66

OUR RELATION TO THE DEITY.

[Part I.

the nearest relation, who sits supreme at the head of the uni-verse, and pervades all nature by his presence and power.

The idea of the Supreme Being has this peculiar property;that, as it admits of no substitute, so, from the first moment itis formed, it is capable of continual growth and enlargement.God himself is immutable, but our conception of his characteris continually receiving fresh accessions, is continually becomingmore extended and glorious, by having transferred to it newelements of sublimity and goodness, by attracting to itself, as acentre, whatever bears the impress of beauty, order, dignity,and happiness. It unites the splendor of every species of ex-cellence ; of all that is fair, great, and good in the universe.The idea of a Supreme Being, and of a superintending Provi-dence, invests the universe with all that is finished and consum-mate in sublimity and excellence. The admiration of perfectwisdom and goodness for which we are formed, and which kin-dles such glowing rapture in the soul, finds in this idea a sourceof full and exhaustless satisfaction. Thus contemplated, theworld presents a fair spectacle of order, beauty, and harmony, ofa vast family nourished and watched over by an AlmightyFather.

When we reflect, therefore, on the manner in which the ideaof Deity is formed, and on the sublime interest which a beliefin the Deity, the first fair, the first sublime, the first good, im-parts to the universe, we must be convinced, that such an ideaand such a belief, intimately present to the mind, must have amost powerful effect in imbuing the mind with right moraltastes, affections, and habits, —the elements of moral character,and the springs of moral action. The efficacy of these viewsin producing and augmenting virtuous tastes and habits, will,indeed, be proportioned to the vividness with which they areformed, and the frequency with which they recur ; yet somebenefit will not fail to result from them even in their lowest de-gree. And as the object of religious worship will always be,in some measure, the object of imitation, hence arises a fixedstandard of moral excellence; by the contemplation of which,the tendencies of man to wickedness are counteracted, the conta-gion of evil example is checked, and human nature rises above