THE DEISTS. 
132. Deism was the first definitely expressed and 
organised form of religious free-thought. Lord Herbert 
of Cherbury (1583-1648) is known as the “Father of 
Deism," and Charles Blount (1659-1693) inaugurated 
one of its characteristic features—the critical examina- 
tion of Old and New Testaments. — Deism was most 
conspicuous in England between 1680 and 1750. Deists 
held to the certainty and sufficiency of Natural Religion 
in opposition to “Revealed” Religions, and considered 
the first cause of the Universe to be a personal God who 
is, however, not only distinct from the world but apart 
from it and its concerns, 
133. David Hume. (1711-1776) has been classed 
both as a Deist and a Sceptic. | As a Deist he gives 
expression to the “argument from design" thus:— 
134. "The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intel- 
ligent author; and no rational enquirer can after serious 
reflection suspend his belief a moment with regard to 
the primary principles of genuine Theism and Religion." 
135. Again:—‘All things in the universe are evi- 
dently 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 
distinction of attributes or operations, serves only to 
give perplexity to the imagination without bestowing any 
satisfaction on the understanding." 
136. Hume thus accepts the two fundamental con- 
clusions of the argument from design: (i) a Deity exists, 
(ii) he possesses attributes allied to human intelligence, 
But Hume appears as a Sceptic in the following para- 
graph:— 
137. “The whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inex- 
plicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspense of judg- 
ment, appear the only result of our most accurate 
scrutiny. But such is the frailty of human reason, and 
such the irresistible contagion of opinion; that even this 
deliberate doubt could scarcely be upheld; did we not 
enlarge our view, and opposing one species of super- 
stition to another, set them a quarrelling; while we our- 
selves, during their fury and contention, happily make 
our escape into the calm, though obscure, regions of 
philosophy." Hume heartily disliked all professors of 
dogmatic theology. ; 
138. At the time of the American War of Indepen- 
dence the leading American statesmen, Benjamin Frank- 
lin, Tom Paine, Washington and Jefferson, were Deists; 
Deism was also the creed of the American Quakers. 
139. Tom Paine (1737-1809), Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs to the American Congress, was author of “Com- 
mon Sense,” “Rights of Man” and “Age of Reason.” In 
his dedication of the last work, “to my fellow citizens 
ef U.S.A.” (American edition, +1794), he says, “The 
most formidable weapon against error of every kind is 
Reason. I have never used any other, and T trust I 
never shall.” In the first chapter he gives his profession 
of faith as follows :;— 
59 
Chapter IV—Elimination of the Supernatural 
110. “I believe in one God, and no more, and | 
hope for happiness beyond this life. 
141. "I believe in the equality of man, and I believe 
that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving 
mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures 
happy. 
142. "But, lest it should be supposed that I believe 
many other things in addition to these, I shall in the 
progress of this work declare the things I do not believe, 
and my reasons for not believing them. 
143. “I do not believe in the creed professed by the 
Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek 
Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant 
Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own 
mind is my own Church. 
144. “All national institutions of Churches, whether 
Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other 
than human institutions, set up to terrify and enslave 
mankind, and monopolise power and profit. |.. 
145. “Infidelity does not consist in believing or in 
disbelief: it consists in professing to believe what a 
man does not believe." 
. 146. I give here a short extract from his criticism 
of the New Testament as.an example of his style of 
treatment. 
147, "Christ's Historians—having brought him into 
the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to 
take him out again in the same manner. The first part 
--that of the miraculous conception—was not a thing 
that admitted of publicity; and therefore the telling of 
this part of the story had this advantage, that though 
they might not be credited, they would not be detected. 
They could not be expected to prove it, because it was 
not one of those things that admitted of proof, and it 
was impossible that the person of whom it was told 
could prove it himself. 
148. “But the resurrection of a dead person from the 
grave, and his ascension through the air, is a thing very 
different, as to the evidence it admits of, to the invisible 
conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection 
and: ascension, supposing them to have taken place, ad- 
mitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of 
the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noonday, to all 
Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody is re- 
quired to believe requires that the proof and evidence 
of it should be equal to all, and universal. . . . 
149. “Instead of this a small number of persons, 
not more than 8 or 9, are introduced as proxies for the 
whole world, to say they saw it, and all the resi of the 
world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that 
Thomas did not believe the resurrection . . . so neither 
will 1; and the reason is equally as good for me as for 
Thomas,” 
