Part 11 (1/2)
On the 19th of February, 1842, Sir Robert Sale held Jellalabad with a s attack frohans, had spent threeto improve the fortifications of the town Akbar Khan had approached within a few ht of his ar an earthquake--
”nearly destroyed the town, thren the greater part of the parapets, the central gate with the adjoining bastions, and a part of the new bastion which flanked it Three other bastions were also nearly destroyed, whilst several large breaches were , was quite practicable, the ditch being filled, and the descent easy Thus in one reat ive orders for an assault in the early ood follower of the Prophet could have doubted that Allah had lent his aid? As it chanced, however, Mahoetic defenders of the post had repaired the dans of the earthquake when they invested the place, ascribed the supposed ilish witchcraft
But the conditions of belief do not vary with time or place; and, if it is undeniable that evidence of so cohty a character is needed, at the present time, for the establishment of the occurrence of such a wonder as that supposed, it has always been needful Those who study the extant records of e for themselves how far it has ever been supplied
FOOTNOTE:
[27] Report of Captain Broadfoot, garrison engineer, quoted in Kaye's _Afghanistan_
CHAPTER VIII
THEISM; EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY
Hume seelish nation, and the other to all the professors of dogy The one aversion he vented only privately to his friends; but, if he is ever bitter in his public utterances, it is against priests[28] in general and theological enthusiasts and fanatics in particular; if he ever seeians by a parade of sarcastic respect One need go no further than the peroration of the _Essay on Miracles_ for a characteristic illustration
”I a here delivered, as I think it uised eneion_ who have undertaken to defend it by the principles of huion is founded on _Faith_, not on reason, and it is a sureit to put it to such a trial as it is by no ion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by _Faith_ to assent to it, is conscious of a continual miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience”--(IV pp 153, 154)
It is obvious that, here and elsewhere, Huion as the equivalent of dogy; and, therefore, he says, with perfect justice, that ”religion is nothing but a species of philosophy” (iv p 171) Here no doubt lies the root of his antagonisians and philosophers have not been about religion, but about philosophy; and philosophers not unfrequently seeians that sportsmen cherish towards poachers ”There cannot be two passionsand philosophy,” says Huiven to think, that, while they pursue truth for its own sake, out of pure love for the chase (perhaps ood shots), and by open and legitiical competitors too often care merely to supply the market of establishments; and disdain neither the aid of the snares of superstition, nor the cover of the darkness of ignorance
Unless soical writers whose works had fallen in Hu which so good natured a man manifests on the subject
Thus he writes in the _Natural History of Religion_, with quite unusual acerbity:--
”The chief objection to it [the ancient heathen ard to this planet is, that it is not ascertained by any just reason or authority The ancient tradition insisted on by heathen priests and theologers is but a weak foundation: and transmitted also such a number of contradictory reports, supported all of them by equal authority, that it beca them A few voluan priests: And their whole theology must consist more of traditional stories and superstitious practices than of philosophical argument and controversy
”But where theision, that tenet is so conformable to sound reason, that philosophy is apt to incorporate itself with such a systemas of that system be contained in a sacred book, such as the Alcoran, or be determined by any visible authority, like that of the Roman pontiff, speculative reasoners naturally carry on their assent, and embrace a theory, which has been instilled into them by their earliest education, and which also possesses soree of consistence and uniformity But as these appearances are sure, all of them, to prove deceitful, philosophy will very soon find herself very unequally yoked with her new associate; and instead of regulating each principle, as they advance together, she is at every turn perverted to serve the purposes of superstition For besides the unavoidable incoherences, which must be reconciled and adjusted, one y, especially the scholastic, has a kind of appetite for absurdity and contradiction If that theology went not beyond reason and common sense, her doctrines would appear too easy and familiar Amazement must of necessity be raised: Mystery affected: Darkness and obscurity sought after: And a foundation of merit afforded to the devout votaries, who desire an opportunity of subduing their rebellious reason by the belief of the ible sophisms
”Ecclesiastical history sufficiently confirms these reflections
When a controversy is started, some people always pretend with certainty to foretell the issue Whichever opinion, say they, is most contrary to plain reason is sure to prevail; even when the general interest of the systeh the reproach of heresythe disputants, it always rests at last on the side of reason Any one, it is pretended, that has but learning enough of this kind to know the definition of _Arian_, _Pelagian_, _Erastian_, _Socinian_, _Sabellian_, _Eutychian_, _Nestorian_, _Monothelite_, &c, not to mention _Protestant_, whose fate is yet uncertain, will be convinced of the truth of this observation It is thus a syste reasonable and philosophical in the beginning
”To oppose the torrent of scholastic religion by such feebleto be and not to be_, that _the whole is greater than a part_, that _two and threeto stop the ocean with a bulrush
Will you set up profane reason against sacred h for your impiety And the same fires which were kindled for heretics will serve also for the destruction of philosophers”--(IV pp 481-3)
Holding these opinions respecting the recognised systey and their professors, Huy of his own; that is to say, he seeh, as will appear, it is needful for an expositor of his opinions to speak very guardedly on this point) that the problem of theis athered from the eleventh section of the _Inquiry_ (1748); froion_, which ritten at least as early as 1751, though not published till after his death; and froion_, published in 1757
In the first two pieces, the reader is left to judge for hihts of the author; but, for the views put forward in the last, Hume accepts the responsibility
Unfortunately, this essay deals alical ideas; and, on the question of the philosophical foundation of theology, does little un
”The whole fraent Author; and no rational inquirer can, after serious reflection, suspend his belief a enuine Theision--(IV p 435)
”Were ent power, by a contemplation of the works of nature, they could never possibly entertain any conception but of one single being, who bestowed existence and order on this vast ular plan or connected systeh, to persons of a certain turn of ether absurd, that several independent beings, endoith superior wisdoular plan, yet is this a merely arbitrary supposition, which, even if allowed possible, must be confessed neither to be supported by probability nor necessity All things in the universe are evidently of a piece Everything is adjusted to everything One design prevails throughout the whole And this unifore one author; because the conception of different authors, without any distinction of attributes or operations, serves only to give perplexity to the i any satisfaction on the understanding”--(IV p 442)