OF SUPERSTITION                         111
 

XVIL

OF SUPERSTITION

It were better to have no opinion of God at all than
such an opinion as is unworthy of Him ; for the one
is unbeHef, the other is contumely. And certainly
superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch
saith well to that purpose. " Surely," saith he, " I
had rather a great deal men should say there was no
such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should
say that there was one Plutarch that would eat his
children as soon as they were born," as the poets
speak of Saturn. And as the contumely is greater
towards God, so the danger is greater towards men.
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to
natural piety, to laws, to reputation ; all which may
be guides to an outward moral virtue, though reli¬
gion were not; but superstition dismounts all these,
and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of
men. Therefore, atheism did never perturb States;
for it makes inen waiy of themselves, as looking no