292 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



must, stop far short of all that it is his highest 

 interest to know, his first duty to pursue; but 

 even he, if he take any elevated and comprehen- 

 sive views of his own subject, must escape from 

 the opinions, as unphilosophical as they are com- 

 fortless, which would expel from our view of the 

 world all reference to duty and moral good, all 

 reliance on the most universal grounds of trust 

 and hope. 



Men's belief of their duty, and of the reasons 

 for practising it, connected as it is with the con- 

 viction of a personal relation to their Maker, and 

 of His power of superintendence and reward, is 

 as manifest a fact in the moral, as any that can 

 be pointed out is in the natural world. By the 

 mere analogy which has been intimated, there- 

 fore, we cannot but conceive that this fact be- 

 longs in some manner or other to the order of the 

 moral world, and of its government. 



When any one acknowledges a moral governor 

 of the world ; perceives that domestic and social 

 relations are perpetually operating and seem in- 

 tended to operate, to retain and direct men in the 

 path of duty ; and feels that the voice of con- 

 science, the peace of heart which results from a 

 course of virtue, and the consolations of devotion, 

 are ever ready to assume their office as our guides 

 and aids in the conduct of all our actions ; he 

 will probably be willing to acknowledge also that 

 the means of a moral government of each indivi- 



