Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1816-10-08
NONITORLAL.
From the Federal Republican.
"A God-head reigns !-Youn,

that any Intelligent aud rejecting being should
ca a moment doubt the existence of God
rb. deia, who in his disbelief OF religion graf
ines every urhallowed passion and in his impa-
fence Of restraint bursts asunder the necessa-
~ restrictions Of morality, may, indeed, in
,he hour OF fesiiyity, assert that he has no su-
nerior and the universe no creator; yet be as
@r,s what he cannot even doubt thinking, in
he excess Of vanity, that blasphemy adds
dignity to bis character. sub was the case
with voItaire. His frequent denial of the ex-
istence of Deity could not have been sin
csrr, because sincerity in this is only the con-
coni,ant of ignorance. He lived in coun-
try almost universally corrupt, vast num-
her Of the inhab ilants constituting sect of
which be was the leader, and like him paid
their alterations TO no other deity than human
reason. He who denied most the existence
Of things, which came within the cognizance
ofhis senses, was styled the man most per-
hctnh bis reason. To preserve therefore this
character Of perfection it is no wonder, that
Voltaire, in contradiction to thestrongest evil
deHes OF his senses, denied the existence Of
an every age, and in every country Of the
brld, mankind have paid their alterations to
kme being. whom they regarded as their
htor and protector, The inhabitants of
he wilderness and the desert, ignorant as
hey are and with views confined within the
nrrowest limits, cannot behold themselves
and The universe without acknowledging they
were created by some superior being. This
dcumstance, while il furnishes strong argu-
nent in favor OF the being Of God, sufficient
Felutes the assertion, thai an intelligent be-
ing can even doubt it. II is absurd to sup
pose that theme which animates the savage
hhis hut, and the hottento in his hamlet, can
b discarded from tie breast of the philoso-
pier as the idle tale Of ignorance or the phan-
ON Of tradition.
AT every step we tread, we behold new
taces Of the deity.--We view him in the ST.
ence Of the night and in the turbulence of
ne day, we hear him in The zephyr and in
he tempest. When the atheist has cast his
ges TO the heavens and viewed the stupen-
aous concave of Suns and worlds wheeling
mistaken through the void immense" let him
nhe madness OF reason assert that they Gre
aied tlemselves-But let intelligent beings
eloy the comfortable belief, that the Uni
verse is the production OF an omnipoteni Gre
,lor Did believe that an intelligent being
would demand mathematical demonstration of
this belief SO self evident, so incontrovertible,
would not hesitate moment to offer it. |
Believe that ignorance and prejudice alone
will demand it, and with ignorance and pref
MIee have nothing TO do. Let it suffice
That be who cannot doubt the evidence of his
senses, cannot doubt the existence of God.
And ifa God there be, that God how great -
Our eyes are filled with admiration at the
contemplation Of an extensive river or lofty
nountan,but when we compare the river with
The ocean or the mountain with the earth, they
become lost in the contrast, and as trivial as
dIop the bucket or grain of sand. II we
compare the whole earth attended with its
Mountains, and rivers, and ocean, with the
sun how wide is the diderence--but if we
place the whole universe in the scale, we are
struck with the most awful wonder at the con-
vast and confounded in the contemplation of
ismagntude. Were the Sun" (says Mr..
Addison very beautifully (which enlightens
0s part OF creation utterly eytingushed and
annihllated, they would not be missed more
man grain Of sand on the sea shore. The
enasm would be imperceptible to an eye that
'ou'u lake 10 the whole compass of nature, and
pass IRON one end OF the creation TO the other.
0ndoubiedlythe universe has bounds prescrib-
sulo II, but when we consider that it is the
"0'k Of infinite power prompted by infinite
s000ness, with an infinite space to exert itself
m' now can our imagination set bounds to it
"'i*h 'he unvers, is so stupendous, so infinite,