of God's moral government of the world; in which immensely great plan so much sin is permitted, and so much misery endured: i. e. it must be the best contrived scheme possible, to advance the glory of God, and the best good of the moral system.

I am sensible there are many objections which will be apt to arise in the reader's mind, and which are ca, pable of being put into a very plausible dress, and which, at first sight, may seem to appear quite unanswerable. Nor am I unwilling they should be set in their strongest light. 'Tis best to look on all sides, and that with the utmost care and impartiality. And every honest reader, who sincerely desires to know the truth....to understand the reasons of the divine conduct, and to see the wisdom, glory, and beauty of his universal plan, will be naturally disposed to look up to heaven, and say, "O, thou father of lights, thou fountain of all knowledge, sensible that we lack wis dom, and encouraged by thy gracious invitation, we come to thee, who givest liberally to all that ask, nor upbraidest, nor deniest the most unworthy, who ask in the name of Christ: Open thou our eyes, that we may see the wisdom of thy government, and behold the beauty of thy conduct, that we may not only justify thy ways to men, but still, more than ever, love and fear that fearful and glorious name of thine, the LORD our GOD!" For there is not one point, in natural or revealed religion, attended with so great difficulties as THIS: therefore, we greatly need to have our hearts purified, and our minds enlightened by divine grace, that, with a good taste, and an unbiassed judgment, we may search into the hidden mysteries of God's great and eternal kindom.

The objections are as follow:

1. "How could it be for the honor of the supreme Lord and Governor of the Universe, to suffer Satan, his enemy, by his lies, to deceive, seduce, and persuade innocent man to rebel against his sacred Ma

jesty, and subject himself and all his race to death and

ruin ?"

2. "How could it be to the best good of the moral system, that this lower world, instead of being inhabited by a race of incarnate angels, ever celebrating the praises of their great Creator, perfectly happy in his iinage and favor, should sink down into so near a resemblance to hell, in wickedness and woe? O how infinitely better would it have been, if, instead of sin and misery here, and eternal pains of hell hereafter, to be suffered by such innumerable multitudes, ail had been forever holy and happy!"

3. "How can it be made to appear, that sin and misery were at all needful, much less absolutely necessary, in a system originally holy and happy, to answer any valuable ends? Would it not be to limit the holy ONE of Israel to say, That he could find out no other way so good as this to exalt God, and render the system holy and happy?"

Besides,

4." If God wills sin, then it seems sin is agreeable to his will: And if, from all eternity, he decreed the misery of his creatures, then it seems their misery suits him. Both which, as is granted on all hands, are directly contrary to reason and to scripture."

Before we attempt a direct answer to these objections, let three or four things be premised.

1. Be it so, that God's permitting sin and misery to enter into the world, appears to us ever so dark; yet this is no argument at all against the wisdom, glory, and beauty of the divine conduct in this affair.For there have been instances of the divine conduct, in all appearance dark to perfection, which, in the result, have proved perfect in wisdom and beauty.When Jacob saw his son's coat all stained with blood, he had nothing but darkness and death before his eyes. "An evil beast," said he, "hath devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." Wherefore,

he "rent his cloaths, and put on sackcloth,and mourned for his son, and refused to be comforted." Nor had he the least gleam of light, for above twenty years, in this dark affair. Yea, it grew darker, when Simeon was left bound in Egypt, never to be released, unless Benjamin went also. Joseph is not," says he, "and Simeon is not! And ye will take Benjamin away! All these things are against me." So he spake, and so he thought; for so things appeared; but yet, afterwards, he viewed the whole plan in a very different light, as being contrived and brought about by infinite wisdom and goodness. And doubtless he was ready to say, "Never let me, a poor short-sighted creature, venture again to call in question the wisdom of the supreme Governor of the world, all whose ways are perfect. Remember it, O my soul, from this time forward. And, for the future, let me learn to do my duty, and cheerfully leave God to order all things as he pleases-firmly believing all his conduct to be wise, whether I can see through it or no."

