deistn.

1563 Viret Instruct. Chr. II. Ep. Ded. J'ai entendu qu'il y en a de ceste bande, qui s'appellent Deistes, d'un mot tout nouveau, lequel ils veulent oposer a Atheiste.]

1628 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 3) iii. iv. ii. i. 616 Cosin Germans to these men, are many of our great Philosophers, & Deists.

1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 6 Some Infidels..to avoid the odious name of Atheists, would shelter and skreen themselves under a new one of Deists, which is not quite so obnoxious.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks II. v. 209 Averse as I am to the cause of theism, or name of deist, when taken in a sense exclusive of revelation.

a1716 R. Traill Six Serm. (1779) vi. 119 We have a generation amongst us..called Deists, which is nothing else but a new court word for an Atheist.

1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man ii. iii. 347 Unless he be a sincere Deist at least, i.e. unless he believe in the Existence and Attributes of God.

1788 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 196 A Deist—I mean one who believes there is a God distinct from matter; but does not believe the Bible.

1878 D. Patrick in Encycl. Brit. VII. 33 The later distinction between theist and deist, which stamped the latter word as excluding the belief in providence or the immanence of God, was apparently formulated in the end of the 18th century by those rationalists who were aggrieved at being identified with the naturalists.

1880 Sat. Rev. 26 June 820 In speaking of a deist they fix their attention on the negative, in speaking of a theist on the positive aspect of his belief.