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be the turn of thy mind; if, in a word, thou dost not find it to be thy meat and thy drink to do thy fellow-creature good, if thou dost not love thy neighbour with the same affection as thyself, be assured thou art not at present of the disposition of mind, which the Universal Governor would have all his rational creatures brought to; and mayest judge what chance thou hast for His favour, whose favour is life and happiness; whose love to all his creatures tends to draw and unite them to himself, and would, have them all love one another, that by universal love they may be united into one society, under one infinite Lord and universal Father.

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SECTION VIII.

Of our Obligations with Respect to our Creator.

WE come now to the third and noblest part of the duty of rational beings, which is also their highest honour, I mean, That which they owe to the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of themselves, and the Universe. The first part, or foundation of which is, The belief of his existence.

The abstract proof of the existence of God requires nothing to be granted, but only, That something now exists; which concession forces the mind to confess the necessity of some First Cause, existing naturally, necessarily, and independently upon any other; Himself the cause of all things; Himself the fountain of being, and plenitude of perfection.

This proof leaves no room for caviling: but effectually cuts off the subtle disputer from every possible evasion or subterfuge. It is not however so easy for those who have been accustomed to abstract reasoning, to see the conclusive force of it. For the bulk of mankind, the fittest arguments for the being of God are taken from the stupendous works of Nature. And what object is there in the whole compass of nature, animate or inanimate, great or small, rare or common, which does not point to the almighty. Author of all things? Not only those which strike us with astonishment, and fill our minds with their greatness; not only the view of a rolling ocean, a blazing sun, or the concave of heaven sparkling with its innumerable starry fires;

but even the sight of a flower, a pile of grass, or a rep. tile of the dust, every particle of matter around us; the body, into which his breath has infused our life; the soul, by which we think and know; whatever we fix our eye or thought upon, holds forth the ever-present Deity. In what state or place must we be, to be insensible of Him, by whom our very being is preserved? Whither must we withdraw ourselves, to be out of the reach of his Divine communications, who minutely fills every point of bound. less space? Is it possible to obliterate from our minds the thought of him in whom we live, and move, and have our being?

The first and fundamental duty of all rational beings to God, is, as I have said, To believe his existence. Now, though there is nothing praise-worthy in believing the most important truth upon insufficient grounds; and though, on the contrary, credulity is a weakness unworthy of a being endowed with a capacity of examining and finding out truth: yet there may be a great wickedness in unbelief; For a person may, from obstinacy and perverseness, reject important truth, or through levity, folly, or an attachment to vice, may avoid the proper and natural means of convic tion. So that the effect, which the rational and clear persuasion of important truth might have had upon his dis position and practice, may be lost. And it is greatly to be suspected, that multitudes are guilty of this last crime, with respect to the awful doctrine of the existence of God. If they be asked, whether they believe that there is a God, they will take it amiss to be suspected of the least inclination to Atheism. But it is evident, from their lives and conver sations, that if they believe the existence of God at all, it is in such a manner as is next to no belief. They think not of the matter. There may, or may not, be a God for any thing they know or care.

But to believe this important doctrine in a manner be coming a rational creature, is to bear in mind a constant and habitual impression of an infinitely perfect nature, the Author and Fountain of existence, the wise and righteous Governor of the universe, who is every where present, beholding all the actions and intentions of his creatures, to whom all rational beings are accountable, and upon whose favour or disapprobation their fate to all eternity wholly

depends. To think of the Supreme Being in any other way than this, is not believing His existence in a rational and consistent manner.

And did men really admit the rational belief of a God; did they impress their minds with a fixed and constant attention to the awful thought of their being under the continual inspection of their judge, we should not see them proceed in the manner they do. For I ask, How the bulk of mankind could behave worse than they do, if they were sure there was no God? We see them ready to catch at every unwarrantable gratification of passion or appetite; to put every fraudulent or wicked scheme in execution, from which they are not restrained either by human laws, or by fear of losing the esteem and confidence of their fellowcreatures, with the advantages connected with it. What could they do more, if there was no God? Is there, taking mankind upon an average, one of an hundred who hesitates at any vicious thought, word or action, from the single consideration of its being perhaps displeasing to God? Is there one of an hundred who habitually regulates his thoughts, words, and actions, by the standard of the Divine Will, and would rather lose the favour and approbation of all the men on earth, and all the angels of heaven, than his Maker's alone? How seldom do we meet with an instance of a person, who will not truckle and temporize, commute and compound with conscience, or even stifle its remonstrances to gain the favour of the great? Whereas, if men acted upon the principle of a rational belief of a God, they would rather make a point of giving up all human favour, to make sure of keeping strictly to their duty; they would take care always to be on the safe side, to be scrupulously exact, rather than too free, in their lives and conversations; they would labour, if possible, to do more than the exact duty of their stations; and to avoid even the least appearance of evil; as they who would make their court to a prince, do not grudge any extraordinary service, attendance, or expence for him; are cautious of so much as seeming to look toward what may be disagreeable to his humour or inclination, or in the least favouring, or seeming to favour, those whom he does not approve. Did men in any rational and consistent manner believe the existence of a God, or think of him as the

