All things in the universe
are evidently of a piece. Everything is adjusted to everything. One
design prevails throughout the whole. And this uniformity leads the
mind to acknowledge one author; because the conception of different
authors, without any distinction of attributes or operations,
serves only to give perplexity to the imagination, without
bestowing any satisfaction on the understanding."--(IV. p. 442.)
Thus Hume appears to have sincerely accepted the two fundamental
conclusions of the argument from design; firstly, that a Deity exists;
and, secondly, that He possesses attributes more or less allied to those
of human intelligence. But, at this embryonic stage of theology, Hume's
progress is arrested; and, after a survey of the development of dogma,
his "general corollary" is, that--
"The whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt,
uncertainty, suspense of judgment, appear the only result of our
most accurate scrutiny concerning this subject. But such is the
frailty of human reason, and such the irresistible contagion of
opinion, that even this deliberate doubt could scarcely be upheld;
did we not enlarge our view, and opposing one species of
superstition to another, set them a quarrelling; while we
ourselves, during their fury and contention, happily make our
escape into the calm, though obscure, regions of philosophy."--(IV.
p. 513.
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