384 



he relied implicitly on the benevolence of that pa- 

 rental Being who had " vouchsafed to call him 

 hither to this great assembly and entertainment, and 

 had permitted him to contemplate his works, to 

 admire and adore his providence, and to compre- 

 hend the wisdom of his conduct." 



The apparent evil, the partiality, the injustice, in 

 our present life, were to him assurances, combined 

 with revelation, of a more perfect state hereafter. 



He believed virtue not to be communicated with- 

 out effort ; that the great object of our probation 

 here is to acquire it, and that to possess ourselves 

 of it we must cultivate and cherish it by our own 

 unremitting endeavours, by the rules prescribed by 

 him who was himself " the way, the truth, and the 

 life." 



The following paragraph was found after Sir 

 James's death, among other papers, on his library 

 table. It seems to be a memorandum of opinions 

 which, had his life been prolonged, he had a design 

 to use and enlarge upon. 



" The attributes of God are, 

 Power, > 



Wisdom, \ All infinite and eternal. 

 Goodness. J 



"Power and wisdom are communicable to his 

 creatures in any degree he pleases. Goodness is 

 in the very nature of things incommunicable, and 

 must be acquired, else it is a nonentity. 



"Man has the power of acquiring goodness. He 

 must therefore be fully capable of comprehending 

 or of knowing what it is. But man is manifestly 



