He
wrote against the antiquity of faith, showing bitter hostility to the
Old Testament. His aim, in addition to this antagonism to revelation,
was to found a selfish philosophy.
Many of the works by these writers were ill-written and lacked depth of
thought. Some were, however, masterpieces of original thinking and
writing. The style of Mandeville, for example, has been eulogized
extravagantly both by Hazlitt and Lord Macaulay.
It cannot be expected that a movement so extensive as this, and
participated in by the leading literary men of the day would be without
its influence abroad. Its first effect was to elicit great opposition;
and numerous replies poured in from every quarter. Toland's
_Christianity Not Mysterious_ was combated in the year 1760 by
fifty-four rejoinders in England, France and Germany. Up to the same
period, Tindal's _Christianity as Old as the World_ was greeted with one
hundred and six opponents. The Germans repulsed these tendencies bravely
at first, and among others was the gifted and versatile Mosheim, who
delivered public lectures against the influx of Deistical speculations.
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