The deists contended that this was a sufficient basis for morality and that the Christian inducements to good behaviour were unnecessary.
The defenders of revelation, at least all the most competent, agreed with the deists in making reason supreme, and through this reliance on reason some of them fell into heresies.
It may be said that a State founded on this basis would be fairly inclusivethat all Christian sects and many deists could find a place in it.
English Deists Stephen, Leslie, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, vol.
The leading adversaries of the deists appealed, like them, to reason, and, in appealing to reason, did much to undermine authority.
They were, in fact, the minstrels of the free-living churchmen.
Of the deists he admits that among them were men of the highest repute for science and learning.
On the admission of Viret, who was the friend and bitter disciple of Calvin, they rejected all revealed religion, but called themselves deists by way of repudiating atheism; some keeping a belief in immortality, some rejecting it.
Some of the early deists and others have probably in turn exaggerated the amount of deliberate deceit involved in the formation of religious systems; but nevertheless "priestcraft" is a demonstrable factor in the process.
He had no doubt a deep and haughty contempt for all these angers of celestial minds.
Even in respect of the very mischief from which he had fled, the detraction and caballing of the envious, he was hardly any better off at Berlin than he had been at Paris.
The English Deistspressed home in a very effectual way the deduction of universal freedom of speech from the first maxims of Protestantism, and their inference was practically admitted.
He thought that the arguments of the deists which were quoted to be refuted were much stronger than the attempts to refute them.
A hundred years afterwards the little party of deists who gave support to the Courant increased so rapidly that their opinions, under the name of Unitarianism, became the most influential religion of Massachusetts.
She flattered the fierce Deists by owning fealty to "Le Roi Voltaire;" she flattered the mild Deists by calling in La Harpe as the tutor of her grandson; she flattered the Atheists by calling in Diderot as a tutor for herself.
They have just discovered that the objections made to the Bible by the Deists are supported by the facts.
The Deists of the last century scoffed at the Bible God.
This shows that even in the minds of Deists contradictions dwell in unity.
Yet the Deists denied that God was the author and at the same time asserted the perfection of nature.
Probably suspicions of his orthodoxy were enhanced from the fact that he brought high testimonials of eloquence from several of the most prominent deists and free-thinkers in England.
The deists of London, who had united in a club of merry free-thinkers, holding their meetings at an ale-house, sought out Franklin and drew him into their convivial gatherings.
Deists in Great Britain the existence of witchcraft, till I give up the credit of all history, sacred and profane.
If the God of our Deists and Christians is not matter, what is He?
Many Deists have been called Atheists: among others Robert Owen and Richard Carlile, both of whom professed belief in something superior to nature, something acting upon and regulating matter, though not itself material.
Some very learned works bearing on the history of dogma were written in England against the position of the Deists especially by Lardner; see also at an earlier time Bull, Defensio fidei nic.
Yet one may say quite simply that this undertaking of the deistswas premature.
The arguments of the deistswere never successfully refuted.
But we must not confound the ideas of futurity, which some of the Deists expressed, with those of Christianity.
The Deists believe in an Infinite Being, who created and preserves the universe.
This does not demonstrate a belief in Christianity, for all Deists believe in reverence to the Almighty.
Deists and Christians believe in the same God, but they differ as to what this God has done, and to what this God will do.
She flattered the fierce deists by owning fealty to "Le Roi" Voltaire; she flattered the milddeists by calling in La Harpe as the tutor of her grandson; she flattered the atheists by calling in Diderot as a tutor for herself.
If it were so, he would follow close on the steps of the English deists of the school of Pope.
Both Voltaire and Rousseau were rationalists and Deists to the end of their days and both were unwearied foes of any other-than-natural sources for our spiritual knowledge and religious values.
The English Deists were not deep or comprehensive thinkers, but they were typically humanistic in that their interests were not mainly theological or religious but rather those of a general culture.
It is hardly necessary to speak here of the attitude towards the old "supernatural" religion taken by the English Deists of the last half of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century.
With their Aborigines Societies, the deists posed in the political arena as protectors of the native races, while, in religious circles, the Christians with their missionary societies posed as their benefactors.
I defy you to read Godwin or Shelley or the deists of the eighteenth century of the nature-worshipping humanists of the Renaissance, without discovering that you differ from them twice as much as you differ from the Pope.
You are an atheist, and you praise the deists of the eighteenth century.
It is probable that Law, like other writers on the orthodox side, did not sufficiently take into account the service rendered by the Deists in arousing a spirit of inquiry.
This quotation, when applied to the case in question, the Deists maintain to be unjust, and are for making a new reading, as being rather more applicable, viz.
Deists cry, "forbear to disturb the departing moralist with your strange dogmas!
The Deists accuse us of disturbing the last moments of the virtuous, and terrifying their imaginations with the prospect of eternal damnation.
The Deists accuse us of all along suppressing their works, and certainly, in this respect, I must acknowledge we have acted unfairly.
A sect of Bohemian Deists of the late eighteenth century, who professed to be followers of John Huss and claimed that they followed the religion of Abraham before his circumcision.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "deists" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
