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the upper parts of the monster through a multiplying glass ; or , at least , that many of the heads sprout from one neck , and may De struck off by a single blow ! It has been a common error to suppose that there have been almost as many systems of Atheism , as there have been Atheists ; and hence has arisen an excessive dread of the effects of the Atheistical philosophy , and an exaggerated estimate of its strength . Dr . Crombie has rendered an
important service by shewing what the philosophy really is , and how its various forms may be referred to a very few false principles . Whether such a service is needed in the present state of society , may be questioned by some who , like ourselves , have never seen , or are not aware of having ever seen , an Atheist . To us , an Atheist is a pure abstraction . We even find it difficult to form a conception of such a being : but we are obliged to believe the word of Dr . Crombie and others who attest his existence ; and his existence being admitted , the utility of the work before us ( if well executed ) follows of
course . " The work is offered to the public , " says the author in the preface , " under the persuasion that it may be useful in contributing somewhat to check the spread of the most baneful delusion that can darken the human mind—a delusion which , there is reason to apprehend , extends farther than is generally believed—much farther , certainly , than every friend to religion and humanity would wish . In this country , the degrading doctrine has , in some
recent publications , been rather insinuated , than openly avowed . Ina volume , entitled ' Academical Questions / by the late Sir William Drummond , the hypothesis of Atheism has been advocated without disguisement , and with no reserve . On the continent , several works have lately appeared , by the authors of which it has been either openly inculcated , or insidiousl y recommended . Some of them being scientific productions , but with the poison covertly infused , find many readers who would shrink from the perusal of a book professing the advocacy of an infidelity so noxious and so debasing . "
If the race of Atheists was , however , extinct—if we could only infer their former existence from the scattered remnants of their works , as we argue concerning the lost species of antediluvian animals from their fossil remains , Dr . Crombie ' s book would still answer an important object , by its examination of the metaphysical arguments for the existence of the Deity . If this mode of argument be unsatisfactory and inconclusive , it is most desirable that it should be shewn to be so ; lest the champions of truth should be again sent forth in sotne future warfare , with brittle armour and untempered
weapons . Metaphysical arguments have been used to prove that the Deity does not exist . Reasoners on the opposite side of the question have been anxious to meet their adversaries on their own ground , and have adopted the same method to establish a contrary position . The results have been far from satisfactory ; and if the prevalence of error has been prolonged by the choice of an injudicious mode of defence , it can at no time be unimportant to expose the imprudence , and thus to guard against its recurrence .
The other objects of the work before us are to establish the doctrine of the Being of a God , by the argument from Design ; to treat of the Attributes of the Deity ; of his Providence ; of the Immateriality of the Soul ; and of the natural arguments for a Future State . After an introduction , in which the author recommends a calm discussion of disputed points , in preference to contempt and invective on the one side , and levity and presumption on the other , and adds his testimony to the value of Theism , he proceeds to display the causes of Atheism . These causes are—the tendency of philosophers to employ , and of their
Untitled Article
146 Crombie ' s Natural Theology ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 146, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/2/
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