reply is, that he has not yet determined what kind of grain is best adapted to his soil. Suppose you knew a man who all his life was in doubt what profession to choose. You would surely think that these men had lost their senses. But far greater is

the folly of the man who is content to remain without settled views about religion.

Earnestness is necessary to success even in common life. It is only the earnest student who gains University honours; it is only the diligent man who becomes rich. Much more is earnestness needful in religion. The royal Hebrew moralist said that wisdom will be found, "if thou seekest for her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures." A greater than Solomon gave the warning, "Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many I say unto you shall seek to enter and shall not be able." This implies a diligent use of the means of arriving at the truth.

Humility. One of the besetting sins of the present day is intellectual pride. Such a spirit is very unfavourable to religious inquiry. "A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not." "The meek will God teach his way." Jesus Christ said, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." The Bible, however, does not forbid careful examination. The Apostle Paul writes, "I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what I say." But there must be a humble, teachable spirit.

Prayerfulness.-Last century a young man went to a celebrated preacher in London, saying that his mind was sorely perplexed with some things in the Bible which he could not understand. "Before I hear your difficulties," said the preacher, "let me ask you one thing: did you take them in humble prayer to God before you came to me?" With a natural shame, the young man confessed that he had

not. Then," replied the preacher, "I must decline to hear you. Prayer is one of the first duties of natural religion; and he who lives in neglect of that must not expect to solve the difficulties of a religion that is revealed."

Dr. Kay, formerly of Calcutta, gave the following advice to intelligent Hindus:

"You and all your countrymen who are worth listening to on such a subject, acknowledge that spiritual light and the knowledge of God must come from Himself, the one Supreme. The Musalmans say the same; and we Christians above all others affirm it. Then if you are really in earnest, if you are honest, you see what you must do. You must go and endeavour to pray thus: O all-wise, all merciful God and Father, pour the bright beams of Thy light into my soul, and guide me into Thy eternal truth.

Acting up to the Light possessed, or obeying Conscience. This is a rule of the utmost consequence. The life we lead has a great effect upon our belief. Suppose a man wishes to follow the bent of his passions, he will unconsciously try to persuade himself that there is no future state, or at least that he will be dealt with very leniently. Belief may be similarly affected by other feelings, even when persons lead moral lives. Man is naturally proud; he has an aversion to spiritual truth; he may therefore fail to see facts which stare him in the face, or he may draw conclusions which are grossly incorrect. The great Teacher says, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." "How can ye believe who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh from God only?"

In the following chapter on religious truth, an

effort is made to begin with first principles, which commend themselves to the judgment of all enlightened men. The conclusions to be drawn from them, and the course of conduct which they indicate, are afterwards considered.

XXIII.-THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

THE existence of God lies at the foundation of religion. This great truth has been very generally acknowledged. Cicero says, "There is no people so wild and savage as not to have believed in a God, even if they have been unacquainted with His nature." Our consciences tell us, that there must be a great Creator of all things.

Reason corroborates the testimony of conscience. The argument is briefly expressed thus: "Every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God." Suppose you saw, in a solitary desert, a palace, full of beautiful furniture. Although there was no one in the building, and you never heard who erected it, you would be certain that it did not spring up of itself. By the same reasoning, we infer that, much more, must this great world, so completely supplied with every thing we require, have had a Maker. All nature points to Him. An old writer says, " I asked the earth, and it said I am not He; and all that therein is, made the same acknowledgment. I asked the sea and the depths, and all that move and live therein, and they answered, We are not thy God; seek higher. I asked the winds, but the air, with its inhabitants, answered, I am not thy God. I asked the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they answered, Neither are we the God whom thou seekest. And I said to all things that surrounded me, ye have

told me concerning my God that ye are not He; speak then to me of Him. And they all cried with loud voices, He made us."

It is true that in all ages of the world there have been some who have denied the existence of a Creator. Buddhism, a religion which originated in India more than two thousand years ago, and which is still professed by great numbers, is essentially atheistic.

There are even some men, looked upon as learned, who think that every thing we see has arisen without a Creator. First mere atoms existed. By degrees, they formed themselves into plants of the lowest order, from which others of a higher type were gradually developed. Animals are supposed to have had a similar origin, all springing from each other, without the intervention of a personal God.

It is admitted that there has been order in creation. Inanimate matter was first called into being. Plants were formed before animals, and in both cases the most highly organised may have been the latest in each series. But all this does not disprove the existence of a Creator.

Paley shows that if we met with a watch for the first time, we should at once infer that it had a maker. The unconscious watch could not have been the cause of the skilful arrangement of its parts. If the watch were so constructed that it would produce other watches, this, instead of proving that it had no maker, would only show that he possessed the greater skill.

Paley's "Natural Theology" contains many wonderful illustrations of design in nature. Science, in its progress, affords additional proofs of the same character. In a fine building, each stone is made of a particular shape to suit its future position. Chemistry tells us, that the whole universe is composed

of atoms so excessively small that they cannot be seen. It further shows that each atom is, as it were, cast in a fixed mould, so that it will unite with others only in certain proportions. The very atoms, therefore, afford irresistible proof that they were fashioned by the great Architect of nature.

The wisest men have fully acknowledged the existence of a Creator. Aristotle, a profound Greek philosopher, was led from a consideration of the universe up to what he calls "the first immovable mover, which being itself immovable causes all things else to move.' Bacon says in his "Essays," "I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind. It is true that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to providence and Deity."

Pantheists assert that the universe, as a whole, is God. This, however, does not meet the necessities of the case. Newton says, "All these movements according to rule and purpose, cannot have their origin in merely mechanical forces. This most exquisite combination of sun, and planets, and comets, can have sprung from nothing short of the counsel and dominion of a Being at once intelligent and mighty." The same argument is forcibly put thus: "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" We cannot conceive of intelligence without personality. A conscious personal God must exist.

Some admit that it would be absurd to deny the