THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



fering of the Deity in their true light, let us con 

 sider, for a moment, some of the leading features 

 in the conduct and the character of mankind. 

 Whether we go back to the remote ages of an 

 tiquity, or review the present moral state of the 

 inhabitants of our globe, we shall find the fol 

 lowing, among other similar traits, in the charac 

 ter of the great mass of this world s population ; 

 An utter forgetfulness of God, and the preva 

 lence of abo7ninable idolatries. Though an invi 

 sible and omnipotent energy may be clearly per 

 ceived in that majestic machinery by which the 

 vault of heaven appears to be whirled round our 

 globe from day today ; and though every return 

 ing season proclaims the exuberant goodness of 

 that Being who arranged our terrestrial habita 

 tion, yet, of the great majority of human beings 

 that have hitherto existed, or now exist, it may 

 with truth be said, that &quot; God is not in all their 

 thoughts, and the fear of God is not before their 

 eyes.&quot; Arid how grovelling have been the con 

 ceptions of those who have professed to offer 

 their adorations to a superior Intelligence ! They 

 have changed the glory of the incorruptible God 

 into an image made like to corruptible man, and 

 have invested with the attributes of divinity a 

 3lock of marble, the stock of a tree, a stupid ox, 

 and a crawling reptile : to which they have paid 

 hat worship and homage which were due to the 

 Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. Blas 

 phemy and impiety is another characteristic of 

 tie majority of our species. How many have 

 tiere been of our wretched race in all ages, and 

 how many are there in the present age, who 

 set their mouths against the heavens in their 

 blasphemous talk,&quot; and &quot; dare defy the Omnipo- 

 tsnt to arms!&quot; They say to God, &quot;Depart 

 from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy 

 ways : What is the Almighty, that we should 

 serve him ? and what profit should we have, if 

 we pray unto him ?&quot; While his hand is making 

 their pulse to beat, and their lungs to play, and 

 vhile he is distributing to them corn, and wine, 

 and fruits in rich abundance, they are blasphe 

 ming his venerable Majesty, and prostituting 

 these very blessings for the purpose of pouring 

 dishonour on his name. 



The diabolical passions which men have dis 

 played towards one another, is another striking 

 trait in their character. War has been their 

 employment and their delight in every age. 

 Thousands of rational beings of the same spe 

 cies have set themselves in array against thou 

 sands, and have levelled at each other spears, and 

 arrows, and darts, and musquetry, and cannon, 

 and every other instrument of destruction, till 

 legs and arms, and skulls, and brains, were min 

 gled with the dust till the earth was drenched 

 with human gore till cities, and towns, and 

 villages, were tumbled into ruins, or given, up as 

 a prey to the devouring flames and till the 

 bounties of Providence, which God had provi 



ded for man and beast, were destroyed, and 

 trampled down as the mire of the streets. And, 

 what adds to the enormity of such dreadful pas 

 sions, they have often had the effrontery to im 

 plore the assistance of the God of mercy in this 

 work of horror and destruction. When, to al. 

 these abominable dispositions and practices, we 

 add, the the numerous other acts of atrocity, 

 that are daily committed in every quarter of the 

 world, the oppression and injustice which the 

 poor, the widow, and the fatherless have suffered 

 from the overwhelming hand of power ; the per 

 secutions which tyranny has inflicted on the se 

 lect few, who have raised their voices against 

 such abominations ; the falsehood, and treachery, 

 and perjury, which are rampant in every land , 

 the lewd and unnatural crimes that are daily 

 committed ; the thefts, and murders, and assas 

 sinations, that are incessantly perpetrating in 

 some one region of the world or another ; the 

 haughty pride and arrogance which so many of 

 the puny sons of men assume ; the murmurings 

 and complainings at the dispensations of Provi 

 dence, and the base ingratitude with which the 

 majority of mankind receive the bounties of 

 heaven ; and when we consider, for how many 

 thousands of years these abominable dispositions 

 have been displayed, we have reason to wonder 

 that condign punishment is not speedily executed, 

 and that the Almighty does not interpose his 

 omnipotence, to shatter this globe to atoms, and 

 to bury its inhabitants in the gulf of everlasting 

 oblivion. 



Yet, notwithstanding these depraved and un 

 grateful dispositions ; notwithstanding that this 

 spacious world, which was erected for a temple 

 to the Deity, has been turned into a temple of 

 idols, its seas and rivers stained, and its fields 

 drenched with the blood of millions of human 

 beings, and its cities transformed into a sink of 

 moral pollution ; in spite of all these innumerable 

 and aggravated provocations, the God of heaven 

 still exercises his mercy, long-suffering, and for 

 bearance. He impels the earth in its annual and 

 diurnal course, to bring about the interchanges 

 of day and night, and the vicissitudes of the 

 seasons ; he makes his sun to arise on the world, 

 to cheer the nations with his light and heat ; he 

 sends his rains, to refresh the fields, both of 

 &quot; the just, and of the unjust ;&quot; he causes the 

 trees, the herbs, and the flowers, to bud arid blos 

 som every returning spring ; he ripens the fields in 

 harvest ; he crowns the year with his bounty, and 

 encircles the little hills with rejoicing. Instead 

 of &quot; sending forth his mighty winds,&quot; in inces 

 sant storms and hurricanes, to tear up wh?le 

 forests by their roots, and to lay waste the pro 

 ductions of the soil, he fans the groves and the 

 lawns with gentle breezes, and odoriferous gales. 

 Instead of opening the cataracts of heaven, and 

 dashing down overwhelming torrents, to deluge 

 the plains, and frustrate the hopes of man, he 



