on Christianity, and
the morality of the sensationalists--all these he opposed with a
thorough conviction of the truth of the principles which he advocated.
His fame as theologian and philosopher rests to a large extent on his
demonstration of the existence of God and his theory of the foundation
of rectitude. The former is not a purely a priori argument, nor is it
presented as such by its author. It starts from a fact and it often
explicitly appeals to facts. The intelligence, for example, of the
self-existence and original cause of all things is, he says, "not
easily proved a priori," but "demonstrably proved a posteriori from
the variety and degrees of perfection in things, and the order of
causes and effects, from the intelligence that created beings are
confessedly endowed with, and from the beauty, order, and final
purpose of things." The propositions maintained in the argument
are--"(1) That something has existed from eternity; (2) that there has
existed from eternity some one immutable and independent being; (3)
that that immutable and independent being, which has existed from
eternity, without any external cause of its existence, must be
self-existent, that is, necessarily existing; (4) what the substance
or essence of that being is, which is self-existent or necessarily
existing, we have no idea, neither is it at all possible for us to
comprehend it; (5) that though the substance or essence of the
self-existent being is itself absolutely incomprehensible to us, yet
many of the essential attributes of his nature are strictly
demonstrable as well as his existence, and, in the first place, that
he must be of necessity eternal; (6) that the self-existent being must
of necessity be infinite and omnipresent; (7) must be but one; (8)
must be an intelligent being; (9) must be not a necessary agent, but a
being endued with liberty and choice; (10) must of necessity have
infinite power; (11) must be infinitely wise, and (12) must of
necessity be a being of infinite goodness, justice, and truth, and all
other moral perfections, such as become the supreme governor and judge
of the world."

In order to establish his sixth proposition, Clarke contends that time
and space, eternity and immensity, are not substances, but
attributes--the attributes of a self-existent being. Edmund Law,
Dugald Stewart, Lord Brougham, and many other writers, have, in
cons