Spinoza ^* (BENEDICT DE), a Jew by birth, who
forsook Judaism, and at last became an
Atheist, was a native of Amsterdam. He was a systematical
Atheist, and brought his Atheism into a new method, tho' the
ground of his doctrine was the same with that of several
ancient and modern Philosophers, both in Europe and the
Eastern countries.^A

[I think he is the first who reduced Atheism to a system, A
and formed it into a body of doctrine, ordered and connected
according to the manner of the Geometricians; but other-
wise his opinion is not new. It was believed long ago, that
the whole universe is but one substance, and that God and
the world are but one Being. Pietro della Valle mentions
certain Mahometans, who call themselves Ehl-el-Tahkik, or
men of truth, men of certainty, who believe that there is
nothing existent but the four elements, which are God, man
and every thing else. ¹ He also mentions the Zindikites, an-
other Mahometan sect. They come near the Sadducees, and
have their name from them. They do not believe in a provi-
dence, nor the resurrection of the dead, as Giggoius shews
upon the word Zindik. ². . . One of their opinions is, that
whatever is seen, whatever is in the world, whatever hath
been created is God. ³ There have been such Heretics among
Christians; for we find in the beginning of the XIIIth
century, one David of Dinant, who made no distinction be-
tween God and the first matter. It is a mistake to say that he

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