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Untitled Article
may be given to this objection . Tn the first place it may be replied , lhat though all analogical reasoning" is founded upon a comparison of the lower with the higher parts of the creation , and of the higher with the lower ; vet this objection suonoses lower ; yet this objection supposes
Hi at comparison to he carried farther than it can be carried with safety , or than , in fact , it ever is carried ; namely , to the final destinies of creatures of different orders . It is impossible to conclude that the final destiny of a being of a superior order is of a certain nature , because that is the
destiny of a being of an inferior order . A striking conformity between a particular organization in a fly and in a man , may lead to the conclusion that that organization is designed to answer a similar purpose in both . This deduction from analogy is fair and conclusive . But if because at a certain
period of its existence this insect changes its state , and that change of state is attended with a total loss of conscious existence , it be inferred that when at a certain period man undergoes a change , apparently very similar , this change is in him also attended with a total loss of consciousness , this
deduction of analogy is not fair and conclusive : because there may be something in the nature of a being possessing the faculties of a man to prevent that change from being final , while in an insect possessing only the properties of a fly , that something
may not exist—being already distinguished from the fly by the noble faculty of reason , he may be still further distinguished from it by the property of surviving his apparent disorganization—or their Creator may have something in view by appointing the change in one which he may not have
in the other . The analogy to this extent therefore does not hold , but to this extent the objection under consideration supposes it to hold ; for it supposes that human beings may be prematurely destroyed because the rudiments of an insect or a vegetable are so . It is therefore a false
analogy - There is also another very important view to be taken of this subject . Nothing is more evident than that the inferior part of the creation may , and that in many cases it actually is , made for the use of the superior . To minister to the convenience and comfort of the higher is the final cause of the
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existence of the lower orders of ij ie creation , and supposing these lower orders to be in the mean time happy as far as they are capable of happV ness , which always is the case ; this is a plan of wonderful and matchless wisdom and beauty . Supposing , for
example , it were wise and good in the Deity to give to the superior animals of our globe their present constitution , a constitution , that is , to the support of which many of the fruits of the earth and many of the inferior animals are necessary , then it is a most beautiful instance of his
wisdom and goodness to make such a provision that those fruits and animals shall always sufficiently abound ; nay , that they shall super-abound . For were they from any cause to fail the most disastrous consequences must ensue to those higher orders for whom alone the inferior exist . Now the onlv
way by which it seems possible to guard against such a calamity is , to provide in every period more of these inferior beings than is absolutely necessary at any period 5 and there will appear the greater reason for this
when it is considered that by this super-abundance itself beauty and enjoyment are multiplied in the exact degree in which there is a super-abundance . For this super-abundance of possible existence therefore we see the
most wise and benevolent reason , so that though every blossom do not ripen into fruit , nor every embryo develope its latent faculties , this is so far from being a proof of the frustration of the plans of the Deity that it is the reverse : for the provision of
tiiissuper-abundance is the very means he has adopted to secure their accomplishment . Though these blossoms and embryos perish they still fulfil the design of their creation . Had they been necessary , they were ready the
to ripen into maturity to supply existing want ; but not being so they read a most instructive lesson to the intelligent creation : they say to it-Behold the never-failing care of your Creator to provide for your happ iness , ' and then are seen no more .
But there is also a second answer which may be given to this objection . Every blossom it is said does not ripen into fruit , neither does every embn grow to the maturity of which u > capable , and for which it seems " t MS . imperfect . — -Ed .
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12 $ Philosophical Objection to Universal Resteration
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 428, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/28/
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