2 DEISM
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 3 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
3 FIRST. Define Deism.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 4 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
4 SECOND. Notice the different classes of Deists.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 6 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
6 FOURTH. Consider some of the difficulties of Deism.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 7 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
7 First. Define Deism.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 8 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
8 Deism is Godism, in opposition to no God or Atheism. The name Deist originated in France and was assumed by a class of infidels to avoid the stigma of Atheism.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 9 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
9 Second. Different classes of Deists.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 10 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
10 Although there are several modifications of Deism, they are, by their own writers, divided into two classes, and called mortal and immortal Deists. The mortal Deists admit the existence of God, but deny his providential and moral government, the immortality of the soul, the distinction between virtue and vice, and of course future rewards and punishments, and, for the most part, nearly all the doctrines of natural religion. The immortal Deists profess a belief in all these. The peculiarity of all Deists is their rejection of Christianity and of the Bible as a revelation from God. They agree in discarding all pretenses to divine revelation as either imposture or enthusiasm.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 21 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
21 4. Anything like a diligent inquiry, would satisfy Deists themselves that there is no analogy between the other professed revelations from God with which the world has abounded, and that contained in the Bible.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 22 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
22 5. I believe it is now generally admitted by Deists themselves, that the claims of all other books as pretended revelations from God, are frivolous, and of no account, when compared with the claims and evidences of the christian Bible, as a divine revelation.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 51 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
51 (10.) Deists affirm that the Bible is the work of priest-craft and imposition. To this I reply,
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 64 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
64 Fourth. Consider some of the Difficulties of Deism.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 66 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
66 II. Difficulty. To the doctrine of the mortal Deists, it may be reasonably objected that it is disguised Atheism. For while they profess to believe in the existence of God, their doctrines, or rather denials, blot out in the detail, his natural, and moral attributes
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 67 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
67 1. They deny his wisdom. Wisdom consists in the choice of the best ends, and of the most suitable means for the obtaining of those ends. But the mortal Deists represent God as having created the universe without any end, and as using no means to bring about any beneficial result. This is certainly involved in their denial of the divine providence.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 70 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
70 To mortal Deism I object again, that it is contrary to the belief of all nations in all ages. It has been shown in a former lecture, that all nations of men in all ages, have believed in and acknowledged the grand and peculiar doctrines which mortal Deists deny, such as the immortality of the soul, the distinction between virtue and vice, the doctrine of a divine providence, and a future state of more perfect rewards and punishments.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 76 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
76 To the doctrines of immortal Deists, I object,
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 78 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
78 2. The immortal Deists are inconsistent in believing in the moral attributes of God. For a denial of several of these attributes is in fact involved, in rejecting a revelation. E.g.---It involves the denial of his wisdom. Wisdom, I have said, is the choice of the best ends, and the best means for the accomplishment of these ends. Now that revelation as a matter of fact, is the necessary means of attaining the highest perfection of human nature, cannot, with any show of reason, be denied. With what consistency then do they hold to the wisdom of God, and deny that he has provided the necessary and indispensable means of effecting the holiness and happiness of his kingdom.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 79 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
79 3. The immortal Deists, are inconsistent in maintaining the justice of God. It cannot, with any show of reason, be maintained that God deals with all men, in this state of existence, precisely according to their character. And without a divine revelation, how could it be positively shown that he would deal upon the principles of exact justice in a future life.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 88 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
88 9. Every evidence in favor of the Bible, as a revelation from God, is a difficulty of Deism, with which it must grapple, and to which it is bound to give some reasonable answer.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 89 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
89 10. To admit Deism to be true, we must admit that all the evidence in favor of the divine authority of the Bible is false, and that too without a particle of opposing evidence. This is to set aside all evidence, and consequently all science, and all knowledge, and all belief on every subject.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 90 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
90 11. To admit the falsity of all the evidence in favor of a divine revelation, is to swallow the grossest absurdity, and to attempt to sustain Deism by a miracle, more stupendous than all the miracles recorded in the Bible. For certainly, that all this evidence should be false, were the greatest wonder and the greatest miracle in the universe.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 91 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
91 12. Therefore Deism requires ridiculous credulity, and almost infinitely more faith, to believe that the Bible is an imposture, in view of all the evidence that exists, than to believe it is what it professes to be.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 92 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
92 13. Deism is indebted to Christianity for nearly all the truth that it contains. It is true, that the doctrines of natural religion might be discovered by unaided reason; but as a matter of fact, they never have been to any considerable extent. And none but those Deists who have had access to the Bible have ever given anything like a consistent account of the doctrines of natural religion.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 93 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
93 14. Deists are bound to account for the fact that the most enlightened and virtuous men have believed, that the Bible was a revelation from God. Sir Isaac Newton, than whom a greater philosopher never blessed the earth, was a firm believer in, and defender of the Bible, as a revelation from God.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 94 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
94 15. Deists are bound to account for the fact that no one ever renounced the Christian religion upon a death bed, while nothing has been more common than for Deists to renounce their Deism in a dying hour.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 95 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
95 16. The lives and deaths of Deists prove the inefficacy of their system to sustain them in virtue while alive, and in peace when they die.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 96 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
96 17. Deism is, on many accounts, highly dishonorable to God.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 101 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
101 22. Again. Upon the supposition that Christianity is not true, Deists are bound to account for the fact, of the exact fulfillment of such great multitudes of prophecies, extending in an unbroken chain, from the present time back through hundreds and thousands of years. These prophecies have been so literally fulfilled, that some opposers of Christianity have insisted upon the great particularity with which they were fulfilled to the very letter, and have consequently inferred, that they were histories written after the occurrence of the facts which they describe.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 102 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
102 23. Upon the supposition that Christianity is not true, Deists are bound to disprove or account for the miracles wrought in confirmation of the truth of the scriptures. That these were real and not pretended miracles, there can be no doubt.
HEART OF THE TRUTH - ON THEOLOGY, LECTURE 8 - DEISM paragraph 103 DEISM. Deism defined; different classes of Deists; Their objections to Christianity; Difficulties of Deism.
103 24. If Christianity is not true, Deists are bound to account for the fact, that the Apostles so repeatedly appealed to the Jews themselves, and to all classes of persons, before whom and among whom those miracles were wrought, and referred to those miracles as facts, which were universally admitted, and could not be denied. They are bound also to show why it was, that neither the friends nor enemies of Christianity, during the first centuries, ever pretended to call in question the reality of those miracles.