PREFACE.
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in publick: he knows, that mankind live
all in masquerade, and that whoever presumes to come amongst them barefaced must
expect to be abused by the whole Assembly:
he could therefore have no motive for thus
imparting his free sentiments to the publick,
except the dictates of his own heart, which
tell him, that it is every man's duty, who
comes into the world, to use his best endeavours, however insignificant, to leave it as
much wiser, and as much better as he can.
Induced by this motive alone he at first undertook this Inquiry; and now, actuated by
the same principle, and unprovoked by all
the senseless misapprehensions, and malicious misconstructions, with which it
has been tortured, he will here, with all possible conciseness, endeavour to explain
those
parts of it, which have been so misunderstood, or misrepresented, and give
satisfaction to all, who are either able or willing to understand it.
The first Letter treats of Evils in general, and endeavours to
prove, that they all owe their existence, not to any voluntary admission of
a benevolent Creator, but to the necessity of their own natures, that is, to the
impossibility
of excluding them from any system of created beings whatever; and that in all
such systems, however wisely contrived, they must have, and must at all times
have had a place. Against this, but one material objection has been urged; which
is this, that, in order to make room for this necessity of Evil, the real
existence
of a paradisiacal state is represented as at all times impossible; and
consequently,
the Mosaick account of that state is utterly exploded, on which the whole fabrick
of the Christian Religion is erected. How far the literal belief of
that account is essential to the true faith of a Christian, need not be here decided;
because not the least mention of it is made in this Letter: and therefore this
objection is intirely founded on a mistake. The argument there made use of, is only
this, that some have endeavoured to justify the goodness of God from the introduction
of Evil, by asserting, that at the beginning there was no such thing, but that,
at first, all creation came out of his omnipotent hand, endued with absolute perfection, and free from all Evil, both Natural and moral: to
shew,
that this was an ancient opinion, some lines are quoted from Ovid's Metamorphosis,
describing the Golden Age, in such a state of perfect happiness and innocence;
on which the Author, thinking them to be no part of any one's Creed, imagined
himself at liberty to observe, that from the nature of
man, and the nature of this terrestrial globe, which he inhabits, the real
existence
of such a state seemed impossible; and therefore, that these descriptions of
it could be nothing more, than amusing dreams, and inchanting fables. This bears
not the least reference to the Mosaick Account of Paradise, in which such a State
of absolute perfection, void of all Evil, is so far from being described, that the
Serpent, or the Devil, the parent of all Evil, is one of the principal characters
of that History; which therefore by no means contradicts the proposition here
asserted.
The second Letter undertakes to shew, that Evils of Imperfection
are in truth no Evils at all; but only the absence of comparative good,
resulting solely from the necessary inferiority of some Beings with regard to others, which cannot
be prevented in a system of creation, whose very essence consists in a chain of
subordination, descending from infinite
perfection to absolute nothing. To this likewise one objection only has been
made; which is, that no such chain of subordinate Beings, reaching from infinite
perfection to absolute nothing, can, in fact, exist; for this notable reason;
because
no being can approach next to infinite perfection; nor any be contiguous to nothing. But this argument being no more than a quibble on metaphysical
terms, to which no precise ideas are affixed, neither deserves, nor is capable of
an answer.
The third Letter treats of Natural Evils;
and attempts to shew that most of these, which we complain of, are derived
likewise from the same source; that is, from the imperfection of
our natures, and our station in the universal system: to this are added three conjectures;
first, that many of our miseries may be owing to some secret, but invincible
disposition
in the nature of things, that renders it impracticable to produce pleasure
exclusive
of pain; a certain degree of which must therefore be endured by individuals, for
the happiness and well-being of the whole: secondly, that many other of our
miseries
may be inflicted on us by the agency of superior Beings, to whose benefit they may
possibly be as conducive as the deaths and sufferings of inferior animals are to
ours: and, lastly, that by the ancient doctrine of Transmigration, the miseries,
which for the sake of general utility we are obliged to suffer in one life, may
be recompensed in another, and so the divine goodness be
sufficiently justified from the admission of them
all. To every one of these some objections have been made: against the first it
has been alledged, that this impracticability to produce pleasure, without pain, whence
arises this utility of the sufferings of individuals for the good of the whole,
is meerly a production of the Author's own daring imagination, founded on no
reason, and supported by no proof. To which he answers, that he proposes it as a conjecture
only; but cannot think it ill-founded, since it is confirmed by the appearance
of every thing around us, and since it is reasonable to believe, that a benevolent
Creator would not have permitted his creatures to have suffered on any other terms.
In ridicule of the second conjecture, it has been asked, with an air of humour, whether we can think
it
credible, that superior beings should ride,
or hunt, or roast, or eat us, as we make use of inferior animals? Which question is
most properly to be answered by another:
whether, in the unbounded system of creation, there may not be numberless methods,
by which beings of different orders may be
subservient to each others uses, totally above
the reach of our comprehensions? To
doubt of which would be like the incredulity of the ignorant peasant, who can
scarce
be persuaded to believe that there is any
thing in the world, some specimen of which
he has not beheld within the narrow limits
of his own parish. To the last it is objected,
that the doctrine of Transmigration being
only the fanciful and exploded opinion of
some ancient Philosophers, in the times of
darkness, ought not, by the Author, to
have been here advanced in direct contradiction to the faith and
tenets of the Christian religion: to which he replies, that he
neither proposes this doctrine as an article of his own belief, or imposes it on others;
but mentions it only as the most rational
conjecture of the human mind, uninformed
by supernatural assistance concerning a future stare: that it is confirmed by Revelation he does not pretend, but that it directly
contradicts it, by no means appears; so silent are the Scriptures concerning the
state
of the soul between death and the resurrection, that the most learned divines still widely
differ on that subject; some maintaining that it enters immediately into a state of retribution; others, of
sleep; and others, of purgation from past offences: why therefore
is it more repugnant to the sense of these
writings, to suppose, that it may possibly animate other bodies during that period, and, at the
last day,
receive such punishments or rewards as is due on the whole account of its past
behaviour? Thus the probability of every one of these conjectures seems to be
sufficiently established, and they appear perfectly consistent with reason, and
not at all contradictory to revelation.
The fourth Letter endeavours to account for Moral Evil: the
most
arduous part of the whole undertaking; to which end it attempts to shew, that the
common opinion, which derives it solely from the abuse of free-will in man, is
ineffectual
for that purpose; and that therefore, though its very essence consists in the
production
of natural Evil, yet it could never have been admitted into the works of a just and
beneficent Creator, if it had not some remote and collateral tendency to
universal
good, by answering some ends beneficial to the immense and
incomprehensible whole:
one of which may possibly be the conversion of unpreventable miseries into just punishment by the
production of guilt, without which they must have been inflicted
on perfect innocence. To this account of
the Origin of Moral Evil, not only many
weighty objections have been made, but
on it many imputations have been laid, of
a most formidable nature, as that it makes
God the cause of all wickedness, destroys
Free-will in man, and consequently roots
up the foundation of all Virtue and Morality whatever; and it is, moreover, charged
with inconsistency and self-contradiction
thro' every part. To all this the Author
replies only, that he is assured, that, if any
intelligent reader will peruse the whole Letter together with candor, and attention, it
will evidently appear that these accusations are entirely groundless.
