Page images
PDF
EPUB

BOOK IV.

RELIGION.

OF DIVINE LAWS AND THEIR SANCTION.

CHAPTER I.

NATURAL RELIGION.

566. THE Moral State and Moral Progress of each man are maintained by his conviction of certain Truths which are the foundations of Morality; and among these Truths, one of the most important is this that the course of action which is his Duty, is also his Happiness, when considered with reference to the whole of his being (546). This conviction, men for the most part derive from Religion; that is, from their belief respecting God, and his government of Man. We believe God to be the Governor of Man, as a moral being (93). The Moral Law is his Command; Conscience is his voice; He sees and knows all the internal actions of which we ourselves are conscious; He possesses an unbounded power to determine the Happiness or Misery of every one of us; He exercises this power so as to give a sanction to his Laws; appointing misery as the punishment of transgressions, and making a conformity to his Laws lead us to Happiness; which Happiness will continue in another life when this life is past.

[blocks in formation]

This is Natural Religion; but further, as we have seen (357), we require to be taught by Religion how, when we have transgressed, Repentance and Amendment can avail, as a remedy for the sin committed; how they can restore the health of man's moral life, and avert from man's condition and destination the consequences of sin. We also (367) require from Religion the hope of some power, in addition to the ordinary powers of our own minds, which is to be exercised upon us, in order to enlighten and instruct our conscience, and to carry on our moral progress. These requirements are responded to by Revealed Religion.

567. The belief which constitutes Natural Religion, takes possession of men's minds, in the course of their intellectual and moral progress. The idea of God is unfolded and fixed, and the points of belief which we have stated, are established, by the intellectual and moral culture of the mind. The steps of thought, which lead to these points of belief, may be different in different minds, according to the course which their intellectual and moral culture takes. In the mode of arriving at a belief in God, and in his moral government, the procedure of one mind is not a rule for other minds. To some persons, the Truths of Natural Religion may seem to be self-evident; to other persons, they may become more evident, when connected by various steps of analogy and reasoning. We shall state some of the reasonings respecting God and his Government, which may prove the doctrines we have stated, to the satisfaction of those persons who require proofs of them.

We proceed with these reasonings.

568. From the existence of the world, we necessarily infer the existence of a Supreme Being, who is the Cause of the world's existence. The Assemblage of things and events which we describe

« PreviousContinue »