Prelimi- Middleton confeffed (E), that for 20 years he had laboured nary Direc-in vain to fabricate a fpecious anfwer (F).

tions.

17

Having fatisfied himself of the truth of revelation in general, it may be worth the young divine's while to provide a Jewith con- defence of the Chriftian religion against the objections of froversy to modern Judaifm. In this part of his ftudies he will need no be ftudied, other instruction than what he may reap from Limborch's work entitled De Veritate Religionis Chriftiane amica collatio cum erudito Judæo. "In that diputation which was held with Orobio, he will find all that the stretch of human parts on the one hand, or science on the other, can produce to varnish error or unravel fophistry. All the papers of Orobio in defence of Judaifm, as oppofed to Chriftianity, are printed at large, with Limborch's answers, fection by fection; and the fubtileit fophifms of a very fuperior genius are ably and fatisfactorily detected and expofed by the ftrong, profound, and clear reafoning, of this renowned remon 4 Warlur- ftrant +." See OROBIO and LIMBORCH,

ton's Directions for the Study of Theology

18

rious con

themselves.

The various controverfies fubfitting between the feveral denominations of Chriftians, about points which separate them into different churches, ought next to be ftudied in the order of the courie; for nothing is unimportant which divides the followers of that Mafter whole favourite precept And the va- was lor. It has indeed been long fashionable to decry potroverfies lemical divinity as an ufelefs, if not a pernicious, ftudy; but among it is not impoffible that this fafhion, like many others, has Chritians had its origin in ignorance, and that it tends to perpetuate those fchifms which it profeffes to lament. We are, how ever, far, very far, from recommending to the young divine a perufal of the works of the feveral combatants on each fide of a difputed queftion, till he has fitted himself for judging between them by a long courfe of preparatory ftudy; and the only preparation which can fit him for this purpose is an impartial and comprehenfive study of ecclefiaftical hifto ry. He who has with accuracy traced the progrefs of our holy religion from the days of the apoftles to the prefent time, and marked the introduction of new doctrines, and the rife of the various fects into which the Christian world is unhappily divided, is furnifhed with a criterion within himfelf by which to judge of the importance and truth of the many contested doctrines; whilst he who, without this preparation, fhall read a multitude of books on any one religious controverty, will be in danger of becoming a convert to his laft author, if that author poffefs any tolerable fhare of art and ingenuity. This we know was the cafe with Pope, who declares, that in ftudying the controverfy be tween the churches of England and Rome, he found him felf a Papift and Proteflant by turns, according to the laft

tions.

most perfect compend (c); and one of its greatest excel. Prelimilencies is, that on every subject the best writers are referred pary Direc to for fuller information. Thefe indeed fhould often be confulted, not only to fupply the defects neceffarily refulting from the narrowness of the limits which the author, with great propriety, preferibed to himself; but also to correct his partial obliquities; for with all his merits, and they were many and great, he is certainly not free from the influence of prejudice. Indeed there is no coming at the true hiftory of the primitive church, but by ftudying the works of the primitive writers; and the principal works of the four first centuries will amply reward the labour of perufing them (H). The rife and progrefs of the reformation in general, the most important period of church-history, may be beft learned from Sleidan's book De Statu Religionis et Reipublica Carolo V. Cafare Commentarii; the Hiftory of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland from Knox and Spotifwood; and that of the Church of England from the much applauded work of Bishop Burnet.

di.

After this courfe of ecclefiaftical history, the young vine may read with advantage the most important controverfies which have agitated the Chriftian world; for he will now read them without danger of giving up his faith to the mere authority of great names. To enumerate thefe controverfies, and to point out the able authors who have written on each, would be a very tedious, and perhaps not a very profitable, task. On one controverfy, however, we are induced to recommend a very mafterly work, because it is fufficient of itlelf to fix the principles of Proteftants with relpect to the church of Rome, and to put fhame the fafhionable cenfurers of polemical divinity. The work to which we allude is Chillingworth's book against Knott, entitled The Religion of Proteftants a safe way to Salvation; in which the school jargon of that fubtile Jefuit is incompara bly expofed, and the long difpute between the Popish and Reformed churches placed on its proper ground, the Holy Scriptures.

