wonder that the capacity for religious sentiment and truth should be among the number? There must be some degree of mental activity before the primary principles of the most obvious subject are discovered. It is possible for some tribes to exist in a state so savage as not to be capable of any intellectual exertion. It has been remarked as a matter of common observation, that persons of little reflection, who are chiefly occupied about sensible objects, and whose mental activity is in a great measure suspended, as soon as their perceptive powers are unemployed, find it ex tremely difficult to continue awake, when they are deprived of their usual engagements. Savages, like the lower animals, have their time completely divided between sleep and their bodily exertions. Beings in such a situation form an exception to the general, and in my opinion, to the natural, condition of mankind: their ignorance, therefore, of principles regarding which the other part of the human race are agreed, can furnish no objection to invalidate their truth. Ignorance, it has been justly observed, is no argument against the certainty of any thing. There are many nations and people almost totally ignorant of the plainest mathematical truths; and yet these truths are such that the mind cannot but give its assent necessarily and unavoidably, as soon as they are distinctly proposed to it. All that this objection proves, therefore, supposing the matter of it to be true, is only this: that men have great need to be taught and instructed in some very plain and easy as well as certain truths; and if they be important truths, that then have they need also to have them frequently inculcated, and strongly enforced upon them.

handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." Let us now proceed,

Briefly, to ascertain what may be known of the character and government of God from the works of creation and providence, or, without the light of revelation. In the outset it may be urged, by way of objection to our inquiry, or, rather, to our capability of bringing it to a successful issue, that no man, born and educated in a Christian country, can place himself in the situation of a mere disciple of reason and nature; that he cannot possibly divest himself of notions with which he has been familiar from his earliest years, and stand precisely on the footing of Socrates or Plato; that he is walking in the light of heaven, even when he disowns its existence, and is vainly ascribing to his own understanding those elementary truths which unaided reason would not discover. I am so far from denying the truth of this position, that I own it to be my opinion, that much of what is termed natural religion, is itself the effect, partly, of that early revelation which existed in the family of mankind before its dispersion over the globe, and, partly, of that clearer revelation which has since poured its light on the human mind.

Yet, surely, as we are so explicitly taught by the sacred volume, as well as by many other considerations, that the Godhead, that is, the unity, the being, and perfections, of the living and true God, are clearly seen in his works, we must ascribe the circumstance of their not having been justly and distinctly recognised to the state of mind of the beholder. In as far as nature reveals the character and government of God, the revelation will of course correspond to the manifestation which he makes of himself in his word. As he is the Author of both alike, our diligent study of both, with the view of knowing more of God, and of our relations and duties in regard to him, must be highly advantageous. Revelation presupposes the exercise of reason and of moral feeling, and the investigation, in proportion to our opportunities, of the great and marvellous works of the Almighty. It addresses man as a being endowed with understanding, gifted with the powers of judgment and reflection, which are adequate, in many cases, for his direction, for pointing out to him his duty by the aid of general principles, by a comparison of circumstances, and by an induction from particulars.

Besides, it is a source of satisfaction to discover, that, on some of the most momentous of all truths, the suggestions of reason and the doctrines of revelation entirely agree. When I find that an analysis of the principles and moral feelings that are inherent in my mind leads to the same conclusion as the requirements of scripture, it may be presumed that my conviction of moral obligation, as unalterable and eternal, will be strengthened. By this means our views of duty, if not enlarged, become more definite. We are more capable of following out the general principles of morality contained in revelation, and of applying with

for us to look on the heavens above, or on the earth around, without perceiving the magnificent effects of his infinite perfection. Few are capable of abstruse speculation, or of receiving permanent impressions from the truths which it evolves; but all are able to understand what should be inferred respecting the great Artificer from the exquisite skill displayed in the mechanism he has formed; what conclusion should be deduced concerning his wisdom, from the intelligence and design which his operations discover *.

Let us, therefore, notice, in the third place, how clearly the being and perfections of God are proved from the appearances, the order, and government observable in nature and in providence. The clear marks and signatures of wisdom, power, and goodness, in the constitution and government of the world, are a demonstration stable as the mountains in proof of the being and universal presence of God; and it is an argument that has this peculiar advantage, that it gathers strength as human knowledge advances. If Galen, when he had examined the formation of the human body, at a period when its structure was less understood than it is now, saw such marks of design and skill in it as led him to renounce the atheistical system in which he had been educated, and to write a book for the very purpose of convincing others of the truth which had irresistibly forced itself on his own mind, can we, with the numerous discoveries of modern times before us, and with the heavens and the earth visibly presenting to us the signatures of infinite wisdom and power, fail to be convinced that God has never left himself without a witness, that all his works

which it serves. The primary use of reason, all acknowledge, is to direct us in our intellectual and moral pursuits; and of affection and feeling to stimulate us to the accomplishment of that which reason approves, and in some cases to supply its lack. But what is the intention of implanting in our nature a religious susceptibility, of connecting indissolubly with the mind of men, in every age and country, a capacity for devotional sentiment, if there exist no Supreme Being, in the contemplation of whose perfections this power may be employed? There is here an original principle, as characteristic of human nature as is reason or understanding, without any obvious utility, without any end to be answered by its exercise.

That it is an original principle, and not the result of peculiar circumstances, as are local prejudices and prepossessions, is evident, from its being common to man in every age of the world, co-extensive with his being in every part of the globe, and felt in all its force by those who have most successfully employed and improved their reason. It is common to man, I have said, in every age and country. If, in support of this position, we appeal to former times, we have the express testimony of the most distinguished philosophers, and through the medium of their writings, the opinion of the remotest ages. In their estimation the universal existence of a devotional susceptibility formed so striking a circumstance, that they deduce from it one of their strongest arguments for the being of God:-an argument which the founder of the Epicureans considered as possessing greater force than any other. The greatest of the Romans, when speaking of the general consent of mankind as to the existence of a Divinity,