ATHEISM REFUTED.

RELIGION has two principal enemies, Fanaticiſm and Infidelity, or that which is called Atheiſm. The firſt requires to be combated by reaſon and morality, the other by natural philoſophy.

The exiſtence of a God is the firſt dogma of religious worſhip. It is upon this ſubject that I ſolicit your at⯑tention: for though it has been often treated of, and that moſt ſublimely, the ſubject is inexhauſtible; and there will always remain ſomething to be ſaid that has not been before advanced. I go therefore to open the ſubject, and to crave your attention to the end.

The univerſe ſuggeſts the creed of a philoſopher. It is there that he reads of God. It is there that the [6]proofs of his exiſtence are to be ſought and to be found. The ſceptic may deny the divine authority of the in⯑ſpired writings, may aſſert that they are the works of man's hands, and that they carry no evidence in them⯑ſelves that God is the author of them. To him we hold out this univerſe as a thing that man could not make; to him we propoſe it as the evidence for his be⯑lief, as the inimitable word of God.

Contemplating the univerſe, the whole ſyſtem of creation, in this point of light, we ſhall diſcover, that all that which is called natural philoſophy is properly a divine ſtudy—It is the ſtudy of God through his works—It is the beſt ſtudy, by which we can arrive at a knowledge of his exiſtence, and the only one by which we can gain a glimpſe of his perfection.

Do we want to contemplate his power? we ſee it in the immenſity of the Creation. Do we want to con⯑template his wiſdom? We ſee it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehenſible WHOLE is govern⯑ed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We ſee it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We ſee it in his not withholding that abundance even from the un⯑thankful. [7]In fine, do we want to know what God is? Let us ſearch the creation.

It has been the error of the ſchools to teach aſtrono⯑my, and all the other ſciences, and ſubjects of natural philoſophy, as accompliſhments only; whereas they ſhould be taught theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them; for all the principles of ſcience are of Divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles. He can only diſcover them; and he ought to look through the diſcovery to the Author.

When we examine an extraordinary piece of ma⯑chinery, an aſtoniſhing pile of architecture, a well exe⯑cuted ſtatue, or an highly finiſhed painting, where life and action are imitated, and habit only prevents our miſtaking a ſurface of light and ſhade for cubical ſolidity, our ideas are naturally led to think of the extenſive genius and talents of the artiſt. When we ſtudy the ele⯑ments of geometry, we think of Euclid. When we ſpeak of gravitation, we think of Newton. How then is it, that when we ſtudy the works of God in the Crea⯑tion, we ſtop ſhort and do not think of God? It is from the error of the ſchools in having taught thoſe ſub⯑jects as accompliſhments only, and thereby ſeparated [8]the ſtudy of them from the Being who is the author of them.

The ſchools have made the ſtudy of theology to con⯑ſiſt in the ſtudy of opinions in written or printed books; whereas theology ſhould be ſtudied in the works or book of the creation. The ſtudy of theology in books of opinions has often produced fanaticiſm, rancour, and cruelty of temper; and from hence have proceeded the numerous perſecutions, the fanatical quarrels, the reli⯑gious burnings and maſſacres, that have deſolated Eu⯑rope. But the ſtudy of theology in the works of the creation produces a directly contrary effect. The mind becomes at once enlightened and ſerene; a copy of the ſcene it beholds; information and adoration go hand in hand; and all the ſocial faculties become enlarged.

The evil that has reſulted from the error of the ſchools, in teaching natural philoſophy as an accom⯑pliſhment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a ſpecies of Atheiſm. Inſtead of looking through the works of Creation to the Creator himſelf, they ſtop ſhort, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his exiſtence. They labour, with ſtudied in⯑genuity, to aſcribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter; and jump over all the reſt by ſaying, that matter is eternal.

[9]Let us examine this ſubject; it is worth examining; for if we examine it through all its caſes, the reſult will be, that the exiſtence of a ſuperior cauſe, or that which man calls God, will be diſcoverable by philoſophical principles.

