ch his whole life would be embittered
just in proportion as he became more thoughtful and reflective. Unbelief
can operate as a sedative to fear only in so far as it is habitual,
uniform, undisturbed by any inward misgivings or apparent uncertainty;
but, in the case of men not utterly thoughtless or insensible, it is
rarely, if ever, found to possess this character. It is often shaken,
and always liable to be disquieted, by occasional convictions, which no
amount of vigilance can ward off, and no strength of resolution repress.
It is maintained only by a painful and sustained conflict, which is but
ill-concealed by the vehemence of its protestations, and often
significantly indicated by the very extravagance of its zeal. Add to
this, that Atheism itself affords no guarantee against future suffering.
It may deny a Providence here and a judgment hereafter, it may even deny
a future state of conscious existence, and take refuge in the hope of
annihilation that it may escape from the dread prospect of retribution;
but it cannot affirm the _impossibility_, it can only doubt the
_certainty_ of these things; and in their bare possibility there is
enough at once to impose an obligation to serious inquiry, and to
occasion the deepest anxiety, especially in seasons of affliction or
danger, which awaken reflective thought. "_Atheism_," said the acute but
skeptical Bayle, "_does not shelter us from the fear of eternal
suffering_." But, even if it did, what influence would it exert on our
present happiness? Would it not limit our enjoyments, by confining our
views within the narrow range of things seen and temporal? Would it not
deprive us of the loftiest hopes? Would it not repress our highest
aspirations, by interdicting the contemplation of the noblest Object of
thought, the Ideal Standard of truth and excellence, the Moral Glory of
the Universe? Would it not diminish the pleasure which we derive even
from earthly objects, and aggravate the bitterness of every trial? How
wretched must be the condition of those who are "proud of being the
offspring of chance, in love with universal disorder, whose happiness is
involved in the belief of there being no witness to their designs, and
who are at ease only because they suppose themselves _inhabitants of a
forsaken and fatherless world_!"[21] "No one in creation," said Jean
Paul, "is so alone as the denier of God: he mourns, with an orphaned
heart that has lost its great Father, by the cor