One of the frongeft and moft plaufible objections to the. ftudy of polemical divinity, is its tendency to give a rigid turn to the fentiments of those long engaged in it; whilft we know, from higher authority than that of the ablest disputant, that "the end of the commandment is charity." But for preserving charity in the minds of Chriftians, there are better means than abfolute ignorance or indifference to truth. Charity is violated only when a church unreasonably reftrains the inquiries of its own members, or exercises intolerance towards those who have renounced its jurifdiction. The injuftice of the fift fpecies of ecclefiaftical tyis expofed in a very masterly manner by Jeremy Taylor in his Liberty of Prophecying, and by Stilling fleet in his Irenicum; the injuftice of the fecond, by Locke in his celebrated Letters on Toleration. The man who fhall per

ranny

ufe

20

Toleration.

tions.

Prelimi ufe these three works, and impartially weigh the force of Mary Direc- their arguments, will be in no danger, unlets his pride be very great, or his temper uncommonly irritable, of thinking un charitably of thofe from whofe principles the love of truth may compel him to diffent.

In thefe directions for the ftudy of theology, we might have enumerated many more books on each branch of the fubject well deferving of the moft attentive perufal; but he who fhall have gone through the courfe here recommended, will have laid a foundation on which, if he continue his diligence, he may raile fuch a fuperftructure as will entitle him to the character of an accomplished divine. His diligence muft indeed be continued through life; for when a man ceases to make acquifitions in any department of learn

ing, he foon be rins to lofe thofe which he has already made; and a more contemptible character is nowhere to be found than that of a clergyman unacquainted with the learning of his profeffion. This learning, however, is not to be acquired, and indeed is hardly to be preferved, by ftudying bodies or inflitutes of theology; and though we have mentioned a few generally approved by two rival fects of Chriftians, and muft, in conformity with the plan of our work, give another ourselves, we do not hesitate to declare, that the man who has carefully gone through the courfe of study which we have recommended, though it be little more than the outlines on which he is to work, may, with no great lofs to himfelt, neglect ours and all other fyftems. For as an Tatham, excellent writer, whom we have often quoted, well obferves, "to judge of the fact whether fuch a revelation containing fuch a principle, with its myfteries and credentials, was actually fent from God and received by man, by examining the evidences and circumftances which accompanied it --the time when, the place where, the manner how, it was delivered―the form in which it defcends to us--and in what it is contained-together with the particular fubftonce and burden of it and how every part is to be rightly underfood: thefe are the various and extenfive fubjects which conftitute the fublime office of THEOLOGIC REASONING and

22

of G. d

proved

from

any

Prelimi

D'rece

nary tions.

the PROPER STUDY OF DIVINITY." On this account we fhall país over flightly, and fometimes perhaps without notice, many things which every clergyman ought tho roughly to understand, and confine ourselves, in the short compend which we are to give, to the prime articles of Chriftian theology. In doing this, we fhall endeavour as much as poffible to diveft ourselves of party prejudices; but as we are far from thinking that this endeavour will be completely fuccefsful (for we believe there is no man totally free from prejudice), we cannot conclude this part of the article more properly than with the following folemn CHARGE, with which a very learned divine ‡ always prefaced his Dr Taylor Theological Lectures. of Norwich.

I. “I do folemnly charge you, in the name of the God of Truth, and of our Lord fefus Chrift, who is the Way, A charge the Truth, and the Life, and before whole judgment feat to students you must in no long time appear, that in all your ftudies of theology. and inquiries of a religious nature, prefent or future, you do conftantly, caretully, impartially, and confcientiously, at tend to evidence, as it les in the Holy Scriptures, or in the nature of things, and the dictates of reafon; cautiously guarding against the fallies of imagination, and the fallacy of ill-grounded conjecture.

II." That you admit, embrace, or affent, to no principle or fentiment by me taught or advanced, but only fo far as it fhall appear to you to be fupported and juftified by proper evidence from revelation or the reafon of things.

III." That if, at any time hereafter, any principle or fentiment by me taught or advanced, or by you admitted or embraced, hall, upon impartial and faithful examination,. appear to you to be dubious or falie, you either fufpect or totally reject fuch principle or sentiment.

