WIl 
niysterioiis Realty, by vUiicli, in nrciiin- 
strtn.-(>s precisely the same, he is capable ot 
peifonnini; any action, or its opposite. l>y 
a fallacy, more reverential than iniiemons ; 
bv a sophism, such as in ordinary life would 
expose its employers to instant detection 
and ridicule, this pre-eminent power, thoug^h 
admitted to be communicated, is considered 
as the efficient cause of all that evil which 
it was resarded indecorous and blasphe- 
mous to asciibe to Deity. The respons^ibi- 
litv on this subject, which was conceived ^ 
reflect severely on the character of God, 
by this acconimodatina: invention, was ima- 
gined to be easily and happily removed. 
But if piety has, upon this curious groimd, 
contributed to establish the belief in human 
free-will, it has no less decidedly main- 
tained the doctrine of divine omniscience : 
yet to unite these articles in the same creed, 
must be regarded by the unbiassed en- 
quirer as absolutely and eternally impossi- 
ble. How can it be within the power of 
man to avoid doing what God foresees he 
will perform? or how ean that remain un- 
done winch is foreknown, and unquestion- 
ably, therefore, certainty will he accom- 
plished? A^diat becomes of that boasted 
liberty, which is incapable of being exerted, 
and the exercise of which, though strangely 
denied to be precluded by necessity, it 
must be at least admitted, has to encomiter 
the most indubitable and decided certainty? 
And how is the difficulty which, on every 
other system, presses from the considera- 
tion of existing evil, at all mitigated by 
an hypothesis, which merely transfers the 
charge frnm the principal to the agent ; 
from the Creator to the creature ; from the 
hestiiwer of the faculty of freedom, who 
must be aware of all its possible applica- 
tions and consequences, and who therefore, 
in the eye of reason, intends all the effect, 
of the principle he thus comnmnicates, to 
the frail possessor and foreseen abuser ot it? 
With respect, moreover, to moral disci- 
pline, how can any system, which has this 
object in view, be at all applicable to be- 
ings, whose merit and perfection are sup- 
posed to consist in a total superiority to 
motive ; who can resist the strongest appli- 
cations of menace or conciliation, of remu- 
neration or penalty ; with whom caprice 
alone is principle, and chance direction ; 
and an indefinable, jinintelligible power of 
sidfdctermination, without the aid of mo- 
tive, or even in diametrical opposition to 
the strongest, is the siihstitiite toy all steady 
object and rational inducement ? With re- 
gard to virtue, in this system, its maturity 
.L. 
consists not in useful tendencies and affec- 
tions, so confirmed by habit as to have ac- 
quired almost an incapability of effectual 
counteraction, a definition founded on the 
only correct theory of the human mind, and 
which presents the most admirable and im- 
pressive lessons of morality, but in an ima- 
gined principle or faculty which has no per- 
ceivable connection with character, habit, 
or affection ; and in proportion to the de- 
gree in which any intelligent agent can be 
supposed to act from this unmotived fa- 
culty, in that proportion must he be pre- 
sumed less capable of forming those fixed 
and almost indestructible associations which 
are the sole security of moral excellence. 
Free-will, then, thus appeals to be in irre- 
concileable hostility with the fundamental 
principle of human discussion and investi- 
gation, on every subject moral or material, 
that every thing which begins to be must 
have a cause ; its complete operation ex- 
cludes man from tlie possibility of virtuous 
habits, as these can result solely from his 
definite impressibility by definite circum- 
stances : it prevents any consistent appli- 
cation of threats or exhortation, of reward 
or punishment ; because, to a mind un- 
giiided and ungovernable by motive, these 
arc equally useless as expostulation with a 
storm, or advice to a conflagration. Fi- 
iially, from the character of God it snatches 
that attribute, without which Providence 
must be supposed to be any thing rather 
than what the term naturally implies. In- 
stead of a superintending Deity, foreseeing 
every event, affected by no surprize, and 
subject to no disappointment, we are pre- 
sented wdth a governor at the helm of Na- 
ture, who, in the impressive language of 
scripture, knows not what a day may bring 
forth ; his arrangements may be frustrated 
by liuman folly ; his happiness may b6 im- 
paired by human hostility i man, that is a 
worm, may baffle the views of Divine in- 
telligence, and counteract the energies of 
Almighty power ! 
Will and Testament, is that disposi- 
tion of property which is made by a person, 
to take place after his decease. Every 
person capable of binding himself by con- 
tract, is capable of making a will. 
A'so a male infant of the age of fourteen 
veals and upwards, and female of twelve 
years or upwards, are capable of making a 
will respecting personal estates only. But 
a married woman cannot make a will, un- 
less a power be reserved in a marriage set- 
tlement ; but wherever personal property, 
however, is given to a married woman, for 
