David Hume was the point man behind the current false Skeptical dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural. But it is less known that many wrote responses to him in his own day. This is an archive of those responses.
Adams, William
(1706-1789)
(TM): William Adams (1706?-1789) was a Fellow and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and a friend of the literary giant Samuel Johnson.
An Essay on Mr. Hume's Essay on miracles. Also here. Third edition. London: Printed by E. Say and sold by R. Dodsley, M. Cooper, and J. Cotton in Shrewsbury, 1752. [2], 134 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
(TM):When David Hume first published his attack on the reasonableness of belief in miracles in his Philosophical Essays in 1748, the work provoked a great number of replies of varying quality. Adams’s work, now inexplicably forgotten by most apologists and neglected by Hume scholars, is one of the earliest and ablest rejoinders to Hume’s attack. Adams pursues Hume courteously (Hume is said to have remarked that Adams had treated him better than he deserved) but also relentlessly, reading him closely, criticizing his reasoning, and rebutting him point by point.
The 3rd edition of the work, linked here, contains a particularly good discussion of the alleged miracles at the tomb of the Abbé Paris to which Hume refers in the second part of “Of Miracles.” Adams makes full and careful use of sources that Hume does not mention, distinctly refuting the key claims Hume makes regarding the affair.
An html version of this work is available here.
Alexander, Archibald
(1772-1851)
Evidences of the authenticity, inspiration, and canonical authority of the Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Presbyterian board of publication, [1836?] Extract on Hume.
Assembly's Missionary Magazine
(1805-1807)
Also known as General Assembly's Missionary Magazine, or Missionary Magazine; or, Evangelical intelligencer. Edited by William P. Farrand.
Evidences of the Christian Religion; briefly and plainly stated. Volume 1 of 2. The fourth edition. London, 1795. 167 pp.
Evidences of the Christian Religion; briefly and plainly stated. Volume 2 of 2. The fourth edition. London, 1795. 157 pp.
Evidences of the Christian Religion; briefly and plainly stated / by James Beattie.
Annapolis [Md.]: George Shaw and Co.,1812 edition. ([Annapolis?]: Jonas Green) iv, 187 pp.
Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies at Baylor University. In 2008-09 he will serve on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as the Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in Notre Dame's Center for Ethics & Culture. Learn more about Beckwith here.
A Treatise on Logic; or, The laws of pure thought; comprising both the Aristotelic and Hamiltonian analyses of logical forms, and some chapters of applied logic. Second edition. Cambridge [Mass.] Sever and Francis, 1864. xv, 450 pp. diagrs. 20 cm.
Hume's celebrated argument against the credibility of miracles is a fallacy which results from losing sight of the distinction between Testimony and Authority, between Veracity and Competency. He argues, that it is contrary to all experience that a Law of Nature should be broken, but it is not contrary to experience that human testimony should be false; and therefore we ought to believe that any amount of Testimony is false, in preference to admitting the occurrence of a miracle, as this would be a violation of Law. We answer, that the miraculous character of an event is not a matter of Intuition, but of Inference; hence, it is not to be decided by Testimony, but by Reasoning from the probabilities of the case, the only question being whether, in view of all the circumstances, the Conclusion is competent that the occurrence was supernatural. The Testimony relates only to the happening of the event considered merely as an external phenomenon; the question respecting the nature of this event, whether it is, or is not, a violation of Physical Law, whether it is an effect of this or that Efficient Cause, cannot be determined by Intuition and Testimony, but is a matter for Judgment founded on Reasoning, in view of all the circumstances of the case. If doubtful of our own Competency to form a correct opinion on this point, we may defer to the Authority of another, who is familiar with the kind of Reasoning by which such questions are settled. Now we have abundant evidence from experience, that no event whatever, regarded simply as an external phenomenon, can be so strange and marvellous that sufficient Testimony will not convince us of the reality of its occurrence. To the contemporaries of our Saviour, not even bringing a dead man to life would have appeared so incredible as the transmission of a written message five thousand miles, without error, within a minute of time. Yet this feat has been accomplished by the Magnetic Telegraph. Why do we decide, then, that the raising of Lazarus was, and the transmission of intelligence by telegraph is not, a miracle? Evidently not by Intuition, but by reasoning from the very different circumstances of the two cases. The fact, that the eyes of the blind were opened, or a storm was reduced to a calm, or the dead were raised, is established by Intuition and Testimony, which have established many other facts quite as wonderful; the character of this fact, whether miraculous or not, is to be settled in a very different manner. We say, then, that Hume's argument, which is based exclusively upon an appeal to experience and Testimony, is totally inapplicable to the question respecting the credibility of a miracle. Testimony has nothing to do with the correct inference of a Conclusion from its Premises.