He makes no manner of doubt, but that man is endued with Free-will, and is
justly punishable for the abuse of it; and hopes he has so expressed himself, through
this whole piece, as to leave no uncertainty of his opinion on that question: all
he means is, that though the abuse of Free-will is undoubtedly the immediate
cause
of Moral Evil, yet it cannot from thence derive its original admission into the
works of a benevolent Creator; because man, not being a self-existent and independent
being, must receive that Will itself, together with his nature and formation, from
the supreme Author of all things: for which reason he cannot apprehend, that the
general wickedness of mankind can be an accident proceeding from their unforeseen wrong elections, by which the whole benevolent
system is defeated; but must be
a part, and a material part too, of the original plan of creation, wisely calculated by
the incomprehensible operations of vice, and
punishment, to promote the good and happiness of the whole. For, to assert, that any
thing has happened which God did not intend, or that he intended any thing which
did not happen, is a language, which may
be allowed to the Poet, or the Orator, but
never to the Philosopher; unless we can suppose, that Omniscience can be disappointed,
and Omnipotence defeated. As to Inconsistency, he denies not the charge; but believes he is not more inconsistent than all
who have undertaken to write on the same subject: the Scriptures themselves are guilty of
the same seeming inconsistency on this
head; they all represent Man as a Being
s perfectly free, punishable, and punished for
his misbehaviour; yet as constantly speak of him as a creature
deriving all his thought, will, and dispositions from his Creator, and under his
perpetual influence, and direction: the appearance of inconsistency in which two
propositions, both undoubtedly true, proceeds only from our ignorance in the nature,
and limits of free-will, and divine influence, and our inability to comprehend them.
In the latter part of this Letter, a few hints are flung out, to shew that on
the principles of the foregoing theory some of the most abstruse doctrines of the
Christian revelation, of original sin, grace, predestination, and vicarious punishment
might be rendered reconcileable to the strictest reason; a proposal from whence
surely much advantage might accrue to the cause of Christianity in general, and
by which possibly some articles of our own Church might be proved to be much
less incompatible
with common sense than they are thought
to be by all those, who will not subscribe
them, and by many, who do: with this,
two classes of men are particularly offended; the rational dissenters, as they
please
to call themselves, and the Methodists: the
former of these having arbitrarily expunged
out of their Bibles every thing, which appears to them contradictory to reason, that
is, to their own reason, or in other words,
every thing which they cannot understand,
are displeased to see those tenets explained,
which they have thought proper to reject:
the latter having embraced these very doctrines only because they appeared unintelligible, are unwilling
to see them cleared up,
and afraid lest those dark and thorny covers
should be laid open, under which they
have so long sheltered themselves from the
rays of reason: with either of these all debate would be vain,
and useless, because the first, though for the most part honest, religious and learned
men, are unable to comprehend any reasoning, which soars above the limits of their
own confined literature, and education; and the others are determined to listen
to no reasoning at all, having with all reason and common-sense declared eternal
warfare.
The design of the fifth Letter is to shew,
that in the government of such imperfect
creatures as men over each other there must
be much unavoidable Evil: that all human
governments, whether of the monarchical,
popular, or mixed kinds, were at first founded on force or interest, and must ever be
supported by the same means, that is, by
compulsion, or corruption, both of which must be productive of innumerable Evils: that
these ought not
to be imputed to God, because he could not have prevented them without the total
alteration of human nature; much less can they be eradicated by men; but that they
may in some measure be lessened by the diminution of Moral Evil, from which all
Political Evils are derived; and therefore that we ought quietly to submit to
these
Evils, when they do not arise to any intolerable degree, and to apply principally
that remedy to the faults of government, which is ever the most effectual, that
is, the amendment of our own. It is no wonder, that a lesson so disagreeable to
the restless humours of most men, and so repugnant to the arts and ends of
faction, should call up against the Author many opponents, who have liberally
bestowed on
him the titles of an enemy to Liberty, and an advocate for corruption, with
the same justice
that a physician might be stiled an enemy to health, and an advocate for the gout,
who in that distemper prescribes patience, and temperance, rather than such inflaming
medicines as might convert it into a more dangerous disease. All that he has
asserted
in this Letter amounts to no more than this: that no government can subsist without
some principle of governing; that is, that men cannot be governed without some means
by which their obedience can be obtained; a proposition, which seems as
incontestible,
as that every effect must have a cause. That all government, must be disagreeable
to those who are governed is demonstrable from the nature and essence of government
itself, which being nothing more than a compulsion of individuals to act in such
a manner in support of society as they are neither wise nor honest
enough to do from the suggestions of their own heads, or heart this compulsion
must be contrary to both their judgments, and inclinations, and consequently
disagreeable,
and for that reason perpetually resisted: some method must therefore be made use
of to overcome the resistance, and what that method can be except force, or
interest,
he cannot find out he is an advocate for neither; except from their
necessity; and,
if any one will point out another, he will readily declare his disapprobation
of them both.
The sixth and last letter proceeds up the same plan as the
rest, and endeavours to shew, that religious Evils, that is,
the defects so visible in all human religion
and the mischievous consequences resulting from them, are not owing to any want of wisdom or goodness in
our Creator, but proceed, like all others, from our nature, and situation, and the
impracticability of giving a perfect religion to an imperfect creature. In order
to explain this it was necessary to point out the particular imperfections, which
in fact do exist in all human religions, whether natural or revealed; not with
any design to depreciate the one, or to invalidate the authority of the other, but
only to account for them consistently with God's wisdom and benevolence:
those
charged upon natural religion have been readily enough agreed to, but those imputed
to revelation have offended many, who have from thence considered the whole of this
Inquiry as intended secretly to undermine the foundations of Christianity, than
which nothing can be more averse from the intentions as well as from the sentiments of the Author: but indeed many late
deistical writers
have attacked that religion so unfairly by insinuating many cavils, which they dared
not express, that they have made it very difficult for any one to treat freely on
that subject, without incurring the suspicion of the same insincerity: of all
such
disingenuous artifices the Author sincerely declares his utmost detestation, and
begs to be understood to mean all that he expresses, and nothing more: he
solemnly professes, that by recounting these imperfections, he is so far from entertaining
any secret designs destructive to that sacred institution, that by it he intended
not only to wrest out of the hands of infidelity those weapons, with which it
has ever been most successfully assaulted, but also to obviate all those doubts and difficulties, which frequently
occur to the minds of thinking men, though no infidels, on viewing the deplorable
state in which all human religion has continued throughout all ages, and the ineffectual
assistance it has received even from this divine interposition itself, by no means
exempted from numberless Evils, and imperfections: to those, who perceive none
of these Imperfections, and consequential Evils, he means not to write, nor
desires
to let in any new light on their tender organs, which can serve only to disturb
their present repose; nor does he aspire to the honour of working for those middle
sized understandings, who can be well fitted with ready made arguments from every
Pulpit: to the learned, impartial, sagacious, and inquisitive, he alone applies,
the establishing one of whom in a rational and well-grounded belief of the
Christian
Religion does more real service to that cause, than the inlisting
legions under that denomination whose immoveable faith proceeds only from their ignorance; that is, who believing without
any reason, can possibly have no reason
for doubting. To account for the corruption of religion it was necessary to specify the particular
abuses, and abusers of
it: and here the Author could scarcely overlook the Clergy: but he hopes that nothing has
escaped his pen, that can throw
the least reflection upon them as Clergy,
but as men only, subject to the same imperfections, and actuated by the same
passions as other men, and pursuing the ends
of self-interest and ambition by the same
paths, in which all others would have trod,
conducted by the same temptations, and
opportunities; he has treated them with no
more freedom than he has done Princes and
Parliaments, Ministers and Patriots, Conquerors and Heroes, and
his work would admit of no partiality; sure he is, that nothing he has said can
bear the most distant relation to the present Clergy of this country, whom he
sincerely thinks are a body of men as honest, learned,
and unprejudiced, as ever existed, and for whose persons and profession, he has
the highest regard. In another part of this Letter there is an assertion, which
has given some offence; which is, that every religion must be corrupted as soon
as it becomes established: this has been thought a reflection upon all national
churches, and a persuasion to schism, and dissention; but those, who think thus,
totally misapprehend the tenor of this whole work, which endeavours to prove, that
every thing human must be attended with Evils, which therefore ought to be submitted to with patience
and resignation; that many imperfections
will adhere to all governments and religions in the hands of men, but that these,
unless they rise to an intolerable degree,
will not justify our resistance to the one, or
our dissention from the other: the assertion itself, the Author cannot retract, but the
inference, which he desires may be drawn
from it, is by no means favourable to dissentions, because from them he can perceive no
remedy, which can accrue to these Evils:
for if it was every one's duty to desert a
national church on account of those corruptions which proceed from its
establishment, and this duty was universally complied with, let us see the
consequence! one
of these things must necessarily follow; either that some dissention of superior purity,
which usually arises from its being a dissention, must be established in its room; or no religion must be
established at all: if the first of these methods should take place, the end
proposed by it would by itself be entirely defeated; because that purer religion
which was established would by that very establishment become equally corrupt
with that which was deserted, and so the same reason would eternally remain for a new
dissention: if the latter
should be taken, that is, to establish no religion at all; this
would be so far from producing the intended reformation, that it would let in
such
an inundation of enthusiasm, and contradictory absurdities, as must in a short time
destroy not only all religion, but all peace, and morality whatever: of which no
one can entertain the least doubt, who is not totally unacquainted both with the
nature, and history of mankind. From, whence it is plain, that all
dissentions from a national church, not in
itself sinful, arise from ignorance; that is, from a kind of short-sightedness,
which enables men to pry out every imperfection within their reach, but prevents their
discerning the more remote necessity for those imperfections, and the
dangers of amending them.
