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"that this Divine Gift of Reason and Deliberation

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may seem to be imparted for a Snare, and not a Benefit to Mankind." He adds, "We leave "Eftates to our Children in hopes of leaving them "well, wherein we may be deceiv'd; but how "can God be deceiv'd ?"

that the

Reafon

of Wine;

III. To all which we reply, Firft, That it is Tisfhewn very unfair to compare the Reason which is grant- Comparied to Man with Wine given to the Sick. For a fick fon is ill Perfon may enjoy Life, and even recover, with- put beout Wine; but Man cannot be what he is without tween Reason. The Comparison therefore is very impro- and Freeperly made between things that are difperate. Nei- will, and ther is there a lefs difference between finning and the giving dying. 'Tis very true, that no body would let a fick Perfon take Wine which he knew would kill and that God, if him but yet any prudent Physician would allow he took his Patient to take fome Meat, without which he away Liknew that he certainly muft die, tho' he understood berty for that upon taking it the Fever would encrease a lit- fhould tle. In like manner God has given Reason to Men, fin, without which they would not be Men, tho' he would be forefaw that fome Evils would arife from it. Rea- like a Man fon therefore ought to be compared to Life, and his Son natural Evils to the Distemper. If then God were for fear he to take away Reason left Men fhould use it amifs, fhould be he would be like a Man that kills his Son for fear fick. he fhould be fick.

fear we

that kills

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all the Difpenfations of God, and not his own Glory, any farther than it is a means to it. His Glory feems to be dif play'd no otherwife than as it is fubfervient and neceffary to this End; and neceffary it is, fince Goodness is of our own making, and muft require Knowledge, Example, Trial, &c. (fee Note 67) as Motives and Means to further us in the gradual Formation of a fuitable Temper and proper Habits here,

the

no less im

Chap. V. Reafon is IV. Secondly, Human Reafon is improperly compared to a Patrimony, fince it is the very Becompar'd ing and Life of Man and who would rather put his Son to Death than fuffer him to lead a fort of an irregular Life?

properly

to an

E late.

It tends to

of the

whole,

and of

too, that

we should

ufe of

V. Thirdly, We ought to remember that we the good are not born for ourselves alone, but are fubfervient to Nature as Parts of the Universe, 'tis reafonable therefore that we should bear fuch things as ourfelves tend to the Good of the whole, tho' they be a little inconvenient to us. Now we have fhewn behave the fore that the Abuse of Reafon cannot be prevented without Violence done to the Laws of the UniFree- verfe, without Detriment to Mankind and to ourfelves: If therefore a Father could not refuse a rather be Son his Inheritance, without breaking the Laws of his Country, without injuring his Family, and are than in laftly, without the Lofs of his Son's Life, he wou'd dition of not deferve to be blam'd for giving him it, tho' Brutes, or he understood that he would make a bad use of it: without Efpecially if he forefaw that the Brothers of this Reafon. Prodigal would take warning by his Error and be

Will: for

we had

the Con

come frugal, and that the Eftate which he spent would turn to their Benefit. The fame must be

NOTES.

faid

the Enlargement and Improvement of which will conftitute. our Heaven hereafter, as Scott and Dr. Rymer have fhewn at large.

Virtue therefore or Moral Good cannot (as Bayle imagines) be infufed into us miraculously; neither could God, according to the Order of our Ideas, have acquainted us with fo much of his adorable Nature, his Mercy, Long-suffering, Goodness and Truth (as he himself defcribes it [b] nor confequently have brought us to so great a resemblance of it by any other Method. The fole Idea

[b] Exod. 34. f ;.

faid of the Physician who gives his Patient à Glafs at his Requeft; which if he did not give, the Patient would immediately ftab himself. Is he culpable if he compound for a lefs Evil, in order to avoid a greater? More efpecially if many labour under the fame Diftemper, and would not be convinc'd of the danger of ufing Wine but by Experiment, would it not be better to let one or two make the Experiment than that all should perish? God therefore knowingly permits us fick Perfons to ufe Wine; for tho' we abuse it, yet our Condition will be better than if he had not bestow'd it upon us. If any urge that it is better not to be at all, than to be miferable, and confequently that it is no more proper to deprive us of Life, than to fuffer us to abuse it. I answer as before, That we must make a Distinction in Mifery; for where there is more Evil than Good, it is indeed preferable not to be, than to be involv'd in this kind of Mifery, but that which attends human Reafon is not fuch, by our own Judgment. For we had rather be what we are than not be at all, or be without Reafon. Elfe why are we unwilling to change our Condition with the Brutes, or Mad-men, if we do not think it better than theirs?