Brougham, Henry / Brougham and Vaux, Henry Brougham, Baron
(1778-1868)
Lord Chancellor of England.
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A Discourse of Natural Theology: Showing the nature of the evidence and the advantages of the study / by Henry Lord Brougham. London: Charles Knight, 1835. vii, 296 pp.
Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Alexander Campbell. Debate on the evidences of Christianity: containing an examination of the social system and of all the systems of scepticism of ancient and modern times, held in the City of Cincinnati, between Robert Owen, of New Lanark, Scotland, and Alexander Campbell, of Bethany, Virginia: with an appendix by the parties. London, R. Groombridge; ([Nottingham: T. Kirk, printer]) 1839. 546 pp.
Campbell, George
(1719-1796)
(TM): George Campbell was a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and professor and principal at Marischall College and a member of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, of which the noted Scottich philosopher Thomas Reid was also a member.
Read more about Campbell here.
A Dissertation on Miracles: containing an examination of the principles advanced by David Hume in an Essay on Miracles, with a correspondence on the subject by Mr. Hume, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Blair, now first published, to which are added Sermons and Tracts. The third edition, with additions and corrections. Edinburgh, 1797. Volume 1 of 2; 465 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 375 pp.
(TM): Campbell’s book is perhaps the best-known of the replies to Hume’s attack on miracles to be issued in Hume’s lifetime, and it is historically important since Campbell and Hume actually corresponded briefly, through a mutual friend, regarding a manuscript of Campbell’s work.
While scholars have tended to stress Campbell’s view of testimony as an autonomous source of knowledge, there is much else in the book worthy of at least as much notice, including a thorough discussion of Hume’s attempt to draw a parallel between pagan and popular miracle accounts and the gospel miracles. (Part II, sections IV and V)
The works of Adams, Campbell, and John Douglas, taken together, provide a thorough response to Hume’s essay; but it was Campbell to whom Hume was referring when he remarked to a friend that “the Scotch theologue” had beaten him. [See also here.]
Campbell was not only a theologian but also an authority on rhetoric, so it is no surprise that his Dissertation contains many memorable passages, such as this one from the Introduction (p. 12):
God has neither in natural nor in revealed religion left himself without witness; but has in both given moral and external evidence, sufficient to convince the impartial, to silence the gainsayer, and to render inexcusable the atheist and the unbeliever. This evidence it is our duty to attend to, and candidly to examine. We must prove all things, as we are expressly enjoined in holy writ, if we would ever hope to hold fast that which is good.
Chalmers, Thomas
(1780-1847)
Mathematician and lecturer. Learn more about Chalmers here and here
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Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation. 6th edition. Andover [Mass.]: Published and sold by Mark Newman, 1818. (Andover: Flagg & Gould). 172 pp.; 23 cm. Extracts of the first five chapters regarding testimony. Extract, Chapter 3, On the Internal Marks of Truth and Honesty to be Found in the New Testament.
"It will be a great satisfaction to the writer of the following pages, if any shall rise from the perusal of them, with a stronger determination than before to take his Christianity exclusively from his Bible. It is not enough to entitle a man to the name of a Christian, that he professes to believe the Bible to be a genuine communication from God. To be the disciple of any book, he must do something more than satisfy himself that its contents are true -- he must read the book -- he must obtain a knowledge of the contents. And how many are there in the world, who do not call the truth of the Bible message in question, while they suffer it to lie beside them unopened, unread, and unattended to."
A Selection from the works of William E. Channing, D. D. Boston, 1855. 477 pp. The Evidences of Revealed Religion. Discourse before the University in Cambridge, at the Dudleian Lecture, March 14, 1821.
