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consistent with the wisdom manifested in the present order of 
things, to suppose that the sense of awe, reverence, helpless- 
ness, dependence, which produce worship and incite to prayer, 
had been implanted in man without an object to which to direct 
themselves. A universal belief involves a universal need for 
that belief ; a universal consciousness involves an object of 
that consciousness. Not more deeply seated in our nature, in 
spite of the attempts of some metaphysicians to overthrow 
that also, is the persuasion of our own existence, than is the 
universal conviction of the existence of God. 
31. Nor is this all. We may appeal to the experience of 
the individual. This may be ill-grounded, but it is quite as 
possible on the whole that it is not. We do not, in these 
days of enlightenment at least, turn a deaf ear to the traveller 
who comes from foreign lands and relates the wonders he has 
seen there. Perhaps, when enlightenment has advanced a 
little further, those who have had no acquaintance with spiritual 
things may think it not unreasonable to listen to the expe- 
rience of those who have. It is the usual character of a 
delusion to wear itself out, except among persons of great 
obstinacy and small intellectual power. How comes it, then, 
that so many men of the clearest intellect and highest cha- 
racter have reached the close of life with their convictions 
not shaken, but confirmed. We have heard of many sceptics 
who, late in life, have become Christians ; but of how many 
Christians have we heard who have sacrificed their Christianity 
after many years' practical experience of its value ? Comfort 
in trouble, strange and unexpected answers to prayer, the 
sense of a tender and loving guidance through life, the power 
to resist temptation, support on which we can rest in days of 
difficulty, a growing and deepening sense of the reality of the 
Unseen, these are some of the blessings which religion has to 
bestow. How real and deep these blessings are, this is not 
the place to declare. But is there a single genuine Christian 
who would fail to tell us that nothing on earth could compen- 
sate for their withdrawal ? Is there one who would not tell 
you that he had the best of all proof , — practical proof, that 
they were the offspring of no delusion, but plain, literal, sober 
truth ? 
32. There is nothing which sceptical writers are so apt, I 
might say so anxious, to ignore, as the fact that these con- 
victions are by no means those of the ignorant vulgar, nor are 
they riveted on the minds of the weak by the influences of 
priestcraft. Men of the highest intelligence in every walk 
of life, men of mind too independent and temperaments 
too calm to be impressed by imaginary terrors, are profound 
