Aſſertion was, by more Divines than one, look'd upon as a ſcandalous Declaration that the Soul is material and mortal. Some Engliſhmen, devout after their Way, ſounded an Alarm. The Superſtitious are the ſame in Society as Cowards in an Army; they themſelves are ſeiz'd with a panic Fear, and communicate it to others. 'Twas loudly exclaim'd, that Mr. Locke intended to deſtroy Religion; nevertheleſs, Religion had nothing to do in the Affair, it being a Queſtion purely Philoſophical, altogether independent on Faith and Revelation. Mr. Locke's Opponents needed but to examine, calmly and impartially, whether the declaring that Matter can think, implies a Contradiction; and whether God is able to communicate Thought to Matter. But Divines are too apt to begin their Declarations with ſaying, that God is offended when People differ from them in Opinion; in which they too much reſemble the bad Poets, who us'd to declare publickly that Boileau ſpake irreverently of Lewis the Fourteenth, becauſe he ridicul'd their ſtupid