Christian Observer
(1800s-1900s)
The Christian Observer ... was founded at the Presbyterian publishing center of Philadelphia in 1813 as the Religious Remembrancer, "A Presbyterian Family Newspaper." Among its variety of religious articles were biographical sketches, revivals of religion, theological essays, missionary information, discourses on the preciousness of Christ and the denying of Christ, and essays on bible verses. The paper changed names several times, and in 1869 joined with the Free Christian Commonwealth in Louisville, Kentucky. Several of its contemporaries were swallowed up by its growth. In the early 1900's it was still a leading Presbyterian paper and contained stories and anecdotes, articles on such topics as "The Alcoholic problem," "Practical Suggestions for Church Work," "Saving Faith," "The Anti-opium Campaign in China," "Work Among the Negroes," and "The Pioneer Woman Physician." Cf. American Periodicals, 1741-1900.
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O.U.I. Reply to Mr. Hume's Argument About Miracles. Christian Observer, Conducted By Members of the Established Church (1802-1842). Boston: May 1802. Volume 1, n. 5; p. 292.
Paulinus. Remarks on Mr. O'Callaghan's Attack on the Bible Society. From Christian Observer, March 1817. Response to Thoughts on the Tendency of Bible Societies, as affecting the Established Church and Christianity Itself, as a Reasonable Service by the Rev. A. O'Callaghan.
A. Converse and F. Bartlett, editors. Necessity of Miracles. Christian Observer, December 10, 1841.
Published in London, England. Conducted by members of the established Church of England. Merged with: Christian advocate and review to form: Christian observer and advocate.
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C. E. P.On LaPlace's Algebraical Argument Against Miracles. From The Christian Observer, London edition, October 1838, pp. 617-620. This essay is referenced by Harvard law professor Simon Greenleaf in Testimony of the Evangelists. Editor's note: "There is an able reply to Hume's argument in Dr. Chalmers's Evidences of Christianity, lately reprinted in the third volume of his collected works. It contains some points not included in the reasonings of Campbell, Paley, &c. Mr. Babbage also, in what he calls The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, has adduced some very striking mathematical arguments to demonstrate that testimony is adequate to the proof of miracles; and that the largest induction which can be made, is not sufficient to shew that a deviation from what are considered the laws of nature may not take place, as in the case of the scriptural miracles of raising the dead to life, however improbable such an event antecedently appeared."
Extract includes Preface by editor and essay by U. U. S., "On the Credulity of Some Religious Persons," pp. 620-621.
Hume’s abject failure: the argument against miracles -- Review by John Warwick Montgomery:
"Introductory philosophy courses in college or university invariably include Hume's argument against miracles in the philosophy of religion unit to convince students that one cannot use evidence of miracles (such as the resurrection of Christ) to argue for metaphysical truths. Of course, Hume's argument SHOULD be included in the course--but in the LOGIC section as an archetypal piece of bad reasoning. Finally, a professional philosopher--who is by no means a Christian believer--has done a thoroughgoing scholarly critique of Hume's argument, showing beyond all question that the argument is perfectly circular: Hume, with a pre-Einsteinian, 18th century mindset, assumes that 'uniform experience' exists against miracles and concludes--surprise, surprise--that no evidence can ever be effectively marshalled to prove that a miracle has really occurred. This book should be read by every naive philosophical rationalist. It will open epistemological doors to a new appreciation of the potential of miracle arguments as a prime support to claims for a genuine, historical incarnation."
Remarks on An Essay concerning miracles, published by David Hume, Esq; amongst his philosophical essays. London, [1752]. 23 pp.
Fieser, James
(-)
Professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Learn about Fieser here and here.