To conclude: the Author of this Inquiry having heard it so much, and as he
thought so unjustly calumniated, has reviewed it with all possible care and impartiality; and though he finds many things
in the style, and composition, which have
need enough of amendment, he sees nothing in the sentiments which ought to be
retracted. His intentions were to reconcile
the numerous evils so conspicuous in the
Creation with the wisdom, power and goodness of the Creator; to shew, that no more
of them are admitted by him, than are necessary towards promoting universal good;
and from thence to perswade men to an
intire resignation to his all-wise, but incomprehensible dispensations. To
ascertain
the nature of virtue, and to enforce the
practice of it: to prove the certainty of a
future state, and the justice of the rewards
and punishments that will attend it: to recommend submission to national governments, and conformity to national religions,
notwithstanding the Evils and Defects,
which must unavoidably adhere to them:
and lastly, to shew the excellence and credibility of the Christian revelation, to reconcile some of its
most abstruse doctrines
with reason, and to answer all those objections to its authority, which have been drawn
from its imperfections, and abuses. These, and these only were
the intentions of the Author; and if after all, a work so designed, however unably
executed, should by the united force of ignorance, and malevolence, of faction,
bigotry, and enthusiasm, be represented as introductive of fatalism, immorality,
slavery, corruption, and infidelity, he shall be little concerned, and shall only
look upon it as an additional instance of that Imperfection of mankind, which he
has here treated of: from them he desires only an exemption from calumny: honour
and applause he has not the vanity to hope for; these, he knows, they bestow not
on their benefactors, or instructors, but reserve for those alone, who deceive,
disturb, and destroy them.
LETTER I.
ON
Evils of Imperfection.
LETTER I.
On Evil in general.
SIR,
HAVING enjoyed the pleasure of many accidental conferences with you
on metaphysical, moral, political, and religious subjects; on which you ever
seemed
to converse with more sagacity, as well as
more candor, than is usual on the like occasions; I imagined it might not be unentertaining either to you, or
myself, to put
together my sentiments on these important
topics, and communicate them to you from
time to time as the absence of business, or
of more agreeable amusements may afford this life; apprehensive of
still greater in another, and can give
no probable account of this our wretched situation, what sentiments must we entertain
of the justice and benevolence of our Creator, who placed us in it, without our
sollicitations, or consent? The works of the Creation sufficiently demonstrate
his existence, their beauty, perfection and magnificence, his infinite power and
wisdom; but it is the Happiness only, which we enjoy, or hope for, which can convince
us of his Goodness.
It is the solution therefore of this important question alone,
that can ascertain the moral Characteristic of God, and upon that only must all
human Virtue eternally depend.
If there's a power above us, (And that there is all Nature cries
aloud Thro' all her works) he must delight in Virtue,
And that, which he delights in, must be happy.
But shou'd this divine reasoning of the philosopher be at
last inconclusive; cou'd we once entertain such blasphemous notions of the
Supreme being, as that He might not delight in Virtue, neither adhere to it
himself, nor reward it in others; that He could make any part of his creation
miserable, or suffer them to make themselves so, without a just cause, and a benevolent end; all moral
considerations must be vain, and useless; we can have no rule by which to direct
our actions, nor if we had, any kind of obligation to pursue it; nor in this
case can any Revelation in the least assist us,
the belief of all Revelation
being in its own sature subsequent, not only to the belief of God's
existence,
but of his justice and veracity; for if God can injure us, he may also deceive
us; and then there is an end of all distinctions between good and evil, truth and
falsehood, and of all confidence in God or man.
I mean not by this to insinuate the least possibility of a doubt
concerning the Justice or Goodness of our Creator, but only to shew the importance
of this Inquiry, and the utility of it towards settling our notions of his Attributes,
and the regulation of our own behaviour in conformity to them. I intend not by it
to prove the benevolence of God, but to reconcile the miseries we see and suffer,
with that uncontrovertable benevolence: I design not to shew that God approves Virtue; but that the admission of moral Evil is not inconsistent
with that undoubted approbation: nor would I be understood to assert, that our
obligation to be virtuous depends on this abstruse Speculation, but only that our
right understanding it will remove all doubts concerning the nature of virtue, and
our obligation to pursue it, and fix them on the most firm, and immoveable
Basis.
To find out therefore, how Evil of any
kind can be the production of infinite
Goodness, joined with infinite power, should
be the first step in all our religious inquiries; the examination into which wonderful paradox will lead us into many
useful and sublime truths; and its perfect comprehension, was that possible for our
narrow capacities, would, I doubt not, make as surprising discoveries
in the Moral World, as mathematical and physical knowledge have in the Natural.
To clear up this difficulty, some ancient
Philosophers have had recourse to the supposition of two first Causes, one Good, and
the other Evil, perpetually counteracting each other's designs. This system was afterwards adopted by the Manichæan Heresy, and has
since been defended by the ingenious Mons. Bayle but as the supposition of two
first Causes is even in itself
a contradiction, and as the whole scheme has been demonstrated by the best metaphysical Writers to be as false as it is
impious, all further arguments to disprove it would be needless.
Others have endeavoured to account for this by the introduction
of a Golden Age, or Paradisiacal State, in which all was innocence and happiness.
Pœena metusque aberant, nec verba minacia fixo
Ære legebantur, nec supplex turba timebant
Judicis
ora sui; sed erant sine vindice tuti.
