T H t) 



of Portugal, and thf prffiilciicy of the council of flate at 

 Madrid, tlu-fc Chriftians, opprcfll'd and abiifed by the 

 Jcfuils, rclapfcd from the church of Rome loon after the 

 death of the archbilhop ; and notwithftaiiding the en- 

 deavours of Alexander VII. to conciliate them by the 

 mifiion of four bare-footed Carmelites, tliey could no more 

 be reduced to fubmillion. At length, when the Dutch 

 took Cochin, in 1663, the Chrillians of St. Thomas re- 

 covered the liberty which they had formerly enjoyed ; but 

 they derived little advantage belidcs from their new mailers. 

 Encyclopedic, and Geddes's Hillory of the Church of 

 M.-Uab.ir and Synod of Diamper, in his Trafts, vol. v. For 

 a further account of tliis feift, fee Christians of St. Thomas. 

 THOMAR, in Geography, a town of Portugal, in 

 Eilremadura, containing two churches, an hofpital, four con- 

 vents, and about 3600 inhabitants ; 63 miles N.E. of 

 Lifcon. N. ht. 39° 34'. W. long. 8"= 8'. 



THOMAS, furnamedZ)/V/)mMj-, or the T'U)in,m Scripture 

 Biography, one of our Lord's twelve apoftles, of whom the 

 tvangelilt John has given a Ih'^rt account in the 20th chapter 

 of his Gofpel. John Chryfoftoni informs us, that Thomas 

 preached the gofpti to the Ethiopians, Parthians, Perfians, 

 and Medes, and even, recording to tradition, toth .■ Indians, 

 and in the ifland of Taprobana ; and the Chriftians called 

 after his name in the Eall, regard him as the founder of their 

 church. See CiiKISTIans of St. Thomas, and Thom.12ANs. 



For an accouut of the fpurious gofpel attributed to St. 

 Thomas, we refer to the article Gosi'el. 



Thomas, An'TONT Leonard, in Biography, a diftinguiihed 

 French writer, was born in the diocefe of Clermont, in Au- 

 vergne,iii the year 1732, and defigned for the profeffion of the 

 law ; bi;t his attachment to literature induced him to prefer a 

 profeflo: ihip in the college of Beauvais. His reputation as a 

 man of btters recommended him to the office of confidential 

 fecretary to the duke De Prallin, in which he condufted 

 iiimfclf with integrity and honour. When he was advifed by 

 the duke to become a candidate for a feat in the French 

 Academy, after having five times gained the prize for his 

 compofitions, and difcovered that he was put forward as a 

 competitor to Marmontel, who was out of favour with perr 

 Ions in power, he refufed to be the initrument of fuch a 

 defign. In confequence of this circumftance, the duke dif- 

 mifTcd him his office, but procured for him the place of 

 fecretary -interpreter for the Swifs Cantons, to which a very 

 inconfiderable falary was annexed ; and yet this was the 

 whole benefit which he obtained from court-favour. His 

 career as a writer commenced in 1756, by " Refleftions 

 hiftorical and literary on Voltaire's Poem on Natural Reli- 

 gion ;" and on all fubfequent occafious he proved himfelf 

 the friend of virtue, and a lover of mankind. His eulogies, 

 particularly ihofe on Des Cartes and Marcus Aurelius, were 

 highly commended. His "Eifai fur les Charafteres, les 

 Moeurs, et I'Efprit des Femmes," 1772, is a fprightly per- 

 formance, m which fine writing and philofophical obferv- 

 ation are combined. His " Effai fur les Eloges," in 2 vols. 

 1775, exhibits ftriking portraits with juft ideas. As a poet, 

 he appears to advantage in his " Epitre au Peuple," his 

 " Ode fur les Temps," and his " Poeme de Jumonville." 

 His epic poem, entitled " Le Petrcide," the hero of which 

 v;as czar Peter, was left unfinifhed. He was diftinguiihed 

 by his fingularities, and alfo by his fympathy with perfons 

 m diftrefs, for whofe relief he fubmitted to pcrfonal incon- 

 venience and privation. His death took place at the feat of 

 the archbilhop of Lyons, in September 1785, at the age 

 of 53. His works, in profe and verfe, were publilhed at 

 Paris, in 7 vols. 8vo. Gen. Biog. 