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Early Responses to Hume's Life and Reputation. Second edition, revised. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2005. Volume 10 of 10, Limited preview. ISBN: 184371115X 9781843711155
Early responses to Hume's writings on religion. Second edition, revised. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2005. Volume 5 of 10, Limited preview . ISBN: 184371115X 9781843711155
Mr. Hume's reasoning is founded upon too limited a view of the laws and course of nature. If we consider things duly, we shall find that lifeless matter is utterly incapable of obeying any laws, or of being endued with any powers; and, therefore, what is usually called the course of nature can be nothing else than the arbitrary will and pleasure of God, acting continually upon matter, according to certain rules of uniformity, still bearing a relation to contingencies. So that it is as easy for the Supreme Being to alter what men think the course of nature as to preserve it. Those effects which are produced in the world regularly and indesinently, and which are usually termed the works of nature, prove the constant providence of the Deity; those, on the contrary, which, upon any extraordinary occasion, are produced in such a manner as it is manifest could not have been either by human power, or by what is called chance, prove undeniably the immediate interposition of the Deity on that special occasion. God, it must be recollect, is the governor of the moral as well as of the physical world; and since the moral well-being of the universe is of more consequence than its physical order and regularity, it follows, obviously, that the laws, conformably with which the material world seems generally to be regulated, are subservient, and may occasionally yield to the laws by which the moral world is governed. Although, therefore, a miracle is contrary to the usual course of nature (and would indeed lose its beneficial effect if it were not so), it cannot thence be inferred that it is 'a violation of the laws of nature,' allowing the term to include a regard to moral tendencies. The laws by which a wise and holy God governs the world cannot, unless he is pleased to reveal them, be learnt in any other way than from testimony; since, on this supposition, nothing but testimony can bring us acquainted with the whole series of his dispensations, and this kind of knowledge is absolutely necessary previously to our correctly inferring those laws. Testimony, therefore, must be admitted as constituting the principal means of discovering the real laws by which the universe has been regulated; that testimony assure us that the apparent course of nature has often bee interrupted to produce important moral effects; and we must not at random disregard such testimony, because, in estimating its credibility, we ought to look almost infinitely more at the moral than at the physical circumstances connected with any particular event."
*This argument is pursued to a considerable extent by Professor Vince, in his Sermons on the Credibility of Miracles, preached before the University of Cambridge.
18th-century Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian.
Essays and treatises on several subjects. In two volumes. By David Hume, Esq. A new edition. London, 1768. 582 pp. Vol. 1 of 2. Of National Characters.
"I am apt to suspect the negroes, and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion then white, nor even any indicvidual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences."
See Philosophical Dictionary by Swediaur for response.
Three essays, moral and political. Never before published. Which compleats the former edition, in two volumes, octavo. London, 1748. 62 pp. Includes "Of National Characters."
Oxford teacher and writer. Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and one of His Majesty's Preachers at Whitehall. Read more about Kett in the Dictionary of National Biography.
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History the interpreter of prophecy, or, a view of scriptural prophecies and their accomplishment in the past and present occurrences of the World. Oxford, 1799. 377 pp. Vol. 1 of 3.
History the interpreter of prophecy, or, a view of scriptural prophecies and their accomplishment in the past and present occurrences of the World. Oxford, 1799. 327 pp. Vol. 2 of 3.
History the interpreter of prophecy, or, a view of scriptural prophecies and their accomplishment in the past and present occurrences of the World. Oxford, 1799. 360 pp. Vol. 3 of 3.
Leland John
(1691-1766)
(TM): John Leland, an English dissenting (Presbyterian) minister who settled in Dublin, well deserves Hunt’s description as “the indefatigable opponent of the whole generation of the deists.” Near the end of his life he began writing a series of letters to a friend regarding the history of the controversy, and the result was this massive work, the only tolerably complete contemporary survey of the vast literature on both sides. Read more about Leland here
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A View of the principal deistical writers that have appeared in England in the last and present century: with observations upon them, and some account of the answers that have been published against them; in several letters to a friend. The Fifth edition. London: Printed by W. Richardson and S. Clark, for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, and T. Longman in Pater-oster-Row. 1766. Volume 1 of 2. 443 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 463 pp.
A View of the principal deistical writers that have appeared in England in the last and present century: with observations upon them, and some account of the answers that have been published against them; in several letters to a friend. London: Published by W. Baynes, Bookseller, 54, Paternoster Row, 1808. Volume 1 of 2. 508 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 508 pp.
(TM): The casual origin of Leland’s View still shows in the disproportionate space given to the work of Lord Bolingbroke, who is no longer considered to be a major figure. But as Leland’s survey runs to over 900 pages, there is no lack of material on other deists such as Blount, Toland, Collins, Morgan, Tindal, Annet, Chubb, and Hume, in each case citing copiously from the responses given to them. Students of the history of apologetics will want to supplement their reading of Leland with other works, such as the second volume of John Hunt’s Religious Thought in England and Sir Leslie Stephen’s unsympathetic but extensive discussion of the deist controversy in his History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. But no one interested in 18th century apologetics can afford to be without Leland’s work.