IV. That you keep your mind always open to evidence: That you labour to banish from your breast all prejudice, prepoffeffion, and party-zeal: That you ftudy to live in peace and love with all your fellow Chriftians; and that you fteadily affert for yourself, and freely allow to others, the unalienable rights of judgment and conscience."

SECT. I. Of the Being and Attributes of GOD.

him.

St Pau'. HE who cometh to God, fays an ancient divine*, deeply read in the philofophy of his age, muit believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently feek This is a truth as undeniable as that a man cannot The being concern himfelf about a nonentity. The existence of God is indeed the foundation of all religion, and the firft principle of the science which is the fubject or this article. It is like wife a principle which muft command the affent of every man who has any notion of the relation between effects and their caufes, and whofe curiofity has ever been excited by the phenomena of nature. This great and important truth we have eliewhere endeavoured to demonftrate (fee METAPHYSICS, Part III. Chap. vi.); but it may be proved by argumeats lefs abftracted from common apprehenfion than the nature of that article required us to use. Of these we shall give one or two, which we hope will be level to every ordinary capacity; whilft, at the fame time, we earnestly recommend to the young divine a diligent ftudy of thofe books on the fubject which we have mentioned in the preceding directions.

Let

moment's reflection will convince us that it has not. us take any one man alive, and, to avoid perplexity, let us fuppofe his father and mother dead, and himself the only perfon at prefent exifting: how came he into the world? It will be faid he was produced mechanically or chemically by the conjunction of his parents, and that his parents were produced in the fame manner by theirs. Let this then be fuppofed; it mult furely be granted, that when this man was born, an addition was made to the feries of the human race. But a feries which can be enlarged may likewife be diminished; and by tracing it backwards, we must at fome period, however remote, reach its beginning. There muft therefore have been a first pair of the human race, who were not propagated by the conjunction of parents. How did thefe come into the world?

Lectures.

Anaximander tells us, that the firft men and all animals See Bertwere bred in warm moisture, inclofed in cruftaceous skinsley's Boyle's like crab-fish or lobfters; and that when they arrived at a proper age, their thelly prifons growing dry, broke, and made way for their liberty. Empedocles informs us, that mother Earth at firft brought forth vaft numbers of legs, and arms, and leads, &c. which, approaching each other, arranging themselves properly, and being cemented together, ftarted up at once full grown men. Another of these philofophers relates, that there first grew up a fort of wombs,

of God.

Being and which having their roots in the earth, attracted thence a
attributes kind of milk for the nourishment of the ctus, which in
procefs of time broke through the membranes and thisted
Diodorus for itself; whilft the Egyptian fathers of this hopeful
Siculus apud fchool content themfelves with fimply affirming, that animals
Futeb. like vegetables fprung at firft from the bofom of the earth.
Prep. E-
Dangel.

And from

the laws of attrac tion and repultion, &c.

Surely thofe fages, or their followers, fhould have been able to tell us why the earth has not in any climate this power of putting forth vegetable men or the parts of men at prefent. If this univerfal parent be eternal and felf-existent, it must be incapable of decay or the fmallet change in any of its qualities; if it be not eternal, we fhall be obliged to find a cause for its existence, or at least for its form and all its powers. But fuch a caufe may have produced the first human pair, and undoubtedly did produce them, without making them fpring as plants from the foil. Indeed the growth of plants themlelves clearly evinces a caufe fuperior to any vegetative power which can be fuppofed inherent in the earth. No plant, from the sturdy oak to the creeping ivy, can be propagated but from feed or flips from the parent ftock; but when one contemplates the regular procefs of vegetation, the exiftence of every plant implies the prior exiftence of a parent feed, and the existence of every feed the prior exiftence of a parent plant. Which then of thefe, the oak or the acorn, was the firft, and whence was its exiftence derived? Not from the earth; for we have the evidence of univerfal experience that the carth never produces a tree but from feed, nor feed but from a tree. There muft therefore be fome fuperior power which formed the first feed or the first tree, planted it in the earth, and gave to it those powers of vegetation by which the fpecies has been propagated to this day.

