Existence of God. 281 



existence, and they appear in some form in every 

 religion from the highest to the lowest. And when 

 men wonder at the number of religions and the ab- 

 surd notions connected with religious practices, they 

 would do well to remember that all these are man- 

 ifestations of the instincts or impulses of a religious 

 nature. They prove that man has such impulses. 

 And that is all we wish now to show. We are not 

 called upon to show that these impulses are either 

 useless or of the highest importance, though we are 

 permitted to state our belief that they are the high- 

 est instinctive impulses of our nature, — that Obli- 

 gation enters this field to strengthen every impulse 

 to action— and that one of the most reasonable of 

 all things, from the analogy of nature, is to expect 

 that the means of satisfying these instincts will be 

 provided for man. 



This instinctive belief in the existence of a God, 

 has never of itself proved to be directive, so as to 

 give a knowledge of God directly, that Reason could 

 approve of. The knowledge of God, so far as man 

 has gained it for himself, has come from the com- 

 prehending power, — either from that portion of it 

 called Pure Reason, evolving necessary notions of 

 an absolute, perfect being ; or it has come as a ne- 

 cessary induction from the contemplation of the 

 works of nature, including the constitution of man. 

 From this intellectual notion of God, there would 

 be gradually gained by the study of God's works, a 

 knowledge of his character ; and from that charac- 

 ter, inferences could be rationally drawn as to his 

 relations to man and what he would do for him. 



