The sun., 1901-04-14

| enhanced the odium Of their prosecuting
| tyranny. At last came Noltaire. Diderot,
the Encyclopedia. and Rousseau. With
literary cleverness unmatched and an in
comparable genius for subtle attack. COM
btned with winning philanthropy. Voltaire
converted and drew into the work oi
demolition, TO them suicidal. the thrones
OF Louis XIV, or rather OF the Pompadour.
Of Catherine, and Frederick. The influence
extended even to Spain, where Amanda, and
TO Portugal, where Pombal reigned. The
Pope was constrained to dissolve the Order
OF Jesus. As Voltaire demolished In the
name OF Reason. Rousseau demolished
IN the name OF Nature. taking an artificial
society by storm. Helvetius went 10 the
iength OF extreme materialsm; but Vol
taire the master spirit Of the movement.
remained O thest, and Rousseau was even
for compulsory theism az the foundation
Il came though violently and profanely
anti Christian was In the main theist.
and In the midst OF the Terror held its Feast
OF the Supreme Being. with Robespierre
for high priest. Atheism. In the persons
Of Chaumette and Anacharsis Clootz, went
to the guillotine.
One hardly knows what to say about the
Last Will and Testament Of Jean Meslier.
the priest who after thirty years service
as country cure bequeathed to his parish
toners profession OF atheism. The work
appears TO have passed through the hands
OF Voltaire. lturges the arguments against
natural theology in very forcible az well
as thorough-going way. But It seems
when IL appeared. to have made little i'm
preston and can be mentioned historically
only as an indication OF the masked fer
ment OF the time.
England had 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. Tie
| ecclesiastical polity Of England was COM
| paratively mild, and there was nothing
10 provoke indignant resistance 10 clerical
| tyranny like that which was provoked by
| the cases Of Calas and LaBarre Shaftos-
| bury, a dest Of a higher stamp, was,
with his moral taste" a philosopher
| for men Of taste, and could little
stir the common world. In defence
| Of orthodoxy came forth Bishop Rut-
| Ter. with work which will be mem
| orablo forever as model Of earnest and
solemn inquiry into the deepest questions,
! though its fundamental assumption Is I'M
warrantable, since we should expect the
difficulties Of natural theology not 10 be
| reproduced but TO be disponcd hyTevola-
! ton. Buffers tone in discussion was an
effective rebuke 10 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 rehukcd the
shallow and cynical theories which re-
solved everything into sclf-love, though
! here again his assumption Of the authority
! Of conscience a. a divinely implanted
monitor has bv modern investigation been
dsalowed Butler however. with all
| his picty and his orthodox conclusions,
must essentially be reckoned among ration
alists. He frankly admits that the use OF
our reason Is the only means we have OF
arriving at truth. never appealing from &
20 Church authority. He who recognizes
reason as supreme must be deemed ration
| aist, let his own reason lead him or mis-
lead him IA II may. This is the vital line
OF cleavage which runs through the whole
religious history and divides the religious
world at the present day.
Butler had a popular shield-bearer In
Paley. an extremely acute and effective
though not profound. writer. Paley's sup
| posed proof Of the existence Of an Intelligent
| Creator from the design visible in creation
told greatly at the time and long continued
70 tell; though we now see that the universe
unlike the watch presents terrible proofs
| og undesign as well as apparent proofs Of
design; not TO mention that In the case OF
the universe though adaptation Is visible
| the aim Is not revealed. Paley's "llora
| Pauline" however. i about the only piece
oS historical apolpgetics which has In any
degree survived the destructive influence
o' modern criticism.
Warhurton hardly calls for mention
| In his Divine Legation" ho s r.Sht eHoUgt
in saying that Moses did not tea n the I'M.
| mortality Of the soul, but IT, notion that
| the Mosaic dispen~ation must have haG
| divine support because II could afford
10 dispense with that doctrine would now
only provok" a smile.
Among literary apologists we can scarcely
reckon johnson. Yet he was Il living de-.
fence. Intellectual a. Well as moral. Of
his religion. That he speculated, We can
not doubt. and we know that he was not
satisfied with the proofs Of the immortality
Of the soul; but he suppressed doubt in
| himself and frowned it down in others
He was well justified IN treating with con,
tempt tie po,'humouS works Of Boiling
broke, which have not the slightest fore,
or value beyond their literary form. Boiling.
brokes sceptici.m. however, had a certain
effect II it inspired Popes Universal
| Prayer
In Hume. on the other hand, we have
the mightiest Of all sceptios in the literal
sense Of the term, inlsmuch as he was
| purely doubter and seems hardly 20 have
! felt the desire of arriving at any positive
result, He who has given rise to 40 much
controversy was himself uncontroversial
| His writings. considered IA the vehicle
Of his opinions, are the PERFECTION Of literary
art over common minds the teacher
who merely susp"nds Judgment, seeming
not 20 be- In quest of positive truth, cai
| never have much influence. bur Hume