382 



by a discipline suited to free and moral beings, for 

 union with himself, and for a sublime and ever- 

 growing virtue in heaven." 



" It is not," continues Dr. Channing, " because 

 he is our Creator merely, but because he created us 

 for good and holy purposes ; it is not because his 

 will is irresistible, but because his will is the per- 

 fection of virtue, that we pay him allegiance. We 

 venerate not the loftiness of God's throne, but the 

 equity of goodness in which it is established." 



A sentiment resembling the last may be found in 

 Mason's Memoirs of Gray, in a paper which con- 

 tains some very pertinent strictures on the writings 

 of Lord Bolingbroke. In speaking of the Deity, 

 Gray remarks : 



" His eternity, infinity, omnipresence, and al- 

 mighty power, are not what connect him, if I may 

 so speak, with us his creatures. We adore him, 

 not because he always did, in every place, and al- 

 ways will, exist, but because he gave and still pre- 

 serves to us our existence by an extension of his 

 goodness. We adore him, not because he knoivs 

 and can do all things, but because he made us capa- 

 ble of knowing and of doing what may conduct us 

 to happiness. It is therefore his benevolence which 

 we adore, and not his greatness or power ; and if we 

 are only to bear our part in a system, without any 

 regard to our own particular happiness, we can no 

 longer worship him as our all-bounteous parent, — 

 there is no meaning in the term." 



" This unlimited power," says Mr. Locke, " can- 