Thus clearly do the procefles of generation and vegetation indicate a power fuperior to thofe which are ufually called the powers of nature. The fame thing appears no lefs evideut from the laws of attraction and repultion, which plainly prevail through the whole fyftem of matter, and hold together the ftupendous ftructure. Experiment fhows that very few particles of the most solid body are in actual contact with each other (fee OPrics, n° 63-68, PHYSICS, n° 23.); and that there are confiderable interftices between the particles of every elaftic fluid, is obvious to the smallest reflection. Yet the particles of folid bodies ftrongly cohere, whilft thofe of elastic fluids repel each other. How are these phenomena accounted for? To fay that the former is the effect of attraction and the latter of repulfion, is only to fay that two individual phenomena are fubject to thote laws which prevail through the whole of the claffes under which they are refpectively arranged; whilst the queition at iffue is concerning the ORIGIN OF THE LAWS THEMSELVES, the power which makes the particles of gold co. here, and thofe of air repel each other. Power with out fubftance is inconceivable; and by a law of human thought, no man can believe a being to operate but where it is in fome manner or other actually prefent: but the par. ticles of gold adhere, and the particles of air keep at a diftance from each other, by powers exerted where no matter is prefent. There mult therefore be fome fubftance endowed with power which is not material.

Of this fubftance or being the power is evidently immente. The earth and other planets are carried round the fun with a velocity which human imagination can hardly conceive. That this motion is not produced by the agency of these vaft bodies on one another, or by the interpofition of any material fluid, has been shown elsewhere (fee METAPHYSICS, n° 196-200. and OPTICs, n° 67.); and fince it is a law of our belt philofophy, that we are not to multiply fub. fances without neceffity, we must infer that the fame Being

attribute of Go

which formed the first animals and vegetables, endowing Being and them with powers to propagate their respective kinds, is likewife the caufe of all the phenomena of nature, fuch as cohesion, repu fion, elasticity, and motion, even the motions of the heavenly bodies themselves.

26

nite feries

If this powerful Being, who is the parent of vegetable and animal life, and the fource of all corporeal motions, be felt-existent, intelligent, and independent in his actions and volitions, he is an original or firft caufe, and that Being whom we denominate GOD. If he be not felf-exiftent and independent, there must be a caufe in the order of nature prior and fuperior to Him, which is either itfelf the firtt caule, or a link in that series of caufes and effects, which, however vaft we fuppofe it, muft be traced ultimately to some one Being, who is felt-exiftent, and has in himself the power of beginning mot on, independent of every thing but his own intelligence and volition. In vain have the Atheifts alleged, that the feries may afcend infinitely, and for that reafon have no first mover or caufe. An infinite feries of fuccef-Abfurdity five beings involves an abfurdity and contradiction (fee Me. of an inTAPHYSICS, n° 288.); but not to infilt upon this at prefent, of effects we thall only beg leave to confider fuch a feries as a whole, and fee what confequences will flow from the fuppofition. That we may with logical propriety confider it in this light, is incontrovertible; for the birth of every individual of the human race fhows that it is made up of parts; but parts imply a whole as neceffarily as an attribute implies its fubftance. As in this fuppofed feries there is no cause which is not likewife an effect, nor any body moving another which was not itself moved by a third, the whole is unde niably equivalent to an infinite effect, or an infinite body moved: but if a finite effect muft neceffarily have proceeded from a caufe, and a finite body in motion must have been put into that ftate by a mover, is there a human mind which can conceive an insinite effect to have proceeded from no caufe, or an infinite body in motion to have been moved by nothing? No, furely! An infinite effect, were fuch a thing poffible, would compel us to admit an infinite cause, and an infinite body in motion a mover of infinite power.

27

This great caufe is Gon, whofe wifdom, power, and goodness, all nature loudly proclaims. That the phenomena which we daily fee evince the exilence of one fuch Bein, has just been fhown; and that we have no reafon to infer the existence of more than one, a very few reflections will make abundantly evident. For, not to lay more stress than it will bear upon that rule of Newton's, which forbids us There is to multiply fubftances without neceffity, fuch a harmony only one prevails through the whole vifible univerfe, as plainly fhows original it to be under the government of one intelligence. That caufe. on this globe the feveral clements ferve for nourishment to plants, plants to the inferior animals, and animals to man; that the other planets of our fyftem are probably inhabited, and their inhabitants nourished in the fame or a fimilar manner; that the fun is fo placed as to give light and heat to all, and by the law of gravitation to bind the whole planets into one fyftem with itfel:--are truths fo obvious and fo univerfally acknowledged, as to fuperfede the neceffity of ellablifhing them by proof. The fair inference therefore is, that the folar fyflein and all its parts are under the govern ment of one intelligence, which directs all its motions and all the changes which take place among its parts for fome wife purposes. To fuppofe it under the government of two or more intelligences would be highly unreasonable; for if these intelligences had equal power, equal wifdom, and the fame deigns, one of them would evidently be fuperfluous; and if they had equal power and contrary defigns, they could not be the parents of that harmony which we clearly perceive to prevail in the system.

