*i86 1*HE GdOBNirsS OF -PHE 6EITY, 



It is ©nfy to think of the Deity to perceive, what variety ©f 

 objects, what distance of time, what extent of space and ac- 

 tion, his counsels may, or rather must, comprehend. Caa 

 it be wondeied at, that, of the purposes which dwell in such 

 a mind as this, so small a part should be known to us ? It 

 is only necessary therefore to bear in our thought, that, in 

 proportion to the inadequateness of our information, will be 

 the quantity, in the world, of apparent chance, 



III. In a great variety of cases, and of cases compre- 

 liending numerous subdivisions, it appears, for many rea- 

 sons, to be better, that events rise up by chance, or, more 

 properly speaknig, with the appearance of chance, than ac- 

 cording to any observable rule whatever. This is not sel- 

 dom the case even in human arrangements. Each person's 

 place and precedency in a public meeting may be deter- 

 mined by lot. Work arid labour may be allotted. Tasks 

 and burthens may be aliottcd. 



-Operumque laboi em 



Partibus aquabut justis, aut sorfe trahebat. 



Military service and station may be allotted. The dis- 

 tribution of provision may be made by lot^ as it is in a sail- 

 or's mess ; in some cases also, the distribution of favours 

 may be made by lot. In all these cases it seerns to be ac- 

 knowledged, that there are advantages in permitting events 

 to chance, supeiior to those which would or could arise 

 from regulation. In all these cases also, though events 

 rise up in the way of chance, it is by appouitmeni that they 

 do so. 



In other events, and such as are independent of human 

 will, the reasons lor this preference of uncertamty to rule 

 appear to be sti.Ii stronger. For example, it seems to be 

 expedient, that the period of human life should be uncertain. 

 Did mortality follow any fixed rule, it would produce a se- 

 curity in those that were at a distance from it, which would 

 lead to the greatest disorders, and a horror in those who 

 approached it, simii-^r to that which a condemned prisoner 

 feels on the night before his execution. But, that death be 

 uncertain, the young must sometimes die, as well as the 

 old. Also were deaths never sudden, they, who are in 

 health, would be too confident of life. The strong and the 

 active, who want most to be warned and checked, would 

 live without apprehension or restraint. On the other hand ; 

 were sudden deaths very frequent, the sense of constant 

 jeopardy would interfere too much with the degree of ease 



