170 HUME 



VIII 



single being, who bestowed existence and order on this vast 

 machine, and adjusted all its parts : according to one regular 

 plan or connected system. For though, to persons of a 

 certain turn of mind, it may not appear altogether absurd, 

 that several independent beings, endowed with superior 

 wisdom, might conspire in the contrivance and execution of 

 one regular plan, yet is this a merely arbitrary supposition, 

 which, even if allowed possible, must be confessed neither to 

 be supported by probability nor necessity. All things in the 

 universe are evidently of a piece. Everything is adjusted to 

 everything. One design prevails throughout the whole. And 

 this uniformity leads the mind to acknowledge one author ; 

 because the conception of different authors, without any dis- 

 tinction of attributes or operations, serves only to give per- 

 plexity to the imagination, without bestowing any satisfaction 

 on the understanding." (IV. p. 442.) 



Thus Hume appears to have sincerely accepted 

 the two fundamental conclusions of the argument 

 from design; firstly, that a Deity exists; and, 

 secondly, that He possesses attributes more or less 

 allied to those of human intelligence. But, at this 

 embryonic stage of theology, Hume's progress is 

 arrested ; and, after a survey of the development 

 of dogma, his " general corollary " is that 



" The whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery. 

 Doubt, uncertainty, suspense of judgment, appear the only 

 result of our most accurate scrutiny concerning this subject. 

 But such is the frailty of human reason and such the irre- 

 sistible contagion of opinion, that even this deliberate doubt 

 could scarcely be upheld ; did we not enlarge our view, and 

 opposing one species of superstition to another, set them a 

 quarrelling ; while we ourselves, during their fury and con- 

 tention, happily make our escape into the calm, though obscure, 

 regions of philosophy. " (IV. p. 513.) 



