The contempt with which it is the frequent practice of divines to treat
the grounds of natural religion, betrays an ignorance both of the true
office of revelation and of the true wants of the human heart. It cannot
be justified, except on the supposition that there is some contradiction
between the teachings of creation and those of Christ, with some decided
preponderance of proof in favor of the latter. Even if the Gospel
furnished a series of perfectly new truths, of which nature had been
profoundly silent, it would be neither reasonable nor safe to fix
exclusive attention on these recent and historical acquisitions, and
prohibit all reference to those elder oracles of God, by which his
Spirit, enshrined in the glories of his universe, taught the fathers of
our race. And if it be the function of Christianity not to administer
truth entirely new, but to corroborate by fresh evidence, and invest
with new beauty, and publish to the millions with a voice of power, a
faith latent already in the hearts of many, and scattered through the
speculations of the wise and noble few,--to erect into realities the
dreams which had visited a half-inspired philosophy, interpreting the
life and lot of man;--then there is a relation between the religion of
nature and that of Christ,--a relation of original and
supplement,--which renders the one essential to the apprehension of the
other. Revelation, you say, has given us the clew by which to thread the
labyrinth of creation, and extricate ourselves from its passages of
mystery and gloom. Be it so; still, _there_, in the scene thus cleared
of its perplexity, must our worship be paid, and the manifestations of
Deity be sought. If the use of revelation be to explain the perplexities
of Providence and life, it would be a strange use to make of the
explanation were we to turn away from the thing explained. We hold the
key of heaven in our hands. What folly to be for ever extolling and
venerating it, whilst we prohibit all approach to the temple whose gates
it is destined to unlock.
One would search long to find a finer illustration than is here given
of the real