278 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



follies, which muft make the greater part of them not happy in this 

 life, the goodnefs of God has fo ordered matters, that, by the cul- 

 tivation of arts and fciences, and efpecially by religion, we may 

 corredl thofe vices and follies, and improve our intelleft fo much, 

 as to make us fit for a better and happier ftate in the life to come : 

 Or if we fliould not do that, that wc muft go to another life of fe- 

 verer trial and probation ; and fo on from one ftate to another, till 

 at laft every one of us fliall attain to all the happinefs that his nature 

 is capable of. 



And this much, 1 hope, will fatisfy the reader, that the goodnefs of 

 God, with refpcdt to man, is as great as it could be in confiftencc 

 with the general laws of nature, which, as they are parts of the na- 

 ture of God, could not be altered : For, as I have fliown, what wc 

 call Nature *, is nothing elfe but God operating in this material 

 world. 



I am next to fpeak of the goodnefs of God v/ith refped to the other 

 animals of this earth, which will be the fubje£t of the following 

 Book. But before I conclude this Book I muft add to what I have fald 

 of the goodnefs of God to man, that I fhould think myfelf wanting 

 in the duty I owe to God, if I did not acknowledge his goodnefs 

 in enabling me, old and infirm as I am, to enjoy the greateft happi- 

 nefs that man can enjoy in this life, by which at the fame time he is 

 prepared for the enjoyment of that happinefs in a much greater de- 

 o-ree in the life to come : The happinefs I mean, is the contempla- 

 tion of the wifdom and goodnefs of God. 



BOOK 



* Vol. II. p. 360. 



