because of his scepticism -- certainly none that deserved to be called persecution.For we suppose it will be scarcely reckoned as such, that, on one occasion, in picking his steps from his lodging in the old town to the house he was building in the new, he fell into a swamp, and, observing some Newhaven fishwives passing, he called to them for help, but on learning that it was Hume the unbeliever who was in such a plight, they refused to aid him till he said the Lord's prayer.He carried on a pleasant correspondence with Sir Gilbert Elliott of Minto, with Mure of Caldwell, and others of a literary or philosophic taste.He lived on familiar terms with several of the moderate clergy, such as Robertson and Blair, and at times mingled in their ecclesiastical counsels.Many of the younger ministers reckoned it an honor to be admitted to his society, and he encouraged them to associate with him.These circumstances have led some to think that the leading moderate ministers of that period must have been infidels in secret, and acting hypocritically in professing Christianity; but there is no ground for such a charge: they believed sincerely in the doctrines of natural religion, and in the Word of God as inspired to teach a pure morality and the immortality of the soul.But it is equally clear, that they had no faith in the peculiar Bible doctrines of grace; and Hume was delighted to find them frowning on all religious earnestness, and advancing so rapidly on the road to deism and philosophic indifference.
By April, 1776, Hume knew that he would not recover from the disease with which he had been afflicted for two years, being a disorder in the bowels.He bought a piece of ground in the new church-yard in the Calton Hill as a burying-place, and left money for the erection of a small monument, with the simple inscription, " David Hume." lie wrote " My Own Life," giving an account of his literary career.In his will Adam Smith had been appointed his literary executor, and two hundred pounds had been bequeathed to him for the pains he might take in correcting and publishing his " Dialogues on Natural Religion," a work written before 1751, but not yet given to the world.But he had ground for fearing that Smith might be unwilling to take the odium of editing such a work, and so he took effectual steps to guard against its suppression.He came to {131} an understanding with Smith on the subject, and in a codicil to his will, dated August 7, he left the manuscripts to Strahan the publisher, ordaining " that if my `Dialogues' from whatever cause be not published within two years and a half after my death, as also the account of my life, the property shall return to my nephew David, whose duty in publishing them, as the last request of his uncle, must be approved of by all the world." Strahan was as indisposed as Smith to undertake the responsibility of publishing so offensive a work.The truth is, Hume's Scottish friends, though they had abandoned Christianity, were most anxious to have left to them a natural religion, in which they might find a refuge and some comfort; and in the "Dialogues" Hume had undermined this last support.The " Dialogues " were published in 1779by the author's nephew.
In April he took a journey to Bath for the benefit of his health, but with no hope of ultimate recovery.John Home, the author of " Douglas, a Tragedy," travelled with him, and has preserved a diary.He talked cheerfully of the topics of the day, and of his favorite subjects, lamenting over the state of the nation, and predicting that the national debt must be the ruin of Britain.He returned to Edinburgh about the beginning of July.Dr.Cullen reports: "He passed most part of the day in his drawing-room: admitted the visits of his friends, and with his usual spirits conversed with them upon literature, politics, or whatever was accidentally started." Colonel Edmonstoune had come to take leave of him Hume said he had been reading a few days before, Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead," and, among all the reasons for not entering readily into Charon's boat, he could not find one that fitted him, and he invented several peculiar ones to give the boatman." I might urge, I Have a little patience, good Charon: I have been endeavoring to open the eyes of the public.If I live a few years longer, Imay have the satisfaction of seeing the downfall of some of the prevailing systems of superstition.' But Charon would then lose all temper and decency: `You loitering rogue, that will not happen these many hundred years.Do you fancy Iwill grant you a lease for so long a term ? Get into the boat this instant, you lazy, loitering rogue.'" All this is evidently very gratifying to the colonel.Dr.Black reports that he " passes his time very well with the assistance of amusing books." {132} Dr.Cullen continues: "For a few days before his death, he became more averse to receive visits;speaking, became more and more difficult to him; and for twelve hours before his death his speech failed him altogether.His senses and judgment did not fail till the last hour of his life.He constantly discovered a strong sensibility to the attention and care of his friends, and, amidst great uneasiness and languor, never betrayed any peevishness or impatience."This was the account left by his literary friends, and it was matter of triumph to them that he betrayed no signs of fear in his hour of weakness.Are we to allow, that, as in the early ages of the world's history, those who did not like to retain God in their knowledge continued all their lives in the most abject superstition , so in these last days, under other influences, there may be persons so bewildered that they die as they live, without any fixed religious belief? The fact, if it be a fact, is not flattering to the race; nor is the prospect encouraging.
