332 NATUE.AL THEOLOGY. 



tion, his ccunsels may, or rather must, comprehend. Can 

 it be wondered 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- 

 hending numerous subdivisions, it appears, for many reasons, 

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

 speaking. Math the appearance of chance, than according to 

 any observable rule whatever. This is not seldom the case, 

 even in human arrangements. Each person's place and 

 precedency, ui a public meeting, may be determined by lot. 

 Work and labor may be allotted. Tasks and burdens may 

 be allotted : 



Operumque laborem 



Partibus osquabat justis, aut sorte trahebat. 



Military service and station may be allotted. The distribu- 

 tion of provision may be made by lot, as it is in a sailor's 

 mess ; in some cases also, the distribution of favors may be 

 made by lot. In all these cases it seems to be acknow- 

 ledged, that there are advantages in permitting events to 

 chance, superior 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 appointment that they do 

 so. 



In other events, and such as are independent of human 

 will, the reasons for this preference of uncertainty to rule 

 appear to be still stronger. For example, it seems to be 

 expedient that the period of human life should be unccr- 

 tahi. Did mortality foW^w any fixed rule, it would produce 

 a security in those that were at a distance from it, which 

 would lead to the greatest disorders ; and a horror in those 

 who approached it, similar to that which a condemned pris- 

 oner feels on the night before his execution. But, that 

 death be uncertain, the young must sometimes die as wel> 



