Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/34

 order that  he  should  do  what  he  likes,  but  in order  that  he  should  do  what  he  ought,  and  do it  quite  willingly  of  his  own  free  will.

All creation  fulfils  the  purpose  of  its  existence; the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars  revolve in  their  appointed  orbits,  not  voluntarily, hut  in  unswerving  obedience  to  the laws of  nature,  with  such  mathematical  regularity that  astronomers  can  calculate  their movements with  perfect  precision. The animal world  likewise,  compelled  by  the  law of instinct,  fails  not  to  fulfil  the  object  for which it  was  created. Man, on  the  other hand, is  so  constituted  that  he  ought  to  serve, honor, and  worship  God  deliberately  and of his  own  free  will.

3. This  consciousness,  this  conviction  that he is  bound  to  honor  and  worship  God,  is deeply  and  ineradicably  implanted  in  the heart of  every  human  being. Hence we  find that in  ancient  times  no  nation  was  without its own  religion. It is  impossible  that  the universal conviction  of  mankind  can  be  a deception  or  a  lie;  it  is,  on  the  contrary, a plain  proof  that,  to  quote  the  words  of  a Christian  writer  of  the  early  Church,  "the soul  is  of  its  very  nature  religious."

And indeed  the  most  ancient  books  of  Holy Scripture teach  us  that  not  only  did  Abraham and  his  descendants  worship  the  true God, but  that  all  nations  with  whom  they came in  contact  had,  and  adored,  their  own deities.