As the unity of defiga apparent in the works of creation plainly prove the unity of their Author, fo do the immenfity of the whole, and the admirable adjustment of the feveral parts to one another, demonstrate His power and His wifdom. On this fubject the following beautiful reflections by Mr Wollaston are deferving of the most serious atten

tion.

"In order (fays that able writer ||) to prove to any one the grandness of this fabric of the world, one needs only to bid him confider the fun, with that infupportable glory and luftre that furrounds it; to demonftrate its vaft diftance, magnitude, and heat; to reprefent to him the chorus of pla nets moving periodically, by uniform laws, in their feveral orbits about it; guarded fome of them by fecondary planets, and as it were emulating the state of the fun, and probably all poffeffed by proper inhabitants; to remind him of thofe furprising visits which the comets make to us, and the large trains or uncommon fplendor which attends them, the far country from which they come, and the curiofity and horror which they excite not only among us, but in the inhabitants of other planets, who may also be up to fee the entry and progrefs of thefe minifters of fate: to direct his eye and contemplation through thofe azure fields and vaft regions above him up to the fixed flors, that radiant numberless hoft of heaven; and to make him understand how unlikely a thing it is that they fhould be placed there only to adorn and befpangle a canopy over our heads; to convince him that they are rather fo many other funs, with their several fyftems of planets about them; to fhow him by the help of glaffes ftill more and more of these fixed lights, and to beget in him an apprehension of their inconceivable numbers, and those immenfe spaces that lie beyond our reach and even our imagination: One needs but to do this (continues our author), and explain to him fuch things as are now known almoft to every body; and by it to fhow, that if the world be not infinite, it is infinito fimilis, and undoubtedly the work of an INFINITE ARCHITECT.

"But if we would take a view of all the particulars contained within that aftonishing compass which we have thus haftily run over, how would wonders multiply upon us? E. very corner, every part of the world, is as it were made up of other worlds. If we look upon this our earth, what scope does it furnish for admiration? The great variety of mountains, hills, valleys, plains, rivers, feas, trees, and plants! The many tribes of different animals with which it is ftock. ed; the multifarious inventions and works of one of thefe, i. e. of us men; with the wonderful inflincts of others, guiding them uniformly to what is best for themfelves, in fituations where neither fenfe nor reafon could direct them. And yet when all thefe (heaven and earth) are furveyed as nicely as they can be by the help of our unaffifted fenfes and of telescopes, we may dircover by the affiftance of good microfcopes, in very fmall parts of matter, as many new wonders as thofe already difcovered, new kingdoms of animals, with new and curious architecture. So that as our fenfes and even conception fainted before in the valt journeys we took in confidering the expanfe of the univerfe, they here again fail us in our researches into the principles and minute parts VOL. XVIII. Part II.

"In this vaft affemblage, and amidst all the multifarious motions by which the feveral proceffes of generation and corruption, and the other phenomena of nature, are carried on, we cannot but obferve that there are ftated methods, as fo many forms of proceeding, to which things punctually and religiously adhere. The fame caufes circumftanced in the fame manner produce always the fame effects; all the fpecies of animals among us are made according to one general idea; and fo are those of plants alfo, and even of minerals. No new fpecies are brought forth or have arifen anywhere; and the old are preferved and continued by the old ways.