The View is of much more than merely historical value; because it gives a minute account of numerous responses to the deists, it contains a comprehensive defense of Christianity against all of the objections that its most determined adversaries in the Enlightenment could raise. Leland’s own summary of the controversy shows that he understood both the magnitude of the issues and the nature of the achievement of the defenders of Christianity:
They [the deists] have appealed to the bar of reason; the advocates for Christianity have followed them to that bar, and have fairly shewn, that the evidences of revealed religion are such as approve themselves to impartial reason, and, if taken together, are fully sufficient to satisfy an honest and unprejudiced mind. (Letter 35)
A View of the Evidences of Christianity. The seventh edition. In two volumes. London: printed by J. Davis; for R. Faulder, 1800. Volume 1, 397 pp.; Volume 2. Text-searchable edition found here at CCEL. (TM): Paley’s Evidences is one of the very best summaries of the historical case for Christianity, making good use of the work of his great predecessors Lardner and Douglas. In Part I, which is the heart of the book, Paley sets out to establish two propositions:
1. That there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct, and
2. That there is not satisfactory evidence that persons professing to be original witnesses of other miracles, in their nature as certain as these are, have ever acted in the same manner, in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in consequence of their belief of those accounts.
In Part II he considers auxiliary evidences such as prophecy, the character of Christ, and the propagation of Christianity. In Part III he considers some popular objections to Christianity.
Horæ Paulinæ, or, The Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul, Evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the apostles, and with one another. 1st American, from the 4th London ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Printed and sold by William Hilliard, 1806. 235 pp.
Olinthus Gregory, Letters on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties, of the Christian Religion, London, 1836, p. 99: ... "I must briefly advert to the cogent arguments so ably advanced by the late venerable Dr. Paley, drawn from the numerous obviously undesigned coincidences, mutually subsisting between the several Epistles of St. Paul, and the History of the Acts of the Apostles: these coincidences are so little seen by common observers, that it is impossible to suppose them the effect of forgery: an examination of them is sufficient to prove that neither the history was forged to square with the letters, nor the letters to accord with the history: that they are too numerous and close to be accounted for by the accidental, or by the designed, concurrences of fiction, or in any other way than by the uniformity of the tendency of truth to one point.*
*"For a full development and application of this train of argumentation, see Dr. Paley's admirable work, entitled, Horæ Paulinæ. This book has now been published thirty years, during all which period, though many of the Infidel host have 'gnashed their teeth' at it in private, not one has attempted to refute it."
Jeremiah Joyce (1763-1816). Disclaimer: Joyce was a Unitarian minister. An Analysis of Paley's View of the evidences of Christianity. Cambridge [Eng.]: Printed by B. Flower; for W.H. Lunn, 1795. 90 pp.; 21 cm.
ADVERTISEMENT: "In drawing up the following Analysis, the Editor had no other object in view, than to obtain a more general discussion of this most important of all questions -- Is Christianity true? For the event of the inquiry he is under no apprehension. -- The extensive and accurate view which Dr. Paley has taken of its evidences, merits the applause of every friend to revelation, and, it is hoped, will be the means of exciting that degree of attention, among the friends to freedom of inquiry, which the subject seems to demand.
"The very able account given of Dr. Paley's work in the Analytical Review, the Editor of this pamphlet had never heard of, till after he had finished his own Analysis. He has compared them, and, in consequence, has altered a few passages.
April 20, 1795."
A Discourse of Natural Theology: Showing the nature of the evidence and the advantages of the study / by Henry Lord Brougham. London: Charles Knight, 1835. vii, 296 pp.
Lord Brougham on Natural Theology. Review of Brougham's Natural Theology from Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, v. 12, n. 70, October 1835.
Paley, William. Natural theology, or, Evidences of the existence and attributes of the Deity: collected from the appearances of nature, with illustrative notes by Henry, Lord Brougham and Sir C. Bell, and an introductory discourse of natural theology by Lord Brougham. To which are added supplementary dissertations and a treatise on animal mechanics by Sir Charles Bell. With numerous woodcuts. London: C. Knight, 1845. 4 volumes illus. Volume 1 of 4. Volume 2 of 4. Volume 3 of 4. Volume 4 of 4.
