252 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of hopes and anticipations which rise in our 

 bosoms unsought, and cling there with inex- 

 haustible tenacity, will not allow us to acquiesce 

 in the belief that this life is the end of our exist- 

 ence. We are thus led to see that our relation to 

 the Superintender of our moral being, to the 

 Depositary of the supreme law of just and right, 

 is a relation of incalculable consequence. We 

 find that we cannot be permitted to be merely 

 contemplators and speculators with regard to the 

 Governor of the moral world ; we must obey His 

 will ; we must turn our affections to Him ; we 

 must advance in His favour ; or we offend against 

 the nature of our position in the scheme of which 

 He is the author and sustainer. 



It is far from our purpose to represent natural 

 religion as of itself sufficient for our support and 

 guidance ; or to underrate the manner in which 

 our views of the Lord of the universe have been, 

 much more, perhaps, than we are sometimes 

 aware, illustrated and confirmed by lights derived 

 from revelation. We do not here speak of the 

 manner in which men have come to believe in 

 God, as the Governor of the moral world ; but of 

 the fact, that by the aid of one or both of these 

 two guides, Reason or Revelation, reflecting per- 

 sons in every age have been led to such a belief. 

 And we conceive it may be useful to point out 

 some connexion between such a belief of a just 

 and holy Governor, and the conviction, which we 