In the firſt place, admitting matter to have proper⯑ties, as we ſee it has, the queſtion ſtill remains, how came matter by thoſe properties? To this they will anſwer, that matter poſſeſſed thoſe properties eternally. This is not ſolution, but aſſertion; and to deny it is equally as impoſſible of proof as to aſſert it. It is then neceſſary to go further, and therefore I ſay,—if there exiſt a circumſtance that is not a property of matter, and without which the univerſe, or to ſpeak in a limited de⯑gree, the ſolar ſyſtem, compoſed of planets and a ſun, could not exiſt a moment; all the arguments of Atheiſm, drawn from properties of matter, and applied to ac⯑count for the univerſe, will be overthrown; and the ex⯑iſtence of a ſuperior cauſe, or that which man calls God, becomes diſcoverable, as is before ſaid, by natural philoſophy.

I go now to ſhew that ſuch a circumſtance exiſts, and what it is:

[10]The univerſe is compoſed of matter, and, as a ſyſtem, is ſuſtained by motion. Motion is not a property of mat⯑ter, and without this motion the ſolar ſyſtem could not exiſt. Were motion a property of matter, that undiſ⯑covered and undiſcoverable thing called perpetual mo⯑tion would eſtabliſh itſelf. It is becauſe motion is not a property of matter, that perpetual motion is an impoſſi⯑bility in the hand of every being but that of the Creator of motion. When the pretenders to Atheiſm can pro⯑duce perpetual motion, and not till then, they may ex⯑pect to be credited.

The natural ſtate of matter, as to place, is a ſtate of reſt. Motion, or change of place, is the effect of an external cauſe acting upon matter. As to that faculty of matter that is called gravitation, it is the influence which two or more bodies have reciprocally on each other to unite and be at reſt. Every thing which has hitherto been diſcovered with reſpect to the motion of the planets in the ſyſtem, relates only to the laws by which motion acts, and not to the cauſe of motion. Gravitation, ſo far from being the cauſe of motion to the planets that compoſe the ſolar ſyſtem, would be the deſtruction of the ſolar ſyſtem, were revolutionary mo⯑tion to ceaſe; for as the action of ſpinning upholds a top, the revolutionary motion upholds the planets in [11]their orbits, and prevents them from gravitating and forming one maſs with the ſun. In one ſenſe of the word, philoſophy knows, and atheiſm ſays, that matter is in perpetual motion. But the motion here meant re⯑fers to the ſtate of matter, and that only on the ſurface of the earth. It is either decompoſition, which is con⯑tinually deſtroying the form of bodies of matter, or re⯑compoſition, which renews that matter in the ſame or another form, as the decompoſition of animal or vegetable ſubſtances enters into the compoſition of other bodies. But the motion that upholds the ſolar ſyſtem is of an entire different kind, and is not a property of matter. It ope⯑rates alſo to an entire different effect. It operates to perpetual preſervation, and to prevent any change in the ſtate of the ſyſtem.

Giving then to matter all the properties which phi⯑loſophy knows it has, or all that atheiſm aſcribes to it, and can prove, and even ſuppoſing matter to be eternal, it will not account for the ſyſtem of the univerſe or of the ſolar ſyſtem, becauſe it will not account for motion, and it is motion that preſerves it. When, therefore, we diſcover a circumſtance of ſuch immenſe importance, that without it the univerſe could not exiſt, and for which neither matter, nor any, nor all, the properties of matter can account; we are by neceſſity forced into the rational and comfortable belief of the exiſtence of a [12]cauſe ſuperior to matter, and that cauſe man calls GOD.

As to that which is called nature, it is no other than the laws by which motion and action of every kind, with reſpect to unintelligible matter, is regulated. And when we ſpeak of looking through nature up to nature's God, we ſpeak philoſophically the ſame rational lan⯑guage as when we ſpeak of looking through human laws up to the power that ordained them.

God is the power or firſt cauſe, nature is the law, and matter is the ſubject acted upon.

