LECT. I. the same wonderful economy furnishes numerous developments of a system of moral government, the laws of which afford important indications of his character as a righteous and benevolent Ruler. Whoever seriously reflects on the difference, which obtains in human actions, the moral judgments which we naturally form in regard to them, the established connexion which subsists between virtue and happiness on the one hand, and vice and misery on the other, the extent of retributive awards, which appear in the history of the world, and the extreme difficulty which men find in their attempts to annihilate the conviction of the existence of a supreme Moral Governor, must perceive that the idea is most congenial to the human mind, and is, indeed, absolutely indispensable to the resolution of phenomena, which meet it in every direction. The disposition also which mankind have universally discovered to institute such a government among themselves is an additional argument in favour of the existence of a supreme moral system in the hands of that Being to whom we attribute infinite excellence—whatever is good or praiseworthy in ourselves being only a feeble adumbration of the same quality in Him, in whose boundless mind it exists in an infinite degree. But while we thus satisfy ourselves in regard to the fact of a Divine moral government, and feel convinced that to deny it would be to shut our eyes against the manifold proofs of providential

and rectoral agency which are every where presented to us, as well as to repress those inward notices and feelings which commend themselves as the genuine dictates of our moral constitution, it must be allowed that a thick veil of obscurity hangs over the pages of natural revelation with respect to those subjects which, as sinful and accountable creatures, it most concerns us to know. For, whatever may be the apparently appropriate processes of moral discipline through which we are conducted in the present state; how cogent soever the reasonings in reference to our future condition to which we may endeavour to surrender our minds; whatever the flattering guesses and specious hypotheses which we may form in regard to God's treatment of moral agents, and whatever degree of satisfaction we may derive from certain isolated views of the Divine character;- we no sooner take a broad and impartial survey of our condition, and fix our contemplations on other aspects of Deity, which force themselves upon us, than we find that there is nothing within the wide range of the physical or the intellectual world, which is calculated to inspire us with confidence, or produce in our minds any feeling of wellgrounded hope. Under such circumstances we require information respecting the will and designs of our Maker, which neither the operations of nature, nor the ordinary course of things in the moral world can, by any possibility, supply.

LECT. I.

LECT. I.

direct Divine

Independently, however, on the undeniable

Probability of characters of moral degeneracy, which so awfully communica- mark our history, and assuming that the time

tions.

was when man existed in an unfallen and holy state, is it reasonable to suppose, that he would be left by his Creator to collect the several items of his knowledge merely in a natural way by the observations which he might make on the physical objects by which he was surrounded, and by reflection on his own intellectual and moral constitution? Allied by the superior faculties of his nature to "the Father of Spirits," is it imaginable that no immediate intercourse took place between them? Or, are we to believe that the only communications made by the Deity were effected by the music of the spheres, the sound of the elements, the inarticulate voices of the brute creation, or the deep heavings of man's own immortal nature? The rest of creation was regulated by the laws of physical mechanism, or mere animal instinct, and terminated on material and sensible objects; but man was gifted with intelligence and moral principle-he was created with powers which capacitated him for holding converse with his Maker in the way of receiving from him supernatural and intelligent communications, and of yielding in return suitable expressions of gratitude and love.

The frame of human nature is obviously constituted with a view to a higher intercourse than can be held with any description of agents in

the visible world. For though it exhibits a perfect adaptation to meet the claims of social converse between individuals of the same species, it is, at the same time, so constructed as to admit of intelligent communications taking place between them and beings of a higher order in the scale of existence-especially with the Supreme Intelligence himself, to whose incessant care man is indebted for the continued preservation of all his powers and faculties. But if no such communion ever existed, or was ever intended, the fact just adverted to presents an anomaly without a parallel in this province of the Divine kingdom.

LECT. I.

Impossibility

of satisfac

taining the

character of

revelation.

On the supposition that, on his formation, the first human being was destitute of all concreated torily asceror supernaturally-imparted knowledge, it does being and not appear how, by any process of intellectual God without operation whatever, he could have arrived at definite or satisfactory ideas respecting the spiritual and moral character of God, the relations in which he stood to him, his duties towards him, the manner in which these duties should be discharged, or his own higher and ultimate destiny. And even as it regards the simple fact of the existence of one Great First Cause, supposing him ever to have arrived at the knowledge of it by the exercise of his own unaided powers, what an expenditure of time and thought it must have cost him! what processes of investigation and induction he must have instituted! with what difficulty he must have satisfied him

LECT. I. self with respect to the properties of matter, the laws of motion, the connection between causes and effects, and numerous other particulars in relation to the phenomena of the universe! And after all, notwithstanding the indications by which he was met of the operation of a principle superior to any which came under the cognizance of his senses, how was it possible for him to reach a point in his inquiries beyond which he felt it was no longer necessary to proceed-a point at which he might rest in the assured conviction that he had now conquered every difficulty, surmounted every doubt, and positively ascertained the nature of THAT BEING who was higher than the highest, from whom all things proceeded, and to whose governance all were subject? When the idea of the Divine Existence has once been admitted into the mind, nothing is more easy than the discovery of innumerable proofs in support of it. Naturalists and metaphysicians employ it in the construction of their several systems, and unconsciously avail themselves of the light which it diffuses over their reasonings, even when undertaking by à priori or à posteriori arguments to establish the fact; but it remains to be seen at what results they would arrive if they were to commence their labours totally uninfluenced by any such previous notion. Certain it is that, how extensively soever the belief in a Deity has obtained in the world,-and few indeed have been