which it is composed. On all, the sublime impression of Design is instamped as a living image, glowing in living colours. The Universe becomes a vast assemblage of Means, directed to an immortal purpose; arranged in perfect order, adjusted with exact symmetry, and operating with complete harmony: and all, from the glory of that purpose, and the perfection of their arrangement, symmetry, and operations, derive an elevation and grandeur, of which they are otherwise utterly incapable.

But in the

God, before whom all things are as nothing, is invested, by his perfections, with a greatness and sublimity, in comparison with which, all other magnificence, separately considered, becomes less than nothing and vanity.' Eternal, Omnipresent, and Immutable Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, are objects so high, so vast, that all the worlds and suns which they have created, diminish, when compared with them, to the drop of the bucket, and the small dust of the balance.' view of the Christian, these worlds, and every thing which they contain, derive a glorious lustre, from being an immediate exhibition of these attributes, and of the incomprehensible Being in whom they reside. Wherever the Christian casts his eyes, he sees all things full of God. The omnipresent, all-creating, and all-ruling Jehovah lives, and moves, and acts, in every thing which meets his view. In the Spring, he comes forth in his beauty and beneficence, clothes the naked world in the richest attire, and awakens universal life and joy. In the Summer, and the Autumn, he openeth his bountiful hand, and satisfieth the wants of every living thing.' In the Winter, 'he hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.' The heavens recal to the mind of the Christian the day when God said, Let there be a firmament; and there was a firmament:' In the sun, still resounds that voice which commanded, Let there be light, and there was light.'

In the mean time, all things borne on, in the view of the Atheist, in a blind and relentless career by irresistible Necessity, or dancing in fortuitous and endless mazes, like the imaginary atoms supposed by him to have produced them, and therefore dark, cheerless, and hopeless, are, in that of the Christian, directed by the Wisdom, Power, and Goodness of the Creator; and are therefore to him, full of expectation,

hope, and comfort. Wherever he is, there God is. His ear is always open to his prayers; his eye, to his dangers, sorrows and fears; his hand, extended to supply, to relieve, to comfort, and to save. An Almighty Friend is everywhere found by him, in the crowd and in solitude, by night and by day; never absent, never forgetful, never unkind, never incumbered by any concerns which will prevent his wants from being regarded, nor surrounded by any difficulties which can hinder them from being supplied. Between this friend and him, time and place can never intervene: he is everywhere, and is everywhere to him a God.

In this vast particular, the difference between the views of the Atheist and those of the Christian, I need hardly observe, is incalculable and immense. The efficacy of these views on the Mind must, it is obvious, be proportioned to their nature.

II. I will now examine the views which the Atheist forms of the Moral World.

The Moral world is the world of Minds, or of intelligent being. The importance of this world will in some good measure be conceived from these considerations; that the individuals who compose it are the only beings by whom good can be contrived or done, and the only beings by whom it can to any extent be enjoyed. Of this world, the conceptions of the Atheist are, in a far greater degree, inferior to those of the Christian.

The only object which the Atheist knows in the Moral world is Man, and Man lowered to the humblest possible level of intellectual existence. His origin, in the view of the Atheist, is the same with that of a mushroom; and his character that of a mere animal. He is the subject of no moral government, insusceptible of moral obligation; incapable therefore of virtue, excellence, and loveliness; possessing attributes, which, like himself, are the offspring, and under the control, of Necessity or Chance; united to his fellow-men by nothing but Time and Place; insulated in all his interests, and those the interests of a swine only; without the knowledge or the existence of law or government, merit or reward; and born merely to breathe, to eat, to drink, to sleep, to propagate his kind, to decay, and to die. How obvious is it, that on these views of Man, there can be erected no personal worth,

enjoyment, or hope; no common good, no sense of rectitude, and no efforts for the promotion of general happiness.

Personal worth is all dependent on the existence of laws and government, formed by one who has a right to enact the former and administer the latter; a right founded on the relations which he sustains to those who are under his government. To these relations also must the laws and the government be conformed in such a manner, as that that, and that only, shall be enacted, which requires the conduct suited to these relations, and promotive of general and individual happiness. In the same manner must be directed the rewards, punishments, and administrations. But on the scheme of the Atheist, there is no such ruler, and no such right to rule; there are no such relations, and no such duties. Rectitude, the sum of personal worth, consists in rendering voluntarily, that which others have a right to claim. no claim can be founded, and none exists. nothing due; of course, no duty can be performed, and no rectitude experienced. Hence that high, unceasing, and refined enjoyment, which attends the sense of rectitude, can never be found by the Atheist.