When Man yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew, And with a native bent did
Good pursue;
Unforc'd by punishment, unaw'd by fear,
His words were simple,
and his soul sincere:
Needless was written law, when none opprest,
The law of Man was written in his breast:
No suppliant crowds before the Judge appear'd,
No court erected yet, nor cause was heard,
But all was safe, for Conscience was their Guard.
Ver erat æternum, placidisque tepentibus auris
Mulcebant Zephyri
natos sine semine flores;
Mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat,
Nec renovatus
ager gravidis canebat aristis,
Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant,
Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.
The flow'rs unsown in fields and meadows reign'd,
And Western Winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following years the bearded corn ensu'd
From Earth unask'd, nor
was that Earth renew'd.
From veins of valleys milk and nectar broke,
And honey sweated from the pores of oak
Amusing dreams! as absurd in philosophy as in poetry delightful!
For though it is probable, from the most ancient history
as well as from analogy drawn from
the Nature's productions, that the World be more happy and more innocent in
its fancy, than in more advanced
Ages; it could ever be totally free from Vi..,
Misery, may easily, I think, be impossible, both from the nature
of the terrestrial Globe, and the nature
of its inhabitants. So that these inchanting
... can in fact never have existed: but, had,
the short duration of this period... is equally incontinent with infinite
joined to infinite Wisdom and Good...
as any original imperfection whatever. Fables then of this kind
can never in the least account for the Origin of Evil: they are all but mean expedients,
which will never be able to take away the difficulty, and can at most but
obscure
it, by shifting it a little backward into a less clear light; like that Indian
philosophy, accounting for the support of the World, which informs us, that
it is sustained by a vast Elephant, that Elephant by a Tortoise, and then prudently
drops any further inquiry.
The Divines and Moralists of later ages
seem perfectly satisfied that they have loosed this Gordian knot, by imputing the
source of all Evil to the abuse of Free-will
in Created Beings. God, they say, never
design'd any such thing should exist as Evil, moral or natural; but that giving to
some beings, for good and wise purposes,
a power of Free-agency, they perverted
this power to bad ends, contrary to his intentions and commands; and thus their accidental wickedness produced
consequential
Misery. But to suppose in this manner,
that God intended all things to be good
and happy, and at the same time gave being to creatures able and willing to obstruct
his benevolent designs, is a notion so inconsistent with his wisdom, goodness,
omniscience, and omnipotence, that it
seems
equally unphilosophical, and more evidently absurd than the other. They have been
led into this error by ridiculously judging
of the dispensation of a Creator to his creatures, by the same rules which they apply
to the dealings of Men towards each other;
between which there is not the least proportion or similitude. A Man who endeavours, to the utmost of his power, to make others virtuous and
happy, however unsuccessful, is sufficiently justified; but in a Being omnipotent
and omniscient, the Cause of all causes, the Origin of all thought, will, and
action; who
sees all things
past, present, and to come, in one instantaneous view, the
case is widely different; his active and permissive will must be exactly the same; and, in regard to him, all
consequential and future Evils, through every moment
of time, are actually present.
Since therefore none of these pretended solutions can, I am certain,
give such satisfaction to your comprehensive understanding, let us now try to find
out one more rational, and more consistent with the analogy of every thing around
us.
That there is a Supreme Being infinitely powerful, wise and
benevolent, the great Creator and Preserver of all things, is a truth so clearly
demonstrated, that it shall be here taken for granted. That there is also in the
universal system of things, the works of his almighty hand, much misery and wickedness,
that is, much natural and moral Evil, is another truth, of which every hour's fatal
experience cannot fail to convince us. How these two undoubted, yet seeming
contradictory
truths can be reconciled, that is, how Evils of any sort could have place in the
works of an omnipotent and good Being, is very difficult to account for. If we assert
that he could not prevent them, we destroy his power; if that he would not, we
arraign his goodness; and therefore his power and goodness cannot both be infinite.
But however conclusive this argument may seem, there is
somewhere
or other an error in it; and this error I take to arise from our wrong notions of
Omnipotence. Omnipotence cannot work contradictions, it can only effect all
possible
things. But so little are we acquainted with the whole system of nature, that we
know not what are possible, and what are not: but if we may judge from that constant mixture of pain with pleasure, and of inconvenience with advantage, which we
must
observe in every thing around us, we have reason to conclude, that to endue created
beings with perfection, that is, to produce Good exclusive of Evil, is one of
those
impossibilities which even infinite Power cannot accomplish.
The true solution then of this incomprehensible paradox must be
this, that all Evils owe their existence solely to the necessity of their own natures,
by which I mean they could not possibly have been prevented, without the loss of
some superior Good, or the permission of some greater Evil than themselves; or
that many Evils will unavoidably insinuate themselves by the natural relations and
circumstances of things into the most perfect system of Created Beings, even in
opposition to the will of an almighty Creator, by reason they cannot be excluded
without working contradictions; which not being proper objects of power, it is no
diminution of Omnipotence to affirm that it cannot effect them.
And here it will be proper to make a
previous apology for an expression, which
will frequently occur in the following pages,
which is, that God cannot do such and such
things: by which is always to be understood not any retrenchment
of the divine Omnipotence, but only that such things
are in their own natures impracticable, and
impossible to be performed.
That the Almighty should be thus limited, and circumscribed by the nature of
things, of which he
himself
is the Author, may to some seem not very intelligible: but
surely it is not at all
difficult to conceive, that in every possible method of ordering,
disposing, and framing
the universal system of things, such numberless inconveniencies might
necessarily
arise, that all that infinite Power and Wisdom could do, was to make choice of
that method, which was attended with the least and fewest; and this
not
proceeding from any defect of power in the Creator; but from that imperfection which is inherent in the nature of all created things.
This necessity, I imagine, is what the Ancients meant by Fate,
to which they fancied that Jupiter, and all the Gods, were obliged to
submit, and which was to be controuled by no power whatever. The Stoicks
seem to
have had some dark and unintelligible notions of this kind, which they neither
understood themselves, nor knew how to explain to others; that the untractableness of Matter was the cause of Evil; that God would have made all things
perfect, but that there was in Matter an evil bias, repugnant to his benevolence,
which drew another way, whence arose all manner of Evils. Of the like kind is a
Maxim of the same Philosophers, That Pain is no Evil; which, if asserted with regard to the individuals who suffer it,
is downright nonsense; but if considered as it affects the universal System, is an undoubted
truth, and means only that there is no more pain in it than what is necessary to
the production of happiness. How many soever of these Evils then force
themselves
into the Creation, so long as the Good preponderates, it is a work well worthy of
infinite Wisdom and Benevolence; and, notwithstanding the imperfections of its
parts, the whole is most undoubtedly perfect.
Hence then we may plainly see that much Evil may exist, not at
all inconsistent with the power and goodness of God: and the further we pursue
this clue, the more we shall at every step discern new lights break out; which will
discover clearly numberless examples, where the infinite power and goodness of God
is fairly reconcileable with the misery and wickedness of his Creatures, from the
impossibility
of preventing them; and if, in the very small part of the universal System that
lies within the reach of our imperfect capacities, many instances of this kind appear, in which they are
visibly consistent, we
ought with the utmost assurance to conclude, what is undoubtedly true, that they
are really so in all, tho' we are not able to comprehend them. This is the kind
of Faith most worthy of the human understanding, and most meritorious in the sight
of God, as it is the offspring of Reason, as well as the Parent of all Virtue and Resignation to the
just, but unscrutable, dispensations of Providence.
