The Being of God
BEING OP GOD.
Of all conceptions of the human mind, the idea of
God is the most sublime. It is not only sublime, but
awful. Every thing else appears diminutive while
the mind is occupied with this thought. Though the
idea of an eternal and infinite being is too great for
the grasp of the human intellect, yet it is suited to the
human mind. It fills it, and produces a feeling of re-
verence, which is felt to be a right emotion. If there
is no such being, this is the grandest illusion which
ever possessed the imagination of man. If it be an
error, then error is preferable to truth ; for on this sup-
position, truth in its whole compass has nothing in
grandeur to compare with illusion. Remove this
idea, and the mind is confounded with an infinite blank.
Deprived of this, the intellect has no object to fill it :
it is confounded and distressed with the retrospect of
the past, and prospect of the future. But it cannot
be, that this noblest of all conceptions of the human
mind should be false : the capacity of the soul of man
to form such a conception is a proof of the existence
of a great and good and intelligent First Cause.
God has not left himself without a witness of his be-
ing and his perfections. It may well be doubted wheth-
er the evidence of a divine existence, the Author of all
things, could be clearer and stronger than it is. A dis-
play of exquisite skill in every organized body around
us is far better evidence than any extraordinary appear-
ance, however glorious, or the uttering of any voice,
however tremendous. Such miraculous phenon;iena
would indeed powerfully excite and astonish the mind,
and would be a certain proof of the existence of a su-
perior being ; but would, in reality, add nothing to the
force of the evidence which we already possess, in the
innumerable curiously and wisely organized animal
bodies by which we are surrounded. And if we were
confined to the examination of our own constitution of
mind and body, the innumerable instances of manifest
wisdom in the contrivance of the several parts, their
exact adaptation to one another, and their wonderful
correspondence with the elements of the externa] world
without us, the evidence of an intelligent cause is irre-
sistible. If any man surveys the structure of the hu-
man body, its bones and joints, its blood-vessels and
muscles, its heart and stomach, its nerves and glands,
and all these parts put into harmonious action by a
vital power, the source of which is not understood —
if he surveys the adaptation of light to the eye, oi an
to the ear and to the lungs, and of food to the
stomachs of dilferent animals, and notices the exact
correspondence between the appetites of animals,
and the power of their stomachs to digest that food
and that only which is craved by their appetites
respectively ; and considers what wonderful provision
has been made for the preservation and defence of
every species ; how much wisdom in their covering,
iMstrumcnts of motion and defence ; in the propaga-
tion of their respective species, and the nourishment
of their young — I say, if any man's mind is so ecu
structed as to see all these things, and yet remain scep
tical respecting the existence of an intelligent cause,
the conclusion must be that such a mind is destitute of
reason, or has not the capacity of discerning evi
dence and feeling its force.
Of all conceptions of the human mind, the idea of
God is the most sublime. It is not only sublime, but
awful. Every thing else appears diminutive while
the mind is occupied with this thought. Though the
idea of an eternal and infinite being is too great for
the grasp of the human intellect, yet it is suited to the
human mind. It fills it, and produces a feeling of re-
verence, which is felt to be a right emotion. If there
is no such being, this is the grandest illusion which
ever possessed the imagination of man. If it be an
error, then error is preferable to truth ; for on this sup-
position, truth in its whole compass has nothing in
grandeur to compare with illusion. Remove this
idea, and the mind is confounded with an infinite blank.
Deprived of this, the intellect has no object to fill it :
it is confounded and distressed with the retrospect of
the past, and prospect of the future. But it cannot
be, that this noblest of all conceptions of the human
mind should be false : the capacity of the soul of man
to form such a conception is a proof of the existence
of a great and good and intelligent First Cause.
God has not left himself without a witness of his be-
ing and his perfections. It may well be doubted wheth-
er the evidence of a divine existence, the Author of all
things, could be clearer and stronger than it is. A dis-
play of exquisite skill in every organized body around
us is far better evidence than any extraordinary appear-
ance, however glorious, or the uttering of any voice,
however tremendous. Such miraculous phenon;iena
would indeed powerfully excite and astonish the mind,
and would be a certain proof of the existence of a su-
perior being ; but would, in reality, add nothing to the
force of the evidence which we already possess, in the
innumerable curiously and wisely organized animal
bodies by which we are surrounded. And if we were
confined to the examination of our own constitution of
mind and body, the innumerable instances of manifest
wisdom in the contrivance of the several parts, their
exact adaptation to one another, and their wonderful
correspondence with the elements of the externa] world
without us, the evidence of an intelligent cause is irre-
sistible. If any man surveys the structure of the hu-
man body, its bones and joints, its blood-vessels and
muscles, its heart and stomach, its nerves and glands,
and all these parts put into harmonious action by a
vital power, the source of which is not understood —
if he surveys the adaptation of light to the eye, oi an
to the ear and to the lungs, and of food to the
stomachs of dilferent animals, and notices the exact
correspondence between the appetites of animals,
and the power of their stomachs to digest that food
and that only which is craved by their appetites
respectively ; and considers what wonderful provision
has been made for the preservation and defence of
every species ; how much wisdom in their covering,
iMstrumcnts of motion and defence ; in the propaga-
tion of their respective species, and the nourishment
of their young — I say, if any man's mind is so ecu
structed as to see all these things, and yet remain scep
tical respecting the existence of an intelligent cause,
the conclusion must be that such a mind is destitute of
reason, or has not the capacity of discerning evi
dence and feeling its force.
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