MR. BINNEY ON DEISM.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIE,—In your interesting review of " Weigh-House Chapel Ser- mons" a quotation is presented in which Mr. Binney replies to the common objection to Christianity, that if it were true, it would certainly become universal. Mr. Binney turns the argu- ment against the Deist himself, and says that his (the Deist's) religion "has the least pretension to universality of any." But this reply appears to me totally inadequate :-1. Because it is a part of the Deist's case against Christianity that, if its claim that the alternatives of eternal happiness or misery in the future depend on belief in it, the proofs would have been made so clear, that no one could have felt any reasonable doubt of their suf- ficiency. Deism, not limiting human salvation to its believers, is not liable to the same objection. 2. Deism, or the belief in God, is nearly universal. Various religions may append to their belief in God further beliefs on which they insist, but a belief in the existence of a Deity—the essence of Deism—most nearly represents the consensus of mankind.—I am, Sir, &c.,
MONCURE 1). CONWAY.
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