The plants which cover the face of the earth afford the means of converting the most inactive substances into proper food for animals. The decay of these animals affords new and better nourishment for plants; and thus a perpetual round of action is preserved in Nature.

The powerful energy which we call heat opposes the general power of attraction. It enters into all substances, and preserves their parts at a considerable distance from each other. Thus water and quicksilver exist in a state of ice, of liquor, or of vapour, according to the degrees of heat that they contain. Heat also modifies the attractions peculiar to certain bodies. Thus a pile of wood may remain undisturbed in the air till it rot; but if any part of it be brought to a red heat, the air immediately begins to unite with it, and never ceases to do so till the whole is converted into vapour and ashes. The ashes fertilize the soil, and the vapour, is absorbed by the leaves of plants, or, uniting with water; is taken up by their roots, and again becomes a part of their substance.

Notwithstanding the obscurity, therefore, under which this subject still remains, yet as enough seems known to prove that matter is neither a solid nor an inactive subtance, but on the contrary that its minutest particles, as well as its greatest masses, are powerful and energetic, I am, upon the whole, inclined to believe that

there is, in truth, only one substance in the universe; that this substance is mind; and that thus God is indeed All, and in All that exists.

CHAP. V.

DUTIES OF RELIGION, OR OF WHICH THE DEITY IS THE OBJECT.

THERE is no subject upon which men have fallen into a greater variety of errors, or more gross absurdities, than in their ideas of the services and duties they ought to perform to superior beings. They have fasted, they have feasted, they have lamented, they have rejoiced. They have of fered sacrifices of men and of all animals for their gods to feed upon. They have built fine houses for them to dwell in; they have burned incense to please the smell of their divinities, and made concerts of music to gratify their ears; they have composed songs in their praise; they have torn their own flesh with hooks and nails; they have washed their bodies almost without ceasing, and they have gone abominably dirty;

they have danced; they have remained immoveable on a spot for years; they have gone. long journeys; they have acted plays; they have whipped themselves; they have given money to priests; they have walked with pebbles in their shoes; and, in short, there is scarcely a freak or fancy that the human imagination can devise which has not been employed by some body or other to please his God.

All these errors have arisen from improper ideas of the Divine Nature. Mankind are always willing to fancy that their Maker differs only from themselves in the degree of his power to do good or ill. They are always, therefore, attempting to establish a commerce with him, to consist of flattery, gifts, services, and submission on their own side; and on the side of the Deity, of protection, good health, long life, fine weather, good luck, and happiness in another world. Even after they have become sensible of the absurdity of this pretended traffic, and are satisfied that their appointed employment is to act with propriety in their situation in life, still they are willing to suppose that the favour of the Ruler of the universe, like that of the rulers of this world, may at times be more successfully attained by a spirit of humble dependence, of flattery, and of solicitation, than by seriously and steadily performing the business allotted to them. Hence has arisen the high value

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which weak minds are continually setting upon devotion. They see that attendance and flattery at the court of a prince are often a surer road to preferment than the longest and most laborious services performed to the state; and they imagine that the same mode of seeking preferment will be successful at the court of Heaven. This notion gave rise to the practice of men and women retiring from the world and its business, to devote themselves, as they said, to God; and it still gives rise to the idea that we have duties to perform towards God different from those actions which we ought to perform for the benefit of other men or of ourselves.

To enable us to distinguish accurately between the rational duties of religion and those practices which have arisen out of the passion or sentiment of devotion, two principles ought to be remembered; first, that no services which we can perform are of any use or value to the Deity; and that we can neither increase nor diminish his felicity, his power, nor the excellence of his nature; and, secondly, that the employment which he has contrived and appointed for us in this world, is to acquire and to diffuse intelligence. Keeping these principles in view, it will be easy to discover the duties of which he is the direct object.

The following practices are usually inculcated as religious duties: To reverence, to wor

ship, and to love God. All of these, considered abstractly, appear to be less or more of an ambiguous nature. They are more valuable from their tendency to produce a mild and manageable temperament than from contributing to enlighten the human understanding.

1st, It is unnecessary to command us to respect or to reverence the Deity; we ought to be commanded or advised to endeavour to understand his character. If we do this, respect will necessatily follow. Foolish and weak men continually complain that they are not sufficiently respected.. A man of sense, on the contrary, when lightly treated, complains not of disrespect, but regrets that he is not sufficiently known. He is satisfied that he is treated as one of the vulgar, only because men are strangers to his quality; for the time has not been, and never will arrive, when an enlightened and a steadfast mind can be known without exciting a sentiment of reverence. It is impossible to contemplate and to understand aright the exertions of supreme excellence without the highest respect and awe. To fear or respect the Deity, then, without knowing any thing of his nature, is mere weakness. If we know his nature, we cannot avoid respecting him. To require this respect as a duty, is therefore idle and unnecessary, seeing it is the natural and involuntary consequence of the acquisition of know