The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14
By GOODWIN SMITH.

and profanely anti-Christian, was in TIL
main theist, and in the midst of the Ter
rOr held its Feast of the Supreme Being
with Robespierre for high priest Athe
ism, in the persons of Chaumette anC
Anacharsis Clootz, went to the guilotine
One hardly knows what to say about
the last will and testament of Jean Mes
lier, the priest who after thirty years
service as a country cure bequeathed tc
his parishioners profession of atheism
The work appears to have passed through
the hands of Votaire. II urges the argu.
ments against natural theology in a very
forcible as well as thorough-going way
But it seems, when ii appeared, TO have
made little impression and can be men,
toned historically only as an indication
of the masked ferment of the time.
England had a series of deists, Toland.
Tindal, Collins. Chubb, and the rest, not
men of much mark, though seekers of
truth after their measure and in their
day. The ecclesiastical polity of England
was comparatively mild, and there was
nothing to provoke indignant resistance
to clerical tyranny like that which was
provoked by the cases of CALAIS and La
Barre. Shaftesbury, a deist of a higher
stamp. was, with his moral taste" n
philosopher for men of taste, and could
little stir the common world. In defence
of orthodoxy came forth Bishop Butler,
with a work which will be memorable
forever as a model of earnest and solemn
enquiry into the deepest questions, though
its fundamental assumption is unwarrant-
able, since We should expect the difficult
ties of natural theology not to be repro
duced but to be dispelled by revelation.
Buffers tone in discussion was an effect
i've rebuke TO those who had treated
Christianity with levity as an obsolete
interference with the pleasures Of the
world. His profound analysis of the moral
nature of man In like manner rebuked
the shallow and cynical theories which
resolved everything into salf-love; though
here again his assumption of the au-
thority of conscience as a divinely i'm
planted monitor has by modern investiga-
ton been swept away. Butler, however,
with all his piety and his orthodox con-
must essentially be reekoned
among rationalists. He frankly admits
that the use of our reason is the only
means we have of arriving at truth, never
He who ,aooont,os 80,
must he deemed ,o,ionat,s. -, ,',p ~
reason lead hin, ~. ,,,is,o,5 H.. -. :. -
This 60 ~ IT,, - -.
rims tbroueb the u-hoi. ,..I,,,,,,,1[, 49,
and divides tho reIioio,,s, -, -. ~
,resent day LAC
Butler had a non,,ar sh;.,d -too :,
J,aIev an ax,r.,,,,i,, -
houpb not nroso,,,,d ,,,,,a -.
,os.d ,rooe 90 .,,e -. sup
,ent Greater. fro,,, 81 -
,reatjon told greatly. al ,ha IT,, "a -.
Continued 10 ton. ,ho,,sh Nc ~. , IN.
he universe nn1;ra ~. ,,.,,,rt, ..'.
errib,e n,oofs Of ,r,,,,si,.,, -,
,arent nroofs of dos,,,,,. 49,. " % i'r
hat in tho caso NJ a., ,,,,;,,aus -
q, ,,ts;I.,o -, -. -, M
,ealed palo,... NJ. 49,,
yer is ahout the o,,,, ,,;aoo 80
,nolooe,ios ,,,,io,, -, =, -. N'i'
lived tho dast,,,,..;,.o ;,,,,,,,,,..
criticism
warhurton bor,,,,, oo,,,. ..-..
ne ..Di,,ir. c,,,,,i'..,,, Al
n saving tn, NJ ,,,s e,.ousA
n a itz- s.f he. Il.
hat the Met, ,,i.-.s'..,'1' IN i'o'ioii
,ad divine sumner, la,,,,,,..o q, -
n ,1i,,,<,,., IN, -. - 'O"'u aiioio
,nIv nro,,oi,, = IL. "''''U III"
Aroro ,,,aror-- e,,
len roat,, ,oo,,,,, Io,,..
living dafa,oa t,.aI,...s,
moral of his roIigio,, tn.
atad ". can,,o, 80.
10 was not Satisfied ,,,,h 81,
nc ;nmortaIit,, 90 ,h, -, "a
do,,tt q, ht,,,.o,, - "e o"p
Iown In otherx no NO.. -,
reatinp with con,ar,r, a. .-.,-.
yorks of f1o,,n,,I,,o,-a t., ,
he sI,rbtest for,.o ~. - -. Ho'
ltera,, for,, po,;,,.,,rs.,,>., - ~
owever b,d oa,,,t,, -, ~ :. i,''
ZONES ..ITri,,ars.,I p,a,,on" 'l''i'o
In HUME az, a. -
he ,ni,b,,es, a, al, s,,a,,,,oa g. -. -,
ense Of tbe tern, ,na.s,,,,,,,,
ureIv a donhter and 60. -.
ave fol, the das;ro 90 "
osi,i,,. r.s,,,. 1Io =. "S
q much contro,ors,, No., ,,,.,,.,s -.'e ~
M, ,.-,,,.
he vehicle NJ bis o,,,,,,n,s. 90
ectiop NJ i,,erar,, o., O.. ~ ~
minds the ,oochar ,,ho -. ~
,,,.,no,,, eaa,,,,,,,, -,
ost,iyo ,r,,,,, oar, -. -. Vi
,oroo. ~, t4,,,,,o ri -.
-. ,,,.,..o.-,
ne .r,,,,,,o,,, o,.t-,,, -
,,rooIas ,,,o,,,,,, :, -. 'i.'S VI
n en-, ia &c p,,.,,.,.
-, 49,, e. o. -, -, ~
- ,,i,,,,,o,, ...,'r,,,,,. 80 '',.. "ea
.o, "a It. - 60 VI
-, -. -, - -''l'' 40 ms "oih'