But, in order more clearly to explain this abstruse speculation,
it will be necessary to divide Evils into their diffeent species, and bestow on each a separate confederation.
This I shall do under the
following heads: Evils of Imperfection, Natural Evils, Moral Evils, Political Evils, and Religious
Evils, which, I think, will
comprehend most of those to which human Nature is unhappily liable. And now, Sir,
lest I should add one more Evil to this melancholy Catalogue, which is that of a long
and tedious Epistle, I shall reserve the examination into each of these particulars for
the subject of a future
Letter; and conclude this by assuring you, that I am,
S I R, &c.
LETTER II.
ON
EVILS of Imperfection.
LETTER II.
On Evils of imperfection.
SIR,
IN pursuance of the plan proposed in my last, I shall now proceed
to examine into the Nature of each particular kind of Evil, and in the first place
of those therein denominated Evils of Imperfection; which are in truth no Evils
at all, but rather the absence of some comparative Good; and therefore I shall
not have occasion to detain you long on this part of my subject.
No System can possibly be formed, even in imagination, without
a subordination of parts. Every animal body must have different
members subservient to each other; every picture must be composed of various
colours, and of light and shade; all harmony must be formed of trebles, tenors,
and basses; every beautiful and useful edifice must consist of higher and lower, more
and less magnificent apartments. This is
in the very essence of all created things, and
therefore cannot be prevented by any means
whatever, unless by not creating them at
all: for which reason, in the formation of
the Universe, God was obliged, in order
to carry on that just subordination so necessary to the very existence of the whole, to
create Beings of different ranks; and to bestow on various species of animals, and
also on the individuals of the same species,
various degrees of understanding, strength,
beauty, and perfection; to the comparative
want of which advantages we give the names of folly, weakness,
deformity, and imperfection, and very unjustly repute them Evils: whereas in truth
they are blessings as far as they extend, tho' of an inferior degree. They are no
more actual Evils, than a small estate is a real misfortune, because many may be possessed
of greater.
Whatever we enjoy, is purely a free gift
from our Creator; but that we enjoy no
more, can never sure be deemed an injury,
or a just reason to question his infinite benevolence. All our happiness is owing to
his goodness; but that it is no greater, is
owing only to ourselves, that is, to our
not having any inherent right to any happiness, or even to any existence at all. This
is no more to be imputed to God, than
the wants of a beggar to the person who
has relieved him: that he had something, was owing to his benefactor; but that he had no more, only to his original poverty.
They who look upon the privation of
all the good they see others enjoy, or think
possible for infinite power to bestow, as
positive Evil, understand not that the Universe is a system whose very essence
consists
in subordination; a scale of beings descending by insensible degrees from infinite
perfection to
absolute nothing; in which,
tho' we may justly expect to find perfection in the whole, could we possibly comprehend
it; yet would it be the highest absurdity to hope for it in all its parts,
because the beauty and happiness of the whole
depend altogether on the just inferiority of
its parts, that is, on the comparative imperfections of the several Beings of which it is
composed.
It would have been no more an instance of God's wisdom to have
created no Beings but of the highest and most perfect order, than it would be of
a painter's art, to cover his whole piece with one single colour, the most beautiful
he could compose. Had he confined himself to such, nothing could have existed but demi-gods, or archangels, and then all inferior orders must have been void and uninhabited: but as it is
surely more agreeable to infinite benevolence, that all these should
be filled up with Beings capable of enjoying happiness themselves, and contributing
to that of others, they must necessarily be filled with inferior Beings, that is,
with such as are less perfect, but from whose existence, notwithstanding that less perfection, more felicity upon the whole
accrues to the Universe, than if no such had been created. It is moreover highly
probable that there is such a connexion between all ranks and orders by subordinate
degrees, that they mutually support each other's existence, and every one in its
place is absolutely necessary towards sustaining the whole vast and magnificent
fabrick.
You see therefore, that it is utterly impracticable, even for infinite power, to exclude from Creation this
necessary inferiority of some Beings in comparison with
others. All that it can do is to make each
as happy as their respective situations will
permit: and this it has done in so extraordinary a manner, as to leave the benevolence of our great Creator not to be doubted
of; for tho' he cannot make all superior,
yet in the dispensations of his blessings his
wisdom and goodness both are well worthy
the highest admiration; for, amongst
all the wide distinctions which he was
obliged to make in the dignity and perfections of his Creatures, he has made much
less in their happiness than is usually imagined, or indeed can be believed from outward appearances. He has given many
advantages to Brutes, which Man cannot
attain to with all his superiority, and many
probably to Man which are denied to Angels; amongst which his ignorance is perhaps none of the
least. With regard to
him, tho' it was necessary to the great purposes of human life to bestow
riches, understanding, and health, on individuals in
very partial proportions; yet has the Almighty so contrived the nature of things,
that happiness is distributed with a more equal hand. His
goodness,
we may observe, is always striving with these our necessary imperfections, setting
bounds to the inconveniencies it cannot totally prevent, by balancing the wants,
and repaying the sufferings of all by some kind of equivalent naturally
resulting
from their particular situations and circumstances. Thus, for example, poverty,
or the want of riches, is generally compensated by having more hopes, and fewer
fears, by a greater share of health, and a more exquisite relish of the smallest
enjoyments, than those who possess them are usually blessed with. The want of taste
and genius, with all the pleasures that arise from them, are commonly recompenced
by a more useful kind of common sense, together with a wonderful delight, as well
as success, in the busy pursuits of a scrambling world. The sufferings of the Sick are greatly
relieved by many trifling gratifications imperceptible to others, and sometimes
almost repaid by the inconceivable transports occasioned by the return of health
and vigour. Folly cannot be very grievous, because imperceptible; and I doubt not
but there is some truth in that rant of a mad Poet, that there is a pleasure in
being mad, which none but madmen know. Ignorance, or the want of knowledge and literature,
the appointed lot of all born to poverty, and the drudgeries of life, is the only
opiate capable of infusing that insensibility which can enable them to endure the miseries of the one, and the fatigues
of the other. It is a cordial administered by the gracious hand of Providence;
of which they ought never to be deprived by an ill-judged and improper Education. It is the
basis of all subordination, the
support of society, and the privilege of individuals: and I have ever thought it
a most remarkable instance of the Divine Wisdom, that whereas in all animals, whose
individuals rise little above the rest of their species, knowledge is instinctive; in Man, whose individuals are
so widely different, it is acquired by Education; by which means the Prince and the Labourer, the
Philosopher, and the Peasant,
are in some measure fitted for their respective situations. The same parental care
extends to every part of the animal creation. Brutes are exempted from
numberless
anxieties, by that happy want of reflection on past, and apprehension of future
sufferings,
which are annexed to their inferiority. Those amongst them who devour others, are
taught by Nature to dispatch them as easily as possible; and Man, the most merciless devourer of all, is induced, by his own advantage, to feast
those designed for his
sustenance, the more luxuriously to feast upon them himself. Thus misery, by all
possible
methods, is diminished or repaid; and happiness, like fluids, is ever tending
towards an Equilibrium.
