NECESSITY, PHILOSOPHICAL. 
statement which, to the minds of some, 
may carry the appearance of the most irre- 
verent, and even impious imputation, and 
excite against the system, which not only 
thus maintains, but avows it, a repulsion 
amounting to antipathy. The question, 
however, relates to truth and not to feel- 
ing, and those who pursue the former with 
that ardent attaclinient and eager research 
which it merits, will endeavour to divest 
themselves as much as possible of prejudice 
and prepossession, and strive to attain that 
point of elevation to which the fogs of pas- 
sion never ascend, and at which the mental 
eye can range at once with clearness and 
comprehension. Every act and volition 
of intelligent creatures is the immediate 
effect of necessitating circumstances, origi- 
nating in other circumstances equally ne- 
cessitated, and which, through a long se- 
ries of operation and result, must be consi- 
dered as depending on that situation into 
which, independently of their own consent 
or control, they were at first introduced 
by their Creator. Every reflection, deter- 
mination and deed, therefore, however 
tainted by vice, or exalted by virtue, must 
indisputably, upon this statement, flow 
from the divine appointment and energy. 
But to those who admit the prescience of 
the Deity, who do not, in order to support 
an hypothesis, proceed so far as to divest 
the Supreme Being of that foreknowledge 
of events, without which confusion and dis- 
appointment must apparently result to the 
divine mind, from occurrences neitlier ap- 
pointed nor expected, the difficulty under 
consideration is precisely the same. All 
such must admit, that he who sees the end 
from the beginning, placed all human be- 
ings originally in situations, the most mi- 
nute results of which were fully compre- 
hended and foreknown by him. Notwith- 
standing his precise comprehension of all 
the consequences which must flow from 
their origination in such circumstances, in 
such circumstances they were actually 
placed, and foreseeing that natural and mo- 
ral evil would be the certain effects of his 
own voluntary act in man’s creation, he 
must not only have permitted, but designed 
Ihese effects. The prescience of a mere 
observer would by no means necessarily 
imply any intention than the event foreseen 
should be accomplished, or any thing more 
indeed than the absolute certainty of the 
event itself. But the prescience possessed 
by an agent of all the circumstances that 
will arise from any particular act, inevita- 
bly includes in his purpose to accomplish 
that act, a purpose to produce these cir- 
cumstances, and renders him as much the 
author of the inevitable consequences as of 
the previous act ; and if evil therefore were 
foreknown to be the necessary result of 
man’s formation, the existence of evil, and 
the formation of man, are eqtially attribut- 
able to the divine appointment. 
But it is time to observe, that when God 
is stated to be the author of evil, it is by 
no means meant to be understood that he 
approves of it in itself, that he is pleased 
with the infliction of pain, and like an om- 
nipotent daemon delights in scattering darts 
and firebrands, terror and agony, through a 
trembling and prostrate universe. The mean- 
ing is, that in the system of creation most 
worthy of the perfections of the Deity, be- 
cause eventually most conducive to the hap- 
piness of his offspring, some portion of natu- 
ral and root al evil was absolutely unavoidable, 
and that his object is to combine as much as 
possible the least evil with the greatest 
good. In the accomplishment of tiiis sub- 
lime object particular beings may be ex- 
posed to a very considerable share of suf- 
fering ; but this is no imputation upon his 
justice or benevolence. He possesses a 
sovereign right over tlie creatures he has 
formed, and the utmost demand that can 
be made by any beings upon his equity is, 
that in the amount of their existence, mi- 
sery should not predominate over happiness. 
But whatever may be the case with certain 
individuals, there is reason to presume and 
believe, that with respect to the intelligent 
and moral creation as a whole, suffering 
will at length nearly disappear in the grand 
mass and display of enfSymeiit. That 
union of wisdom, power, and goodness, 
which it appears inevitable to ascribe to 
God, seems to guarantee an issue of his 
schemes and government, thus honourable 
to his nature, and thus happy for his off- 
spring. With resignation therefore, and 
even transport, we may contemplate this 
glorious Being, sitting at the helm of the 
universe, managing all affairs, and adminis- 
tering the whole scries of events, guiding 
all to his magnificent purposes, guided him- 
self by consummate knowledge and inex- 
haustible kindness, impelling every act, 
reflection and feeling of his intelligent crea- 
tion, himself impelled by bis own boundless 
views and eternal benevolence. For the 
arguments on the other side of the question, 
viz. the “ Liberty of the Will.” See Will, 
fil/erty of. 
