The wash of the wave of the great deistic controversy on the other side of the Atlantic was not without its effect upon the religious thought of New England. The direct evidence of this is, however, much more elusive than one might at first suppose. 1 That the reading public was acquainted with the writings of the great English deists, Herbert, Chubb, Shaftesbury, Tindal, Wollaston, Toland, Hume, is clear from references to their works which appear with considerable frequency in the private and public records of the day; but invariably these references are made in a more or less casual manner, and, for the most part, in connection with sweeping generalizations made by the clergy respecting the prevailing scepticism of the age. Apart from such allusions and the appearance of titles in the lists of booksellers who were advertising their stocks in the newspapers, it would be difficult to cite specific evidence, Thomas Paine' s Age of Reason alone excepted, to the effect that the impact of English deism upon the thought of New England was anything like direct.
The amount of independent literary expression which the doctrines of deism obtained in New England was practically negligible. 2 The quality was even less noteworthy.
- 1 As a typical illustration the comment of Lyman Beecher may be cited: " The Deistic controversy was an existing thing, and the battle was hot, the crisis exciting." (Autobiography, Correspondence, etc., vol. i, p. 52.) The date is about 1798. In the same connection President Dwight of Yale is referred to as " the great stirrer-up of that [**. e., the deistic] controversy on this side the Atlantic." (Ibid.) It is certain that Dwight had some acquaintance with the works of the leading English deists, and that he opposed their views. Cf. Travels in Nezv England and New York, vol. iv, p. 362; but his main target was infidelity of the French school. Beecher fails to distinguish between the two.
- 2 One discovers no convincing evidence that the deistical views of Benjamin Franklin produced any direct effect upon the thought of New England. As respects Thomas Jefferson the case was different. But New England Federalists were so successful in keeping public attention fixed on Jefferson's fondness for French political and religious philosophy, that his alleged " French infidelity " rather than his opinions concerning natural religion became and continued to be the bone of contention. That he was regarded as a deist is, however, not to be questioned. Bentley, Diary, vol. iii, p. 20.
