Argument from the Necessity of a First Cause used by Difference between the Doctrine of the Philosophers and of Concluding Remarks. Moses neither received his Doctrine of the Creation from I. Egyptian Doctrines. Grossness of their Idolatry. Eso- Reserve of the Egyptian Priests, as to their Doctrine. II. Difficulty of accounting for the Existence of a pure Belief among the Israelites, except from original Revela- Their State Pastoral: that State unfavourable to Literature. Recapitulation of the whole Evidence. Absurd Conse- quences of rejecting it, deduced from the Peculiarities of Evidence is such as ought to influence the Practice of Man- Introductory Remarks, as to the Objections to the Autho- rity of the Peutateuch Statement of the real Question as to Geology. Character of the Mosaic Records. Outline of the Mosaic Account of the Creation. Results of geological Researches. Evidence of the Deluge universal and indisputable. Mosaic Account of the Extent of that Catastrophe. Subterra- neous Fire, the probable Agent. Traces of such Agency. Alternate Revolutions supposed by Cuvier. Concluding Remarks on geological Hypotheses. On the Descent of Mankind from a single Pair. Page 344 Question examined by Analogy. Varieties among brute Animals; the same in Degree and Kind as those in the Causes of them: Climate, Domestication, Food, &c. The effect of these Causes on Man, considered. Climate alone insufficient to produce the Varieties of Com- Known Effect of local Causes: and Instances. Instances of gradual Approximation towards the European Feature and No Advantage gained by the Hypothesis of different Species. Proof from Style. Brief View of the principal Objections. Argument from the Samaritan Pentateuch. A TREATISE, &c. PART I. ON THE EVIDENCES OF A CREATION. CHAPTER I. On the Opinion of the Eternity of the World. Ir appeared to Hume that Milton has justly represented Adam, when rising at once, in Paradise, and in the full perfection of his senses, as astonished at the glorious appearances of nature, the heaven, the air, the earth, his own organs and members; and led by the contemplation of them to ask, whence this wonderful scene arose ?* And it is somewhat * Natural History of Religion, sect. 1. VOL. I. B curious, that an ancient philosopher, in a wellknown passage of similar tendency, has furnished us with the answer which the scene would suggest to him: "If it were possible that persons who had long lived in subterraneous habitations, and had enjoyed only a vague report of the existence and power of the gods, should suddenly emerge into the light and lustre of the world we inhabit, they would no sooner behold the earth, and sea, and sky, or understand the regular order of the seasons and the vastness of the heavenly bodies, than they would at once acknowledge both the existence of superior powers, and that these wonders were of their creation."* This seems reasonable; and yet, if it is so, whence comes Atheism? and why have not these wonders uniformly had the effect of lead * Quoted by Cicero, Nat. Deor. ii. 37; as if from Aristotle. If the fragment were really from a work of Aristotle, it could not originally have been intended to convey his own sentiments. |