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za impious, it follows, that the

wottring, from which they are deduc'd, cannot poffibly be true, a sang liable to all the fame objec

ons. An audure confequence, if neceffary, proves the original doctrine to be abfurd; in the fame manper that criminal actions render criminal the original

ame, If the connexion betwixt them be necellary

as conector confifts of two parts, which we examine separately; Firf, that if humar can be tran'd up, by a neceffary chat, the lar they can never be criminal; on accoum oʻz nite goodness and erection of the deng r them are cert. B: 410 car niter. E

with perfect benevolence and goodness; and that the utmoft poffible happiness will, in the end, refult to every created being, without any mixture of pofitive or abfolute ill and mifery. Every phyfical ill, fay they, makes an effential part of this benevolent fyftem, and could not poffibly be remov'd, even by the Deity himself, confider'd as a wife agent, without giving entrance to greater ill, or excluding greater good, which will result from it. From this theory, Come philofophers, and the antient Stoics among the eft, deriv'd a topic of confolation, under all afflicions, while they taught their pupils, that thofe ills, nder which they labour'd, were, in reality, goods the univerfe; and that to an enlarg'd view, which uld comprehend the whole fyftem of nature, every rent became an object of joy and exultation. But o' this topic be fpecious and fublime, it was foon und in practice weak and ineffectual. You would rely more irritate, than appease a man, lying under e racking pains of the gout, by preaching up to m the rectitude of thofe general laws, which pronant humours in his body, and led

e proper canals, to the nerves and fithey now excite fuch acute torments.

views may, for a moment, please the of a speculative man, who is plac'd in rity; but neither can they dwell with his mind, even tho' undisturb'd by the G 6 emotions

emotions of pain or paffion; much less can they maintain their ground, when attack'd by fach powerful antagonists. The affections take a narrower and more natural furvey of their objects; and by an oeconomy, more fuitable to the infirmity of human minds, regard alone the beings around us, and are actuated by fuch events as appear good or ill to the private fyftem. The cafe is the fame with moral as with phyfical ill. It cannot reasonably be fuppos'd, that thofe remote confiderations, which are found of fo little efficacy with regard to one, will have a more powerful influence with regard to the other. The mind of man is fo form'd by nature, that, upon the appearance of certain characters, difpofitions, and actions, it immediately feels the fentiment of approbation or blame; nor are there any feelings or emotions more essential to its frame and conftitution The characters, which engage its approbation, are chiefly fuch as contribute to the peace and fecurity of human fociety; as the characters, which excite blame, are chiefly fuch as tend to public detriment and difturbance: Whence we may reasonably prefume, that the moral fentiments arife, either mediately or immediately, from a reflection on thefe oppofite interests. What tho' philofophical meditations efta. blish a different opinion or conjecture, that every hing is right with regard to the WHOLE, and that be qualities, which difturb fociety, are, in the main,

as

as beneficial, and are as fuitable to the primary intention of nature, as those which more directly pro mote its happiness and welfare? Are fuch remote and uncertain fpeculations able to counter-balance the fentiments, which arife from the natural and immediate view of the objects? A man, who is robb'd of a confiderable fum; does he find his vexation for the loss any way diminish'd by thefe fublime reflections? Why then should his moral refentment against the crime be fuppos'd incompatible with them? Or why should not the acknowlegement of a real diftinction betwixt vice and virtue be reconcileable to all speculative fyftems of philosophy, as well as that of a real diftinction betwixt perfonal beauty and deformity? Both these diftinctions are founded in the natural fentiments of the human mind: And thefe fentiments are not to be controul'd or alter'd by any philofophical theory or fpeculation whatsoever.

with regard to such fubjects. To reconcile the indifference and contingency of human actions with prefcience; or to defend abfolute decrees, and yet free the Deity from being the author of fin, has been found hitherto to exceed all the skill of philofophy. Happy, if the be thence fenfible of her temerity when she pries into thefe fublime myfteries; and leaving a scene fo full of obfcurities and perplexities, return, with fuitable modefty, to her true and proper province, the examination of common life; where she will find difficulties enough to employ her enquiries, without launching into fo boundlefs an ocean of doubts, uncertainties and contradictions!

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ESSAY