upon the
absolute perfection of the law or religion of nature, of which
Christianity is only a republication. Like him, he professes himself a
Christian Deist and vigorously protests against being supposed to be an
enemy to Christianity. But his work is inferior to Tindal's in every
respect. It is an ill-written book. It is mainly directed against the
Jewish economy. But Morgan takes a far wider range than this, embracing
the whole of the Old Testament, which he appears to read backward,
finding objects of admiration in what are there set before us as objects
of reprobation and _vice versa_.

But though Morgan deals mainly with the Old Testament, he throws
considerable doubt in his third volume upon the New. The account given
of the life of Christ, still more, that of His Resurrection, and above
all, the miracles wrought by His apostles, are all thrown into
discredit.[157]

On the whole, this book marks a distinct epoch in the history of English
Deism. There is little indeed said by Morgan which had not been
insinuated by one or other of his predecessors, but the point to be
marked is that it _was_ now said, not merely insinuated. The whole tone
of the book indicates 'the beginning of the end' not far distant, that
end being what Lechler calls 'the dissolution of Deism into Scepticism.'

But there is yet one more author to be noticed whose works were still
written in the earlier vein of Deism. So far Deism had not found a
representative writer among the lower classes. The aristocracy and the
middle class had both found exponents of their views; but Deism had
penetrated into lower strata of society than these, and at length a very
fitting representative of this part of the community appeared in the
person of Thomas Chubb. Himself a working man, and to a great extent
self-educated, Chubb had had peculiar opportunities of observing the
mind of the class to which he belonged. His earlier writings were not
intended for publication, but were written for the benefit of a sort of
debating club of working men of which he was a member. He was with
difficulty persuaded to publish them, mainly through the influence of
the famous William Whiston, and henceforth became a somewhat voluminous
writer, leaving behind him at his death a number of tracts and essays,
which were published together under the title of 'Chubb's Posthumous
Works.' In his main arguments Chubb, like Morgan, follows closely in the
wake of Tindal. But his view of