renouncing the character of a rational creature; but tastes and relishes are not to be prescribed.

A motive in which the reason of man shall acquiesce, enforcing the practice of virtue at all times and seasons, enters into the very essence of moral obligation. Modern infidelity supplies no such motives; it is, therefore, essentially and infallibly, a system of enervation, turpitude, and vice. This chasm in the construction of morals, can only be supplied by the firm belief of a rewarding and avenging Deity, who binds duty and happiness, though they may seem distant, in an indissoluble chain; without which, whatever usurps the name of virtue is not a principle, but a feeling; not a determinate rule, but a fluctuating expedient, varying with the tastes of individuals, and changing with the scenes of life.

Nor is this the only way in which infidelity subverts the foundation of morals. All reasoning on morals presupposes a distinction between inclinations and duties, affections and rules. The former prompt, the latter prescribe. The former supply motives to action; the latter regulate and control it. Hence it is evident, if virtue have any just claim to authority, it must be under the latter of these notions; that is, under the character of a law. It is under this notion, in fact, that its dominion has ever been acknowledged to be paramount and supreme. Without the intervention of a superior will, it is impossible there should be any moral laws, except in the lax metaphorical sense in which we speak of the laws of matter and motion.

Two consequences, the most disastrous to society, will inevitably follow the general prevalence of this system; 1. the frequent perpetration of great crimes, 2. the total absence of great virtues.

1. In those conjunctures which tempt avarice or inflame ambition, when a crime flatters with the prospect of impunity, and the certainty of immense advantage, what is to restrain an atheist from its commission? To say that remorse will deter him is absurd; for remorse, as distinguished from pity, is the sole offspring of religious belief, the extinction of which is the great purpose of the infidel philosophy.

The dread of punishment or infamy from his fellow-creatures will be an equally ineffectual barrier; because crimes are only committed under such circumstances as suggest the hope of concealment ; not to say, that crimes themselves will lose their infamy and their horror under the influence of that system, which destroys the sanctity of virtue by converting it into a low calculation of worldly interest. Here the sense of an ever-present Ruler, and of an avenging Judge, is of the most awful and indispensable necessity; as it is that alone, which impresses on all crimes the character of folly as well as criminality; shows that duty and interest in every instance coincide, and that the most prosperous career of vice, the most brilliant successes of criminality, are but an accumulation of wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. *

As the frequent perpetration of great crimes is an inevitable consequence of the diffusion of skeptical principles, so, to understand this consequence in its full extent, we must look beyond their immediate effects, and consider the disruption of social ties, the destruction of confidence, the terror, suspicion, and hatred, which must prevail in that state of society in which barbarous deeds are familiar. The tranquillity which pervades a wellordered community, and the mutual good offices which bind its members together, are founded on an implied confidence in the justice, humanity, and moderation of those among whom we dwell. So that the worst consequence of crimes is, that they impair the stock of public charity and general humanity. The dread and hatred of our species would infallibly be grafted on a conviction that we were exposed every moment to the surges of an unbridled ferocity, and that nothing but the power of the magistrate stood between us and the daggers of assassins. In such a state, laws, deriving no support from public manners, are unequal to the task of curbing the fury of the passions; which, from being concentrated into selfishness, fear, and revenge, acquire new force. Terror and suspicion beget cruelty, and inflict injuries by way of prevention. Pity is extinguished in the stronger impulse of self-preservation. The tender and generous affections are crushed; and nothing is seen but the retaliation of wrongs,

* Romans ii. 5.

and the fierce and unmitigated struggle for superiority. This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we be so unfortunate as ever to witness the triumph of modern infidelity.

2. This system is a soil as barren of great and sublime virtues, as it is prolific in crimes. By great and sublime virtues, are meant those, which are called into action on great and trying occasions, which demand the sacrifice of the dearest interests and prospects of human life, and sometimes of life itself; the virtues in a word, which, by their rarity and splendor, draw admiration, and have rendered illustrious the character of patriots, martyrs, and confessors. It requires but little reflection to perceive, that whatever veils a future world, and contracts the limits of existence within the present life, must tend, in a proportionable degree, to diminish the grandeur and narrow the sphere of human agency.

As well might we expect exalted sentiments of justice from a professed gamester, as look for noble principles in the man whose hopes and fears are all suspended on the present moment, and who stakes the whole happiness of his being on the events of this vain and fleeting life. If he be ever impelled to the performance of great achievements in a good cause, it must be solely by the hope of fame; a motive, which, besides that it makes virtue the servant of opinion, usually grows weaker at the approach of death; and which, however it may surmount the love of existence in the heat of battle, or in the midst of public. observation, can seldom be expected to operate with much force on the retired duties of a private station.

