e used to fix or open the eye of their mind, should
not have all that conviction and evidence of the Being of God which might
be expected in reasonable creatures?

155. We should rather wonder that men can be found so stupid as to
neglect, than that neglecting they should be unconvinced of such an
evident and momentous truth. And yet it is to be feared that too many of
parts and leisure, who live in Christian countries, are, merely through a
supine and dreadful negligence, sunk into Atheism. Since it is downright
impossible that a soul pierced and enlightened with a thorough sense of
the omnipresence, holiness, and justice of that Almighty Spirit should
persist in a remorseless violation of His laws. We ought, therefore,
earnestly to meditate and dwell on those important points; that so we may
attain conviction without all scruple "that the eyes of the Lord are in
every place beholding the evil and the good; that He is with us and
keepeth us in all places whither we go, and giveth us bread to eat and
raiment to put on"; that He is present and conscious to our innermost
thoughts; and that we have a most absolute and immediate dependence on
Him. A clear view of which great truths cannot choose but fill our hearts
with an awful circumspection and holy fear, which is the strongest
incentive to Virtue, and the best guard against Vice.

156. For, after all, what deserves the first place in our studies is the
consideration of GOD and our DUTY; which to promote, as it was the main
drift and design of my labours, so shall I esteem them altogether useless
and ineffectual if, by what I have said, I cannot inspire my readers with
a pious sense of the Presence of God; and, having shown the falseness or
vanity of those barren speculations which make the chief employment of
learned men, the better dispose them to reverence and embrace the
salutary truths of the Gospel, which to know and to practice is the
highest perfection of human nature.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise Concerning the Principles
of Human Knowledge, by George Berkeley

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