href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40846@[email protected]#Page_261" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">261

Difficulties which he thus passed over

264

Hume’s view

266

Voltaire did not assail the general ideas of Christianity

267

Such as the idea of evil inherent in matter

270

And the idea of a deity as then conceived

271

Hence the acerbity of the debate

273

And the want of permanence in Voltaire’s writings compared with Bossuet or Pascal

274

His criticism on Dante

275 (3) His approximation to a solution.

Voltairean deism

276

Never accepted by the mass of men

278

Nor is it likely to be accepted by them

279

Voltaire’s imperfect adherence to the deistical idea

280

Reasons for this

282

Does not accept belief in the immortality of the soul

286

Asserts less than Rousseau, and denies less than Diderot

287

A popular movement begun by Bayle’s Dictionary

288

Compromising method of Rousseau

290

Voltaire’s view of an atheistical society

291

His belief in the social sufficiency of an analytic spirit

292

Synthesis necessary, but more than one is possible

293 CHAPTER VI. HISTORY.

Extraordinary activity in historical composition in the eighteenth century

295

Explanation of it

296

Circumstances under which Voltaire thought about the philosophy of history

297

The three historical styles

299

Voltaire’s histories of two kinds

301

Rousseau’s disregard for history

302

Voltaire’s acute sense

303

His diligence in seeking authentic materials

305