Welsh moral and political philosopher. D.D. L.L.D. and fellow of the Royal Society of London, and of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in New-England. Learn about Price here.
(TM): Thomas Sherlock was an Anglican Bishop whose apologetic writings, in the tradition of John Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity, focus on the evidence for miracles and the use and intent of prophecy.
Learn more about Sherlock here and here
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The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus. Not only Mr. Woolston’s objections in his sixth discourse on our Saviour’s miracles, but those also which he and others have published in other books, are here considered. First published about the year 1729. Edinburgh: printed by J. Robertson. For W. Gray, 1769. 116 pp.; 12^(0) 1729 edition available here. HTML version available here.
(TM): The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection is a charming response to the deist Thomas Woolston, who had attacked the Christian miracles in six pamphlets published in 1727-8. The question at issue is whether the original witnesses of the resurrection were deceivers, and Sherlock frames work as a discussion among some lawyers who find themselves on opposite sides of the question. They decide to have it determined by a mock trial complete with a jury in which the skeptical arguments of Woolston, Anthony Collins, and Matthew Tindal are vigorously advanced by the counsel for the prosecution and rebutted by the counsel for the defense.
The Trial was wildly popular and went through nearly a dozen printings in its first year. The edition linked here also contains Sherlock’s Sequel to the Trial of the Witnesses, a valuable work in its own right, written in response to an attack on the Trial by Peter Annet. The mode of argument adopted in the Trial has been an influence on many subsequent apologetic writers, and it has been conjectured that Hume had the Trial in view when he published his famous attack on the rationality of belief in miracles in 1748.
Charles Moss. The Sequel to The Tryal of the witnesses: wherein the evidence of the resurrection is cleared. In answer to a pamphlet, intitled, The Resurrection of Jesus considered by a moral philosopher. The third edition. London, Printed for J. Whiston and B. White, in Fleet-Street, 1757. 167 pp. Note(s): First published in 1744 under title: The evidence of the resurrection cleared from the exceptions of a late pamphlet, entitled, The resurrection of Jesus considered by a Moral philosopher, in answer to The tryal of witnesses.
Use and Intent of Prophecy, in the several ages of the world. In six discourses, delivered at the Temple-Church, in April and May, 1724. To which are added, four dissertations. The third edition, corrected and enlarged. By Tho. Sherlock, London, 1732. 337 pp.
Deism revealed; Or, the attack on Christianity candidly reviewed in its real merits, as they stand in the celebrated writings of Lord Herbert. London, 1751. Volume 1 of 2. 321 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 322 pp.
Christianity against Infidelity: or, the truth of the gospel history; embracing a preliminary argument for the existence of God, and the reasonableness and necessity of a revelation; and a review of sceptical philosophy. New edition, revised and enlarged. Cincinnati: J.A. Gurley, 1849. xi, 425 pp.; 19 cm.
Vernet, Jacob
Traité de la vérité de la religion Chrétienne. Vol.5. Extract. An Argument concerning the Christian Religion drawn from the character of the founders, Translated from the French of J. Vernet. Hull, printed by and for J. Ferraby: and for G. G. & J. Robinson, London, 1800. [4],119,[1] pp. Also here. Vernet's treatise was for the most part drawn from the Latin of J.A. Turretinus. Reproduction of original from the British Library.
Vince, Samuel
(1749-1821)
The Credibility of the Scripture Miracles Vindicated: in answer to Mr. Hume; in two discourses preached before the University of Cambridge. To which are added notes and remarks upon Mr. Hume's principles and reasoning.
2nd ed., corrected. Cambridge: Printed by R. Watts, 1809. 78 pp.; 22 cm.
Scottish Presbyterian clergyman and writer. Slavery abolitionist. Read about Wardlaw here.
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On Miracles. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton, 1852. 318 pp.; 19 cm.
Whately, Richard
(1787-1863)
Anglican Archbishop of Dublin. Expert in logic and rhetoric. Read more about Whately here. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition: "While he was at St Alban Hall (1826) the work appeared which is perhaps most closely associated with his name - his treatise on Logic, originally contributed to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, in which he raised the study of the subject to a new level. It gave a great impetus to the study of logic throughout Great Britain."
