WILL. 
the God of tnith, uttering a tissue of the 
most malignant falsehoods ? With what hor- 
ror must we contemplate a Deity, who is 
exhibited as the very author of what he pro- 
fesses to hate, the. performer of what he 
punishes, and the source of every polluted 
thought, every tormenting passion, and 
every evil work ; whose chosen instruraents 
and objects appear to be, hatred and uncha- 
ritableness, guilt and terror, confusion, pain, 
and death ; who is displayed, in short, as 
the introducer of all moral evil, and the 
scourge of all moral nature ? 
It is by no means surprising that observa- 
tions, or arguments, such as these, should 
have operated strongly on the majority 
even of persons in some degree habituated 
to reflection. The moral man has trembled 
for the interests of virtue; the pious man 
has recoiled from the dreaded charge of 
blasphemy; and so coincident is the mis- 
apprehended system of liberty w’ith the 
feelings pf indiscriminating and unreflect- 
ing minds, that it would be truly extraordi- 
nary if the opposite doctrine had not to 
encounter from such, prejudices the most 
viplent and hostile. General consent, how- 
ever, and presumed consciousness, are no 
more sufficient to establish the doctrine of 
philosophical free-will, than the appearance 
exhibited by the sun and stars of revolving 
round this terraqueous globe, and the uni- 
versal conviction once entertained of the 
reality of this appearance, can be corsi- 
dered to have been irrefragable evidence 
of this popular philosophy. And with re- 
gard to the interests of virtue, and even the 
honour of the Deity, the man who refrains 
from the discussion of important topics, 
from a trembling apprehension lest these 
should be injuriously involved in the result 
of his investigation, displays inexpressibly 
more of fastidious sensibility than of vigo- 
rous intellect. If discussion can possibly 
evince that virtue is detrimental or worth- 
less, instead of being extolled as the best 
source of hope, and the only guide to hap- 
piness, let it be instantly exposed to the 
aversion and avoidance of mankind. And 
if the most acute and profound speculation 
can possibly disconnect from the Supreme 
Being those qualities of wisdom and good- 
ne.ss, of power and perfection, which have 
hitherto only appeared the more cle.a) ly to 
belong to him the more his attributes have 
been investigated, let the veil be, at once, 
rent from the imagined sanctuary, and let 
detestation or contempt be substituted for 
joyful dOvotion and humble imitation.' 
These delicate scruples, and fearful doubt,*, 
and awful hesitations, have too long re- 
tarded the march of the human, mind in its 
pursuit of the ends and means most worthy 
of its researches. They have been in every 
age supports, as, indeed, they are results, of 
superstition: they have anied the views of 
civil tyranny^ and inquisitorial bigotry ; and 
until the operations of thought be unim- 
peded by these morbid tremors, any rapid 
advance to the maturity of social institu- 
tions can be expected only in vain. In 
opposition, tlien, to the doctrine office-will, 
so tenaciously maintained and so ardently 
advocated, it may be observed, that upon 
the only sound principles of philosophy, 
upom the very basis of all human specula- 
tion and conclusion, the imagined liberty 
of man will appear equally unsupportable, 
as any change in the arrangemeuts of 
material nature without a 'corresponding 
change of pre-existing circumstancfes. If 
volitions, in any case, start up in the mind 
uncaused, as well may it be presumed, that 
the universal system of nature sprang into 
existence without any previous and opera- 
tive energy. All inquiry into causes is vain ; 
all reference to circumstances is absurd : 
conclusions the most • opposite may with 
equal propriety be inferred from the same 
premises ; or rather, the only conclusion to 
be formed is, that of one immense and uni- 
versal chaos, in which processes, both of 
mind and matter, are incipient without 
cause, and operative without effect. If, 
on the other hand, man be uniformly and 
imperiously influenced by motives, volitions 
are as definitive, in definite circumstances, 
as the movements of palpable mechanism ; 
and the determinations of the mind are 
equally decided and inevitable, as the in- 
clinations of the balance. The most ani- 
mated display of evib, imagined to result 
from the system of necessity, will scarcely 
induce any vigorous and unprejudiced mind 
to surrender the only basis on which in- 
ference can be formed and inquiry insti- 
tuted. But the principles of religion are 
equally adverse to free-will with the axioms 
of philosophy; and it is curious to observe, 
that the doctrine of liberty, under consi- 
deration, meets with its destruction in what 
may be regarded, possibly, as the very 
source of its existence. Sentiments of reli- 
gion, unquestionably, suggested the expe-' 
diency of human freedom, to screen the 
character of Deity from imputation on the 
ground of natural and moral evil ; and fnan 
was thus invested with a paramount and 