But was it ever so unequally divided, our pretence for complaint
could be of this only, that we are not so high in the scale of existence as our
ignorant ambition may desire: a pretence which must eternally subsist; because,
were we ever so much higher, there would be still room for infinite power to exalt
us; and since no link in the chain can be broke, the same reason for disquiet must remain to those who
succeed to that chasm, which must be
occasioned by our preferment. A man can have no reason to repine, that he is not
an Angel; nor a Horse, that he is not a Man; much less, that in their several
stations they possess not the faculties of another; for this would be an insufferable
misfortune. And doubtless it would be as inconvenient for a Man to be endued with
the knowledge of an Angel, as for a Horse to have the reason of a Man; but, as they
are now formed by the consummate wisdom of their Creator, each enjoys pleasures
peculiar to his situation: and tho' the happiness of one may perhaps consist in
divine Contemplation, of another in the acquisition of wealth and power, and that
of a third, in wandering amongst limpid stream, and luxuriant pastures; yet the
meanest of these enjoyments give no interruption to the most sublime, but altogether undoubtedly
increase
the aggregate sum of felicity bestowed upon the universe. Greatly indeed must that
be lessened, were there no Beings but of the highest orders. Did there not, for instance,
exist on this terrestrial Globe any sensitive creatures inferior to Man, how great
a quantity of happiness must have been lost, which is now enjoy'd by millions, who at present inhabit every part of its
surface,
in fields and gardens, in extended desarts, impenetrable woods, and immense oceans; by monarchies of Bees, republics of Ants, and innumerable families of insects
dwelling on every leaf and flower, who are all possessed of as great a
share of pleasure, and a greater of innocence, than their arrogant Sovereign,
and at the same time not a little contribute to his convenience and happiness!
Has God, thou Fool! work'd solely for thy good!
Thy Joy, thy Pastime, thy Attire, thy Food!
Who for thy Table feeds the wanton Fawn,
For him as kindly spreads the flow'ry lawn.
Is it for thee the Lark ascends and sings?
Joy tunes his Voice, joy elevates his Wings.
Is it for thee the Linnet pours his Throat?
Loves of his own, and raptures, swell the note.
The bounding Steed you pompously bestride,
Shares with his Lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?
The birds of Heav'n shall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the Golden Year?
Part pays, and justly, the deferring Steer.
Pope.
Thus the Universe resembles a large and
well-regulated Family, in which all the
officers and servants, and even the domestic animals, are subservient to each other
in a proper subordination: each enjoys the
privileges and perquisites peculiar to his
place, and at the same time contributes by
that just subordination to the magnificence and happiness of the
whole.
It is evident, therefore, that these Evils of Imperfection, proceeding
from the necessary inferiority of some Beings in comparison of others, can in no
sense be called any Evils at all: but if they could, it is as evident from thence,
that there are many which even infinite power cannot prevent; it being
sufficiently demonstrable, that to produce a system of created Beings, all
supreme in happiness and dignity, a government composed of all Kings, an army of
all Generals, or a universe of all Gods, must be impracticable for Omnipotence itself.
We have here then made a large stride towards our intended Goal,
having at once acquitted the Divine Goodness, and freed Mankind from a numerous train of imaginary Evils, by
most
clearly shewing them to be no Evils at all; and yet under this head are really
comprehended all the Evils we perpetually complain of, except actual pain, the nature
of which, and how it came to have a place in the works of an omnipotent and good
Being, shall be considered in the next Letter from,
S I R, &c.
LETTER III.
ON
Natural Evils.
LETTER III.
On Natural Evils.
SIR,
I Shall now lay before you my free sentiments concerning the Origin of Natural Evils, by which I
understand the sufferings of sensitive Beings only; for tempests, inundations
and earthquakes, with all the disorders of the material World, are no farther
Evils than they affect the sensitive: so that under this head can be only comprehended pains of body,
and inquietudes of mind. That these are real Evils, I readily acknowledge; and
if any one is philosopher enough to doubt of it, I shall only beg leave to refer him to a
severe fit of sickness, or a tedious lawsuit, for farther
satisfaction.
The production of Happiness seems to
be the only motive that could induce infinite
Goodness to exert infinite Power to create
all things: for, to say truth, Happiness is
the only thing of real value in existence;
neither riches, nor power, nor wisdom, nor
learning, nor strength, nor beauty, nor virtue, nor religion, nor even life
itself, being of any importance but as they contribute to its production. All
these are in
themselves neither Good nor Evil; Happiness alone is their great end, and they
desirable only as they tend to promote it. Most astonishing therefore it must appear to
every one who looks round him, to observe
all creatures blessed with life and sensation,
that is, all creatures made capable of Happiness, at the same time by their own natures condemned to innumerable
and unavoidable miseries. Whence can it proceed, that Providence should thus
seem
to counteract his own benevolent intentions? To what strange and invisible
cause
are all these numerous and invincible Evils indebted for their existence? If God
is a good and benevolent Being, what end could he propose from creation, but the
propagation of Happiness? and if Happiness is the end of all existence, why are
not all creatures that do exist happy?
The true solution of this important question, so long and so vainly
searched for by the philosophers of all ages and all
countries, I take to be at last no more than
this, That these real Evils proceed from the same source as those imaginary ones of
Imperfection before treated of, namely,
from that subordination, without which no created system can subsist; all subordination implying imperfection; all Imperfection
Evil, and all Evil some kind of inconvenience or suffering; so that there must be
particular inconveniences and sufferings
annexed to every particular rank of created
Beings by the circumstances of things, and
their modes of existence. Mot of those
to which we ourselves are liable may be easily shewn to be of this kind, the
effects
only of human nature, and the station Man
occupies in the universe: and therefore
their Origin is plainly deducible from necessity; that is, they could not have been
prevented without the loss of greater good,
or the admission of greater Evils than themselves; or by not creating any such creatures as Men at all. And tho' this upon a
general view of things, does not so forcibly us; yet, on a more
minute inspection into every grievance attendant on
human nature, it will most evidently
appear. Most of these, I think, may be
comprehended under the following heads:
poverty, labour, inquietudes
of mind, pains of body, and death; from none of
which we may venture to affirm Man
could ever have been exempted, so long as he
continued to be Man. God indeed might
have made us quite other creatures, and
placed us in a world quite otherwise constituted; but then we had been no longer
Men; and whatever Beings had occupied our stations in the
universal System, they must have been liable to the same inconveniences.
Poverty, for example, is what all could not possibly have been exempted
from, not only by reason of the fluctuating nature of human possessions, but
because the world could not subsist without it; for had all been rich, none would
have submitted to the commands of another, or the drudgeries of life; thence all
governments must have been dissolved, arts neglected, and lands uncultivated, and
so an universal penury have overwhelmed all, instead of now and then pinching a
few. Hence by the bye, appears the great excellence of Charity, by which men are
enabled by a particular distribution of the blessings and enjoyments of life, on
proper occasions, to prevent that poverty which by a general one Omnipotence
itself
could never have prevented: so that, by inforcing this duty, God as it were demands
our assistance to promote universal happiness, and to shut out Misery at every door, where it strives to intrude itself.
Labour, indeed, God might easily have excused us from,
since
at his command the Earth would readily have poured forth all her treasures without
our inconsiderable assistance: but if the severest Labour cannot sufficiently subdue
the malignity of human nature, what plots and machinations, what wars, rapine, and devastation, what profligacy, and licentiousness, must have been the consequence
of universal idleness! So that Labour ought only to be looked upon as a task
kindly imposed upon us by our indulgent Creator, necessary to preserve our health,
our safety, and our innocence.
