demonstration, that the chain of piety presses as a heavy weight on the natural heart: our own experience fully justifies the assertion; and we know, that bad example and profane discourse will insensibly spread irreligion over the souls of those who live carelessly, without reflection, and far from God; more especially, when that example comes from persons distinguished by birth, by fortune, or by rank, it carries with it a most powerful sway and that man, who would not implicitly follow the advice of his lawyer, even to obtain a trifling patrimony, will yield himself madly to the voice of the infidel in matters affecting the great interests of his soul, and will suffer himself to be easily persuaded out of his heavenly inheritance. Oh! that men would consider the value of their immortal Being, and ask themselves earnestly the question, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?*"

There are, it may perhaps be said, many people of learning and other persons, who have really strong understandings, and yet who have little or no religion. This, alas ! is too true. But whether they are people of sense, philosophers or learned men, it signifies not to us. Some of the most distinguished of mankind, for mental talent and ability, are often guided by so little appearance of

Mark viii. 37.

reason, even in the common occurrences of life, that a person would sadly betray his own interest by doing at all times what he sees them do, without examining the motives of their conduct. And let us remember, when religion is in question, the more sense and knowledge a man has, the more clear and convincing the arguments ought to be, with which we should permit him to influence us. Now, with all their sense and knowledge, we do not find that philosophers in any age have been able to produce reasons against religion, which are sufficient for its renunciation. Their arguments against it have been invariably weak, poor, and unsatisfactory; while, on the contrary, those in favour of its Divine authority are, to every upright mind, most demonstrative and convincing.

The greatest difficulty, which the unbeliever has been able to raise against religion, rests upon that infinity, which overwhelms the imagination, and which is so much above the narrow limits of the human mind, that our reason can hardly avoid contradicting itself when we enter upon this incomprehensible subject. But this is not wonderful; this is no evidence in favour of infidelity. Let us remember, that the mind is often at a loss even in the consideration of the commonest sciences. If then there are many things above our comprehension among those with which we are surrounded in life; if infinity is beyond the reach of human

conception, when the understanding only exerts itself to consider it in connection with the duration and extension of body, the divisibility of matter, and the production of motion; would it be just or reasonable to abandon religion, because the idea of God, that infinite Being, infinitely powerful and infinitely perfect, gives birth to some notions which our finite minds cannot comprehend?

Another argument of incredulity rests on the fact, that God is not visible to man. If we drive the infidel to his last defence, he must of necessity come to this as the very centre of atheism; but a single reflection on the nature of thought entirely refutes this objection.-Thought is not visible to the eye, and has no perceptible connection with the atoms of which our bodies are composed. We know also, that the mind has its peculiar subjects, often distinct from those of the imagination: it comprehends shape and figure in general with more ease than the imagination represents to itself a square or an ellipsis. Yet none of this is within the reach of our sight.

But it is of little use to waste our time on those who will bewilder themselves in errors of such absurdity: do they doubt there being a cause for the flux and reflux of the sea, or for the effect of the loadstone; although they do not understand either of these with any certainty? What injustice and folly then is it to doubt the existence of God,

when so many works, so many events, so many proofs, lead us, as it were by the hand, to Him.

Though the unbeliever should attempt to justify his denial of God in various ways, yet I verily believe it may be considered as a principle, which need seldom be swerved from, that ignorance of revelation and the indulgence of the corrupt passions of the human heart are the great causes of impiety. These are the infectious sources from which the venom of irreligion springs.—A naturally vicious heart, and a life spent in every criminal excess are terrible obstacles to the soul: and, on the other side, a soul scarcely enlightened at all, and not exercised in any of the matters of its faith, is not prepared to offer much resistance to a heart drawn aside and enchained by the pleasures of the world. Without a knowledge of God, and without piety, how should the soul do other than blindly suffer itself to be carried away by the torrent, and finally become a willing slave to a vicious and corrupted heart?

part

But we will now leave this of the argument, and endeavour to establish some incontrovertible principles, by which the inquiring mind may be assisted and directed in its search after truth. The first is, that after this life we must necessarily be either annihilated, or eternally happy, or eternally miserable. With regard to annihilation, I shall shew the absurdity of that idea in a future

chapter, wherein I shall prove the immortality of the soul by arguments independent of revelation. If then the soul can never be reduced to annihilation, it cannot avoid one or other of the two states, eternal happiness or eternal misery: and let us remember, that there is nothing between us and that happiness or misery, but this mortal life; this life of a few short and fleeting years, or months, or days, or perhaps only of a few hours. In such uncertainty as to the moment of the arrival of that death, which must open to us one or other of these scenes of eternity, prudence, nay, common sense must dictate to us, that we ought to lose no time in making choice wisely of our part.

The second principle is not less certain than the first. Since we are between two states so opposed to each other, as eternal happiness to hope for, and eternal misery to dread; the least ray of reason, the smallest spark of self-love, leads toward happiness. This is a choice, which any one without hesitation will make, especially when convinced that this happiness is no chimera, no being of idea, no creation of the imagination. Now it is beyond all contradiction, that the proofs in favour of this happiness are unequalled both in power and number.-But suppose, on the other hand, that they were only founded on conjecture and probabilities; we must necessarily examine the nature and number of these suppositions; and if