STUDY XII. 387 



implanted in the breaft of Man a fentiment which 

 ferves as a counterbalance to the weight of thefe, 

 by directing his defires far beyond the objects of 

 this World; the fentiment I mean is that of the 

 exiftence of the Deity. Man is not Man, be- 

 caufe he is a reafoning animal, but becaufe he is a 

 religious animal. 



It is remarked by Cicero and P/ntarch, that there 

 was not a fingle People known up to their time, 

 among whom there were no traces of religion to 

 be found. The fentiment of Deity is natural to 

 Man. It is that illumination which St. John de- 

 nominates the true Light, which lighteth every Man 

 that cometh into the World. I find great fault with 

 certain modern Authors, and even fome of them 

 Miflîonaries, for having afTerted, that certain Na- 

 tions were deftitute of all fenfe of Deity. This 

 is, in my apprehenfion, the blackeft of calumnies 

 with which a Nation can be branded, becaufe it, 

 of courfe, entirely (trips them of the exiftence of 

 every virtue ; and if fuch a Nation betrays any ap- 

 pearance of virtue, it can be only under the im- 

 pulfe of the mod abominable of vices, which is 

 hypocrify : for there can be no virtue diftinct from 

 Religion. But there is not a fingle one of thofe 

 inconfiderate Writers, who does not, at the fame 

 dme, himfelf furnim the means of refuting his 

 own imputation ; for fome of them acknowledge, 



c c 2 that 



