sition, but gradually, and with a distinct recognition of the unity of his character, and of the similarity of plan by which he governs the physical and moral universe, and proclaims his existence and his will to the creatures whom he has made. LECTURE I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SKEPTICISM OF OUR OWN DAY. THE Lectures which I had the honor of delivering from this place the last winter ended with a very brief view of the ordinary argument for the existence of God. They were intended to show, not only that this great dogma rests upon unimpeachable evidence, but that it harmonizes with the conclusions of modern physical science, and forms the only satisfactory explanation of the phenomena of nature and the mysteries of the universe. Without it, our knowledge of the facts themselves is imperfect, and the most obvious and significant questions which they suggest remain unanswered. The reasoning employed is that most familiar process of inductive logic which leads us, from the indications afforded by known and observed phenomena, to infer the existence of some other reality or fact, which lies beyond the direct observation of the senses. In science, no less than in religion, we sometimes pass from that which is seen and temporal to that which is unseen and eternal. But the establishment of this truth alone, though it is the central doctrine of natural religion, and all the others depend upon it, still leaves us at the threshold of the subject. We have still to ascertain the character or attributes under which the Deity has manifested himself to mankind, and to learn if these are such as to create an obligation on our part to conform to his will. Obedience may be yielded either from involuntary awe, or blind submission to absolute and infinite power, or from veneration for |