DEI 
enforce it. Thus fome of the deittical writers have affeft- 
ec 
evéry.ma nist 
natural eae. independent of all revelation, and exclufive 
ef it; and this religion Dr. ‘Tindal, and others, pretend is 
fo perfedt, as to be incapable of receiving any addition or 
improvement, even from divine revelation. 
ever, uncommon to boaft of the 
candid to i a 
it. Natural religion, with the clear views and ex ktraordinary 
helps which it derives from thé Scriptures of divine truth, 
is very different with regard to extent and evidence, front 
It is not eafy to determine w 
reafon might have done, and how far it might have difcover- 
ed the sila and duties has religion ; becaufe, in every 
period of time, its powers been more or rae — ed by 
divine revelation, the. ars a which have an{mit- 
rom one age to another. Under the difpenfation 
Panga fae more — ecially, men have been taught te 
re religious truth and ae 
ough tee oe not duly acknowle "dyed 
It therefore becomes thofe who urge the 
of 
ee obligation 
Gio again{t the 
n of | natural re} igion as an argument 
kind of reafoning m a 
of ae and ee bys which they themfelves profefs to 
re there sae in deifin itfelf, the mol fimple, as it 
18 ben of all religious opi ase feveral difficulties, for 
hour nome desk ca are ill a count, | which may t the re~ 
P+ 509, vol. in. ) fairly out he could not do, though he 
acknowledges boths {uch is alfo the creation of the werld 
at any fuppofed time, or the cen production. of it from 
od, &c. &e. ut becaufe of thefe difficulties, or acl 
n fyfte e 
power, which are proved by fuch e 
clear aaa ftrongeft conviction, and cannot be sated pie 
ut involving tue mind in far greater sa even in down- 
bile, only part, therefore, 
be taken is, to account in the bef manner that our 
weak reafon is able to do, for fuch feeming objections; and 
when ae fails, to hea its weaknefs, and acqui- 
efce under the certainty that our very imperfect knowledge 
or the univerfal ftandard of truth. 
refpe& to the Chriffian haa e i 
r ate can 1 hardly clear ; but 
ty 
be 
on 
5 
28 
(o) 
rs 
i] 
Some diffi 
that aaa which 
as th rut 9 it fants pon > vidence fo ftrong and con- 
ae it cannot be denied 3 without much greater dif- 
yas is thofe in attend the belief of it, we ought 
Not to ian it upon fuch erieciont however mortifying 
5 
DEI 
they may be to ovr pride. ea indeed would hav 
all things made plain to us; but God has thought oe 
to roportior our ow to our wants, not to our 
pride. All that concerns our duty is clear; and as to other 
points either of natural or revealed religion, if . has left 
fome obf{curities in them, is that afy “reafonable ane of 
complaint 2 as to rejoice im id benefit of what 
‘From ee ar 
fince flowed iome of the greateft corruptions of the evangeli- 
cal tuth, and the moft inveterate prejudiccs againf it ; an 
effe& jult a as natural as for our eyes to grow weak and even 
i by oe ftrained to look at objects too diftant, or not 
de for them to fre. If the external evidenc 
n be convincingly ftron 
a. . falfchood, ea much to fuppor 
h; thea furel Sd esa aa ought c prev 
giving a full affent no belief to our fave paced 
to endeavour to find the bef ilgeae we cant m; but 
where no fatisfaGtory ones are to be found, it is no Tels our 
duty to acquiefce with humility, and believe that to be 
right which we know js above us, and belonging to a 
wifdom fuperior to ours. In the prefent comparifon of 
deifm with Chriftianity, and in contrafting 
oa 
a7 
‘s 
e and effential doGrines, plainly 
ae phic h, being made 
é 
fatiafadborly explained, by its red oar If the gles 
rious light of the Gofpel be Cacia overcaft with clouds of 
bt, fo is the light of our reafon too. But fhall we de- 
prive ourfelves of the advan le of either, becaufe thofe 
clouds cannot perhaps be e 
Qu 
me) 
di cie 
need of revela ise or faith ? Shali h 
that “ the ways of God a ike his ways, and 
finding out??? True pilofophy, as well as true Choflianity,: 
would teach us a wifer and more modeft part. It would 
teach us to kg content ss thofe bounds which God has 
affigned to ing down imaginations, and every high 
thing that exelteth itfelf aeaae the knowledge of God, and 
bringing into captivity every thought to a obedience of 
Chnit.”? Lyttelton on the Converiion of St. Paul. 
DEI , a clafs of people known alfo under the denomi- 
nation of Free-thinkers, whofe diftinguifhing charaCter it is, 
ae to profefs any ‘iat aitae form, or fyftem, of religion; but 
nly to acknowledge the exiftence ,and to follow 
the light and law ae rejecting revelation, and oppofing 
gece 
1e feems to have been frit affumed, as the deno- 
Sinan of a party, about the middle of the fixteenth cen- 
tury, 