In affirming that infidelity is unfavorable to the higher class of virtues, we are supported as well by facts, as by reasoning. It is not my wish to load infidels with unmerited reproach; but to what history, to what record, will they appeal for the traits of moral greatness exhibited by their disciples? Where shall we look for the trophies of infidel magnanimity or atheistical virtue ? Not that it is intended to accuse them of inactivity; they have, during the last and present century, filled the world with the fame of their exploits; exploits of a different kind, indeed, but of imperishable memory and disastrous lustre.

It is very true, that great and splendid actions are not the

ordinary employment of life, but must, from their nature, be reserved for extraordinary occasions; yet that system is essentially defective which leaves no room for their existence. They are important, both from their immediate advantage and their remote influence. They sometimes save, and always render illustrious, the age and nation in which they appear. They raise the standard of practical morals; they arrest the progress of degeneracy; they diffuse a lustre over the path of life. Monuments of the greatness of the human mind, they present to the world the august image of virtue in her sublimest form, from which beams of light and glory issue to remote times and ages; while their commemoration by the pen of historians and poets awakens, in distant bosoms, the sparks of kindred excellence.

Combine the frequent and familiar perpetration of atrocious deeds with the dearth of great and generous actions, and we have the exact picture of that condition of society which completes the degradation of the species; the frightful contrast of dwarfish virtues and gigantic vices, where every thing good is mean and little, and every thing evil is rank and luxuriant. A dull and sickening uniformity prevails, broken only at intervals by volcanic eruptions of anarchy and crime.

II. Hitherto we have considered the influence of skepticism on the principles of virtue, and endeavoured to show, that it despoils it of its dignity, and lays its authority in the dust. Its influence on the formation of character comes now to be considered. The actions of men are oftener determined by their character than by their interest; their conduct takes its color more from their acquired tastes, inclinations, and habits, than from a deliberate regard to their greatest good. It is only on great occasions, that men are accustomed to take an extended survey of their future course, and that they suffer the dictates of reason to give a new direction to their movements. The actions of each day are, for the most part, links which follow each other in the chain of habit. Hence, the great effort of practical wisdom is, to imbue the mind with right tastes, affections, and habits, the elements of character and the springs of action. 1. The exclusion of a Supreme Being, and of a superintending Providence, tends directly to the destruction of moral taste. It robs the universe of all finished and consummate excellence, even

in idea. The admiration of perfect wisdom and goodness, for which we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable rapture in the soul, finding in the regions of skepticism nothing to which it corresponds, droops and languishes. Revelation, by displaying the true character of God, affords a pure and perfect standard of virtue; heathenism, one in various respects defective; the skepticism of late times, which excludes the belief of all superior powers, affords no standard at all. According to this system, human nature knows nothing higher or more excellent than itself. All above and around it being shrouded in darkness, and the prospect confined to the tame realities of this life, virtue has no room to expand itself; nor are any excursions permitted into that unseen world, the true element of the great and good, by which it is fortified with motives equally calculated to satisfy the reason, to delight the fancy, and to impress the heart. As this part of the subject, however, has been illustrated elsewhere, it will not be enlarged upon in this connexion.*

2. Modern infidelity not only tends to corrupt the moral taste; it also promotes the growth of those vices which are the most hostile to social happiness. Of all the vices incident to human nature, the most destructive to society are vanity (egotism), ferocity, and unbridled sensuality; and these are precisely the vices which infidelity is calculated to nourish.

That the love, fear, and habitual contemplation of a Being infinitely exalted, or, in other terms, devotion, is adapted to promote a sober and moderate estimate of our own excellences, is incontestable; nor is it less evident, that the neglect or exclusion of devotion must be favorable to pride. The criminality of pride will not, perhaps, be very readily admitted; for, though there is no vice more opposite to the spirit of Christianity, yet there is none, which, even in the Christian world, has, under various pretences, been treated with so much indulgence.

There is, it will be confessed, a delicate sensibility to character, a sober desire of reputation, a wish to possess the esteem of the wise and good, felt by the purest minds, which is at the farthest remove from arrogance or vanity. The humility of a noble mind scarcely dares to approve of itself, until it has se

* See above, pp. 65-67.