every man, as well as the story of his outer and public life, and this confusion will clear away almost as fully as in the case of the physical universe. I say "almost as fully;" for it cannot be denied, that the problem is more complicated in its very nature; - the material universe, in all its large features, presents to us exclusively the picture of God's doings; the moral world, so far as it is visible to our eyes, shows the union of man's action with that of his Maker. God still governs, and that absolutely; but through moral, not mechanical means. Human freewill is allowed a large theatre on which to develop itself, and the results are necessarily more complex and intricate than when Divine agency alone is exerted. Still, the government prevails, order reigns, eternal laws are prescribed and enforced, and the purposes of the Almighty are carried out. In the distribution of bodily and mental health and disease; in the conditions of what is called success in life; in the secret contentment and joy which wait on the unostentatious fulfilment of ordinary duties, and in the glow and exaltation of feeling which accompany and reward a great apparent sacrifice for the right; in the institutions of society and the sympathies of mankind, which aim directly to encourage the good and to punish the evil-doer; in these and many other circumstances, I see all the grand features of a comprehensive plan, wisely contrived and efficiently carried out, to win men to the practice of virtue and to punish every violation of the moral law. If, in a few cases, I behold apparent exceptions to the rule, or am not able to trace the workings of the plan, I do but follow the ordinary principles of scientific method and inductive logic in maintaining, with full-assured belief, that a more complete knowledge of the circumstances would show that the scheme operates even here, the seeming anomalies being in truth its most beautiful exemplifications. If a planet on the outer verge of our system shows perturbations for which, according to our present knowledge of that system, the law of gravity will not account, I do not therefore conclude that the law is suspended in this single case, but rather wait with firm trust for the progress of discovery to point out some still exterior orb, as yet invisible to mortal --- eyes, the action of which will explain the seeming disturbance, and make the law appear as universal as it is wise. The general rule should not be sought for in isolated cases. The argument for the moral government, the justice and benevolence of the Deity in his ways with men, has, I think, suffered somewhat by the injudicious course of those who have treated it, in dwelling at too great length upon these isolated cases and seeming anomalies, as if at least a probable explanation of every one of them was needed before we could believe in the system; or as if there could be no government at all, unless, with our present imperfect means of information, we could plainly see that it was a perfect government. But the man of science will tell you, that the principle which really holds throughout a class is to be sought for, not among the few scattered members of that class which are least known, but in the vast majority of those cases which are most directly exposed to observation. Look away from these specks and anomalies, and contemplate the broad features of the case. He who, on the evidence thus presented, will still doubt, whether the general and widely prevailing tendency of this world's affairs is really to uphold the law of conscience by a system of rewards and punishments graduated to that end, and actually intended by the Disposer of all things so to influence the conduct of men, is not a person to be reasoned with, but to be pitied. How anomalous facts in history are to be explained. — The history of distant countries and past ages affords some perplexities in this view of the subject, precisely because it is a very imperfect description of men and events that are little known. We are prone to consider nations as individuals, morally responsible, and having a continuous life; and hence to require that their external fortunes should be adjusted to their deserts, and thus the justice of God be vindicated on a large scale. Why, then, we ask, for instance, were the Northern barbarians allowed to overrun what was then the only enlightened portion of the globe, and to tread out all but the last spark of learning and civilization, as it seemed, for centuries to come? I answer, first, that the researches of modern historians and philosophical inquirers have fully established the point, that this seeming deluge of barbarism actually renovated a soil that had become effete, and planted in it the fresh seeds of knowledge and progress, which afterwards shot up in such luxuriance at the Revival of Letters. If a stranger, wholly unacquainted with the circumstances of the case, should happen to visit Egypt at the season when all its cultivated fields are under water, and the inhabitants are compelled to move about in boats, he would probably conclude that the inundation of the Nile was a judg ment upon the people for their sins. I answer, secondly, that a nation has only a fictitious unity and personality, individuals being the only actual subjects of the Divine government. Now history teaches us but very little about individuals, except