VIII THEISM ; EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 183 



Thus, the Freethinkers said, the attributes of 

 the Deity being what they are, the scheme of 

 orthodoxy is inconsistent with them ; whereupon 

 Butler gave the crushing reply: Agreeing with 

 you as to the attributes of the Deity, nature, by 

 its existence, proves that the things to which you 

 object are quite consistent with them. To whom 

 enters Hume's Epicurean with the remark : Then, 

 as nature is our only measure of the attributes of 

 the Deity in their practical manifestation, what 

 warranty is there for supposing that such measure 

 is anywhere transcended ? That the " other side " 

 of nature, if there be one, is governed on different 

 principles from this side ? ' 



Truly on this topic silence is golden; while 

 speech reaches not even the dignity of sounding 

 brass or tinkling cymbal, and is but the weary 

 clatter of an endless logomachy. One can but 

 suspect that Hume also had reached this con- 

 viction ; and that his shadowy and inconsistent 

 theism was the expression of his desire to rest in 

 a state of mind, which distinctly excluded nega- 

 tion, while it included as little as possible of 

 affirmation, respecting a problem which he felt 

 to be hopelessly insoluble. 



But, whatever might be the views of the 

 philosopher as to the arguments for theism, the 

 historian could have no doubt respecting its 

 many-shaped existence, and the great part which 

 it has played in the world. Here, then, was a 



