1698.] DEISTS OU ATHEISTS. 297 



Creator of all Things, and that they likewise have a great 

 Veneration for the Sun and Moon, as his two chief ^Ministers, 

 whose principal Commission is to vivify the Earth, and all 

 the Inhabitants that inhabit it ; but this Adoration is Secret 

 and Interior. They have neither Images, Ceremonies, nor 

 any other manner of sensible Worship ; and admit no other 

 Law than that of Nature. If they Feast and Dance at the 

 renewing of the Moon, it is not to show any respect for lier, 

 but like the Hottentots, to rejoice at the return of the Light. 

 In a word they are perfect Deists, whereupon I can't forbear 

 taking notice by the by, tho' against the common Opinion, 

 that there is no real difference to be made between these 

 People, and those we call Atheists, since the indolent God of 

 the Deist is no God, and that herein they are less Orthodox 

 than the wicked Spirits, who haveajuster Idea of the Divine 

 Being. 



Moreover to say that we worship God without loving him, 

 without fearing him, without asking any thing of him, or 

 expecting any thing from him ; without caring for him in any 

 manner what soever, is properly speaking to have no God at 

 all, and to have no God is to be an Atheist. 



When these Negro-Slaves obtain their Liberty^ it is a fatal 

 Happiness for them, for whilst they are Slaves those that 

 have Authority over them, take care to instruct them in 

 Eeligion, and teach them to Eead and Write, which the 

 French Eefugees above all employ themselves about with a 

 great deal of Earnestness ; but when they become free, while 

 they are young, they become at the same time Libertins. It 



habillez." " Horses aud Coaches" must be misprinted for "Houses and 

 Clothes". 



1 Many of the English ships which put into Table JJay^at this time 

 were engaged in the slave trade between the West Indies and Mada- 

 gascar. Again, Dutch people proceeding home from Ceylon and 

 Batavia often took slaves with them, who were left at the Cape. These 

 last were treated as free persons, and sent back to their own countries. 

 (Cf. Theal, /. c, p. 50.) 



