HERBERT, Lord Edward, Baron of Cherbury.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

De Veritate prout distinguitur a revelatione, a verisimili, a possibili, et a falso. Second edition, the first practically obtainable, of the first English metaphysical treatise, for which Herbert has long been celebrated as the father of English deism. The first edition, published at Paris in 1624, is scarce: we trace a handful of institutional copies and no examples at auction since the 1950s.In De Veritate, rationalism is applied to religious belief, as Herbert (1583-1648) claims that the human mind has the God-implanted tools to determine the way to true salvation - without any need for direct divine intervention, as was widely believed. Among subsequent deists, these arguments were particularly influential on Charles Blount (1654-1693), whose works deployed Herbertian principles to challenge Christianity directly. The book was largely written while Herbert was ambassador at Paris, and the first edition was published there in 1624, after positive reviews by Grotius. The work was not uncontroversial: in preparing the second edition, Herbert revised the original dedication to "the whole human race" to "every reader of sound and unprejudiced judgement".

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