S/ECT\. VI. <Origin of Theism from Polytheism>.

                                  

     The doctrine of one supreme deity, the author of nature, is
very ancient, has spread itself over great and populous nations, and
among them has been embraced by all ranks and conditions of men: But
whoever thinks that it has owed its success to the prevalent force
of those invincible reasons, on which it is undoubtedly founded,
would show himself little acquainted with the ignorance and
stupidity of the people, and their incurable prejudices in favour of
their particular superstitions. Even at this day, and in E/UROPE\,
ask any of the vulgar, why he believes in an omnipotent creator of
the world; he will never mention the beauty of final causes, of
which he is wholly ignorant: He will not hold out his hand, and bid
you contemplate the suppleness and variety of joints in his fingers,
their bending all one way, the counterpoise which they receive from
the thumb, the softness and fleshy parts of the inside of his hand,
with all the other circumstances, which render that member fit for
the use, to which it was destined. To these he has been long
accustomed; and he beholds them with listlessness and unconcern. He
will tell you of the sudden and unexpected death of such a one: The
fall and bruise of such another: The excessive drought of this
season: The cold and rains of another. These he ascribes to the
immediate operation of providence: And such events, as, with good
reasoners, are the chief difficulties in admitting a supreme
intelligence, are with him the sole arguments for it.

     Many theists, even the most zealous and refined, have denied a
 providence, and have asserted, that the Sovereign mind
or first principle of all things, having fixed general laws, by
which nature is governed, gives free and uninterrupted course to
these laws, and disturbs not, at every turn, the settled order of
events by particular volitions. From the beautiful connexion, say
they, and rigid observance of established rules, we draw the chief
argument for theism; and from the same principles are enabled to
answer the principal objections against it. But so little is this
understood by the generality of mankind, that, wherever they observe
any one to ascribe all events to natural causes, and to remove the
particular interposition of a deity, they are apt to suspect him of
the grossest infidelity. <A little philosophy>, says lord B/ACON\,
<makes men atheists: A great deal reconciles them to religion>. 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.

     It may readily happen, in an idolatrous nation, that though men
admit the existence of several limited deities, yet is there some
one God, whom, in a particular manner, they make the object of their
worship and adoration. They may either suppose, that, in the
distribution of power and territory among the gods, their nation was
subjected to the jurisdiction of that particular deity; or reducing
heavenly objects to the model of things below, they may represent
one god as the prince or supreme magistrate of the rest, who, though
of the same nature, rules them with an authority, like that which an
earthly sovereign exercises over his subjects and vassals. Whether
this god, therefore, be considered as their peculiar patron, or as
the general sovereign of heaven, his votaries will endeavour, by
every art, to insinuate themselves into his favour; and supposing
him to be pleased, like themselves, with praise and flattery, there
is no eulogy or exaggeration, which will be spared in their
addresses to him. In proportion as men's fears or distresses become
more urgent, they still invent new strains of adulation; and even he
who outdoes his predecessor in swelling up the titles of his
divinity, is sure to be outdone by his successor in newer and more
pompous epithets of praise. Thus they proceed; till at last they
arrive at infinity itself, beyond which there is no farther
progress: And it is well, if, in striving to get farther, and to
represent a magnificent simplicity, they run not into inexplicable
mystery, and destroy the intelligent nature of their deity, on which
alone any rational worship or adoration can be founded. While they
confine themselves to the notion of a perfect being, the creator of
the world, they coincide, by chance, with the principles of reason
and true philosophy; though they are guided to that notion, not by
reason, of which they are in a great measure incapable, but by the
adulation and fears of the most vulgar superstition.

     We often find, amongst barbarous nations, and even sometimes