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Untitled Article
without touching upon , the second , ( p 740 which' I should have presumed ' would have had his appro-Jf we admit the existence of God , as the Creator of all-things , I think it will follow as an unavoidable
consequence , that all lifeless matter that he has formed must obey the laws with which it is impressed , and that therefore not an atom is to be found , which did not necessarily occupy the
station and perforin the office for which it was appointed . 1 mean when such atom has not been acted upon or influenced by living existence . So far we seem to proceed , without the intervention of hypothesis , upon grounds absolutely certain , taking for
granted only , that matter and its laws were created and made by an intelligent being . If An Old Inquirer deem this a gratuitous hypothesis , namely , that intelligent being created all matter , and impressed it with its laws , I confess it to be an hypothesis — but one , which seems not onl y reasonable , but what is now generally admitted . So far then , as lifeless matter is
concerned , I think we need not enter upon any farther illustration . A vast class of living beings , which we . do not deenv rational and moral agents , next invite our inquiry , the birds in the air , the fishes in the sea , and the innumerable irrational animals on the earth . The question then will be , do these ever act , or can they act , in
contrariety to the laws to which their Creator nas subjected them ? Have they independent powers , or do they necessaril y follow the laws of their nature ? For it will not , cannot be denied that they are created subject to certain laws . They have feeling , feel pleasure and Da in . and necessarilv pleasure and painand necessaril
, y avoid the one and choose the other . Iheir actions , are they the simple result of those feelings , or have they a Jberty of self-determination ? In as was we can judge from observation , ™ ey appear to follow their feelings ! L ? ' ^ ° we cannot perceive that ™« y have any thing to oppose to these L VHP- We kill the tyger because e ? estroys us , not because in so doing ,
IV Sme to abuse his lihert Y nd act contrary to his nature . All a ctions of these immense tribes ° P | anlmals > if they be the 8 j mpie resu j t tl laws of , their nature , and not
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the effect of independent powers , are therefore as much the appointment of God , as the place and action of every atom of lifeless matter . We may be confounded by the variety of effect , and wonder how any mind could comprehend such a vast machinery ; but
we are no less confounded by the powers of creation . Thus then all matter and its effects , arid all animals which we see , and their actions , are of divine appointment , or the necessary effects of creating ; power ; except indeed the actions of men , which must now he examined .
Either man is governed in his whole conduct by the fixed laws of his nature , or he is emphatically free in all his voluntary conduct—there is no middle supposition which is tenable , and under these opposite suppositions , the greatest names have arranged
themselves in argument and disputation . I presume not to determine the question , but onl y to reason upon the consequences of either supposition . If man then be an agent perfectly free in all his voluntary conduct , it will follow that he possesses a power from his Creator , which he exerts at
pleasure , concerning the enect of which nothing can be predicated . Whatever evils men occasion b y their voluntary conduct , and wnatever good , is ascribable to them , and not to their Creator . If God formed the first male and
female with such powers , then he appointed not the existence of the human race , for it depended upon their voluntary co-operation whether the race should proceed . God gave the powers , the use or abuse of , them belongs only to man . According to this reasoning , the maximum of happiness and misery may be fixed ; but whatever of happiness or misery be the effect of the voluntary powers of men , as these are free and independent powers , are not of divine appointment ,
but arrange themselves under Dr . Paley ' s scheme of chance . Whatever sufferings come upon brute animals , by the voluntary conduct of man , as it was not foreseen or appointed , is not resolvable into the will of God .
This supposition places man in an awful situation , and he cannot but wish that the first pair had died without issue . . On the opposite supposition that
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On the Divine Government . 527
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 527, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/27/
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