Governor and Judge of the world, under whose immediate inspection we stand at all moments, we should see their conduct corrected and regulated by that constant awe and fear, which becomes dependent, accountable beings, whose minds are duly impressed with a sense of their present condition and future expectations. Their belief would be prac tical as well as speculative. It would affect their hearts, as well as impress their understandings.

How some men contrive to satisfy their own minds upon the subject of their duty to God, is inconceivable. One would imagine it impossible for a being, at all capable of thought, to bring himself to believe, that though he owes his existence, his body, his soul, his reasoning faculty, speech and all its powers, corporeal and mental, with whatever he enjoys now, or hopes for hereafter, to an infinitely perfect and amiable Being, who has made him capable of apprehending his perfections and his absolute power over him; one would imagine it impossible, I say, for a being endowed with a reasoning faculty to believe all this, and yet think he owes no duty at all, no gratitude, love, or service, no positive adoration or praise to his Creator, Govcrnor and Judge. Yet is there, even in this enlightened age, and this land of knowledge, a person among an hundred who makes conscience of regularly and habitually performing, in a rational and devout manner, the positive duties of meditation upon the Divine perfections, in order to raise his mind to an imitation of them; of addressing God by prayer for the supply of all his wants; or of prais ing him for the bounties received? on the contrary, is there not too much reason to conclude, that by far the greatest part of mankind have not God in all their thoughts; or if they have, the thought of him produces no visible effect? They attend the public worship indeed from a sense of decency. But it is plain, from the gencral levity of behaviour, that their hearts are not in it. And as for worshipping God daily in their houses, with their families, or by themselves in ther closets, they see no necessity for it, and conclude, that whoever lives soberly and is good-natured, though he habitually neglects the whole third part of his duty, is likely to meet with the divine approbation, and to be happy at last.

It is proved above, that the Author of all things must

be infinite in his essence, and in all possible perfections, as wisdom, power, goodness, and rectitude. If so, it is evident, not only that he is the proper object of the admiration, love, gratitude, and every other noble affection, of the minds of such low creatures as mankind, who are probably the meanest of all rational beings; but that it is the glory of the highest archangel in heaven to adore infinite Perfection; nay, that the whole of the reverence, love, and praise of any conceivable number of created beings, paid by them through all eternity, must fall infinitely short of what is justly his due; because the whole of the tribute of honour and service, which all created beings can pay, will be finite; whereas the Divine Perfections are infinite: Now every finite is infinitely deficient, when compared with what is infinite.

To be more particular; the consideration of the Divine Immensity, or Omnipresence, ought to strike every thinking mind with the most profound awe and veneration, which ought to dwell upon it constantly and habitually, of its being at all times surrounded with the Divinity which pervades all matter, and is the Spirit within every spirit, seeing, or rather intimately feeling, every motion of every mind in the universe. Whoever has just and habitual impressions of the Divine Omnipresence, will no more presume to do any thing amiss or even to think a bad thought, than a considerate person will dare to be. have rudely in the royal presence. A thinking mind considers itself as at all times, by day and by night, in public and in private, abroad and at home, in the immediate and intimate presence of the great King of the World, whose boundless palace is the whole universe. It will therefore be continually and habitually on its guard; and, as one who appears before an illustrious character, whose favour he greatly values, will be above all things fearful of misbehaving; so will the considerate mind dread the danger of losing the approbation of that ever-present Judge, upon whom his fate depends, infinitely more than pain, or poverty, or shame, or death, and will cheerfully expose himself to any or all of them, rather than act an unbecoming part before that Eye, which is not to be deceived, He, who thinks how vice, or even frailty, must appear before that Being, whose very nature is rectitude in perfection,

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