[187] The defense of the Deists was perhaps as good
as the orthodox attack, but they were inquirers after truth, and being
guided by reason, they deserve all commendation. Yet they only
foreshadowed the glory of the present supremacy of reason. Deism strove
eagerly for light; it saw the dawn; the present is the noonday. The
human understanding wished to be satisfied, and did not care to believe
that of which it could not see the substantial ground. The mind was
coming slowly to see that it had duties which it could not devolve upon
others, and that a man must think for himself, protect his own rights,
and administer his own affairs.
Reason was never less extravagant than in this first essay of its
strength; for its demands were modest, and it was easily satisfied,--far
too easily, we must think, when we look at some of the reasonings which
passed as valid.[188]
English Deism, a system which paralyzed the religious life and thought
of the nation, has never had a more enthusiastic eulogist than the
author of this historical plea for Rationalism.
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