A THEODICY;

OR,

VINDICATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY,

AS MANIFESTED IN THE

CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE MORAL WORLD.

BY ALBERT TAYLOR BLEDSOE,

PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

MOLIC

New-Dark

PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,

200 MULBERRY-STREET.

1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by

CARLTON & PHILLIPS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York.

Contents.

INTRODUCTION.

OF THE POSSIBILITY OF A THEODICY .....

............PAGE

9

§ I. The failure of Plato, and other ancient philosophers, to construct a

theodicy, not a ground of despair......................................

11

§ II.-The failure of Leibnitz not a ground of despair...........

15

§ III.-The system of the moral universe not purposely involved in obscurity

to teach us a lesson of humility.............................................

19

§ IV. The littleness of the human mind a ground of hope...............

21

§ V. The construction of a theodicy not an attempt to solve mysteries, but to

dissipate absurdities...........

24

§ VI. The spirit in which the following work has been prosecuted, and the

relation of the author to other systems......

23

PART I.

THE EXISTENCE OF MORAL EVIL, OR SIN, CONSISTENT WITH THE HOLI-

NESS OF GOD..........

31

CHAPTER I.-THE SCHEME OF NECESSITY DENIES THAT MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE

EXISTENCE OF SIN...

33

§ I.-The attempts of Calvin and Luther to reconcile the scheme of necessity

with the responsibility of man.........

34

§ II. The manner in which Hobbes, Collins, and others, endeavour to reconcile

necessity with free and accountable agency...........

41

§ III. The sentiments of Descartes, Spinoza, and Malebranche, concerning the

relation between liberty and necessity...

45

§ IV. The views of Locke, Tucker, Hartley, Priestley, Helvetius, and Diderot,

with respect to the relation between liberty and necessity........

50

§ V. The manner in which Leibnitz endeavours to reconcile liberty and neces-

sity.........

VI.-The attempt of Edwards to establish free and acc、 untable agency on the

basis of necessity-The views of the younger Edward., Day, Chalmers, Dick,

D'Aubigne, Hill, Shaw, and M'Cosh, concerning the agreement of liberty

and necessity.

54

61

§ VII. The sentiments of Hume, Brown, Comte, and Mill, in relation to the

antagonism between liberty and necessity......

72

§ VIII. The views of Kant and Sir William Hamilton in relation to the

antagonism between liberty and necessity.........

73