380 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



purpose and intent for which these powers were 

 put in play. But the Governing Mind must com- 

 prehend also the laws of the responsible creatures 

 which the world contains, and must entertain the 

 purposes for which their responsible agency was 

 given them. It must include these laws and 

 purposes, connected by means of the notions, 

 which responsibility implies, of desert and re- 

 ward, of moral excellence in various degrees, and 

 of well-being as associated with right doing. 

 All the laws which govern the moral world are 

 expressions of the thought and intentions of our 

 Supreme Ruler. All the contrivances for moral 

 no less than for physical good, for the peace of 

 mind, and other rewards of virtue, for the eleva- 

 tion and purification of individual character, for 

 the civilization and refinement of states, their 

 advancement in intellect andvirtue, for the diffu- 

 sion of good, and the repression of evil ; all the 

 blessings that wait on perseverance and energy 

 in a good cause ; on unquenchable love of man- 

 kind, and unconquerable devotedness to truth ; 

 on purity and self-denial ; on faith, hope, and 

 charity ; all these things are indications of the 

 character, will, and future intentions of that God, 

 of whom we have endeavoured to track the foot- 

 steps upon earth, and to show his handiwork in 

 the heavens. " This God is our God, for ever 

 and ever." And if, endeavouring to trace the 

 plan of the vast labyrinth of laws by which 



