On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    contend that the circumstance of the maximum density of watery being fixed above its freezing point , is as evident a mark of design as any in the whole animal economy ; but if we have recourse to the designing agent for this property of this substance , why not for its other properties ? and if tor all the properties

    of water , why not for all the properties of « very other substance whatever ? and if all material properties be derivable from Deity * then did he to all intents and purposes create matter , for I have already shewn that to our judgments , the-existence of matter without its properties > is impossible . This conclusion concerning the power of Deity , is not , " I think , carried * ' farther than his works warrant ,, nor than reason will permit . " I shall now proceed to his examination of the power of Deity ;

    which he pronounces is not infinite * He asks , pao ; e 241 , " what father even among men , would send his chifdTen to-Lapland , if he covild provide for them in the fertile fields oF Lombardy V The answer to this question is not difficult : if he were a Lombard he would most probably keep them in Lombardy , but if a Laplander , he would as probably keep them in Lapland ; in fact the diversity of climates , so far from beki < £

    an argument against the infinite power of Deity , is an argument in favour of it ; for 5 as if with an intention to manifest that power , he has stocked every climate with animals and vegetables suited to it , whilst to man , his darling , he has given , the power of inhabiting all climates ; in all climates he enjoys health and happiness , and in all climates he offers up to his benevolent Creator the praises of a grateful heart . The Inquirer's arguments , p . * 242—247 , are certainly urged with a ptnver which it is scarcely possible to resist , unless we suppose that alF ) present evils are bvit steps in the process of obtaining the great- / est possible ultimate good , { i . e . that they are not evils abso-y lutely ); and even then wemu 6 t suppose that there is a connexion

    between means and ends , independent on the divme rnthd , on which subject so beautiful an essav appeared in your 13 th No , ** But let us see if his theory does account for moral evil ; this consummation so devoutly to be wished ! Whence does moral evil arise ? does it not arise from our passions ? cc Whence come wars and fightings among you ? come they not even of your lusts which war in your members } " How much misery * and vice has Mr . Malthus shewn to be caused by the exuberance of one passion ? Yet this and all other passions the Inquirer derives from Deity , and denies that they are inherent in matter , but if Deity is their author , he , had he pleased , might have }> Q " nicely balanced ttaeitij as to adjnit no iatcrual % var /* It \ s * Vol . It , jj . 14 .

    Untitled Article

    Strictures on ( * Physical and Metepkysteal Inquiries * " 46 T

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/15/