"It appears, laftly, beyond difpute, that in the parts and model of the world there is a contrivance for accomplishing certain ends. The fun is placed near the centre of our fyftem, for the more convenient difpenfing of his benign influences to the planets moving about him; the place of the earth's equator interfects that of her orbit, and makes a proper angle with it, in order to diverfify the year, and create an ufeful variety of feafons; and many other things of this kind will be always obferved, and though a thousand times repeated, be meditated upon with pleasure by good men and true philofophers. Who can obferve the vapours to afcend, efpecially from the fea, meet above in clouds, and fall again after condenfation, without being convinced that this is a kind of diftillation, in order to clear the water of its groffer falts, and then by rains and dews to fupply the fountains and rivers with fresh and wholesome liquor; to nourish the vegetables below by thowers, which defcend in drops as from a watering-pat upon a garden? Who can view the ftructure of a plant or animal, the indefinite number of its fibres and fine veffels, the formation of larger veffels, and the feveral members out of them, with the apt difpofition of all thefe; the means contrived for the reception and diftribution of nutriment; the effect this nutriment has in extending the veffels, bringing the vegetable or animal to its full growth and expanfion, continuing the motion of the several fluids, repairing the decays of the body, and preferving life? Who can take notice of the feveral faculties of animals, their arts of faving and providing for themselves, or the ways in which they are provided for; the ufes of plants to animals, and of fome animals to others, particularly to mankind; the care taken that the feveral fpecies fhould be propagated, without confufion, from their proper feeds; the strong inclination planted in animals for that purpofe, their love of their young and the like.-Who (fays our author) can obferve all this, and not fee a defign in fuch regular pieces, fo nicely wrought and fo admirably preferved? If there were but one animal in exiftence, and it could not be doubted but that his eyes were formed that he might fee with them, his ears that he might hear with them, and his feet to be inftruments by which he might remove himfelt from place to place; if defign and contrivance can be much lefs doubted, when the fame things are repeated in the individuals of all the tribes of animals; it the like obfervations may be made with respect to vegetables and other things; and if all these claffes of things, and much more the individuals comprehended under them, be inconceivably numerous, as most unqueftionably they are-one cannot but be convinced, from what fo plainly runs through the nobler parts of the visible world, that not only they, but other things, even those that seem to be lefs noble, have their ends likewife, though not always 3 H

per.

attributes of God.

of which the gratification is exquifite when not repeated Being and too frequently, to answer the purposes of the Author of our attributes being. Since, then, God has called forth his confummate of God. wifdom to contrive and provide for our happiness, and has made thofe things which are neceffary to our exiftence and the continuance of the race fources of our greatest fenfuak pleasures, who can doubt but that benevolence is one of his attributes; and that, if it were not impious to draw a comparifon between them, it is the attribute in which he himself moft delighteth?

Being and perceived by capacities limited like ours. And fince we cannot, with the Epicureans of old, fuppofe the parts of mat ter to have contrived among themfelves this wonderful form of a world, to have taken by agreement each its refpective poft, and then to have purfued in conjunction conftant ends by certain methots and measures concerted, there must be fome other Being, whofe wisdom and power are equal to fuch a mighty work as is the trutture and prefervation of the world. There must be fome Almighty MIND who modelled and preferves it; lays the caufes of things fo deep; prefcribes them fuch uniform and fteady laws; deftines and adapts them to certain purposes; and makes one thing to fit and answer another fo as to produce one harmonious whole. Yes,

29 Goodness.

Thefe are thy glorious works, Parent of good!
Almighty, thine this univerfal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; THYSELF how wondrous then!
How wondrous in wifdom and in power!"

