covering the truth. They say that religious truth is simple and
easily acquired; that Scripture, being intended for all, is at once
open to all, and that if it had difficulties, that very circumstance
would be an objection to it. And others, again, maintain that there
are difficulties in religion, and that this shows that it is an
indifferent matter whether they seek or not as to those matters which
are difficult.

In these and other ways do men deceive themselves into a carelessness
about religious truth. And is not all this varied negligence
sufficient to account for the varieties of religious opinion which we
see all around us? Do not these two facts just illustrate each other;
the discordance of our religious opinions needing some explanation; and
our actual indolence and negligence in seeking the truth accounting for
it? How many sects, all professing Christianity, but opposed to each
other, dishonour this country! Doubtless if men sought the truth with
one tenth part of the zeal with which they seek to acquire wealth or
secular knowledge, their differences would diminish year by year.
Doubtless if they gave a half or a quarter of the time to prayer for
Divine guidance which they give to amusement or recreation, or which
they give to dispute and contention, they would ever be approximating
to each other. We differ in opinion; therefore we cannot all be right;
many must be wrong; many must be turned from the truth; and why is
this, but on account of that undeniable fact which we see before us,
that we do not pray and seek for the Truth?

But this melancholy diversity is sometimes explained, as I just now
hinted, in another way. Some men will tell us that this difference of
opinion in religious matters which exists, is a proof, not that the
Truth is withheld from us on account of our negligence in seeking it,
but that religious truth is not worth seeking at all, or that it is not
given us. The present confused and perplexed state of things, which is
really a proof of God's anger at our negligence, these men say is a
proof that religious truth cannot be obtained; that there is no such
thing as religious truth; that there is no right or wrong in religion;
that, provided we _think_ ourselves right, one set of opinions is as
good as another; that we shall all come right in the end if we do but
mean well, or rather if we do not mean ill. That is, we create
confusion by our negligence and disobedience, and then