LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 19 
LETTER III. 
MY DEAR HARRIET, 
I think I cannot begin this letter 
better than by quoting the words of the author 
of the Introduction to Entomology: " God, in all 
the evil which he permits to take place,, whether 
spiritual, moral, or natural, has the ultimate good 
of his creatures in view. The evil that we suffer 
is often a counter-check, which restrains us from 
greater evil, or a spur to stimulate us to good : 
we should therefore consider every thing not ac- 
cording to the present sensations of pain, or the 
present loss or injury that it occasions, but ac- 
cording to its more general, remote, and per- 
manent effects and bearings ; — whether by it we 
are not impelled to the practice of many virtues, 
which otherwise might lie dormant in us — 
whether our moral habits are not improved — 
whether we are not rendered by it more prudent, 
cautious, and wary, more watchful to prevent 
evil, more ingenious and skilful to remedy it-j 
