40 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



break the bones of his leg, and render him lame 

 for life ; a random blow may bruise his eye-balls, 

 and deprive him of all the entertainments of 

 vision ; he may be stretched for many long years 

 on the bed of languishing ; his country may 

 either be ravaged and laid waste by destroying 

 armies, or rains and inundations may sweep 

 away the produce of his fields. But under all 

 such calamities, he bows with submission to the 

 will of Him &quot; who rules in the whirlwind and 

 directs the storm ;&quot; not because he has fortified 

 his mind with a stoical apathy and indifference 

 towards the evils of life ; not because he is inca 

 pable of feeling the evils he is doomed to suffer ; 

 for he may feel them in the acutest degree, even 

 while he exercises full resignation ; but he is re 

 signed, because he feels assured that they are the 

 appointment of his Almighty Friend that they 

 are parts of the plan of unerring wisdom that 

 they are intimately connected with the whole 

 chain of providence that runs through his pre 

 sent existence that they are intended, in the 

 scheme of infinite benevolence, to promote his 

 happiness in a way which his limited faculties 

 are unable at present to comprehend and that 

 they have a bearing on the scenes and enjoy 

 ments of the eternal world. And therefore, under 

 the pressure of his most painful feelings, he is 

 enabled to adopt the triumphant language of the 

 prophet, &quot; Although the fig-tree shall not blos 

 som, neither fruit be in the vine; the labour of 

 the olive fail, and the fields yield no meat ; the 

 flock be cut off from the fold, and there bo no 

 herd in the stall ; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, 

 I will be glad in the God of my salvation.&quot; While 

 others murmur and rage, and toss themselves 

 like a wild bull in a net, and curse the supposed 

 authors of their calamities, he is enabled to 

 &quot; possess his soul in patience,&quot; convinced of the 

 rectitude of the divine dispensations; and thus dis 

 plays a nobleness of mind, and a heroism which 

 is &quot; above all Greek, above all Roman fame.&quot; 

 Again, Love to God comprehends Gratitude 

 for the benefits he bestows. Gratitude is that 

 particular modification of love which flows out 

 towards God, considered as the Author and Be- 

 slower of all felicity: it is love excited by kind 

 ness communicated from benevolent motives. It 

 is one of the most natural and obvious manifes 

 tations of that general principle which I have been 

 hitherto illustrating; for ingratitude is altogether 

 inconsistent with love to a benefactor. In order 

 to kindle this amiable affection into a lively 

 flame, the person in whose bosom it glows en 

 deavours to take a minute and expansive survey 

 of the &quot; loving-kindness of God,&quot; and of the 

 countless variety of benefits he is continually re 

 ceiving. He feels grateful to God for his existence, 

 for the powers and capacities with which he is en 

 dowed, for the rank which he holds in the scale of 

 terrestrial existence ; in being raised above the 

 clods of the valley, and furnished with faculties 



superior to the beasts of the forest and the fowa 

 of heaven. He feels grateful that he was brought 

 into existence in a Christian land, and in civil 

 ized society; that the &quot;glad tidings of salva 

 tion&quot; have reached his ears ; that &quot; God so 

 loved the world, that He gave his only begotten 

 Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not 

 perish, but have everlasting life,&quot; and that every 

 enjoyment requisite for his present and future 

 happiness is secured through this plan of divine 

 benevolence. But he does not rest satisfied 

 with vague and general views of these important 

 benefits ; he contemplates the degradation into 

 which sin had plunged him, the greatness of the 

 misery from which the love of God has delivered 

 him, the moral perfection of his nature to which 

 he is now training, the serenity of mind he ex 

 periences in the practice of the divine precepts, 

 the security he feels for his present and future 

 safety under the protection of Omnipotence, the 

 &quot; strong consolation&quot; under the evils of life 

 which the promises of God lead him to expect, 

 the victory over death of which he is secured 

 &quot; through Christ Jesus his Lord,&quot; the resXir- 

 rection of his body at the close of time, the &quot; new 

 heavens and the new earth&quot; to which he is de 

 stined at the dissolution of this sublunary system, 

 the alliance into which he is brought to the an 

 gelic tribes and other pure intelligences, his moral 

 capacity for associating with every holy being in 

 the universe, and the endless succession of trans 

 porting scences which will burst upon his view 

 through the ages of eternity. While contempla 

 ting these high privileges, in all their bearings 

 and varied ramifications, emotions of affection 

 arid gratitude arise in his breast which can only 

 be expressed in the language of elevated devotion. 



&quot; How shall words with equal warmth 



The gratitude declare 

 That glows within my ravish d heart ! 

 But Thou canst read it there.&quot; 



&quot; Bless the Lord, O my soul! and all that is 

 within me bless his holy name. Give lhanks to 

 the Lord, and forget not all his benefits; who 

 forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy 

 diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruc 

 tion, and crowneth thee with loving-kindness 

 and tender mercies.&quot; 



Nor does he feel less grateful to God for his 

 kindness as displayed in the material world, and 

 in the ordinary course of his providence. He 

 feels grateful for these scenes of sublimity and 

 beauty with which the visible universe is adorn 

 ed for the sun when he ascends the vault of 

 heaven, and diffuses his radiance over the moun 

 tains and the vales for the moon, when she 

 &quot; walks in brightness&quot; through the heavenc, 

 and cheers the shades of night for the planets, 

 while they run their ample rounds, and evince, 

 by their magnitude and motions, the eternal 

 omnipotence of their Maker for the innumera- 



