Adams’s Deists are the inversion the archive watches for: men who keep the God of the ancient theology but strip away revelation, following the law and light of nature alone.
In Hannah Adams
In Adams’s own words, from the 1817 Dictionary. Each passage is quoted verbatim under its own entry.
DEISTS, a class of men whose distinguishing character is, not to profess any particular form or system of religion; but who merely acknowledge the existence of a God, and profess to follow the law and light of nature, rejecting all divine revelation, and consequently Christianity. The denomination was first assumed early in the sixteenth century, by some persons who wished to clear themselves from the charge of atheism. P. Viret, in 1563, speaks of deists as anew name, applied to those who professed to believe in God, but rejected Jesus Christ. Lord Ed. Herbert, baron of Cherbury, who flourished in the seventeenth century, has been regarded as the most eminent of the deistical writers, and appears to be one of the first who formed deism into a system; aud asserted the sufficiency, universality, and absolute perfection of natural religion, with a view to discard all extraordina- Burnry’s Hist. of Music, vol. it. ps 64. ry revelation as useless and needless. He reduced this universal religion to five articles, which he frequently mentions in his works. 1. That there is one supreme God. 2. That he is to be worshipped. 3. That piety and virtue are the principal parts of his worship. That if we repent of our sins, God will pardon us. 5. That there are rewards for good men, and punishments for bad men, in a future state.
The Deists are classed by some of their own writers into two sorts, mortal and immortal deists. The latter acknowledge a future state, the former deny it, or at least represent it as a very uncertain thing.
Dr. S. Clarke, taking the denomination in the most extensive signification, distinguishes deists into four sorts. 1. Such as believe the existence of an infinite, eternal Being, who made the world, though they suppose he does not concern himself in its government. 2. Those who believe not only the being, but also the providence of God, with respect to the natural world; but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the moral conduct of mankind. 3. Such as believe in the natural attributes of God and his allgoverning providence, and have some notion of his moral perfections, yet deny the immortality of the soul; believing that men perish entirely at death, without any future renovation. 4. Such as admit the existence of God, together with his providence, as also all the obligations of natural religion; but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature 4. alone, without any divine revelation.
Some of the deists have attempted to overthrow the Christian dispensation, by representing the absolute perfection of natural religion. Others, as Blount, Collins, and Morgan, have endeavoured to gain the same purpose, by attacking particular parts of the Christian scheme, by explaining away the literal sense and meaning of certain passages, or by placing one portion of the sacred canon in opposition to the other. A third class, wherein we meet with the names of Shaftsbury and Bolingbroke, advancing farther in their progress, expunge from their creed the doctrine of future existence, and deny or controvert all the moral perfections of the Deity.
The deists of the present day are distinguished by their zealous efforts to diffuse the principles of infidelity among the common people. Hume, Bolingbroke, and Gibbon addressed themselves solely to the more polished classes of the community; and would have thought their refined speculations debased by an attempt to enlist disciples among the populace. But of late the writings of Paine, and others, have diffused infidelity among the lower orders of society: and deism has even led to atheism, or a disbelief of all superiour powers.
FREETHINKERS, an appellation assumed by certain persons, who disbelieved Christianity, and boasted their freedom from religious prejudices. See Deists.
*FREETHINKING Christians, a name lately adopted by a society which arose in the year 1799, and has ever since regularly assembled in London, calling itself a church of God, founded on the principles of free inquiry. Their first members separated from a congregation of trinitarian dissenters in Parliament Court Chapel, Bishopsgate Street; they rejected the doctrine of the trinity, the atonement, and other points of Calvinism; then the sacraments and the immateriality of the soul; and lastly, the inspiration of the scriptures and public worship,* for they have neither singing nor prayer in their assemblies, and regard the bible only as an authentic history.
These freethinking Christians readily admit that, since their first assembling as a body, their sentiments have undergone considerable alteration on points of primary importance; but they contend that this is the natural consequence of free inquiry; that men who had heretofore been the slaves of errour, could not but advance in the attainment of truth, after adopting a system which left thought unrestrained, and conscience free; and they are still ready to renounce any opinion, whenever it shall appear to them untenable. In consequence, their public meetings, which are mostly on Sunday forenoons, resemble rather a debating society, than a Christian church. The elder opens the meeting by stating the subject for consideration, and, at his call, several speakers successively address the meeting. It is not unusual to hear among them a difference of opinion; and they are all prompt to controvert the current doctrines of the Christian world, to show their dissent from all sects and parties, and their aversion to the clergy, and to Christian ministers of all denominations.
This society was little known till the year 1808, when they advertised their intention of publicly inquiring into the “ existence of a being, called the devil.” So singular a notice could not fail of drawing a considerable number of persons to their assembly, especially on a Sunday morning. The landlord of the house at which they met, in the Old ’Change, alarmed for his personal security, obliged them to remove, and they engaged the large room at the Paul’s Head, Cateaton street. Here the magistracy interfered; but as they had taken the precaution to license themselves under the toleration act, nothing could tye done legally to restrain them. Since then they have set up a periodical publication under the title of the “ Freethinking Christian’s Magazine,” in which they profess to disseminate Christian, moral, and philosophical truth; and they have erected a handsome meeting-house in the crescent behind Jewin Street, Cripplegate, where this weekly assembly, consisting of members and strangers, is said to amount to between four and five hundred persons.
The following appears to be the latest summary of their opinions. “ The Christian religion,” they say, “ consists in the worship of one God, eternal, just, and good; and in an obedience to the commands of Jesus, his messenger on earth, who taught the wicked to repent of theerrour of their ways, and that God was ever ready to receive them. Forms and ordinances, parade and show, are no parts of his system; but virtue and purity of heart can alone prepare man for a blissful existence beyond the grave; the wisdom and hope of which were furnished by the resurrection of the teacher of their faith, a member of earth, and an heir oj immortality
Hannah Adams, A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, 4th ed. (Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817), entries “Deists” (pp. 63–65), “Freethinkers” (pp. 82–83).