The belief in a God lumps at once to the practice of worshipping him, on the very rune principle pii which all dependants honour and look up to them In whose power they are placed.
The existence of a God once proved, the neat question is, In what relation do we stand to him f Are any law. paid down for our conduct m Are we responsible to him for keeping or braking those lawi f Are any rewards and punishments appointed for obedience and disobedience 1 To these questions it does not appear that natural religion can give a perfectly satisfactory answer, though no one can reed Bishop Butler's admirable work,' The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature,' without being astonished at the amount of inform etion on these subjects which it is there shown that the contemplation of natural phenomena reveals. It seems also that a general undefined notion of responsibility is associated in nearly all human minds with the idea of divine existence, at least a sense of responsibility aufficient to excite pleasure when we do what we believe to be good, and remorse when we do what we believe to be evil. Again, the connection which we find generally existing between vice and misery on the one bend, and virtue and happiness on the other, impresses upon us the idea that there does exist such a thing as retri butive justice. But at this point we encounter the great difficulty of natural religion. Though the general law according to which the affairs of the world appear to be governed Ls, that virtue is followed by happiness and vice by misery; and though a full knowledge of the circomstances of every CIAO which appears an exception to that law might show us that more real happiness is enjoyed by a virtuous sufferer than by a prosperous sinner, yet it cannot be_dented that daily experience furnishes us with exceptions to this law, numerous enough to throw great doubt upon its reality, if the period of human existence ends with the present life. Accordingly we find the doctriue of a future state forming a part of all religious systems, and generally connected with some notion of rewards and punishments.
Now, if there be a supreme moral governor who rules the world by fixed laws, who has appointed rewards and punishments as the recom pense for obedience and disobedieuce, and who has constituted man so that he shall exist In a future state to receive that recompense, the question is naturally suggested whether there he any means by which the consequences of disobedience may be averted. Justice must be an
attribute of the ruler of the universe, and natural religion affords us sufficient proofs of his goodness to justify us in believing that he is also willing to show mercy. The question that remains to be answered is, how his mercy can be shown without Injury to his justice; and tho importance of this question is enhanced by the consideration that the great majority of mankind (experience would justify us, apart from the Christian doctrine of universal depravity, in saying all mankind) need the divine forgiveness for at least some actions of their lives. It is the highest province of religion to furnish an answer to this question; and here natural religion entirely fails us, fur if left to it, the utmost we could do would be to rest in the exercise of an humble faith that some provision las been made by God for the just forgive ness of our sins, though the nature of that provision be unknown to us. The matter belongs to revealed religion, and accordingly wo find in nearly every religion professing to have a divine origin, and iu many others, the doctrine of an atonement; that is, of a satisfaction for sin, in virtue of which the actual transgressor may be released from the con sequence* of his guilt.
These, then, are the elements which seem to be contained in any religion suited to the wants of man ; that there exists a supremo Being whoposeemes abeolute power over man and the material universe, and all creatures therein, and who is to be worshipped by all his rational creatures ; that he has laid down laws for our conduct, by our obedience or disobedience to which Ivo subject ourselves to a recom pense of reward or punishment, which recompense is awarded partially in the present life, but more completely in a future state, in which we are so constituted as to exist alter death ; that a provision has been made on behalf of those who feel that their conduct has subjected them to the divine displeasure, by availing themselves of which they may escape the consequences of their guilt without detriment to the equity of the divine government; and lastly, that there are certain practical rules of conduct by which the intercourse of men with each other ought to be governed, and by an attention to which the stability of the social system may to a great extent be ensured. And all there elements of religion are susceptible of proof, either from nature, or frum human experience, or from revelation.