70 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



pletely suspended in relation to our globe, nor 

 has the moral Governor of the universe suffered 

 the principle of love to be entirely eradicated 

 from the minds of its inhabitants. But, as when 

 the law of gravitation is counteracted in case of 

 earthquakes and volcanoes, the most destructive 

 und desolating convulsions ensue, so it happens 

 in the moral world, when the law of benevolence 

 is trampled under foot. &quot; Nation rises against 

 nation, and kingdom against kingdom ;&quot; hostile 

 armies encounter like tigers rushing on their 

 prey ; &quot; firebrands, arrows, and death&quot; are scat 

 tered in every direction ; a confused noise of 

 chariots, and horsemen, and of engines of de 

 struction, is wafled on every breeze ; garments 

 are rolled in blood, and whole plains drenched 

 with human gore, and covered with the carcasses 

 of the slain. But wherever love diffuses its 

 powerful and benign influence, there harmony, 

 happiness, and peace are enjoyed by every rank 

 of sensitive and intellectual existence. In every 

 world where it reigns supreme, the intellectual 

 faculty is irradiated, the affections are purified 

 and expanded, transporting joys are felt, and, 

 like the planetary orbs and their train of satel 

 lites, all shine with a steady lustre, and move on 

 ward in harmonious order, around the Supreme 

 Source of intelligence, and the Eternal Centre 

 of all felicity. 



SECTION VII. 



THE PRECEDING VIEWS CORROBORATED BY 

 DIVINE REVELATION. 



IN the preceding sections I have endeavoured 

 to illustrate the two grand principles of the Mo 

 ral Law, and to demonstrate their reasonableness, 

 and the necessity of their universal operation, in 

 order to the promotion of the happiness of the 

 intelligent system. I have proceeded all along 

 on the ground of revelation, as well as of reason, 

 and the nature of things. But since these im 

 portant principles form the basis of the system 

 of religion, and of all the practical conclusions 

 I may afterwards deduce in the remaining part 

 of this work, it may be expedient to advert a 

 little more explicitly to the declarations of Scrip 

 ture on this subject. And here I propose very 

 briefly to show, that it is the great end of Divine 

 Revelation to illustrate these principles in all 

 their various bearings, and to bring them into 

 practical operation. 



This position is expressly stated by our Sa 

 viour himself, in his reply to the scribe, who pro 

 posed the question, &quot; Which is the great com 

 mandment in the law?&quot; &quot; Thou shall love the 

 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 

 soul, ana with all thy mind.&quot; This is the first 

 and great commandment. And the second is 



like unto it ; Thou shall love thy neighbour AS 

 thyself. ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS HANG 



ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.&quot; Tllia 



declaration evidently implies, that it is the design 

 of the whole of the Old Testament Revelation, to 

 illustrate and enforce these laws, and to produce 

 all those holy tempers which are comprised in the 

 love of God, and of our neighbour. This ap 

 pears to be the grand object of all the histonca 

 facts, religious institutions, devotional exercises, 

 moral maxims, prophecies, exhortations, pro 

 mises, and threatenirigs, which it records. The 

 history of the formation of the universe, and of 

 the beautiful arrangement of our globe, as de 

 tailed in the Book of Genesis, is calculated to 

 display the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, 

 and to draw forth our affections towards Him 

 who is the Author of our enjoyments, and who 

 pronounced every thing he had made to be &quot; very 

 good.&quot; The history of the wickedness of tho 

 anlediluvian world, of ihe dreadful effects it pro 

 duced in ihe slate of society, and of the awful 

 catastrophe by which its inhabitants were swept 

 from existence, and buried in the waters of tho 

 deluge, is calculated to illustrate, in the most 

 striking manner, the guilt and ihe danger of 

 withdrawing the affections from God, and of in 

 dulging a principle of malevolence towards man. 

 The history of the crimes of Sodom, and of the 

 fate of its wretched inhabitants ; the destruction 

 of Pharaoh and his armies at the Red Sea ; the 

 history of the idolatrous practices of ihe Israel- 

 iles, of iheir murmurings in the wilderness, and 

 of the punishments inflicted for their rebellion 5 

 the fate of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and of 

 the worshippers of Baal : The destruction of ihe 

 nations of Canaan ; the judgments which pur 

 sued the Jewish nalion, during the whole period 

 of their history, on account of their defection 

 from God, and the calamities which befell them 

 at the period of the Babylonish captivity toge 

 ther with all the other facts connected with the 

 history of that people and of the surrounding na 

 tions, are intended to exhibit the dismal conse 

 quences, and the moral wretchedness which in 

 evitably follow, when the affections of mankind 

 are withdrawn from the God of Heaven, and left 

 to grovel in the mire of depravity and vice. 



The instilutions of ihe Jewish Church were 

 appointed for promoling the knowledge and the 

 love of God, and for exciting an abhorrence of 

 every thing which is contrary to the rectitude 

 and purity of his nature. Among the tribes that 

 inhabited the land of Canaan, prior to the en 

 trance of the Israelites, and among all the sur 

 rounding natioes, the worship of false gods, the 

 grossest superstitions, and the most abominable 

 vices universally prevailed. It was one great 

 end of the laws and ceremonies enjoined upon 

 Israel, to excite the highest degree of abhorrence 

 at every thing which was connected with idola 

 try, to portray its wickedness and folly, to rivet 



