punishment was unmerited and unjust; and that the evil for which we suffered, existed not in ourselves, but in our iniquitous sovereign.

If it can be supposed that such a Being could confer rewards on any of his creatures, it is evident that he must confer them on such as resembled him in their disposition, and approved of his moral character; and for this very resemblance and approbation. But it is perfectly easy to perceive, that the happiness which would constitute their reward, must be embittered by a complete conviction, that the conduct for which they are rewarded was in itself wrong, vile and despicable; that they themselves were vile and despicable in loving and practising it; that their happiness is wholly unmerited; and that those who are punished by the same Being, are far more excellent than themselves, and in truth are the only excellent beings. Of course their happiness must be deeply embittered by a miserable sense of unworthiness, by a perpetual self-condemnation. Such must be the manner in which this supposition exhibits the conduct of the Creator towards his enemies, on the one hand, and towards his friends, on the other.

All these considerations are enhanced, by the great fact, that God has so constituted the world as to make misery · the only legitimate and natural consequence of malevolence, and happiness the only natural consequence of benevolence. In this manner has he irresistibly impressed these truths on the minds of men; exhibited them as practical certainties, visible in all their practical concerns, and thus fixed them beyond removal in the minds of his rational creatures. When' we remember that these things were contrived and chosen by an Omniscient Being, who of course discerned their real nature and import before he chose them, we cannot but discern that they grow necessarily out of the character of a benevolent Creator, but are utterly inconsistent with the opposite character. 5. The goodness of God displayed in the present world, is a strong argument that he is a benevolent Being.

St. Paul observes, that God left not himself without witness' to the heathens, in that he did good, and gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.'* In this passage God himself de

* Acts xiv. 17,

clares that his goodness to mankind, in the several particulars here recited, is a witness to them of his true character. What the Scriptures here declare, the reason of man has in every age approved. All nations have supposed God to be a good Being; and whenever they have employed themselves in accounting for the origin of evil, by attributing it to the agency of superior beings, they have, in no case within my recollection, attributed it to the Original, or Supreme, God. Him they have uniformly believed to be a good or benevolent Being.

When we examine the works of Creation and Providence, we are liable, in pursuing this argument, to a considerable degree of perplexity, arising from the vast multitude and perpetual complication of the things to be examined. To prevent this perplexity into which men fall very easily, I know of no better method than to lay hold of certain prominent and distinguishing features of these works, from which we may derive correct general apprehensions of their nature, without confounding ourselves by dwelling on particulars. This, after premising, that in every part of such an examination we must carefully separate what is done by men, from what is done by God, I shall attempt to accomplish under the following heads. (1) God makes mankind the subjects of extensive enjoyment in the present world.

Our health, food, and raiment, are means of enjoyment to us daily, throughout our lives. Our friends and connections also, continually and extensively, contribute to our happiness. The pleasantness of seasons, the beauty and grandeur of the earth and the heavens, the various kinds of agreeable sounds ever fluctuating on our ears, the immensely various and delightful uses of language, the interchanges of thought and affection, the peace and safety afforded by the institution of government, the power and agreeableness of motion and activity, the benefit and comfort afforded by the arts and sciences, particularly by those of writing, printing, and numbering, and the continual gratification found in employment, are all, in a sense, daily and hourly sources of good to man; all furnished, either directly or indirectly, by the hand of God. If we consider these things with any attention, we shall perceive that some of them are unceasing, and that others of them are so frequently repeated as almost to deserve the same appellation. We shall also perceive that they are blessings of high

importance to our wellbeing; and that, notwithstanding this character, they are apt to be forgotten in the list which we form of our blessings, and to be numbered among those which we call things of course. It ought to be remembered, that in this manner we are prone to diminish both the number and the greatness of our blessings, and the goodness of God in bestowing them; and that we are thus apt to regard them with a very erroneous estimation. But if we consider the number and the importance of these and the like blessings, the frequent recurrence of some of them, and the uninterrupted continuance of others; we cannot fail, if influenced by a just and candid spirit, to unite with the Psalmist in his earnest wish, 'that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.'

(2) God has furnished mankind with many alleviations and many remedies for the evils, which they suffer in the present world.