But infidelity by aſcribing every phenomenon to pro⯑perties of matter, conceives a ſyſtem for which it can⯑not account, and yet it pretends to demonſtration. It reaſons from what it ſees on the ſurface of the earth, but it does not carry itſelf on to the ſolar ſyſtem exiſting by motion. It ſees upon the ſurface a perpetual de⯑compoſition and recompoſition of matter. It ſees that an oak produces an acorn, an acorn an oak, a bird an egg, an egg a bird, and ſo on. In things of this kind it ſees ſomething which it calls a natural cauſe, but none of the cauſes it ſees is the cauſe of that motion which preſerves the ſolar ſyſtem.

[13]Let us contemplate this wonderful and ſtupendous ſyſtem conſiſting of matter and exiſting by motion. It is not matter in a ſtate of reſt, nor in a ſtate of decom⯑poſition or recompoſition. It is matter ſyſtematized in perpetual orbicular or circular motion. As a ſyſtem that motion is the life of it: as animation is life to an animal body; deprive the ſyſtem of motion, and, as a ſyſtem, it muſt expire. Who then breathed into the ſyſtem the life of motion? What power impelled the planets to move ſince motion is not a property of the matter of which they are compoſed? If we contemplate the immenſe velocity of this motion, our wonder be⯑comes increaſed, and our adoration enlarges itſelf in the ſame proportion. To inſtance only one of the planets, that of the earth we inhabit, its diſtance from the ſun, the center of the orbits of all the planets, is, according to obſervations of the tranſit of the planet Venus, about one hundred million of miles; conſequently the diameter of the orbit or circle in which the earth moves round the ſun is double that diſtance; and the meaſure of the circumference of the orbit, taken as three times its dia⯑meter, is ſix hundred million of miles. The earth per⯑forms this voyage in three hundred and ſixty-five days and ſome hours, and conſequently moves at the rate of more than one million ſix hundred thouſand miles every twenty-four hours.

[14]Where will infidelity, where will atheiſm, find cauſe for this aſtoniſhing velocity of motion, never ceaſing, never varying, and which is the preſervation of the earth in its orbit? It is not by reaſoning from an acorn to an oak, from an egg to a bird, or from any change in the ſtate of matter on the ſurface of the earth, that this can be accounted for. Its cauſe is not to be found in matter, nor in any thing we call nature. The atheiſt who affects to reaſon, and the fanatic who rejects reaſon, plunge themſelves alike into inextricable diffi⯑culties. The one perverts the ſublime and enlightening ſtudy of natural philoſophy into a deformity of ab⯑ſurdities by not reaſoning to the end; the other loſes himſelf in the obſcurity of metaphyſical theories, and diſhonours the Creator by treating the ſtudy of his works with contempt. The one is a half-rational of whom there is ſome hope, the other a viſionary to whom we muſt be charitable.

When at firſt we think of a Creator, our ideas appear to us undefined and confuſed; but if we rea⯑ſon philoſophically, thoſe ideas can be eaſily arranged and ſimplified. It is a Being whoſe power is equal to his will. Obſerve the nature of the will of man. It is of an infinite quality. We cannot conceive the poſſibility of limits to the will. Obſerve, on the other hand, how [15]exceedingly limited is his power of acting compared with the nature of his will. Suppoſe the power equal to the will, and man would be a God. He would will himſelf eternal, and be ſo. He could will a creation and could make it. In this progreſſive reaſoning, we ſee, in the nature of the will of man, half of that which we conceive in thinking of God, add the other half and we have the whole idea of a being who could make the univerſe, and ſuſtain it by perpetual motion, becauſe he could create that motion.

We know nothing of the capacity of the will of animals; but we know a great deal of the difference of their powers. For example, how numerous are their degrees, and how immenſe is the difference of power, from a mite to a man. Since then every thing we ſee below us is a progreſſion of power, where is the difficulty in ſuppoſing that there is at the ſummit of all things a Being in whom an infinity of power unites with the infinity of will? When this ſimple idea preſents it⯑ſelf to our mind we have the idea of a perfect being that man calls God.

