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DWIGHT'S

SYSTEM OF DIVINITY.

SERMON I

EXISTENCE OF GOD.

THERE IS ONE GOD.MARK XII. 32.

THE existence of God is the basis of religion. This truth will be evident, if we remember, that the word Religion always denotes either a system of truths, of which God is the great

subject; or a system of affections and conduct, of which He is the supreme object. If we can prove to ourselves the existence of a God; that is, of a Being, by whom we were created, and by whom the universe is governed; some such system of truths, affections, and conduct, must be also capable of being proved. To such a Being we and the universe must sustain important relations; and out of these relations must necessarily arise to intelligent beings a variety of duties, immediately, and alway, owed to him. Were there no such Being, there could be no such relations, nor duties. Were the existence of such a Being incapable of proof, the existence of the relations and duties would be equally incapable of being proved. Happily for us, and accordantly with his own wisdom, God has not, in this most interesting case, left himself without ample witness.

In the text the existence of God is declared in the plainest and most direct terms. I shall therefore proceed immediately to the examination of this subject.

The foundation of all reasoning concerning beings and events, and ultimately concerning attributes and relations also, is a supposed, or acknowledged, connection between cause and

effect. By cause (it will be observed, that I am speaking of what is called the efficient cause,) I intend, that something, be it what it may, which produces, or is supposed to produce, existence, or any change of existence; and without which the existence, or the change, would not have been. Between this something, styled cause, and the something, styled effect, all mankind, except a few sceptical or atheistical philosophers, have agreed, that there is an inseparable connection. As this connection has been denied by these philosophers, and as it is the foundation of all our reasonings on this and every other subject, a consideration of it, and of the evidence which attends it, will undoubtedly be a proper part of the present Discourse.

In the first place, it will be admitted by these philosophers, as well as all other men, that we have no knowledge of any existence, or any change, which has taken place without a

cause.

All beings, and all events, so far as our acquaintance with them has hitherto extended, have been produced by some agency, or influence, extraneous to themselves; and have never sprung up into existence casually, or without such agency or influence. There is, therefore, not the least reason furnished by experience, or by any thing which we know, why we should believe existence to be casual; or why we should doubt an inseparable connection between cause and effect. On the contrary, all the experience, all the knowledge, of man, lends its whole influence to the doctrine, that existence has been invariably caused. The supposition, therefore, that existence is uncaused, or that the connection between cause and effect is not inseparable and invariable, is perfectly gratuitous, and without a shadow of support. How absurd and ridiculous it is, for a man, professing to be a reasoner and a philosopher, to found his opinions, or his arguments, in any case, and especially in the most important case possible, on a mere supposition, I need not explain.

Secondly: All mankind have acknowledged in the clearest manner, and in every way of which the subject was susceptible, the inseparable nature of this connection.

The language of every nation is formed only on this plan.

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