endowed, the talents' entrusted to his care, he will and must have, on the most obvious grounds, a tendency to disbelief in these mat

ters.

To such persons the study of the higher points of our religion, and an acquaintance with the great scheme of the Christian covenant; an enlargement of their views with regard to the ways of Providence and the moral constitution of mankind, may perhaps be advantageously recommended. A thousand varieties are seen amongst us, both as to turn of thought and disposition; and a thousand attractions, if all were equally exposed to view, would appear to invite attention towards our one great object in common-religion. As to the aim of this treatise, I may express a hope that the subject may prove not unattractive in a philosophical guise to those minds who had otherwise thought lightly of its nature, or perhaps, on worse grounds consigned it to neglect and oblivion.

At any rate, if they sit down to its study in this shape, they will be induced to form an estimate of its value on different principles from those which are too often assigned by the un

thinkingness of mankind. And when they have employed a certain portion of their time and labour in its pursuit, they will find themselves inclined to allow that religion is not as they have been used to hear it sometimes termed, merely "une chose bonne pour le peuple," or as others say, a thing "which ought to be countenanced and kept up," nor yet indeed as many men of the world choose to imagine it to be simply a subsidiary branch of toryism, or a craft that is maintained by the zeal of those who get their living from it.

We may rest assured there is enough in it, and more than enough, to call for our utmost exertion. Viewed as a general study, it may be easy to acquire a knowledge of the practical duties of religion, yet we shall find the case very different as respects the theory (if it may be so termed) of divine law and government; this may be regarded, limited as the human faculties are, as the most difficult and arduous of all human investigations. It is hard for us to attempt to scan the designs of Providence, however deep and urgent may be the interest we take in the question: our abilities must

be strained to their highest pitch, and all our best exertions called forth, if we engage with any hope of success. Yet the utmost stretch of human thought is still a span too low for aught that looks to heaven.

There is no science which requires so vigorous a mind, or so nice a power of balancing the numerous difficulties of its research; there is none in which so wide and comprehensive a view of all around us is necessarily demanded. No branch of human knowledge must be neglected, as far as our poor mortality has hitherto prevailed; nothing in all the wide range of philosophy, history, science, or art, must be for an instant, out of our sight, if we would seek, however humbly, to investigate, through the details which are alone open to us, the mighty workings and designs of the great and omnipotent first But beyond all is required, a still rarer gift, namely, that even and unprejudiced state of temper which seems to have place only in those minds which are purified and refined by the superiority of their cultivation, and are alive to the most truly exalted views of all that regards this nether world.

cause.

It is certainly rather for the want of sufficient information than from its superfluity, that so much of doubt prevails amongst mankind: it is because he has not the learning and sagacity sufficient to uphold his belief, not from a contrary cause, that a man becomes an indifferent to religion. Let us not be mistaken, however, on this point; seldom is it that the sceptic is found to be a fool: although we may assert the believer to be in one sense the wiser man, we must not let our prejudices lead us to a conclusion that neither our common sense nor common observation will uphold. But neither can it be fairly represented, on the other side, that an adherence to religion is in any way a sign of weakness of mind, much less of incompetence: we might quote, indeed, very numerous examples that would seem to prove the reverse, beyond all possibility of contradiction; and doubtless, in the light in which we are now viewing it, it must, if so cultivated, display the most vigorous powers of the human intellect, and the best endowments of the heart. Such adherence may with more reason be assumed as a token of all that is valuable, all

that is great or excellent in the human cha

racter.

The sceptic is one that has boldness and ability enough to discover and enter upon the stray paths that open upon his road; the thoroughly religious and enlightened man nor fears nor shuns them; but, unbewildered by intricacies, unseduced by flattering appearances, he never loses sight of his right way.

To touch upon another point; it may be added here that we must not be deterred from coping with the sceptic, by the declamation of those who forbid such researches because they abhor their conclusion; to act thus, is to be as the child that veils its eyes because it fears the danger.

Irreligion, or at least indifference to religious faith, is too common in the world to be passed by in silence, in such an age as this, when all have light enough upon their minds to enable themselves to feel some inquisitive power, and are so much inclined to put every thing to the test of reason. When the art of printing was first invented, the dawn of reason was decreed; the general diffusion of general knowledge, the re