It is comfortable to live under the belief of the ex⯑iſtence of an infinitely protecting power; and it is an addition to that comfort to know, that ſuch a belief is [16]not a mere conceit of the imagination, as many of the theories that are called religious are; nor a belief founded only on tradition or received opinion, but is a belief deducible by the action of reaſon upon the things that compoſe the ſyſtem of the univerſe; a belief ariſing out of viſible facts, and ſo demonſtrable is the truth of this belief, that if no ſuch belief had exiſted the perſons who now controvert it, would have been the perſons who would have produced and propagated it; becauſe, by beginning to reaſon, they would have been led on to reaſon progreſſively to the end, and thereby have diſ⯑covered that matter and all the properties it has, will not account for the ſyſtem of the univerſe, and that there muſt neceſſarily be a ſuperior cauſe.

It was the exceſs to which imaginary ſyſtems of religion had been carried, and the intolerance, perſecu⯑tions, burnings, and maſſacres, they occaſioned, that firſt induced certain perſons to propagate infidelity; thinking, that upon the whole, it was better not to believe at all, than to believe a multitude of things and complicated creeds, that occaſioned ſo much miſchief in the world. But thoſe days are paſt; perſecution has ceaſed, and the antidote then ſet up againſt it has no longer even the ſhadow of apology. We profeſs, and we proclaim in peace, the pure, unmixed, comfortable, and rational [17]belief of a God, as manifeſted to us in the univerſe. We do this without any apprehenſion of that belief being made a cauſe of perſecution as other beliefs have been, or of ſuffering perſecution ourſelves. To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief.

It has been well obſerved at the firſt inſtitution of this ſociety, that the opinions which form the baſis of its belief have been held from the commencement of the world; that they are not novelties, but are confeſſedly the baſis of all ſyſtems of religion, however numerous and contradictory they may be. All men in the outſet of the religion they profeſs are adorers of a God, and friends of man^*. It is impoſſible to form any ſyſtem of religion without building upon theſe principles, and therefore they are not ſectarian principles, unleſs we ſuppoſe a ſect compoſed of all the world.

I have ſaid in the courſe of this diſcourſe, that the ſtudy of natural philoſophy is a divine ſtudy, becauſe it is the ſtudy of the works of God in the Creation. If we conſider theology upon this ground, what an exten⯑ſive [18]field of improvement in things both divine and hu⯑man opens itſelf before us! All the principles of ſcience are of divine origin. It was not man that invented the principles on which aſtronomy, and every branch of ma⯑thematics are founded and ſtudied. It was not man that gave properties to the circle and the triangle. Thoſe principles are eternal and immutable. We ſee in them the unchangeable nature of the Divinity. We ſee in them immortality, an immortality exiſting after the ma⯑terial figures that expreſs thoſe properties are diſſolved in duſt.

The ſociety is at preſent in its inſancy, and its means are ſmall; but I wiſh to hold in view the ſubject I allude to, and inſtead of teaching the philoſophical branches of learning as ornamental accompliſhments only, as they have hitherto been taught, to teach them in a manner that ſhall combine theological knowledge with ſcientific inſtruction; to do this to the beſt advantage, ſome inſtruments will be neceſſary for the purpoſe of explanation, of which the ſociety is not yet poſſeſſed. But as the views of the ſociety extend to public good, as well as to that of the individual, and as its principles can have no enemies, means may be deviſed to procure them.

If we unite to the preſent inſtruction, a ſeries of lec⯑tures [19]on the ground I have mentioned, we ſhall, in the firſt place, render theology the moſt delightful, and en⯑tertaining of all ſtudies. In the next place, we ſhall give ſcientific inſtruction to thoſe who could not other⯑wiſe obtain it. The mechanic of every profeſſion will there be taught the mathematical principles neceſſary to render him a proficient in his art. The cultivator will there ſee developed the principles of vegetation; while, at the ſame time, they will be led to ſee the hand of God in all theſe things.