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THE knowledge of the being of a God is the first principle of religion. It is with no small degree of satisfaction that I select this subject for your attention. For, it is not only our duty, frequently to collect the evidences of the divine existence, which cannot fail to solemnize our minds; but that our families, children, and domestics may be taught this most necessary and important subject. Indeed, there are certain seasons of atheistical despondency incident to the Christian mind, which render a discourse of this kind truly desirable. It is far from my intention to enter upon a metaphysical chain of thought; but to collect the most familiar evidences, and render them to you as plain as possible, that the weakest capacity may be instructed, while the established believer may be gratified.

Notwithstanding the diversity of opinions upon the infinite number of objects and subjects with which mankind are conversant, there is no one in which the whole mass are united, but that there is a GOD. We live at a period which gives us the advantage of a general history of man

kind, and particularly of those heathen nations which have recently been discovered. Gross as the darkness may be which covers those uncultivated mortals, there prevails universally among them, a persuasion that there exists a Being to whom mankind are accountable. Though, were we to select the various accounts of the depravity which accompany their belief, and the ways in which they express it, it would fill us with horror. The generality of mankind acknowledge that there is a Supreme Being, notwithstanding their diversity of opinions concerning his mode of existence, attributes, and works; and this is quite sufficient to create in our minds the certainty of the fact, verily there is a God. Suppose we next make a short investigation of some of the more visible partsof our world, and with which our senses are conversant.— If we lift our eyes and behold the heavens, the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars; the regularity of their order, their intrinsic magnificence, and their utility to mankind;. surely they will teach us there was a first cause which produced their existence, and must still preserve them in their motions.-Survey the earth with its vast contents. Whence those mighty waters? Who swells their bosom, and fills them with rage, which dismays the heart of the stoutest mariner? Whence the innumerable variety of its finny inhabitants? Do they or their element move by chance? What arm is sufficient to still the foaming billows, or to stem the rolling tide? Surely there is a God who formed the great deep, and who displays his awful presence there!-Let vegetable creation lend their aid. Who giveth life and vegetation to trees, plants, and flowers? Who implanted their various virtues, and enriched them with nutritive qualities to nourish man and beast? The stately oak, the towering pine, and the hum

ble hyssop, equally proclaim the wisdom of that God who giveth to every seed its own body.-Animal creation likewise affords a thousand evidences, in different forms, to impress the mind that there is a God. How vast their number! What beasts of prey, and beasts for the service of men! The winged tribe, if possible, more numerous still! The lion in the forest, and the bird on the bush, equally defy the art of man. Were it possible to form the beautiful plumage of the one, or the terrifying features of the other, still, who can convey life, inspire with strength and courage, and cause the winged creature to form its notes? It is all of God, and man must be silent and adore.-Revolving seasons, and the various events of time which take place unforeseen and unaided by mortals, are equally calculated to assist us in our present inquiry. We have our light and our darkness, summer and winter, seed time and harvest. These are absolutely determined; and the barrenness and the fruitfulness of either, notwithstanding the anxiety of mortals frequently to reverse them, demonstrate the being and the sovereignty of God. To which may be added, the revolutions which attend countries, cities, families, and individuals, contrary to human fore-sight. These events, which daily occur, are of themselves sufficient to convince us, were we to pay the necessary attention, that there is a God.-The structure of the human body, with its vital machinery, are evident demonstrations of the being of God. The exquisite formation and variety of the bones, and the carti lages by which those bones are connected; the muscles, and the tendons in which those muscles terminate; the arteries by which the blood is conveyed from the heart to all parts of the body; and the veins, which are the same canals inverted, by which the blood is brought back to

the heart again; the powers of digestion, chylification, and the circulation of the blood;-these cannot fail to claim your admiration, and confirm your belief in an infinitely wise and Almighty Creator.-Wonderful as the human body may be, the soul infinitely exceeds it! The mind, possessed of capacious powers to contemplate universal nature, and form ideas of objects-the judgment and power of reasoning, determining right and wrong. How strong the memory to retain the knowledge of events long passed! The affections, love, joy, hope, fear, toge ther with the power of the will; these must necessarily lead us to see that man not only possesses a superior rank in this lower creation, but stands a witness that there is a God. Let us go a step further, as it relates to man, and more immediately to ourselves. Let me ask, Why you feel a consciousness of doing wrong? Can habit acquire this sensibility? If this be urged, from whence came the first conviction of error? Depraved as mankind are, this consciousness, more or less, is common to all. And does not this conviction in your own breasts receive a material acuteness from a secret persuasion that you are accountable for your actions, and lead you involuntarily to anticipate futurity, and persuade you there is a God, to whom you are accountable? I presume there is no one of this family, young or old, but will as soon deny his own existence, as the justness of these remarks. And I may venture to add, these form an evidence of the being of a God inscribed on the tablet of your conscience, which you have more or less occasion to read every day of your lives.-The concluding remark I shall make, is, on the departure of mortals, by death, from this transitory state. As the love of life is common to all mankind, so is an abhorrence of dissolution by death. The mo

narch upon his throne, surrounded with his adulating courtiers, enjoying what in vulgar opinion may be denominated felicity, starts and fears to die on the approach of the king of terrors! The beggar, too, on his bed of straw, is no less reluctant to resign his fleeting breath; and were he possessed of ten thousand worlds, would barter the whole for a respite from the grave. Whence this abhorrence of dissolution? What arm impels the blooming youth, the busy merchant, and the proud sovereign to quit their enchanting scenes, re. sign their breath, and lie down in the dust of death? To this we reply in the language of our text, Verily there is a God, and to him all men must bow.

It will now be necessary for you to collect the remarks which I have made. The natural indelible impression on the mind of man, which produces a general consent that there is a God; the celestial bodies; vegetable and animal creation; revolving seasons, and the various events among mankind; the human body, and the capacious soul; together with the departure of men from this to another state, generally against their will; these are sufficient evidences, on which you have reason to believe that there is a God. Yet, infidelity is so entwined in the human heart, in its present degenerate state, that a frequent recital of the evidences of this great truth becomes absolutely necessary to raise the lapsed mind. It is not uncommon to meet with persons who object to the authenticity of the BIBLE, who are equally deficient in the knowledge of the evidences of the DIVINE BEING, which is the first principle of universal nature. I cannot but remind you, that, except the text, which I have merely used as a motto to this lecture, I have not made any quotation from the Scripture, although greater evidence of

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