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by whom these laws were established , and of whose mighty energies they are in fact nothing more than the modes of operation ? Mr . L * . has undertaken the very superfluous labour of proposing such a case and arguing upon it . " Suppose
a coach to be overset , carrying six passengers—two of them killed on the spot , two maimed for life , and the remaining two totally unhurt . How is this to be explained ? " Among other solutions which he imagines of this ' * difficult problem , " one is , that " the downfal was the effect of
universal rules established by Omnipotence as the permanent laws of nature ; " another , " that the accident itself was in , the common course of cause and effect , but that the Almighty interposed his power to save the lives of the two who escaped , and left the other four to their fate / ' The first is
that which he himself adopts ; the other , he seems to take it for granted , would have been preferred by Mrs . Cappe . With respect to his own solution , it may be sufficient to observe , that it involves an absurdity in ascribing a physical effect to a mere abstraction of his own mind . An effect
can only be produced by some agent ; now , a rule is not an agent , but only the mode according to which some agent operates . The laws of motion and gravitation , to which he would refer the effect in question , are not beings , and therefore not agents . They are in reality , us I have just observed , mere abstractions of our
own mmds , devised in order to enable us coinmotfiously to . express in one general proposition , a great variety of phenomena , which present themselves to our notice , under circumstances more or less qlosely analogous . Who , then , is the agent by whom these effects are produced ? In the case of
the law of gravitation , are we to suppose that the earth exerts a positive inherent fprqe to draw down every unsupported body to its surface ? Has it intelligence to perceive and pbey the
laws whicji its leaker Jiath imppied upon it ? Is ^ ha earth # servant tnaj « tn bear j ^ ntf , understand t $ he commands qf i | 8 41 pfti g £ ty Lo * d ? Js < it ln a literal pen ^ that- ^ e ^ vin ^ i ^ e ™ ^ sengegs , W 4 the flaiping fire * us BMAisfeg . ? Xi not 4 ; whom ^ re
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we to ascribe those phenomena , sometimes tljie instrument ^ pf good , at others , in the first instance at least , of evil , of which in popular language these inanimate objects are represented as the causes ? In ascending through
the aeries of second causes , how can we stop any where till . we arrive at that Infinite Being who hath declared by the mouth of his prophet , " I form the light and create darkness -I , make peace and create evil ; I the Lord do all these things V
Supposing , then , that such a circumstance as this had actually occuired , and I jyyere called upon to furnish a solution of the problem , I should say , that this , like every other event that occurs throughout the universe , is the result of the immediate exertion
of divine power , directed to the production of that particular effect , but operating according to the uniform and regular plan which has been wisely established , in order to render this world 9 , school in which men may learn wisdom from experience . The effect in this instance was awful and
mysterious ;—I do not presume to account for it ; but as it constitutes a part of the great plan of Providence , as it was the necessary consequence of the previous circumstances , arising out of them at that particular time and place , as infallibly as an eclipse or a transit , —so I firmly believe that it was connected with other effects in a
high degree beneficial , and , in fact , ( to adopt the language of a doctrine that has often been ridiculed , but can never be disproved , ) formed an essential p ^ rt of the best possible system- * As for the other solution , every one
must admit that it is in a high degree irrational and derogatory to the I ^ ivine perfections ; bat nothing can b ^ jpaore reuqote f rom Xl ^ e view of a p arti cular Providence as maintained by Mrs . Cappe- i should nat , therefore , have taken any further notiqe of this part
* For some futtjier detail ' s on this part of the subject , I hope I may ; be perfnitted to refer to an E $ say on the Different Views of 'Providence , i user ted in the Monthly Repository , fvz Aqarust , 1814 .
Th ^ tp ^ perjeorcjanxsq . nxy earliest thoughts pn jihjb ? ^]> j «^ kw ^ i < & $ , niQre matured , and at le&at annually repeated examioattiop of , 11 , havp . fujly ^ c ^ firipcd .
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Mr ^ W' ! Farn !®?*\ " " Reply to Remarks on a Particular JPrfvidenci ? . 403
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 403, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/35/
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