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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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sii ^ J ^^ ^ * & ** fr ^ ft * 5 # ty W tfee pragi ^ sa of . Jjf ; J $ ibe ^ ity . iflf * the poiwer ol remedying & £ ^ vija existing , in the universe , tike same power would have
enabled mm to . prevent them altogether ; £ w K he cannot exclude evil at one period , he cannot , for the ; same reason ^ e ^ ol pde it at agay other , that is , he ggtw ' eoii * But if the evils of the world be incapable of remedy ,
then the benevolence of the Almighty must , ia numerous cases , be defeated , and we cannot rel y upon his Provi * deftce with any confidence or security . 4- This theory , ia one point s bearsi some resemblance to the Manichteai .
system , because , in each , evil is said to originate without the appointment and . volition of thp Creator , and because with all bis power and all his benevolence , he finds it impossible to prevent its intrusion into his works . 5 . The notion that the Divine Being
is obliged to apply remedies to the defects aad misery which he could not avoid at the creation , and that ha should be under the necessity of renewing ( accojxJuig to Mr . IJ / s statement ) the existence of those upon Whom he naeans to confer eternal life ,
reduces him to the condition of a human mechanist , who , haying con- , stjructed $ onae coxnpJUcated machine ,, is compelled frequently to repair the : ( Jefects much his skill could Wtf , in , the ftrat instance , prevent , and tor wiu . J up the spring at certain intervals , iu order to continue the requisite
movements , 6 . We see numerous instances in > which men pa ^ ss through life without incurring those severer jna ^ adies of body an 4 mifcd to which others becp « ie martyrs ^ au < L if tbs Sijnrew * Being could exempt o # e individual ,
he must possess tb # saroq power with respect to e ^ eiry otbe * , should his wiU prop ^ pj ; Jj # n } to >** # & , it * Hence wej majf conclude tf * at where it ya > not ; thuw e , xerte <^ it do . es . ^ ot ap ^ e from wiMptyOky , bu ^ becau ^ e ^ | ie ha 3 <^^ P ° ^/ w ^ % X ^ r ^^ ««| iO < mR 9 ; . ^ 9 f t suaqriogs ejbpuld ^ aKa place . Any ^ i * to ^ i wv ^ fo ^ M m
fe ^^ W ^ K ft ^ f ^ t thpugh tb © k ^ mfi ^ m > W ^^ ^ ijtimilPHhy B ^\ i % ^ fF W 9 ^^ w * * mp % / , The nega . Uon . or a ^ wtf qf vp $ ^
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feetfon $ oe * mt i mk ^ m ^ Bm ^^ m pain mi mi ^ ry , and it i ^; themwi * erjf conceivable & $£ iwiW ^ Hft raoJu of imperfect beings , ^ bordimte ta each other , may exist withtttit the necessity of li ^ iterg ^ W wret ehedness either of body or mind . It | a a jtiat
observation of ftoarne Jenyne , ( from whom your correspondent seenas . to have borrowed some of his sentiments on other points , ) that the eivils of imperfection are in truth no evils at all , but rather the absence of some coni- >
parative gooi * 8 . That pleasure could not exist without its contrast—pain and anxiety , and that all happiness is necessarily inseparable from evil , as maintained by Mr , H ., ^ re nothing more than gratuitous assertions . Where is the proof th < at the tortures qccasioned by the dreadful malady of thestone , for example , are inseparable from
enjoyment , or necessarily conduct to it ? Iina ^ rae the cas e ol an atrocious and irreclairoable ofibnder , who after enduring excruciating pain brought on by sonie fatal accident , at length on * dergoes all the horrors of death in its worst form * Will any one undertake to prove that this condition of
wretchedness will necessarily produce its contrast—enjoyment and ease ? If the n < Uural tendency of evil is to produce good , then the greater the evil , and the longer it lasts , the more intense will becoaoe the happiness resulting from it * whether of body or Dfttotd . And as this theory must apply $ 5 well to moral as to natural ill , the
natore profligate and iniquitous a mam may he , the more exalted tvill be the t * ap pines $ , to which , as its contrast ^ his conduct wUl lead ^ which , in truth , is BQthing le ^ e than , saying , that vice oug&t tf > be recommended' as the
surest and fc& £ shortest path to virtue . 9 . Sq for from having any proof that all paw i ^ firotu its o wn ; inirtmio nature , productive of happiness , vre have reason to helieve , feraib ^ wbatJ w « ofeserve of : bodily suff ^ ripg ^ that unle ^ ooiwiteriicted , coiurotled , m&A n ^ ade the imtrument of f ^ ood ^ it w&uM increase aad become * n ^ are inttsuto . Th ^ tt it ahoiild 8 pcintane € uu % diminiab > W&w co ^ ti ^ Jpyfto ali fcs ^ rifeace
r . . [ - -j l \ . ^ r . •»;? 7 U ; ; : * ff Free Inquiry into tti ^ Ofaiw ^ ftfl *
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of winding Evil from the Crtatwn . Jttl
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1823, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1791/page/21/
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