ON

RELIGION,

AND

OTHER IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.

I.

ON THE INDIFFERENCE OF ATHEISTS.

IT were to be wished, that the enemies of Religion would at least learn what it is, before they oppose it. Did Religion make its boast of having a clear and perfect view of GOD, and of beholding him without covering or veil, it might be justly objected, that we see nothing in this world that makes him known with that kind of evidence. But since Religion, on the. contrary, declares men to be in a state of darkness, and of estrangement from GOD; since it affirms him to have withdrawn himself from their discovery, and to have chosen, in his word, the

the appellation of a God that hideth himself; and lastly, since it is equally employed in establishing these two maxims, that GOD has left, in his Church, certain characters of himself, by which he will make himself known to those who sincerely seek him; and yet that he has, at the same time, so far shaded and obscured these characters, as to render them imperceptible to those who do not seek him with their whole heart, what advantage is it to men who profess themselves negligent in the search of Truth, to complain so frequently, that nothing reveals and displays it to them? For this very obscurity under which they labour, and which they object against the Church, does itself evince one of the two grand points which the Church maintains, without affecting the other, and is so far from overthrowing its doctrines, that it manifestly confirms and supports them.

In order to give any weight to their objections, they ought to urge, that they have exerted their utmost endeavours, and have used all the means of information which the Church recommends, without obtaining satisfaction. If they could say this, they would indeed attack Religion in one of its pretensions: but I hope to show, in the following papers, that no reasonable person can speak after this manner; and I dare assert, that none ever did. We know very well, how men act under this indifference

of temper: they suppose themselves to have made mighty efforts toward the instruction of their minds, when they have spent some hours in reading the Scriptures, and have asked some questions of a clergyman concerning the Articles of Faith. When this is done, they declare to all the world, that they have consulted books and men without success. But I cannot refrain from telling such men, (what I have often told them,) that their negligence is insufferable. It is not a foreign or a petty interest which is in dispute: ourselves, and our all are at stake.

[The immortality of the soul is a thing which so deeply, so infinitely concerns us, that we must have utterly lost all feeling, to be cold and indifferent about it. All our actions and thoughts must take so very different a course, according as eternal blessings may, or may not be expected, that it is impossible for us to proceed with judgment and discretion, except we keep this point, which ought ever to be our ultimate object, continually in view.

Thus our highest interest, and our principal duty, is to get light into a subject on which our whole conduct depends. And, therefore, in the number of wavering and unsatisfied men, I make the greatest difference imaginable between those who do their utmost to obtain instruction, and

those who live without ever thinking or troubling themselves about it.]

I cannot but feel compassion for those who sincerely grieve at being in this doubtful state of mind; who look upon it as the greatest of misfortunes, and who spare no pains to be delivered from it, by making these researches their chief and most serious employ. But as for those who pass away their life without reflecting on its final issue, and who, merely because they do not find in themselves sufficient evidence to convince them, neglect to seek it elsewhere, and to examine to the bottom, whether the opinions proposed be such as men are wont to entertain through credulous simplicity, or such as, though obscure in themselves, are yet built on solid and immoveable foundations, I consider them in a very different light. This carelessness about an affair in which themselves, their eternity, their all, is concerned, rather provokes my resentment than engages my pity. Nay, it strikes me with wonder and astonishment; it is a monster to my apprehension. I speak not this from the pious zeal of a rapturous devotion: on the contrary, I affirm, that the love of ourselves, the interest of mankind, and the most simple glimmerings of reason, do naturally inspire us with these sentiments; and that to know this, we need only see what persons of the meanest capacities understand.