Atheism, as their Lives do.
§. 9. But had all Mankind, every where, a Notion of a God, (whereof yet History tells us the contrary) it would not from thence follow, that the Idea of him was innate. For, though no Nation were to be found without a Name, and some few dark Notions of him; yet that would not prove them to be natural Impressions on the Mind, no more than the Names of Fire, or the Sun, Heat, or Number, do prove the Idea's they stand for, to be innate, because the Names of those things, and the Idea's of them, are so universally received, and known amongst Mankind. Nor, on the contrary, is the want of such a Name, or the absence of such a Notion out of Men's Minds, any Argument against the Being of a God, any more, than it would be a Proof, that there was no Load-stone in the World, because a great part of Mankind, had neither a Notion of any such thing, nor a Name for it; or be any shew of Argument, to prove, that there are no distinct, and various species of Angels, or intelligent Beings above us, because we have no Idea's of such distinct species. For Men, being furnished with Words, by the common Language of their own Countries, can scarce avoid having some kind of Idea's of those things, whose Names, those they converse with, have occasion frequently to mention to them: and if it carry with it the Notion of Excellency, Greatness, or something extraordinary; if Apprehension and Concernment accompany it; if the Fear of absolute and irresistible Power set it on upon the Mind, the Idea is likely to sink deeper, and spread the farther; especially if it be such an Idea as is agreeable to the common light of Reason, and naturally deducible from every part of our Knowledge, as that of a God is. For the visible marks of extraordinary Wisdom and Power, appear so plainly in all the Works of the Creation, that a rational Creature, who will but seriously reflect on them, cannot miss the discovery of a Deity: And the influence, that the discovery of such a Being must necessarily have on the Minds of all, that have but once heard of it, is so great, and carries such a weight of Thought and Communication with it, that it seems stranger to me, that a whole Nation of Men should be any where found so brutish, as to want the Notion of a God; than that they should be without any Notion of Numbers, or Fire.
§. 10. The Name of God being once mentioned in any part of the World, to express a superior, powerful, wise, invisible Being, the suitableness of such a Notion to the Principles of common Reason, and the Interest Men will always have to mention it often, must necessarily spreadit