 Thomas, Christiak, an Eckaic philofopher of the 

 5 



T H O 



German fchools, who defcrves notice on account of tfi«" 

 boldncfs with which he threw off the yoke of human autho- 

 rity, and the perfeverance with wliicli, again ft much oppofi- 

 tion, and in many viciffitndes of fortune, he maintained and 

 exercifed the right of free inquiry. He was born at 

 Leipfic in the year 1655, and tinifhed his courfe of edu- 

 cation in the univerfity of his native city. Upon a perufal 

 of PufTendorf's Apology for rejecting the fcholaftic prin- 

 ciples of morals and law, he renounced implicit deference to 

 all ancient dogmas ; and engaged in reading leftures on the 

 fubjeCl of natural law, firft from the text of Grotius, and 

 afterwards from that of Puffendorf, in the full exercife of 

 his own judgment, with prudent caution while his father 

 lived, but after his death, with a boldnefs which incurred 

 the violent refentment of theologians and profcfibrs. In 

 1687 he publifhed an " Introduftion to Puffendorf," in 

 which he deduced the obligation of morality from natural 

 principles, and thus gave great offence. In the following- 

 year he became ftill more unpopular, by commencing a. 

 monthly literary journal, entitled " Free Thoughts ; or. 

 Monthly Dialogues on various Books, chiefly new," con- 

 taining a fevere attack upon many of his contemporaries. 

 Complaints of the raillery of this fatirical work were lodged 

 before the ecclefiaftical court of Drefden ; and Thomas with 

 difficulty efcaped punifhment. Some other farcaftical 

 pieces inflamed the refentment of his enemies, and he was 

 charged before the fame court by the clergy of Leipfic 

 with a contempt of religion. Soon after he publilh«l 

 another fatirical work " On the Divine Right of Kings," 

 " A Defence of the Seft of the Pidlifts," and fome other 

 eccentric works of the fame general charafter, for which he 

 was threatened with imprifonment ; but obtaining permif- 

 fion from the eleftor of Brandenburgh to retire, he became a 

 voluntaiy exile from Leipfic : and foon after was appointed 

 public profefTor of jurifprudence, firft in BerHn, and after- 

 wards at Halle. In thefe fituations he indulged his fatiri- 

 cal humour, and his inclination for controverfy, as long as he 

 lived ; perfevering in his endeavours to correS and fubdue 

 the prejudices of mankind, and to improve the ftate of phi- 

 lofophy. He died at Halle, in the year 1728. Thomas 

 was the author of feveral treatifes on logic, morals, and 

 jurifprudence, in which he deviates from opinions generally 

 received ; and his latter publications are, in many refpefis, 

 inconfiftent with the former. His principal philofophica' 

 works are, " An Introdudlion to Aulic Philofophy ; <• 

 Outlines of the Art of Thinking and Reafoning," I^eipf. 

 1688 ; " Introduftion to Rational Philofophy ;" " A Lo- 

 gical Praxis," Hal. 1691; " Introduftion to Moral Phi- 

 lofophy," 1692; "A Cure for irregular Paffions, and 

 the Doftrine of Self-knowledge," 1696 ; " The new Art 

 of difcovering the fecret Thoughts of Men ;" " Divine 

 Jurifprudence ;" " Foundations of the Law of Nature and 

 Nations ;" " DilTertation on the Crime of Magic ;" ♦' Effay 

 on the Nature and EfTence of Spirit, or Principles of 

 Natural and Moral Science," 1659; and " Hiftory of 

 Wifdom and Folly." 



As a fpecimen of the peculiar tenets and maxims of this 

 eccentric philofophei-, we fhall fubjoin the following. 



" Thought arifes from images imprefTed upon the brain ; 

 and the adtion of thinking is performed in the whole brain. 

 Brutes are deftitute of fenfation. Man is a corporeal fub- 

 ftance, capable of thinking and moving, or endued with in- 

 tellect and wiU. Man does not always think. Truth is 

 the agreement of thought with the nature of things. The 

 fenfes are not deceitful, but all fallacy is the effeft of pre- 

 cipitation and prejudice. From perceptions arife ideas, and 

 their relations ; and from thefe, rcafonings. It is impoffible 



to 



