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    wisdom ; If it cannot attain the end it chooses but by the instrumentality of suitable means ; then there exists nothing in what we see or experience that can invalidate any clear ,

    positive evidence that God is good—that can set aside any sound argument to prove that he is supremely good—or , in other words , that well-grounded as well as delightful is the idea , that he wills every sentient creature to be happy . Then too , or rather therefore , there is nothing to forbid—there is much to countenance—the cheering hope of a future state , wherein ,

    sooner or later , we shall all be raised to happiness . It is to be particularly observed here , that wherever wisdom is admitted , there is a plan that has a beginning , middle , and end—a system j of which the parts bear a relation , but are riot alike to each other , and together combine to form one whole—a design , the

    symmetry of which may perhaps be conjectured , but cannot be clearly discerned by one to whose eye a portion only is exposed ? Wherever means are used , there is contrivance to bring about some remote end ; there is a process that requires time , and a succession of operations to carry it to perfection ; there is , in

    short , a progressive state of improvement , concerning which , If under the direction of wisdom , it may justly be remarked ^ that if , when beheld at any given moment , it strikes us as defective , we may safely argue , from that very defect , that it is not yet brought to its conclusion . To ascertain , if possible , what is the great ultimate end of the administration of the Supreme Ruler , what will be the result of the laws of his government with regard to everyone of us , must surely be deemed by all who believe that he is and presides over the universe , of all

    objects of inquiry the most important and interesting . No \ 4 r that this end is the production of individual and universal happiness , that this result will be our being made , each of us , to rejoice with well-grounded gladness in the gift of existence , must be manifest , if we can obtain satisfactory proof of God ' s benevolence , of his being truly , essentially , perfectly good . If

    with this view the general laws by which this world is governed be all , one by one , duly examined , the direct tendency , the final cause of each of them will be found to be the production of happiness . To this let it be added , that the highest excellence that can be conceived of is goodness , or sincere active love towards every thing that has feeling ; that man is capable of acquiring this excellence in a high degree , and that no creature can be more excellent than the Creator ; and , further still ,

    that he who has all things within himself cannot be imagined to be actuated by any other motive than the desire of doing that which is in itself most excellent * Now tijese considerations seem to me to amount to satisfactory proof that God is

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    18 Essay on Divine Wisdom .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1807, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2376/page/18/