ABSTRACT
Samuel Richardson saw his contemporary Alexander Pope as being at the forefront of literary attacks on the true faith; and it is on the literary front that Richardson responds. For this reason, it will be helpful to examine several extracts from An Essay on Man before examining Richardson's 'religious novels'. Richardson was an enthusiast of John Milton, who aspired, in Paradise Lost, to 'justify the ways of God to men'. Many pious individuals of Richardson's generation saw deism as a greater, because more insidious, threat to Christianity than outright atheism, which it was dangerous to own. A tacit admission that Pamela missed its Christian goal comes when Richardson discusses his middle novel, Clarissa. But Richardson knows that he has simply shown a woman rejoicing at the prospect of eternity and a man horrified at the same prospect, whilst eternity itself remains shrouded in shadow.
