54 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF H^LIGION. 



tIe majesty. Who can stand before his indig 

 nation ? who can abide in the fierceness of his 

 anger? The mountains quake before him ; the 

 hills melt, and the earth is burned at his pre 

 sence.&quot; &quot; Let all the earth fear the Lord; let 

 all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of 

 him.&quot; 



Thus it appears, that God is not an unconcern 

 ed .spectator of the ways of men that he has 

 every moment at his command the most de 

 structive elements of nature and that we have 

 abundant proofs that these destructive elements 

 have been occasionally used, for inflicting con 

 dign punishment on the workers of iniquity. 

 Notwithstanding these resources of vengeance, 

 we find, by experience, that his mercy is exer 

 cised, from year to year, and from century to cen 

 tury, towards a world, the majority of whose 

 inhabitants are daily trampling under foot his sa 

 cred institutions, and his holy laws. The in 

 stances which occur, of the devastations of the 

 hurricane, the thunder, the volcano, the earth 

 quake, and the pestilence, are comparatively few, 

 and seem intended chiefly to arouse the attention 

 of thoughtless arid ungrateful man ; to prevent 

 him from running to the extreme of wickedness ; 

 and to convince him that the Most High ruleth 

 in the kingdoms of men,&quot; and that &quot; verily 

 there is a God who judgeth in the earth.&quot; Hence 

 we may perceive the striking emphasis of the 

 language of the inspired writers : &quot; The Lord 

 is slow to anger ,&quot; and yet &quot; great inpower.&quot; 



This display of the exercise of perfect self- 

 command in the Divine Mind, is, therefore, 

 calculated, as well as his wisdom and goodness, 

 to inspire us with emotions of reverence, admi 

 ration, and love. &quot; The Lord is merciful and 



ments, but without infringing those general laws 

 which are found to operate with undeviating con 

 stancy in the system of the universe. To explore 

 the manner in which these general laws are directed 

 to produce certain specific effects, in reference to 

 particular regions and tribes of mankind, must ob 

 viously be beyond the limits of our faculties ; unless 

 we could enter into all the designs of the Eternal 

 Mind, when he gave birth to the universe, and ar 

 ranged its elementary parts ; and unless we could 

 take a comprehensive view of the remotest tenden 

 cies of the elements of nature, and the times and 

 circumstances in which they shall produce a specific 

 and extraordinary effect. All these tendencies and 

 circumstances were before the mind of the Eternal 

 Jehovah, when he established the plan of his moral 

 government ; and, therefore, whatever events may 

 occur in the physical system, must be considered as 

 the accomplishment of his moral purposes, in refer 

 ence to the moral agents he has created. It would 

 be presumptuous in so limited a being as man, to 

 determine, in every case, what is the precise moral 

 reason of the extraordinarv Destructive effects of 

 physical agents. We can only say, in general, that 

 they are connected with the sin and depravity of 

 man. But, at that solemn day, when the reasons of 

 the divine dispensations shall be laid open, it will 

 perhaps be frund, that such uncommon and alarm 

 ing effects were the punishmeut of aggravated 

 transgressions, the peculiar malignity and tendency 

 of which were removed, in a great measure, beyond 

 Ihe sphere of general observation, 



gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy 

 As the heaven is high above the earth, so grea 

 is his mercy toward them that fear him. Bless 

 the Lord, O my soul, and forget riot all hii 



benefits. 



SECTION VI. 



OF THE RECTITUDE OF THE DIVINE 

 CHARACTER. 



Another perfection in the character of God, 

 which is calculated to inspire confidence and af 

 fection, is his Justice, or, the Rectitude of his 

 nature. 



The rectitude of the Divine Being, in its most 

 extensive sense, consists in doing that which, in 

 all cases, is right, upon the whole ; or, in other 

 words, that which will have the greatest ten 

 dency to promote the order and happiness of his 

 universal empire. It. includes under it, the 

 idea of distributive justice, which consists in re 

 warding the good, and punishing the bad, ac 

 cording to equitable laws, calculated to produce 

 harmony and happiness throughout the whole 

 intelligent system. This perfection of the Deity 

 may be considered as a branch of his general 

 benevolence, which appears to be the source of 

 all his moral attributes, and the spring of all 

 his actions. The display of his natural and 

 moral perfections, and the general happiness of 

 the intelligences which exist throughout his im 

 mense and eternal empire, appear to be the great 

 objects in view, in his moral government of the 

 universe : and, in order to secure these objects, 

 it is requisite that justice be impartially admi 

 nistered, according to the eternal rules of recti 

 tude, and that ~ l every one be rewarded according 

 to his works.&quot; 



That this attribute is possessed by the Divine 

 Being, in the highest degree, appears from the 

 following considerations. He exists, and has 

 always existed, completely independent of all his 

 creatures ; he is in the actual possession of 

 boundless felicity, which no other being can in 

 terrupt ; and is consequently liable to no evil, 

 nor diminution of enjoyment. He is omnipotent , 

 and therefore can accomplish whatever he plea 

 ses, and can effectually prevent whatever might 

 detract from his happiness, or disturb the order 

 of his government. He has, therefore, nothing 

 to fear from any other being, and can desire 

 nothing from his creatures to increase his feli 

 city. Consequently, no possible motive or temp 

 tation can exist, to induce him to inflict an act of 

 injustice on any of the intellectual beings he has 

 formed. Injustice, among men, proceeds either 

 from want of intelligence to discriminate be 

 tween what is right and wrong ; from want of 

 power to bring their purposes into effect; fn&amp;gt;m 