Inquietudes of mind cannot be prevented without first eradicating
all our inclinations and passions, the winds and tides that preserve the great
Ocean of human life from perpetual stagnation. So long as Men have pursuits, they
must meet with disappointments; and whilst they have disappointments they must be
disquieted; whilst they are injured,
they must be enflamed with anger; and whilst they see cruelties, they must be melted with
pity; whilst they perceive danger, they must be sensible of fear; and whilst they
behold beauty, they must be inflaved by love: nor can they be exempted from the
various anxieties attendant on these various and turbulent passions. Yet without
them we should be undoubtedly less happy and less safe; for without anger we
should
not defend ourselves, and without pity we should not assist others; without fear
we should not preserve our lives, and without love they
would not be worth preserving.
Pains of body are perhaps but the necessary consequences of the
union of material and spiritual essences; for matter being by
nature divisible, when
endued with sensibility, must probably be affected by pains
and pleasures by its different
modifications: therefore, to have been freed from our
sufferings, we must have
been deprived of all our sensual enjoyments; a composition by which few
surely would
be gainers. Besides, the pains of our bodies are necessary to make us continually mindful
of their preservation; for what numberless lives
would be lost in every trifling
pursuit, or flung away in ill humour, was the piercing
of a sword no more painful than the tickling of a feather.
Death, the last and most dreadful of all Evils, is so far from
being one, that it is the infallible cure of all others.
To die is landing on some silent shore,
Where billows never beat, nor tempests roar.
Ere well we feel the friendly strole 'tis o'er.
Garth.
For, abstracted from the sickness and sufferings usually attending
it, it is no more than the expiration of that term of life, God was pleased to
bestow
on us, without any claim or merit on our part. But was it an Evil ever so great, it could not be remedied but by one
much greater, which is by living for ever; by which means our wickedness, unrestrained
by the prospect of a future state, would grow so insupportable, our sufferings
so intolerable by perseverance, and our pleasures so tiresome by repetition,
that no being in the Universe could be so compleatly miserable as a species of immortal men.
We have no reason therefore to look upon death as an Evil, or to fear it as a
punishment,
even without any supposition of a future life: but if we consider it as
a passage to a more perfect state, or a remove only in an eternal succession of
still
improving states (for which we have the strongest reasons) it will then appear a
new favour from the divine munificence; and a man must be as absurd to repine at
dying, as a traveller would be, who proposed to himself a delightful tour thro'
various unknown countries, to lament that he cannot take up his residence at the
first dirty Inn which he baits at on the road. The instability of human life, or
the hasty changes of its successive periods, of which we so frequently complain,
are no more than the necessary progress of it to this necessary conclusion;
and are so far from being Evils deserving
these complaints, that they are the source
of our greatest pleasures, as they are the source of all novelty, from which our
greatest pleasures are ever derived. The continual succession of Seasons in the human life,
by daily presenting to us new scenes, render
it agreeable, and like those of the year, afford us delights by their change, which the
choicest of them could not give us by their
continuance. In the Spring of Life, the
gilding of the sun-shine, the verdure of the
fields, and the variegated paintings of the
Sky, are so exquisite in the eyes of Infants
at their first looking abroad into a new
World, as nothing perhaps afterwards can
equal. The heat and vigour of the succeeding Summer of Youth ripens for us new
pleasures, the blooming maid, the nightly
revel, and the jovial chace: the serene Autumn of compleat Manhood
feasts us with the golden harvests of our worldly pursuits: nor is the hoary Winter of old age destitute of its peculiar
comforts and enjoyments, of which the recollection and relation of those past are
perhaps none of the least; and at last death opens to us a new prospect, from whence
we shall probably look back upon the diversions and occupations of this world with
the same contempt we do now on our Tops, and Hobby-horses, and with the same
surprise,
that they could ever so much entertain or engage us.
Thus we see all these evils could never have been prevented even
by infinite Power, without the introduction of greater, or the loss of superior good; they are but the
necessary
consequences of human Nature; from which it can no more be divested, than matter from extension,
or heat from motion, which proceed from the very modes of their existence.
If it be objected, that, after all that has
been said, there are innumerable miseries
entailed upon all things that have life, and
particularly on man; many diseases of the
body, and afflictions of mind, in which
Nature seems to play the Tyrant, ingenious
in contriving torments for her children;
that we cannot avoid feeing every moment
with horror numbers of our fellow-creatures
condemned to tedious and intolerable miseries, some expiring on racks, others roasting in flames,
some starving in dungeons,
others raving in mad houses; some broiling in fevers, others groaning whole months
under the exquisite tortures of gout and
stone: If it be said further, that some men
being exempted from many calamities with
which others are afflicted proves plainly
that all might have been exempted from
all; the charge can by no means be disputed, nor can it be alledged that infinite Power
could not have prevented most of these
dreadful calamities. From hence therefore I am perswaded, that there is something in the abstract nature of pain, conducive to
pleasure: that the sufferings of individuals are absolutely necessary to
universal happiness; and that, from connections
to us inconceivable, it was impracticable for Omnipotence to produce the one, without at
the same time permitting the other.
Their constant and uniform concomitancy
thro' every part of Nature with which we
are acquainted, very much corroborates
this conjecture, in which scarce one instance,
I believe, can be produced of the acq tion of pleasure or convenience
by any tures, which is not purchased by the previous or consequential sufferings of
themselves or others; pointing out, as it were, th... certain allay of Pain must be cast
into universal mass of created Happiness, inflicted
somewhere for the benefit of
the whole. Over what mountains of slai..
every mighty Empire rolled up to the summit of
Prosperity and Luxury, and new scenes of desolation attend its fall? what infinite toil
of Men, and other mals, is every flourishing City indebted
for all the conveniencies
and enjoyments of I... and what vice and misery do those very
enjoyments introduce?
The pleasures pec to the continuing our species are
several paid for by pains and perils
in one and by cares and anxieties in both. Those
annexed to the preservation or ourselves are both preceded and
followed by numberless sufferings; preceded by the massacres and tortures of various animals preparatory to a feast, and followed
by as many diseases lying in wait in every dish to pour forth vengeance on their
destroyers. Our riches and honours are acquired by laborious or perilous occupations,
and our sports are pursued with scarce less fatigue or danger, and usually attended
with distresses and destruction of innocent animals. This universal connection of
pain with pleasure seems, I think, strongly to intimate, that pain abstractedly
considered must have its uses; and since we may be assured, that it is never admitted
but with the reluctance of the supreme Author, those uses must be of the highest
importance, tho' we have no faculties to conceive them.
The human mind can comprehend but a very small part of the great
and astonishing whole: for any thing we know, the sufferings (and perhaps the crimes
producing those sufferings) of the Inhabitants of this terrestrial Globe may some
way or other affect those of the most distant planet, and the whole animal world
may be connected by some principle as general as that of attraction in the corporeal,
and so the miseries of particular Beings be some way necessary to the happiness
of the whole. How these things operate is indeed to us quite inconceivable; but that they do operate in some
such extensive manner, is far, 1 think,
from improbable.
All Ages and Nations seem to have had confused notions of the
merits of sufferings abstracted from their tendency to any visible good, and have paid the highest honors to those who have voluntarily endured them, as to their common benefactors.
Many in Christian countries have formerly
so fainted for long fasting, for whipping
... tormenting themselves,
for sitting whole s in uneasy postures, or exposing themselves to the inclemency of
the weather on the tops of pillars. Many at this day in
the East are almost deified for
loading themselves with heavy chains, bending under burthens, or confining themselves in
irs stuck round with pointed nails.
