It is very natural, said C/LEANTHES\, for men to embrace
those principles, by which they find they can best defend their
doctrines; nor need we have any recourse to priestcraft to
account for so reasonable an expedient. And, surely nothing can
afford a stronger presumption, that any set of principles are
true, and ought to be embraced, than to observe that they tend to
the confirmation of true religion, and serve to confound the
cavils of Atheists, Libertines, and Freethinkers of all
denominations.
* * * *
PART 2
I must own, C/LEANTHES\, said D/EMEA\, that nothing can more
surprise me, than the light in which you have all along put this
argument. By the whole tenor of your discourse, one would imagine
that you were maintaining the Being of a God, against the cavils
of Atheists and Infidels; and were necessitated to become a
champion for that fundamental principle of all religion. But
this, I hope, is not by any means a question among us. No man, no
man at least of common sense, I am persuaded, ever entertained a
serious doubt with regard to a truth so certain and self-evident.
The question is not concerning the being, but the nature of God.
This, I affirm, from the infirmities of human understanding, to
be altogether incomprehensible and unknown to us. The essence of
that supreme Mind, his attributes, the manner of his existence,
the very nature of his duration; these, and every particular
which regards so divine a Being, are mysterious to men.
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