Page:Speculative atheism.pdf/3



foundation of all religion, natural or revealed, is laid on the existence of a God, who made the world, who establish all the relations that actually subsist in it, and who exercises an universal providence over it. Were there no such a being there could be no such thing as religious obligation. Human beings might enter, for various purposes, and with various views, into contracts and obligations to each other, which either their necessities, or their interests, might induce them, or public authority, for the good of society, might oblige them to discharge; but they could never understand the religious obligation of them as moral duties perpetually binding. And it is plain that the obligations of piety could not subsist, where there is no God to be adored—no Creator to be loved—no Providence to be trusted—no authority to be obeyed.

As the foundation of all religious obligation lies in the existence of a Supreme Being ; so the power of it on the minds of men depends on the belief an acknowledgment of him. That there is such