The contemplation of the material universe exhibits God to us as the author of the laws of material nature; bringing before us a wonderful spectacle, in the simplicity, the comprehensiveness, the mutual adaptation of these laws, and in the vast variety of harmonious and beneficial effects produced by their mutual bearing and combined operation. But it is the consideration of the moral world, of the results of our powers of thought and action, which leads us to regard the Deity in that light in which our relation to him becomes a matter of the highest interest and importance. We perceive that man is capable of referring his actions to principles of right and wrong; that both his faculties and his virtues may be unfolded and advanced by the discipline which arises from the circumstances of human society; that good men can be discriminated from the bad, only by a course of trial, by struggles with difficulty and temptation; that the best men feel deeply the need of relying, in such conflicts, on the thought of a superintending Spiritual power; that our views of justice, our capacity for intellectual and moral advancement, and a crowd of hopes and anticipations which rise in our bosoms unsought, and cling there with inexhaustible tenacity, will not allow us to acquiesce in the belief that this life is the end of our existence. We are thus led to see that our relation the Superintender of our moral being, to the Depositary of the supreme law of just and right, is a relation of incalculable consequence. We find that we cannot be permitted to be merely contemplators and speculators with regard to the Governor of the moral world; we must obey His will; we must turn our affections to Him; we must advance in His favour; or we offend against the nature of our position in the scheme of which He is the author and sustainer. It is far from our purpose to represent natural religion, as of itself sufficient for our support and guidance; or to underrate the manner in which our views of the Lord of the universe have been, much more, perhaps, than we are sometimes aware, illustrated and confirmed by lights derived from revelation. We do not here speak of the manner in which men have come to believe in God, as the Governor of the moral world; but of the fact, that by the aid of one or both of these two guides, Reason or Revelation, reflecting persons in every age have been led to such a belief. And we conceive it may be useful to point out some connexion between such a belief of a just and holy Governor, and the conviction, which we have already endeavoured to impress upon the reader, of a wise and benevolent Creator of the physical world. This we shall endeavour to do in the present book.