10 REVELATION AND REASON. 



an immortal soul, would be left in ignorance of the first steps of his 

 duty.* 



The Book of Job, the oldest record of the opinions of mankind 

 as to the nature and being of God, is at once conclusive on this 

 point. No man, however sublime might be his conceptions, could 

 have formed so elevated an idea of the Godhead, as is given in this 

 magnificent work : all its details are of the most pure and spi- 

 ritualised character, and the mind is carried to a pitch of grandeur 

 by them, in contemplating the Great Supreme and His works, 

 which the writings of the wisest and most eloquent of the Heathens 

 entirely fail in producing ; and this book constantly refers to tradi- 

 tions of an older date. 



The idea given by the Deity himself was, however, so spiritual, that 

 man, when removed from direct intercourse with his Maker, began 

 to yearn for something more tangible for some visible form or imper- 

 sonification of the Creator, on which he might pour out his human 

 sympathies. The vast and apparently illimitable circle in^ which he 

 found himself placed, naturally excited profound emotions of wonder 

 and awe. Every thing around him breathed of design, every thing 

 was harmonious : day and night, the sun, the moon, the stars, the 

 diversified face of the earth, the forest, the flower, and the herbage 

 the living creatures that surrounded him, with their varied forms, 

 and their diversified capabilities ; all these roused within him a sense 

 of religion and devotion, and he sought, in his weakness, for an 

 emblem of the power which he felt, but could not fully compre- 

 hend. Under the influence of these feelings, and still having in 

 his remembrance some of the traditionary religion of his fathers, 

 he consecrated the tallest tree and the loftiest mountain, and re- 

 paired thither to pay his devotions; seeing in the strength and 

 beauty of the one, and in the immensity of the other, a dim sha- 

 dowing forth of the might and power of his Maker. 



As mankind, however, became scattered over the face of the 

 earth, and removed to scenes far remote from the locality in which 

 was first given to them a knowledge of God, the traditions became' 

 weakened, altered in character, but never lost. The spiritual Essence 



* Vide Eusebius, in Praep, Evang. lib. i. Hyde, Hist. Relig. Vet. 

 Persarum. 