And how dark to Moses, fled into the land of Midian to save his life, must the divine conduct appear, in suffering his brethren, the children of Israel, to be so cruelly used by Pharaoh? Nor had he the least gleam of light, in this dark affair, for forty years. Yet it afterwards appeared to be full of the wonderful wisdom of God, as we have before observed. And, no doubt, Moses saw it to his abundant satisfaction.

But as for the inhabitants of Egypt, when they heard that Pharaoh, their grand monarch, and all his hosts were drowned in the Red-Sea-and as for the Israelites, whose carcases were doomed to fall in the wilderness these dispensations were to them so dark, and they in such a temper, that it was near or quite impossible they should see the wisdom of God in them: Nor was it strange they could not see. —But this leads me to add,

2. That

2. That it is not at all strange that God's conduct, in the permission of sin,should appear exceeding dark to us, how wise, glorious, and beautiful soever it is in itself, and in the eyes of God. (1.) Because our views of God's grand plan are so very imperfect.― When God has finished his scheme, all holy beings. will easily see the beauty of it; for then it will appear what he had in view, and how wisely every thing was ordered to answer the noblest and best ends. It was easy, when Jacob beheld Joseph governor over all the land of Egypt, for him to see through an affair, which before, for a long course of years, had been absolutely inexplicable. Besides (2.) It is not strange that God's present plan of government appears so dark to us, however divine and glorious it is in itself, considering how ill a taste we have. It is not to be expected that fallen creatures, greatly alienated from the Deity, and of a temper quite contrary to his, should be suited with his plan of government. If wicked men are enemies to God, and enemies to his law, as the scriptures teach, they are not in a capacity to discern a plan all over divine. It was not strange that the Egyptians could not see the wisdom of God in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts : Nor was it strange that the wicked Israelites were so far from seeing the wisdom of God, in dooming their carcases to fall in the wilderness, that they were rather disposed to blaspheme his name. Yea, they began their blasphemy before they received their doom: And when they might have gone right on to Canaan, had it not been their own fault, they began to say, that God had brought them out of Egypt on purpose to destroy them just as some desperate sinners, who are deaf to all the calls of the gospel, and refuse to march for the heavenly Canaan, sometimes, in fits of horror, are ready to think that God made them on purpose to damn them. It is easy for us to see the unreason† Numbers XIV.

:

*Romans VIII. 7.

case.

ableness and perverseness of the children of Israel ; and impenitent, obstinate sinners are evidently quite as much to blame : but you cannot make them see it; nor could Moses make the Israelites see it in their Nor is it to be expected that creatures, so far sunk into depravity and guilt, will be disposed to justify God and his ways, although all his dispensations are ever so wise and just. But then their dislike to the divine government, be it ever so great, is no sign but that it is perfectly wise, holy, just, and good. Moses thought not the less honorably of God's conduct in the overthrow of Pharaoh, because it looked so dark to the Egyptians: Nor do the inhabitants of heaven think the less honorably of God's conduct in the permission and punishment of sin, in general, because it looks so dark to obstinate sinners, God has given us an instance :

About 168 years before the Babylonish captivity, after the Israelites had been in the promised land 693 years, and, by their perverseness, had wore out God's patience, so that God was provoked to give them up to their hearts' lusts, Isaiah was sent with this awful message to them" Go and tell the people, hear ye, indeed; but understand not: see ye, indeed; but perceive not: make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes," &c. "Then," said I," Lord, how long?" And he answered, "until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate."* Than which nothing could look more dark to the guilty Jews, thus doomed to destruction. Yet, to the inhabitants of heaven, God's conduct, in all this, appeared to be unutterably glorious: so that, upon the occasion, they even "cried," as under the deepest impressions, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."* So again, in the 19th chapter of the Revelation, we have the heavenly hosts

* Isaiah VI.