But on his scheme
There is therefore

As the Atheist is without rectitude or moral principle, and destitute of the sense and enjoyment of it; so it is plain, that his whole conduct must be directed by a regard to mere convenience; or rather by a regard to what his passions, unrestrained, rendered intense by habitual indulgence, and fastening their view only on the present object, may deem convenient. In other words, his conduct must be dictated merely by the existing passion and appetite; and must therefore be that very conduct, which has produced almost all the miseries and complaints of mankind.

If this scheme be true, all men ought undoubtedly to be governed by it. What would become of such a world, and of the Atheist himself in the midst of such a world? No man, it is evident, could exercise confidence towards any other man. The loss of the enjoyment, furnished by this single delightful emotion, an enjoyment absolutely indispensable even to comfort and to safety, would infinitely overbalance every good which Atheists ever found. Without confidence, no society can be happy. Without confidence, no society, no friendship, no union, no connection, between intelligent beings can exist.

Even thieves and robbers, as has ever been proverbially acknowledged, cannot, without confidence, form even their dreadful state of society. The world, dispossessed of it, would become an image of Hell; and distrust, jealousy, wrath, revenge, murder, war, and devastation, overspread the Earth. In the midst of millions, the Atheist would find himself in a desert. His situation would be that of a hermit, his character that of a fiend. By day, he would hide himself in his den; by night, he would prowl as a wolf, for the prey on which he was to live.

To such a world it is obvious, hope, which,' in the language of the Poet, comes to all,' could never come.' On hope, even as the world now is, men in a great measure live. The prospect of something better to-morrow brightens all the comforts of man, and tinges with light the clouds of melancholy and affliction, to-day. Were all the enjoyments of human life to be fairly reckoned up, it is not improbable that those which hope brings in her train, would be the greatest mass, both in number and value. But in these, the Atheist could not share, because from Fate or Chance nothing can be rationally expected; and because, from his fellow-men, governed by his doctrines, there could arise nothing but danger, distrust, and fear.

Should it be said, that this situation of things would be so absolutely intolerable, that mankind, unable to exist in it, would be compelled to unite in society, and establish government: I admit the conclusion, and perfectly accord with the premises from which it is drawn. But what would be the

nature of this government, and on what basis would it be founded? Its basis would plainly be dire necessity, existing in the impossibility of living without it, and its operations would be only those of force. The Rulers would feel no sense of rectitude, possess no virtue, and realize no moral obligation. To all these things their fundamental principles would be hostile, and would render the very thought of them ridiculous. God is the only acknowledged source of moral obligation; but to them there would be no God, and therefore no such obligation. Conformity to his laws is the only rectitude; but to these men there would be no such laws, and therefore no rectitude. Convenience, of course, or, in better words, Passion and Appetite, would dictate all the conduct of

these rulers. The nature of a government directed by passion and appetite we know, imperfectly, by the histories of Caligula, Nero, and Heliogabalus; and more thoroughly, though still imperfectly, in those of Danton, Marat, Robespierre, and their associates. Who would be willing to see such a tissue of madness, cruelty, misery, and horror, woven again.

The subjects of such a government would at the same time be, in the same manner, under the influence of the same doc trine. Their conduct would accordingly be an exact counterpart to that of their rulers. Appetite would change every man into a swine, and passion into a tiger. Right would neither be acknowledged, nor be felt, nor exist. Whatever was coveted would be sought and obtained, if it could be done with safety. Whatever was hated would, so far as safety would permit, be hunted and destroyed. To deceive, to defraud, to betray, to maim, to torture, and to butcher, would be the common employment, and the common sport. The dearest and most venerable relations would be violated by incestuous pollution; and children, such of them I mean as were not cast under a hedge, thrown into the sea, or dashed against the stones, would grow up without a home, without a parent, without a friend. The world would become one vast den, one immeasurable stye, and the swine and the wolf would be degraded by a comparison with its inhabitants.

Should it be doubted whether even Atheism would terminate in such doctrines, and such practices, the means of removing the doubt are at hand. Hobbes, Shaftesbury, and other English infidel writers, some of whom have disclaimed the character of Atheists, and wished at least to be considered as embracing Theism, have directly declared that there is no right except that which the Leviathan, or civil magistrate, pronounces to be such; and that rectitude, instead of being founded in the nature of things, or in the will of God, is the result of human institutions, and arbitrary decisions merely. Little consideration is necessary to enable us to discern, that this single principle involves all the consequences which I have attributed to Atheism, dissolyes at once all obligations to duty, annihilates virtue, and crumbles the bands which hold society together. Accordingly Hobbes declares it to be lawful to do, and to get whatever we can with safety; and