L/OCKE\ seems to have been the
first Christian who ventured openly to assert, that faith was
nothing but a species of reason; that religion was only a branch
of philosophy; and that a chain of arguments, similar to that
which established any truth in morals, politics, or physics, was
always employed in discovering all the principles of theology,
natural and revealed. The ill use which B/AYLE\ and other
libertines made of the philosophical scepticism of the fathers
and first reformers, still further propagated the judicious
sentiment of Mr. L/OCKE\: And it is now in a manner avowed, by
all pretenders to reasoning and philosophy, that Atheist and
Sceptic are almost synonymous. And as it is certain that no man
is in earnest when he professes the latter principle, I would
fain hope that there are as few who seriously maintain the
former.
Don't you remember, said P/HILO\, the excellent saying of
L/ORD\ B/ACON\ on this head? That a little philosophy, replied
C/LEANTHES\, makes a man an Atheist: A great deal converts him to
religion. That is a very judicious remark too, said P/HILO\. But
what I have in my eye is another passage, where, having mentioned
D/AVID\'s fool, who said in his heart there is no God, this great
philosopher observes, that the Atheists nowadays have a double
share of folly; for they are not contented to say in their hearts
there is no God, but they also utter that impiety with their
lips, and are thereby guilty of multiplied indiscretion and
imprudence.
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