Hume, David
"The Natural History Of Religion"
, says lord B/ACON\,
. For
men, being taught, by superstitious prejudices, to lay the stress on
a wrong place; when that fails them, and they discover, by a little
reflection, that the course of nature is regular and uniform, their
whole faith totters, and falls to ruin. But being taught, by more
reflection, that this very regularity and uniformity is the
strongest proof of design and of a supreme intelligence, they return
to that belief, which they had deserted; and they are now able to
establish it on a firmer and more durable foundation.
Convulsions in nature, disorders, prodigies, miracles, though
the most opposite to the plan of a wise superintendent, impress
mankind with the strongest sentiments of religion; the causes of
events seeming then the most unknown and unaccountable. Madness,
fury, rage, and an inflamed imagination, though they sink men
nearest to the level of beasts, are, for a like reason, often
supposed to be the only dispositions, in which we can have any
immediate communication with the Deity.
We may conclude, therefore, upon the whole, that, since the
vulgar, in nations, which have embraced the doctrine of theism,
still build it upon irrational and superstitious principles, they
are never led into that opinion by any process of argument, but by a
certain train of thinking, more suitable to their genius and
capacity.
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