The Christian duty of educating the poor. A Discourse / delivered in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 24th November, 1844, in behalf of the National School of Clondalkin. Dublin: W. Curry, Jun., and Co., 1845. 31 pp.
Essays on Some of the Peculiarities of the Christian religion. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, for John Murray, London, 1825. [3], vi-xvi, 285 pp. Contents: On a future state.--On the declaration of God in his Son.--On love towards Christ as a motive to obedience.--On the practical character of revelation.--On the example of children as proposed to Christians. Also here.
Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte. 9th edition, revised and enlarged. London: J. W. Parker, 1849. 62 pp. Also here. HTML version here. (TM): In this delightful spoof, published while Napoleon was still alive, Whately turns Hume’s skeptical doubts regarding miracles against reports of the career of Napoleon-—with devastating results. In the Preface to the edition linked here, Whately gleefully reports that some readers took this spoof to be seriously recommending universal skepticism. The real point, of course, is that Hume’s extreme skepticism, consistently applied, leads to absurd results.
Historic doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte. Extract. Introductory background remarks by James Kiefer. In 1819 (while Napoleon was a prisoner on St. Helena, and two years before Napoleon's death), Richard Whately, then teaching at Oxford, published a short work called Historic Doubts Relative To Napoleon Buonaparte. In it, he applied the methods of Hume and others to show that Hume's arguments undermined considerably more than just the case for miracles and other aspects of Christian belief.
Reverend. Read more about Witherspoon here and here and here.
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The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Man. A Sermon, preached at Princeton, on the 17th of May, 1776. To which is added, an address to the natives of Scotland, residing in America. By John Witherspoon. The second edition, with elucidating remarks. [Glasgow]: Philadelphia, printed: Glasgow re-printed; sold by the booksellers in town and country, 1777. 54 pp.; 80.
The Absolute Necessity of Salvation through Christ. A Sermon, preached before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in the High Church of Edinburgh, on Monday, January 2. 1758. By John Witherspoon. To which is subjoined a short account of the present state of the Society. Edinburgh: printed for W. Miller, 1758. [2], 90 pp.
Trial of Religious Truth by its moral influence. A sermon, preached at the opening of the synod of Glasgow and Air, October 9th, 1759. By J. Witherspoon, Glasgow: printed for James Wilken, in Paisley, 1759. 45,[1] pp.
Ecclesiastical characteristics: or, The Arcana of church policy Being an humble attempt, to open the mystery of moderation. Wherein is shewn, a plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a moderate man, as at present in repute in the Church of Scotland. [Philadelphia]: London: Printed, Philadelphia: Re-printed, by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee-House. The 7th edition. Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, 1767. 60 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
Christian Magnaminity; A Sermon, preached at Princeton, September, 1775--the Sabbath preceeding the annual commencement; and again with additions, September 23, 1787. To which is added, an address to the senior class, who were to receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Princeton [N.J.] : Printed by James Tod., United States; New Jersey; Princeton, 1787. iv, 44 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
Part 1 and Part 2.
Varnum Lansing Collins, editor. Lectures on moral philosophy. Also here. Princeton, N.J.,; Princeton university press, 1912. xxix, [2], 144 pp. 21 cm.
The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D. L.L.D. late president of the college, at Princeton New-Jersey. To which is prefixed an account of the author's life, in a sermon occasioned by his death, by the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, of New York: In three volumes. Vol. I[-III] Philadelphia: Printed and published by William W. Woodward, no. 17, Chesnut near Front Street, 1800. 3 volumes; 22 cm. (8vo). Volume 1. Volume 2. Volume 3. Extract from 2nd edition, 1802, Volume 4. On the Georgia Constitution.
Should Christians - Or Ministers - Run For Office?. Introduction by David Barton: "Founding Father John Witherspoon's sagacious rebuttal to the 1777 Georgia Constitution's provision forbidding clergymen from serving in the Georgia legislature."
With John M. Mason. On liberality in religion : Taken from the Christian's magazine, edited by the Rev. Dr. Mason of New York; together with An inquiry into the Scripture meaning of charity. Portland, [Me.]: A. Lyman, J. M'Kown). Maine; Portland, 1811. 40 pp.
