ligion, adapted to the present circumstances of the human race, ever has been or could be devised by unenlightened human reason. This very defect evinces the necessity of divine revelation, and all the gross absurdities and abominations of every religion instituted by man, have only exhibited so many futile and pernicious attempts to remedy it. But that the human faculties, if rightly exercised and applied, must discover the existence of a Deity, the principal attributes of his nature, and the worship which, ás due to him, is dictated by that nature and the rational nature of man, is evident on the smallest consideration. Nay, the existence of Deity, under some conception or other, has been acknowledged by almost all nations, and the absurdities of pagan superstition have been exposéd by heathen writers themselves. This they could never have done if they had not possessed more just and accurate conceptions of Deity, than were entertained by the gross and deluded vulgar.

Whatever, therefore, human reason, rightly applied, has discovered and dictated, or may discover and dictate, without the aid of revelation, concerning Deity, and the offices which are obligatory on man towards his omnipotent, omniscient, and infinitely benign Creator, is what may be properly called natural religion. This position is admitted by the sacred scriptures

themselves: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth ; and their words to the end of the world." "The invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse; because, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." "When the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."

If the heavens declare the glory of God, to whom do they declare it? To the human race, capable surely of receiving and understanding this declaration of nature. "If the invisible things of God are clearly seen and understood

a Psalm xix. 1-4.

b Rom. i. 20-22.

c Rom. ii. 14, 15.

by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead," does not this imply that man is capable of discovering the eternity and unity of his Creator by the contemplation of his works? Hence, wherever he has failed to offer to him that worship which reason itself dictates, he is justly pronounced to be without excuse, because knowing him, instead of acknowledging him by a rational service, he yielded to his own vain imaginations, and with affected wisdom indulged the most insensate and brutish folly. The passage last quoted from the Epistle to the Romans acknowledges, in the most explicit terms, the religion of nature.

That modern systems of natural theology have been much indebted to revelation, for the justness and accuracy of their principles and reasonings, is not denied. These, however, relate not to the being of God, but to the conceptions of his attributes, to the worship which these prescribe, and to the human duties which that worship infers. The sacred scriptures never attempt to prove the existence of God, but presuppose it as the foundation of every information which they contain.

Notwithstanding these observations, which I conceive to be well founded, it has, as already hinted, been maintained by some, that human reason has never been able to discover any substantial proofs of Deity, and of his attributes; that

natural religion is a nonentity, and that every stream of divine knowledge that has strayed through the world, has been derived from the source of revelation, and been transmitted through the channel of obscure tradition. But this is a merely gratuitous assumption, supported by no adequate evidence. Nay, it is not only unsupported, but, if it were true, would invalidate all the proofs of the divine existence so profusely furnished by the contemplation of nature, and tend to justify the atheist who should assert that, never having been favoured with a revelation of this kind, he must reject every principle of religion till he receives it. So that those who are actuated by an over-fervent religious zeal, to maintain that the human mind is of itself incapable of discovering any species and degree of religious truth, seem not to be aware of the vast injury which they are doing to religion by thus setting aside the very foundation on which it must ultimately rest.

But, the abettors of the opinion which I am now controverting, are, as I have stated above, misled no less by their misconception of what is properly signified by the term revelation, than by their erroneous notions of what is rightly to be understood by natural religion. This last I have just been endeavouring to explain. In regard to the just idea of revelation, as distinguished from the mere dictates of human reason

with respect to religious subjects, this term is not to be applied to every strong impression made on the mind, and referred by the person who receives it to a heavenly source. Some evidence must be produced of its divine origin, sufficient to convince both himself and others. This must be both internal and external, as we find these marks to exist in the Jewish and Christian revelations. The intrinsic excellence and salutary tendency of the doctrine delivered, and its incomparable superiority to every religi ous system, merely of human invention, constitute the first class of evidence. And here let it be observed, that if human reason is entirely excluded from religion, how is this mark of divine origin to be tried and ascertained? The second class of evidence comprehends those external proofs of divine interposition which miracles, prophecy, and supernatural success address to the senses of mankind in the first instance, and which are in the second established by testimony. Here again the use of reason is indispensable, in order to scrutinize, weigh, and decide on the evidences produced, to admit them if valid, and to reject them if insufficient. If the faculties of man, therefore, must be constantly and vigorously employed in examining and determining the claims of revelation itself, is it not absurd to assert that these faculties are totally inadequate to acquire any just religious