The religious philosophers, not satisfied with the tradition of your
forefathers, and doctrine of your priests (in which I willingly
acquiesce), indulge a rash curiosity, in trying how far they can
establish religion upon the principles of reason; and they thereby
excite, instead of satisfying, the doubts, which naturally arise
from a diligent and scrutinous enquiry. They paint, in the most
magnificent colours, the order, beauty, and wise arrangement of the
universe; and then ask, if such a glorious display of intelligence
could proceed from the fortuitous concourse of atoms, or if chance
could produce what the greatest genius can never sufficiently
admire. I shall not examine the justness of this argument. I shall
allow it to be as solid as my antagonists and accusers can desire.
It is sufficient, if I can prove, from this very reasoning, that the
question is entirely speculative, and that, when, in my
philosophical disquisitions, I deny a providence and a future state, I
undermine not the foundations of society, but advance principles,
which they themselves, upon their own topics, if they argue
consistently, must allow to be solid and satisfactory.
105. You then, who are my accusers, have acknowledged, that the
chief or sole argument for a divine existence (which I never
questioned) is derived from the order of nature; where there appear
such marks of intelligence and design, that you think it extravagant
to assign for its cause, either chance, or the blind and unguided
force of matter.
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