of the few who occupy thrones or other prominent stations in the state, and who, from the very peculiarity of their position, afford us no safe rule by which we can estimate the characters and fortunes of the multitude. If, therefore, when we trace the fortunes of nations, the operation of the law is not very manifest, this is precisely what we might expect. Let the inquirer take the history of a single person, especially his own history, the only one that he can know thoroughly, and the fact that he lives under the Divine government becomes far more obvious. Let him inquire whether his own situation and experience furnish greater inducements for the practice of virtue or vice, and there is little fear that he will arrive at a false conclusion. It is true, then, in the moral as well as the physical sense, that God governs the earth, governs it, too, in both cases, not by secondary causes or vicarious means, but by the direct and constant exertion of his own wisdom and power. The belief of the pious heart is also the conclusion of the enlightened understanding, that the will of the Almighty determines all events, and disposes them for good. Science adopts and sanctions the theory of religion in regard to an overruling-Providence ; — the theory which discerns a moral purpose in all things, maintaining that they were specially designed to produce a certain effect on the character and the conduct; which subordinates the physical to the moral, considering the former as means, and the latter as an end; which regards life as a gift and a trust, to be exercised for certain purposes, and death as a warning and a token that, in a particular case, these purposes have been accomplished. CHAPTER VI. THE GOODNESS OF GOD. Summary of the last chapter. The brief examination, in the last chapter, of the contents of the law imprinted upon the conscience, of the nature of the precepts which it issues for our observance, was intended to prove, that these injunctions reveal to us the character and attributes, as well as the purposes, of the Almighty. They do so, because they answer no lower purpose; they are not subservient as means to any end but this. They were not required to stimulate the body or mind to exertion, or to direct that exertion, or to preserve and uphold the arrangements and the workings of the material universe. They are of absolute obligation, so that the advantages which the observance of them actually procures are to be considered as their guards and enforcers, not as their purpose or final cause. Consequently, they are, to the human mind which receives them, a revelation of pure will, or a manifestation of the Divine nature and glory, irrespective of any purposes which may be answered by the display. Requiring perfection, or unlimited obedience, they show the perfections of their Author. The scheme of Divine government, I attempted to show, includes a system of rewards and punishments, which follow immediately upon the observance or transgression of the law. Human life presents so many instances of these as to make the conclusion irresistible, that the current of this world's affairs, the natural course of events, is superintended and directed with a view to moral retribution. The object of the pains and pleasures which we experience, whether they grow out of our connection with the body, appearing as health or disease; or out of the relations which bind men together in society, then taking the form of success or failure in life, and of the honors and penalties which society has to bestow; or out of the constitution of the mind itself, in the various forms and degrees of remorse or inward gratification and the consciousness of merit ; — the object, I say, in all these cases, is to uphold and enforce the law of right. That the incidents of life are distributed with a view to this end is the general rule; the apparent instances of an unequal or fortuitous distribution of them are only apparent, and they are the exceptions. There are a few seeming anomalies, which are most apt to present themselves in the consideration of those cases of which we know the least, - for instance, of historical personages and events, while they very seldom trouble one's retrospect of his own experience; here, knowing all, he knows that the law is carried out completely. And the proper conclusion, from the presence of such anomalies as we cannot explain, is, not that the doctrine of a superintending Providence must be given up altogether, that doctrine being supported by the vast majority of cases, but that we do not always know how such a Providence acts. It is certain that we are under a scheme of government; but we are not able to follow all the workings of that scheme, or to assure ourselves, from direct observation, that it is perfect. The belief of the pious mind is hereby amply confirmed, that all events which affect our personal welfare, are dispensations of almighty wisdom and justice. The infliction of pain not inconsistent with benevolence. — It has not been without design, that I have placed the argument for the moral government of God by a system of rewards and punishments before the consideration of the evidences of the Divine benevolence, though this is reversing the order usually adopted by writers upon the subject. But it is certain that the claims of justice are superior to those of mere benevolence. |