'.'. . . 298 



stances of the greatest seeming misery, and that, 

 in reference to morals, the very crimes, of which 

 men as free agents are guilty, give birth to vir- 

 tues in others, which shed a peculiar splendour 

 over the human character ; and, if they do not 

 remove the worthlessness of the criminal, at least 

 ennoble the nature which his conduct has a ten- 

 dency to degrade- 



It is vain, however, to deny that, after alii 

 these are nothing more than abatements and 

 compensations. No ingenuity can disguise the 

 appalling fact, that evil, both physical and mo- 

 ral, does exist on the earth, adhering to the con- 

 dition, and influencing the conduct and destiny 

 of every human being. That there is a prepon- 

 derance of good, which I am not inclined to deny, 

 may alleviate, but does not remove the difficulty. 

 The question still recurs, " why should evil ex- 

 ist at all ?" And that question, which natural 

 religion cannot answer, gives rise to a long train 

 of similar enquiries, all of them full of gloom and 

 mystery, and all of them beyond the power of 

 unassisted reason to solve. 



A well constituted mind, therefore, cannot rest 

 contented with the discoveries which it makes in 

 reading the book of nature. There is stiil some- 

 thing wanting to its thirst for knowledge and to 

 the satisfaction of its doubts. It cannot be happy 

 amidst the terrors which surround the throne of 

 a half-discovered God, who is seen working every 

 when*, but working in clouds and darkness 

 Hence the sound and enlightened Theist per- 



