''Principles of Nature'', also known as ''The Principles of Nature, or A Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery among the Human Species'', was a work written in 1801 by

Elihu Palmer Elihu Palmer (1764 – April 7, 1806) was an author and advocate of deism in the early days of the United States. Life Elihu Palmer was born in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1764. He studied to be a Presbyterian minister at Dartmouth College, where ...

. The work was similar to

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

's writings, and focused on "God, Deism, "revealed" religions, etc." It has been considered the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

of American

deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the Philosophy, philosophical position and Rationalism, rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that Empirical evi ...

. Although Palmer first published in America, after his death, in 1819, ''Principles of Nature'' was published in England.

Richard Carlile Richard Carlile (8 December 1790 – 10 February 1843) was an important agitator for the establishment of universal suffrage and freedom of the press in the United Kingdom. Early life Born in Ashburton, Devon, he was the son of a shoemaker wh ...

was fined and jailed for several years for publishing Palmer's work in Britain (among other works deemed

blasphemous Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

, including those by

) .

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1801 non-fiction books Deism Philosophy of religion literature