Of this nature are the innumerable medicines which he has provided for the relief, or the cure of our diseases; fire, for our deliverance from the evils of cold; shade, from those of heat; rest, from those of labour; sleep, from those of watching; together with innumerable others, which cannot here be mentioned. I feel myself obliged however to take notice of the attention which God has given to the preservation of life, of health and of safety, in the warnings which our senses give us of the approach or the existence of injuries, in an innumerable variety of ways; and in the various instinctive efforts by which we are, in a sense involuntarily, either guarded or relieved. Thus, on the one hand, pain warns us of almost all injuries to which our bodies are exposed, or by which they have begun to be affected. On the other, the eye, by its power of contracting the pupil, instinctively exercised, defends itself from the blindness which would otherwise necessarily ensue from the admission of too great a quantity of light. The hands also, and other members, are instinctively employed to defend us from evils in many cases where contrivance would come too late for our safety. To mention one more example; fear, the most active and sudden of all our passions, is a continual preservative against innumerable evils by which we are threatened. Nor ought I here by any means to omit the self-restoring power of our bodies, so remarkable in reco

vering us from sickness, in the healing of wounds, and in the renewal of our decayed faculties. These and innumerable other things, of a nature generally similar, are certainly strong proofs of the goodness of God to mankind.

(3) The original and main design of each particular thing appears plainly to be benevolent.

This is an argument of Dr. Paley on the subject of the present Discourse; and it is certainly a sound one. The eye is made to furnish us with the benefit of seeing; the ear, of hearing; and the palate, of tasting. The organs of speech are manifestly intended for the purpose of articulation; the hands and the feet for their well known important uses. The evils to which these several things are subject, are in the mean time incidental, and not parts of the main design. No anatomist, he observes, ever discovered a system of organization calculated to produce pain and disease. But the character, the disposition of the Contriver is, undoubtedly, chiefly seen in the main design of the contrivance; and this is justly observed to be universally benevolent. In the state and circumstances of Infants, where this contrivance is complicated with few appendages, we see usually the most pure, unmingled enjoyment; although even here it is not a little alloyed by many mixtures, derived from the agency of man.

(4) All the blessings experienced by mankind are bestowed on sinful beings.

The subject of moral evil will be farther examined under the head of objections against this doctrine. At the present time I am only concerned with the fact, that it exists in the human race. On these guilty beings then, the blessings of this world are bestowed. It will not be denied, that the communication of good to an evil ungrateful creature is a far higher manifestation of goodness, than the communication of the same good to a virtuous and grateful one. As therefore all the blessings found in the present world are in every instance given to creatures of this evil character; the goodness of God in giving them is enhanced beyond our comprehension. An impartial and contemplative mind, when observing the conduct and marking the character of the human race, cannot but be struck at the sight of such extensive beneficence, communicated unceasingly for so many ages, to beings of such a character. The patience and forbearance of God, particu

larly, towards such a world as this, are an illustrious proof of his benevolence. Mankind rebel against his government; accuse him of weakness, injustice, and cruelty; murmur against his dispensations, profane and blaspheme his name, refuse to him the only regard which they can render him, namely, reverence, love, and obedience; and pay this regard to men and beasts, reptiles and stocks. In the mean time

they deceive, defraud, pollute, hate, oppress, and murder each other; and make it a great part of their whole employment to carry violence, death and devastation, through the world. All these have also been their employment and their character, ever since the apostasy; a character, perfectly understood and comprehended by God. Still he has patiently waited on them six thousand years, has forborne to execute the vengeance which this evil conduct has universally merited; has returned day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, to this polluted world; and has given its inhabitants, unceasingly, rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.' Can our minds conceive of a character, at once wise, and just, and at the same time fraught with higher benevolence!

II. I shall now attempt to answer the Objections usuaily made to this doctrine.

These are all reducible to two—(1) The existence of Moral evil; and (2) The existence of Natural evil.

1. On the existence of MORAL EVIL I observe,

(1) That God cannot be proved to be the efficient cause of sin. It is, I think, dictated by Reason, as well as Revelation, that 'no man may say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.'

It will not be disputed that we ought not to admit the doctrine, that God is the efficient cause of sin, until it is proved. Until this is done therefore, man is unquestionably to be acknowledged as the cause of his own sin.

(2) It cannot be proved that God was obliged, either by justice or benevolence, to prevent sin from existing.