438

SPECIAL PUBLIC EVILS.

[Part VI,

CHAPTER VII.

IMMORAL INFLUENCE OF SKEPTICISM.

Lord Herbert, the first and purest of the English deists,who flourished in the beginning of the reign of Charles I., didnot so much impugn the doctrine or the morality of the Scrip-tures, as attempt to supersede their necessity, by endeavouring toshow, that the great principles of the unity of God, of a moralgovernment, and a future world, are taught with sufficient clear-ness by the light of nature. Bolinghroke and some of his suc-cessors advanced much further, and attempted to invalidate theproofs of the moral character of the Deity, and consequently allexpectations of rewards and punishments; leaving the SupremeBeing no other perfections, than those which belong to a firstcause, or Almighty contriver. After him, at a considerable dis-tance, followed Hume, the most subtile, if not the most philo-sophical of the deists ; who, by perplexing the relation of causeand effect, boldly aimed to introduce a universal skepticism, andto pour a more than Egyptian darkness into the whole region ofmorals. Since his time, skeptical writers have sprung up inabundance, and infidelity has allured multitudes to its standard ;the young and superficial by its dexterous sophistry ; the vainby the literary fame of its champions, and the profligate by thelicentiousness of its principles. Atheism, the most undisguised,has at length begun to make its appearance in this country.

My object in this connexion is not so much to evince thefalsehood of skepticism as a theory, as to prove its mischievouseffects, contrasted with those which result from the belief of aDeity and a future state. The subject, viewed in this light, may' be considered under two aspects, the influence of the oppositesystems; I. On the principles of morals; II. On the formationof character. The first may be styled their direct, the lattertheir equally important, but indirect consequence and tendency.

I. The skeptical or irreligious system subverts the whole