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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60211	The origine of atheism in the popish and Protestant churches shew'n by Dorotheus Sicurus, 1648 ; made into English, and a preface added by E.B., Esquire.; Origo atheismi in pontificia et evangelica ecclesia. English	Crenius, Thomas, 1648-1728.; E. B., Esquire.	1684 (1684)	Wing S3756; ESTC R6868	23,279	40

in the world And altho' Petrus Bembus is long since dead yet there is still some or other of the number of the holy Cardinals and Bishops who can suggest seasonably to a young Divine intent upon the Bible that those trifles do not become a grave man So that these are only Divines in name while they pursue the aforesaid sorts of Learning or any other rather than Theology esteeming it fitter for men of small capacity and their Curates than for men of those Elevated parts they are of The Jesuits whose supreme Law is their Interest do here dexterously lead their followers for being weary of Divinity and in our times very ignorant and unexpert in it they are very anxious and careful in the cultivating the Arts of Administring publick affairs to their own Ends raising and fomenting Wars searching into the secrets of State deceiving the minds of Princes in finding out curious things and such as may best serve to divert the Court Ladies and in conveying Gun-powder with a Godly simplicity under Kings and in other such like mysteries proper to this most useful sort of men They will not like their Predecessors be troublesome to Printers in the publishing Commentaries and discourses on the Bible they have their Pererius Bonfrerius Cornelius Alapide Jansenius Lorinus Estius Justinianus Masius Sanctius Pintus and Tirinus and those that take pleasure in them may make use of them and they who having nothing else to do may write more The present life needs other studies Jeremias Drexelius and Carolus Scrivanius have written enough for Devotion Now let the Italians help the Italians the books of Nicolas Machiavel and the discourses of Trajanus Boccalini on Parnassus are to be now imployed The present Pope sets a good example to the Universal Church who that he may seasonably and prudently curb the forces of the great Turk which hang as a cloud over Italy the Seat of the Popedom spares neither Councel Labour nor charge that not only Vienna may be delivered but also that the Wars may be continued against the Turks by the Emperour and his Confederates and not be hindred by the French King But then how the Great men Kings and Princes should be induced and persuaded to the true knowledge of Jesus Christ and the study of Piety and good Works and diverted from Adulteries the too great oppression of their Subjects from coveting that which is not their own from rash and unjust wars these belong to others and not to the Pope though he be reputed the supreme Bishop The Popedom is now upheld by Arms and all other things are trifles I grant the Church of Rome hath not had a better or wiser Pope than the present is in this last Age. But then all that love the Christian Religion and Christ cannot digest this that he so carelesly connives that I may represent it smoothly at the manifest and apparent sins which strike the eyes of the whole world of his most Christian most Catholick Kings and the Protectors of the Faith and yet this good Pope if compared with others does not once frown but clearly dissembles at all things lest he should lose his Authority his Revenews and his very Kingdom which is not obscurely aimed at by some body I know not whether it be the part of a wise man to retain the antiquated custom of sending Consecrated Clouts and Blankets with the great peril of his Reputation and in the mean time be too Prodigal and careless of the Episcopal Correption and Admonition to the performance of our duties the amendment of our Neighbours and lastly of all those things which tend to the good of some whole Kingdoms Some esteem the dela●●… of this Pope in the conferring the Cardinals hats and other Ecclesiastical promotions as a principal part of his wisdom nor do I deny that there is in this a secret which I can easily conjecture the cause of but to dispose of them at the Will and Recommendation of the Lord Protector of the Faith which new title is now on the Anvil at Rome perhaps without the consent of the King of Poland the Duke of Lorrain and the Count of Starenburg may seem to the wiser part of mankind too too profane and remote from the Divine and Apostolical prudence Alas whither does the Pope fall how barefaced does Atheism approach this man These great men have excellently plaid their parts against the common Enemy and done that which becomes such persons and therefore the Pope is bound to prefer their Clients and those they recommend in the most Holy Church redeemed with the very blood and Torments of Jesus Christ that so the Body and Spouse of Christ may pay that debt which the King of Italy owes to these Noble men for preventing the dangers which threatned his kingdom But thus our Lords the Popes do always proceed where they dispose of Ecclesiastical preferments according to the pleasure of great men whatever becomes of the Edification and Salvation of the Church and its Members II. The Youth of that Religion in the mean time being seasoned with these studies and examples if they have any and have not forgot and lost all in the Camp is imployed as occasion serves in those offices which become void and pursues the same course of life for the Church and Church affairs are either committed to some Curate who is for the most part very ignorant or are managed by these men so carelesly and negligently that they seem to mind nothing less They are wholly taken up with the sublime Speculations of the Mathematicks Criticks the secrets of Polity the Rights of Majesty c. but they have either never tasted at all or lapt like the dogs in the Nile the Institutions and Compendiums of Divinity the methods of Doctrine and the Expressions and Phrases of the Bible and approved Classick Authors in the interim they are unconcern'd for the truth of the Religion of their forefathers and never attain the knowledge of the Roman Catechism in the course of their whole lives being oppressed with a multitude of Beautiful books which tend more to their Reputation and Advantage and the burthen of other affairs I have seen many Libraries where the Catechism was not to be found And from thence it proceeds that it is so scarce amongst them that I could not without much difficulty get a Copy of it for my own use And thus they live from time to time till some Calamity Temptation or disease awake them and separate them a little from those vain tho' sublime studies and then in their distresses they seek solid comforts correspondent to their great Wits For as for the Mass the Invocation of Saints and Angels Purgatory the infallibility of the Pope of Rome and the rest of those Whimsies they keep them in View but like Learned men despise and scorn them as not built upon so much as a rational foundation for without doubt he must be rather an Ass than a Learned man that

