THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION
FIRST SERIES
(1788)
The Argument. Man has no notion of moral
fitness but from Education. Naturally he is only a natural organ
subject to Sense.
I. Man cannot naturally Perceive but through his
natural or bodily organs.
II. Man by his reasoning power can only compare
& judge of what he has already perciev’d.
m. From a perception of only 3 senses or 3
elements none could deduce a fourth or fifth.
IV. None could have other than natural or organic
thoughts if he had none but organic perceptions.
v. Man’s desires are limited by his perceptions,
none can desire what he has not perciev’d.
VI. The desires & perceptions of man,
untaught by any thing but organs of sense, must be limited to
objects of sense.
Conclusion. If it were not for the Poetic or
Prophetic character the Philosophic & Experimental would soon
be at the ratio of all things, & stand still, unable to do
other than repeat the same dull round over again.
SECOND SERIES
(1788)
I. Man’s perceptions are not bounded by organs of
perception; he perceives more than sense (tho’ ever so acute) can
discover.
II. Reason, or the ratio of all we have already
known, is not the same that it shall be when we know more.
III. [This proposition has been
lost.]
XVv. The bounded is loathed by.its possessor. The
same dull round, even of a universe, would soon become a mill with
complicated wheels.
V. If the many become the same as the few when
possess’ d, More! More! is the cry of a mistaken soul; less than
All cannot satisfy Man.
VI. If any could desire what he is incapable of
possessing, despair must be his eternal lot.
VII. The desire of Man being Infinite, the
possession is Infinite & himself Infinite.
Application. He who sees the Infinite in all
things, sees God. He who sees the Ratio only, sees himself
only.
Therefore God becomes as we are, that we may be as
he is.