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nevertheless prolong this state of felicity by repeated renewals , and fresh exertions of his power , I reply , that bad it been his will he might by the frequent exertion of the same power have perpetuated such a state from the beginning-, and might if consistent with his wisdom have rendered
permanent by the same means , such a concurrence of moral circumstances as would in the first instance have prevented the wrong volitions of his rational creatures . In short , if it was impossible for the Divine Being to prevent the intrusion of evil into his works at any one period , it will be equally impossible at all times ;
for no improvements in the human mind , no future expedients adopted in the counsels of the Most High , can ever diminish the absurdity of supposing him capable of communicating to bis creatures his own infinite and adorable attributes .
This cause , therefore , I confess , does not appear to me to afford a satisfactory solution of the difficulty in question . Where a gradation of intelligent creatures is the system adopted , and thjs we have reason to suppose
is the only one consistent with optimism , the evils arising from imperfection must unavoidably exist ; but surely the evils proceeding solely from this source , if , indeed , they deserve that name , may easily be imagined to
take place , without the necessity of those dreadful ills to which human hfe is at present subject . The mere negation of higher privileges and blessings may well consist both with the benevolence of the great Parent of nature , and with the happiness of his offspring ; and , indeed , I am at a loss
to conceive why limited attributes are nicapuble of subsisting with no other 3 lis than those of imperfection , which may be comparatively insignificant , or why they should be altogether incompatible with an exemption from moral and physical evils , in the common acceptation of those terms . The
supposition , that the misery of the ftumati race , in all the multifarious lirins which I * daily assumes , could . Possibl y be prevented , in the oripnal formation of the world , must laevitubl y impress tlie mind with degra img ideas of the attributes of the u preme Being , and present the most
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gloomy view of his superintending providence . According to this comfortless theory , the man who is called to endure the exacerbations of some incurable disease , or who is sinking under the destructive oppression of mental anguish , has no other consolation than the reflection that infinite
benevolence , though aided by infinite power , could not have prevented the infliction of those ills , and , what is more , can afford no security against their recurrence . Admitting , however , the impossibility of excluding the tortures of body and distraction of mind , incident to
the species , created as they were with , so much inherent imperfection , we may still venture to ask why creative power should proceed so low in the scale of existence , and whv it should not have been confined to those parts in the series , of which the unavoidable
imperfection does not imply any excess of misery . If the lower ranks in the descending gradation could not be created without subjecting them to the tremendous liability here supposed , may we not inquire , without
impiety , in what consisted the necessity of creating them at all ? Non-existence must be infinitely preferable to a continued preponderance of pain ; and there can be no imaginable cause , therefore , for the creation of so
inferior a being as man , except the communication of happiness . If , then , on the one hand , it be affirmed that the overwhelming evils to which some part of the human race are subject
could not be prevented , and cannot be remedied , is not the original purpose of the Creator defeated , and the most glorious of his attributes rendered abortive ? On the other hand , if it be
alleged that the miseries of which we are speaking can be remedied , then I should contend , that allowing the author of them to be possessed of infinite power , the y might with equal ease have been altogether avoided .
It seems to be an opinion authorized by the creed of almost every denomination of Christians , that the imperfections of the human race are so numerous and so predominant , that by far the greater part of the species will fail in securing the ultimate felicity promised to the obedient ; and heoce , if the first supposition be true , that
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On tlie possible Exclusion of Moral and Natural Evil . $ 27
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 527, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/31/
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