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Idea of a Being infinitely perfect as Bayle objects [i] would not do the Bufinefs, nor if it were receiv'd and would have been attended to, could it be of fufficient force to influence the Minds of Men, and regulate their Practice, as is evident from daily Experience. The prefent Scheme of Providence was therefore neceffary, in order to produce in the generality of Men the greatest degree of Goodness in this Life, which is the ground and foundation of their Happiness in the next. Even there alfo may the Memory of their former Trials (as was hinted above)

[Crit. Dict. p. 2488,

the

neither

brought appofite Similes,

Chap. V. Cicero has VI. But to conclude, Cotta in Cicero has neither brought pertinent Similitudes, nor given good Advice to Providence. For God, as a Phyfician, does not give Wine to the Sick Person to kill him; nor given but to one that will die, in order to prevent his dygood Ading fooner. Nor has the Divine Father given an Inheritance to his Sons that they may wafte it, but has bestow'd it upon such as will waste it, left they fhould

vice to

Providence.

NOTES.

the Confciousness of their own happy Choice, when others did, and they had the fame Power and the fame Temptations to have done otherwife: the joyful Reflection on their past Dangers and prefent Safety, and the natural Confequence of all this, Love and Gratitude, and Glory to God in the Higheft, and mutual Congratulations of each other-Thefe and the like Contemplations will (as Dr. Jenkin says) create a new Heaven in Heaven itself.

And tho' in one refpect a view of the Mifery which the damned undergo, might seem to detract from the Happiness of the Bleffed, thro' Pity and Commiferation: yet under another, a nearer, and much more affecting Confideration, viz. that all this is the Mifery which they themselves were often exposed to, and were in imminent Danger of incurring; in this View, why may not the sense of their own Escape fo far overcome the Senfe of another's Ruin, as quite to extinguish the Pain that ufually attends the Idea of it, and even render it productive of fome real Happiness? To this purpose apply that of Lucretius, B. 2.

Suave mari magno turbantibus æquora ventis
E terra alterius magnum fpectare laborem;
Non quia vexari quenquam eft jucunda voluptas:
Sed quibus ipfe malis careas quia cernere fuave eft.

But however this be, moft of the foregoing Reflections feem juft and unexceptionable.

I fhall conclude with another Paffage from Dr. Jenkin [k] which fets them in the ftrongest Light.

[k] p. 242:

"It

fhould want Neceffaries. Whereas if Cotta had been Counsellor to Providence, he would have advised Phyficians to let their Patients die with Thirft, left some of them fhould drink too much; he would have perfuaded Parents either to kill their Children, or never beget them, left they fhould make a bad ufe of their Eftates when they came to Age. (84.) (B B.)

Ii3

NOTES.

VII. From

"It muft advance the Happiness both of Angels and Men in Heaven, that upon Choice and Trial they have preferr'd "God before all things, and upon that find themselves confirm'd and establish'd in the perpetual and unalterable Love and Enjoyment of him. This very Confideration, that they "might once have fallen from his Love, inspires them with "the highest Ardors of Love, when they rejoice in the infi"nite Rewards of fo eafy and short a Trial: and the Reflec❝tion upon the Dangers efcaped heightens even the Joys of "Heaven to them, and makes an addition to every Degree of "Blifs. The remembrance of their paft Sins and Tempta❝tions, and the Sense of their own Unworthiness arising from

66

66

that Remembrance, will continually excite in the Blessed "fresh Acts of Love and Adoration of God, who has raised "them above all Sin and Temptation, and fix'd them in an everlasting State of Blifs and Glory. The Trial that the Righteous underwent here, makes up fome part of their Happiness in Heaven; and in what Degree foever their Happiness can be fuppofed to be, yet it is in fome measure "increased, and as it were endeared to them, by reflecting on "their former State of Trial, in which they were fubject to "Temptation and Sin."

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See the fame handled more diftinctly in the first of Mr. D' Oylys's four Differtations, Ch. 10. A-Bp. Dawes's 5th Sermon on the Eternity of Hell-Torments, Argument the 4th. p. 73, &c. or Scott's Chriftian Life, Vol. 5. p. 100.

(84.) The fame holds good againft all Bayle's Comparisons, Cric. Dict. Art. Paulicians. Rem. E. F. KAA, &c. p. 2488. where he fays, that to permit Men to fin rather than to overrule their Wills, is like a Mother that lets her Daughters go to a Ball, where she is fure they will lofe their Honour, and then pleads in her own Juftification, " that he had no mind to

"reftrain

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