718

THEOLOGY,

gence, which directs all its motions and all the changes which takeplace among its parts for some wise purposes. To suppose it un-der the government of two or more intelligences would be highlyunreasonable; for if these intelligences had ecpial power, equalwisdom, and the same designs, more than one of them would evi-dently be superfluous; and if they had equal power and contrarydesigns, they could not be the parents of that harmony w hich weperceive to prevail in the system. But tne Being, capable of re-gulating the movements of so vast a machine, may well be sup-posed to possess infinite power, and to be capable of superintend-ing the motions of the universe. That the widely extended sys-tem of nature is but one system, of w hich the several parts areunited by many bonds of mutual connection, has been shewnelsewhere; (see Physics, ) and appears daily more and more evi-dent from their progress in physical discoveries; and therefore itis in the highest degree unreasonable to suppose it has more thanone author, or one supreme governor. As the unity of design apparent in the works of creation plainly prove the unity of theirAuthor, so do the immensity of the whole, and lire admirable ad-justment of the several parts to one another, demonstrate hispower and his wisdom. No reasoning could be more satisfactoryon this point, than a reference to the numerous articles in thiswork of Natural History, Astronomy , &c. Under every headthe adoring student will discover endless proofs that there must besome Almighty Mind who modelled and preserves the universe;lays the causes of things so deep ; prescribes them such uniformand steady laws; destines and adapts them to certain purposes;and makes one thing to fit and answer another so as to produceone harmonious whole. But the goodness of God is not less con-spicuous in his works than his power or his wisdom. The viewof a landscape is pleasant; the taste of nourishing food is pleasant;sounds not too loud are agreeable, while musical sounds are ex-quisite; and hardly any smells, except such as are excited byeffluvia obviously pernicious to tfie brain, are disagreeable ; w hilstsome of them, if not too long indulged, are delightful. Our livesare preserved, and the species is continued, by obeying the impulseof appetites ; of which the gratification is exquisite, w hen not re-peated too frequently, to answer the purposes of the Author of ourbeing. Since, then, God has called forth his consummate wis-dom to contrive and provide for our happiness, and has madethose things which are necessary to our existence and the continu-ance of the race, sources of our greatest sensual pleasures, who candoubt but that benevolence is one of his attributes; and the attri-bute in which he himself most delightelh? But it is not from sen-sation only that we may infer the benevolence of the Deily : liehas formed us with minds capable of intellectual improvement,and be lias implanted in the breast of every man a very strong de-sire of adding to bis knowledge. This addition indeed cannot bemade without labour; but a very short progress in, any study con-verts what was irksome into a pleasure of the most exalted kind;and he who by study, enlarges his ideas, and is conscious that he isdaily rismg in the scale of intelligence, experiences a high degreeof complacency. That the practice of virtue is attended with apleasure of the purest kind, is a fact which no man has ever ques-tioned but the habitually vicious. The benevolence of a Being,who seems thus anxious to furnish us with both sensual and intel-lectual enjoyments, and who has made our duty our greatest plea-sure, cannot he questioned ; and therefore we "must infer, that theAuthor of Nature wishes the happiness of the whole sensible andintelligent creation. The substance or essence of this self-existent,all-powerful, infinitely wise, and perfectly good Being, is to uswholly incomprehensible. That it is not matter, is shewn by theprocess of argumentation by which we have proved it to exist;but what it is we know nol. It Is sufficient for all the purposesof religion to know that God is somehow or other present to everypart of his works; that existence and every possible perfection isessential to him; and that he delights in the happiness of all hiscreatures. From these truths, we might proceed to prove andillustrate the perpetual superintendence of his providence, bothgeneral and particular, over every the minutest part of the uni-verse. See Providence, and Moral Philosophy . We shallonly observe here, that the manner in which animals are propa-gated affords us as complete a proof of the constant superintend-ence of divine power and wisdom as it does of the immediate exertion of these faculties in the formation of the parent pair of eachspecies.

Of the Duties and Sanctions of Natural Religion.

From the short view we have taken of the divine perfections, itis evidently our duly to reverence in our minds the -self-existentBeing to whom they belong, lie who has considered seriouslythe power, the wisdom, and the goodness, displayed in the worksof God , must be convinced that he has no imperfection; that hispower can accomplish every thing, which involves not a contra-diction; that his knowledge is intuitive, ami free from the possibi-lity of error; and that bis goodness extends to all without par-tiality'. With silent gratitude and devotion glowing in the breastof the contemplative man, lie will be careful not to form even amental image of that all-perfect Being to whom they are directed,for lie knows that God " is not material. The man who has anynotion of the perfections of the Supreme Being will never speaklightly of him, or make use of his name at all but on great and so-lemn occasions. There are few questions of greater importance,than “ Wlrat are the sanctions by which natural religion enforcesobedience to her own laws?” Natural religion as a system of doc-trines influencing the conduct, is exceedingly defective in thispoint, unless it afford sufficient evidence, intelligible to every or-dinary capacity, of the immortality of the soul, or at least of afuture stale of rewards and punishments. That it does afford thisevidence, is strenuously maintained by some Deists , and even bymany philosophers, who profess Christianity . One great argu-ment made use of to prove that the immortality of the soul isamong the doctrines of natural religion, is the universal belief ofall ages and nations that men continue to live in some other stateafter death has separated their souls from their bodies. Hence itis argued, omnium consensus natural vox est. But there appearsnot to be any proof of that doctrine being the deduction ot hu-man reasoning. The popular belief of paganism, both ancient andmodern, is so fantastic and absurd, that it could never have beenrationally inferred from what nature leaches of God and the soul.The philosophers of Greece and Borne, despising the popularmythology of their respective countries, employed much time andgreat talents in disquisitions, concerning the human soul, and theprobability of a future state; and if the genuine conclusions ofnatural religion on this subject are anywhere to be found, onewould naturally look for them in the writings of those men whosegenius and virtues did the highest honours to human nature. Yetit is a fact which cannot be controverted, that the philosophersheld such notions concerning the substance of the soul and itsstate after death, as could afford no rational support to sufferingvirtue. Socrates is indeed an exception. But although his opi-nions were juster, yet he had fottiled none with certainty. “ Iwould have you to know,” said lie on the last day of his life, ‘MhatI have great hopes I am now going into the company of goodmen; yet l would not be too peremptory and confident concern-ing it.” Plato in Phaxl. Cicero also expressed similar doubis.To us who know, by stronger evidence, that the soul is immortal,and that there will be a future state in which all the obliquities ofthe present shall be made straight, the argument drawn from themoral attributes of God , and the unequal distribution of the goodthings of this life, appears to have the force of demonstration.Yet none of us will surely pretend to say, that his powers of rea-soning are greater than were those of Socrates and Cicero; andthrefore the probability is, that had vve been, like them, destituteof the light of revelation, we should have been disturbed by thesame doubts.

OF REVEALED THEOLOGY.

But were we to suppose llte arguments which the light of na-ture affords for the immortality of the human soul as absolutelyconvincing as any geometrical demonstration—natural religionwould still be defective; because it points out no method b) vwhich such as have offended God may be certainly restored to bisfavour, and to the hopes of happiness, which, by their sin, they hadlost. To point out how guilty man is to he reconciled to hisMaker is the grand object of revealed religion, and the darknesswhich (lie theology of nature leaves on this point, is to us, who liveunder the sunshine of the gospel, happily removed by the variousrevelations contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testa-ments. These taken together, and in the order in which theyw ere given, exhibit such a display of providence, such a great be-nevolent