But the GOODNESS of God is not lefs confpicuous in his works than His power or His wifdom. Contrivance proves defign, and the predominant tendency of the contrivances indicates the difpofition of the defigner. "The world (fays an Dr Paley elegant and judicious writer†) abounds with contrivances, and all the contrivances in it with which we are acquainted are directed to beneficial purposes. Evil no doubt exifts; but it is never that we can perceive the objc&t of contrivance. Teeth are contrived to eat, not to ache; their aching now and then is incidental to the contrivance, perhaps infeparable from it; but it is not its object. This is a diftinction which well deferves to be attended to. In defcribing implements of hufbandry, one would hardly fay of a fickle that it is made to cut the reaper's fingers, though from the conftruction of the inftrument, and the manner of ufing it, this mischief often happens. But if he had occafion to defcribe inftruments of torture or execution, this, he would fay, is to extend the fi news; this to diflocate the joints; this to break the bones; this to fcorch the foles of the feet. Here pain and mifery are the very objects of the contrivance. Now nothing of this fort is to be found in the works of nature. We never discover a train of contrivance to bring about an evil purpofe. No anatomift ever discovered a fyftem of organi. zation calculated to produce pain and difeafe; or, in explaining the parts of the human body, ever faid, this is to irritate, this to inflame, this duct is to convey the gravel to the kidneys, this gland to fecrete the humour which forms the gout. If by chance he come to a part of which he knows not the ufe, the moft that he can fay is, that to him it appears to be ufelefs: no one ever fufpects that it is put there to incommode, to annoy, or to torment. If God had wifhed our mifery, he might have made fure of his purpose, by forming our fenfes to be as many fores and pains to us as they are now inftruments of gratification and enjoyment; or, by placing us among objects fo ill fuited to our perceptions as to have continually offended us, instead of miniftering to our refreshment and delight. He might have made, for inftance, every thing we tafted bitter, every thing we faw loathfome, every thing we touched a fting, every fmell a fench, and every found a difcord.”

Inftead of this, all our fenfations, except fuch as are excited by what is dangerous to our health, are pleafures to us: The view of a landfcape is pleafant; the tafte of nourithing food is pleafant; founds not too loud are agreeable, while mufical founds are exquifite; and hardly any fmells, except fuch are excited by effluvia obviously pernicious to the brain, are difagreeable; whilst some of them, if not too long indulged, are delightful. Our lives are preferved and the fpecies is continued by obeying the impulfe of appetites;

But it is not from fenfation only that we may infer the benevolence of the Deity: He has formed us with minds capable of intellectual improvement, and he has implanted in the breaft of every man a very strong defire of adding to his knowledge. This addition to be fure cannot be made without labour; and at firft the requifite labour is to moft people irkfome: but a very fhort progress in any ftudy con verts what was irksome into a pleasure of the most exalted kind; and he who by study, however intenfe, enlarges his ideas, and is confcious that he is daily rifing in the scale of intelligence, experiences a complacency, which, though not fo poignant perhaps as the pleasures of the fenfualift, is fuch as endears him to himself, and is what he would not exchange for any thing else which this world has to beflow, except the ftill fweeter complacency arifing from the confcioufnefs of having difcharged his duty.

That the practice of virtue is attended with a peculiar pleasure of the pureft kind, is a fact which no man has ever queftioned, though the immediate fource of that pleasure has been the fubject of many difputes. He who attributes it to a moral fenfe, which inftinctively points out to every man his duty, and upon the performance of it rewards him with a fentiment of felf-approbation, muft of neceffity ac knowledge benevolence to be one of the attributes of that Being who has fo conftituted the human mind. That to protect the innocent, relieve the diftreffed, and do to others as we would in like circumftances wish to be done by, fills the breaft, previous to all reflection, with a holy joy, as the commiffion of any crime tears it with remorie, cannot indeed be controverted. Many, however, contend, that this joy and this remorfe fpring not from any moral inftinct im planted in the mind, but are the confequence of early and deep-rooted affociations of the practice of virtue with the hope of future happiness, and of vice with the dread of future mifery. On the refpective merits of thefe two theories we fhall not now decide. We have faid enough on the fubject in other articles (fee INSTINCT, MORAL PHILOS() PHY, and PASSION); and fhall here only observe, that they both lead with equal certainty to the benevolence of the Deity, who made us capable of forming affociations, and fubjected thofe affociations to fixed laws. This being the cafe, the moral fenfe, with all its inftantaneous effects, affords not a clearer or more convincing proof of his goodnefs, than that principle in our nature by which remote circumftances become fo linked together, that, after the connecting ideas have efcaped from the mind, the one circumftance never occurs without bringing the other alfo into view. It is thus that the pleafing complacency, which was perhaps firft excited by the hopes of future happiness, comes in time to be fo affociated with the confcioufnefs of virtuous conduct, the only thing entitled to reward, that a man never performs a meritorious action without experiencing the most exquifite joy diffufed over his mind, though his attention at that initant may not be directed either to hea. ven or futurity. ven or futurity. Were we obliged, before we could expe rience this joy, to eftimate by reafon the merit of every in dividual action, and trace its connection to heaven and fu ture happiness through a long train of intermediate argu

mentation,