130 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



much difficulty be brought to admit the four fol- 

 lowing points: first, that important advantages 

 may accrue to the universe from the order of na- 

 ture proceeding according to general laws : se- 

 condly, that general laws, however well set and 

 constituted, often thwart and cross one another : 

 thirdly, that from these thw^artings and crossings, 

 frequent particular inconveniences will arise : and, 

 fourthly, that it agrees with our observation to 

 suppose, that some degree of these inconveniences 

 takes place in the works of nature. These points 

 may be allowed ; and it may also be asserted, that 

 the general laws with which we are acquainted 

 are directed to beneficial ends. On the other hand, 

 with many of these laws we are not acquainted 

 at all, or we are totally unable to trace them in 

 their branches, and in their operation ; the effect 

 of which ignorance is, that they cannot be of im- 

 portance to us as measures by which to regulate 

 our conduct. The conservation of them may be 

 of importance in other respects, or to other beings, 

 but we are uninformed of their value or use ; unin- 

 formed consequently, when, and how far, they 

 may or may not be suspended, or their effects 

 turned aside, by a presiding and benevolent will, 



considered as stating a deduction to be made from the total amount 

 of evil; in other words, the reasoning is only a reduction of the 

 apparent quantity to the real. Any thing beyond this would re- 

 ally be recurring to the ancient doctrine of the heathens, whose 

 gods were limitted in power and controlled by fate. 



