"Dialogues concerning natural religion" by David Hume,1779

..
The argument from design is an argument which attempts to prove God's existence on the basis of signs of adaptability in nature,but it is an unsatisfactory argument because,although plausible,it does not demonstrate with logical certainty the truth of the claim that the universe was designed.
.
Furthermore,if we try to deduce the nature of God from the characteristics of nature regarded as his handwork,God must be finite,imperfect,incompetent,and dependent.
.
It is possible that order in nature is the result of a natural generative process.
.
A priori arguments designed to prove God's existence are inconclusive and establish only that something,not necessarily God,may have been a first cause.
.
Although the cause of order in the universe probably bears some resemblance to human intelligence,nothing can be concluded concerning the moral character of such a cause.
..

"A Treatise of Human Nature",Book I,by David Hume

..
All of our knowledge comes from impressions and ideas ;
the impressions are more forceful and lively than the ideas.
.
By the use of memory and imagination we preserve and arrange our ideas.
.
We have no abstract,general ideas but only ideas of particular things which can be considered collectively by the use of general terms.
.
Certainty comes from the intuitive recognition of the similarity or differences in ideas,or from the demonstrative process of connecting a series of intuitions
-as in arithmetic and algebra.
.
Our knowledge of causal relationships is simply the habit of expecting events of one kind to follow events of another kind with which they have been observed to be conjoined ;there are no necessary relationships between events.
.
We have good reason to be skeptical about all conclusions reached by the use of reason or on the basis of sense experience.
.

The principles of Morals

..
The purpose of ethical inquiry is to discover those universal principles
on which moral praise and blame are based.
..
Benevolence is approved partly because of human sympathy
and partly because of its social utility,
but justice is approved for its utility alone.
..
Utility accounts for the worth of such virtues as
humanity,
friendship,
integrity,
veracity
-and it is by its utility that government is justified.
..
Theories which attempt to explain all human conduct as
springing fron self-love are mistaken.
..
Whatever is worth while is so in virtue of its utility
or its agreeableness.
Moral judgment is essentially a matter of sentiment,
not reason.
..