THE ORIGINE OF ATHEISM IN THE Popish and Protestant CHURCHES SHEW'N BY DOROTHEVS SICVRVS 1684. Made English and a Preface added By E. B. Esquire LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Author of This small Piece is altogether unknown to me and as to the Name I suppose it is a made one because neither the place where it is Printed is expressed nor the Printers name I conjecture the Author of it to be a Calvinist by reason of his great kindness for that Religion as appears in his Title page and throughout the Book calling it every where the Evangelical Religion Besides in the beginning of the Third Section he falls very sharply upon the Lutherans and Arminians as if none had been guilty of the Crimes there charged but they But be this as it will I am much better assured the Book was Printed beyond the Seas and imported into England both by the Paper Print and Person of whom I had it I have taken the pains to turn it as well as I can into English because I conceive it may be useful to some of my Countrey men who cannot read it in the Original and if I should happen to be mistaken the wonder will not be great And yet I cannot forbear taking a little more pains with it before I know what shall be the event of that which I have already undergone because I conceive there may be many other Causes of the encrease of the abominable and comprehensive sin of Atheism besides those my Author hath mentioned It has been observed by many Learned men who have reflected on the tempers of the several Ages of the World that the more ignorant times have been strongly prone to Superstition whence I suppose was taken that common Proverb that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion There being no people so seemingly Devout as the Superstitious It would make a man amazed to see what ridiculous things our Ancestors believed in the dark times of Popery here in England No man can read the story of the Monk of Evesham which fills three whole leaves in Matth. Paris wherein is a very exact account of all the Pains and Places of Purgatory Or that in Gulielmus Newbrigensis concerning the two Green children that were found at Wolpet in Suffolk and came out of St. Martins Land where the Sun never shines and where they never see any greater light than that of a twilight c. I say no man can read these passages in men of that great capacity that they were of in comparison of others who lived in the same times but he must admire the credulity and ignorance of those Ages and if the great men and Scholars could swallow such things we may from thence conjecture how large the Faith and Belief of the meaner people was On the other side the Age of Augustus in which times our Saviour took upon him our Nature were as Learned Polite and flourishing times as ever hapned since the Creation of the World but then they were the most corrupt too in point of Manners and the most Atheistical in point of Belief That they were Learned will appear to any man that shall read the Works of Cicero Livy Virgil Horace Josephus c. And we may be assured that all the more Antient Greek and Latin Books which are since lost were all then extant and how much the Romans in that Age envied the Grecians the reputation of Learning will thence appear too tho' as Ammianus Marcellinus acquaints us about three Centuries after they became wholly careless of Books and Learned men Bibliothecis in Sepulchrorum ritu in perpetuum clausis Their Libraries being like Sepulchres shut up never to be opened more And a little higher Pro Philosopho Cantor in locum Oratoris Doctor artium ludicrarum Accitur They entertained instead of a Philosopher a Singing man and instead of an Orator a Teacher of Ludicrous Arts but that it was not so in the times I mention is apparent from the great number of excellent Books that were then written But then the same Books will sufficiently acquaint us with the Vniversal corruption of manners that then raged throughout the whole world and God be praised tho' our times seem to be equal in Learning they are not yet so bad as those were in point of Morality Nor did Atheism and her Sister Hypocrisie rage less in that Age than debauchery The Philosophy that was then in Vogue was the Epicurean of which Sect most of the great men of Rome in those times were as the Sect of the Sadduces prevailed upon the great men of the Jewish Nation at the same time which was not much better than the Epicurean Philosophy being but a sort of disguised Atheism Nor was the covetous ambitious insolent and factious Hypocrisie of the Pharisees less odious to God and mischievous to all true Religion than the contrary sin of Atheism as appears by our Saviours conjoyning them always in his severe reprehensions and threats and I doubt not but much of the Impiety of that age sprung from mens observing the Vanity of these outside Pretenders to piety and that in meer abhorrence of their Villanies many run into the other extream Because it may seem a little strange to most men that these two effects should spring from such unlikely causes I will presume to offer something as the Causes of them tho' I shall perhaps please no body but my self by the attempt As to the first Ignorance alone never produced any Devotion in any man But because in every Age God has exerted and manifested his Power and Providence those times that had least Natural Philosophy in them have attributed to him not only all those great things which he in reality did to demonstrate his Power and Care of men but all those Works of Nature too which they could not understand such as Eclipses and the like by which means men became so Credulous that they easily believed any thing that was told them for want of ability to discern Truth from Falsehood and others that were more Crafty did work upon this temper and drive on the Cheat for their own advantage still more and more deluding the Superstitious and fearful that they might increase their own Wealth and Power by their needless Superstition and foolish fear But on the other side in those times in which Natural Philosophy hath flourished men being by that enabled to search into the Natural and Second Causes of things have many times from their discoveries concluded that there was no God but that all things succeeded in a Regular and Natural course and if there happened some things which they could give no account of they either disbelieved them or thought there was a Natural Cause tho' they could not for the present find it out Again the strange and to men unsearchable order