Now, if these notions are not totally devoid of
all reason and common sense, (and , I believe, are so which become universal they can
be founded on no other principle than this, of the necessity of pain to
induce happiness,
which seems another mighty instance of the probability of this ancient and universal opinion, tho' the reasons for it are forgot
or unknown, and the practices derived from it big with the most absurd and ridiculous
superstitions.
One cause, I think, from which many
of our severest sufferings may be derived,
may be discovered by analogical reasoning,
that is, by assimilating those things which are not objects of our understandings, to
others which lye within their reach. Man
is one link of that vast Chain, descending
by insensible degrees from infinite perfection to absolute nothing. As there are many thousands below him,
so must there be
many more above him. If we look downwards, we see innumerable species of inferior Beings, whose happiness and lives are
dependent on his will; we see him cloathed by their spoils, and fed by their miseries and destruction, inslaving some, tormenting others, and murdering millions for
his luxury or diversion; is it not therefore
analogous and highly probable, that the
happiness and life of Man should be equally
dependent on the wills of his superiors?
As we receive great part of our pleasures,
and even subsistence from the sufferings and
deaths of lower animals, may not these superior Beings do the same from ours, and that
by ways as far above the reach of the most
exalted human understandings, as the means
by which we receive our benefits are above
the capacities of the meanest creatures destined for our service? The fundamental Error in all our
reasonings on this subject, is
that of placing ourselves wrong in that presumptuous climax of Beast, Man, and God;
from whence, as we suppose falsely, that
there is nothing above us except the Supreme Being, we foolishly conclude that all the Evils we labour
under must be derived immediately from his omnipotent hand: whereas there may be
numberless intermediate Beings, who have power to deceive, torment, or destroy us,
for the ends only of their own pleasure or utility, who may be veiled with the
same
privileges over their inferiors, and as much benefited by the use of them, as
ourselves.
In what manner these benefits accrue to them, it is impossible for us to conceive; but that
impossibility lessens not the probability of this conjecture, which by
Analogy is so strongly confirmed.
Should you, Sir, have been lately employed in reading some of
those sublime Authors, who, from pride and ignorance, delight to puff up the dignity of Human Nature, the notions here advanced may appear
to you absurd and incredible, because inconsistent with that
imaginary dignity; and you may object, that it is impossible that God should
suffer
innocence to be thus afflicted, and reason thus deceived; that tho' he may permit
animals made solely for the use of man to be thus abused for his convenience, or
recreation; yet that Man himself, the sole possessor of reason, the Lord of this
terrestrial globe, his own ambassador, vicegerent, and similitude, should be thus
dependent on the will of others, must be utterly inconsistent with the divine
Wisdom
and justice. But pray, Sir, what does all this prove, but the importance of a
Man to himself? Is not the justice of God as much concerned to preserve the happiness
of the meanest Insect which he has called into being, as of the greatest Man that
ever lived? Are not all creatures we see made subservient to each other's
uses? and what
is there in Man that he should only be exempted from this common fate of all created Beings? The
superiority of Man to that of other terrestrial animals is as inconsiderable, in proportion to the
immense
plan of universal existence, as the difference
of climate between the north and south end
of the paper I now write upon, with regard
to the heat and distance of the Sun. There
is nothing leads us into so many Errors concerning the works, and designs of Providence,
as that foolish vanity that can persuade such insignificant creatures that all
things were made for their service; from
whence they ridiculously set up Utility to themselves as the standard of good, and
conclude every thing to be Evil which appears injurious to them or their
purposes.
As well might a nest of Ants imagine this
Globe of Earth created only for them to cast up into hillocks,
and cloathed with grain and herbage for their sustenance then accuse their Creator
for permitting spades to destroy them, and plows to lay waste their habitations;
the inconveniences of which they feel, but are utterly unable to comprehend their
uses, as well as the relations they themselves bear to superior Beings.
It is surprizing that none of those Philosophers, who were drove
to the supposition of two first Causes, and many other absurdities, to account
for the Origin of Evil, should not rather have chosen to impute it to the ministration
of intermediate Beings; and when they saw the happiness of all inferior animals
dependent on our wills, should not have concluded, that the good order and well-being of the Universe might require that ours should
be as dependent on the wills of superior Beings, accountable like ourselves to one
common Lord and Father of all things. This is the more wonderful, because the
existence
and influence of such Beings has been an article in the Creed of all religions that
have ever appeared in the world. In the beautiful system of the Pagan theology,
their Sylvan and Houshold Deities, their Nymphs, Satyrs, and Fawns, were of this
kind. All the barbarous nations that have ever been discovered, have been found
to believe and adore intermediate spiritual Beings, both good and evil. The
Jewish
religion not only confirms the belief of their existence, but of their tempting,
deceiving, and tormenting mankind; and the whole system of Christianity is erected
entirely on this foundation.
Thus, Sir, you see, the good order of the whole, and the happiness
it receives from a proper subordination, will sufficiently account for the
sufferings
of individuals; and all such should be considered but as the necessary taxes,
which every member of this great Republick of the Universe is obliged to pay towards
the support of the Community. It is no derogation from the divine Goodness that
these taxes are not always imposed equally in the present state of things;
because
as every individual is but a part of the great whole, so is the present state but
a part of a long, or perhaps an eternal succession of others; and, like a single
day in the natural life, has reference to many more, both past and to come. It is
but as a page in a voluminous accompt, from which no judgment can be formed on the
state of the whole; but of this we may be assured, that the balance will some time or other
be settled with justice and impartiality. The certainty, therefore of a future
state,
in which we, and indeed all creatures endued with sensation, shall somehow or other
exist, seems (if all our notions of justice are not erroneous) as demonstrable as
the Justice of their Creator; for if he is just, all such Creatures must have their
account of happiness and misery somewhere adjusted with equity, and all creatures
capable of virtue and vice must, according to their behaviour, receive rewards and
punishments; and, to render these punishments consistent with infinite goodness,
they must not only be proportioned to their crimes, but also some way necessary
to universal Good; for no creatures can be called out of their primitive nothing
by an all-wise and benevolent Creator, to be losers by their existence, or to be made
miserable for no beneficial end, even by their own misbehaviour: so that all future
misery, as well as present, must be subservient to happiness, or other-wise infinite
Power, joined with infinite Goodness, would have prevented both vice and punishment.
For this reason, amongst all the shortsighted conjectures of
Man into the dispensations of Providence and a future State, the ancient
doctrine
of Transmigration seems the most rational and most consistent with his wisdom and
goodness; as by it all the unequal dispensations of things so necessary in one
Life may be set right in another, and all creatures serve the highest and lower,
the most eligible and most burthensome offices of life, by an equitable kind of rotation; by which means their rewards
and punishments may not only be well
proportioned to their behaviour, but also subservient towards carrying on the Business of the Universe, and thus at
the same
time answer the purposes both of justice and
utility. But the pride of man will not suffer us to treat this subject with the
seriousness it deserves; but rejects as both impious and ridiculous every supposition of inferior creatures ever arriving at its own
imaginary dignity, allowing at the same
time the probability of human Nature being
exalted to the angelick, a much wider and
more extraordinary transition, but yet such
a one as may probably be the natural consequence, as well as the reward of a virtuous life: nor is it
less likely that our vices may debase us to the servile condition of
inferior animals, in whose forms we may be
severely punished for the injuries we have done to Mankind when
amongst them, and be obliged in some measure to repair them, by performing the drudgeries
tyrannically imposed upon us for their service.
From what has been said, I think it plainly appears that
numberless
Evils do actually exist, which could not have been excluded from the works of infinite
goodness even by infinite power; and from hence it may be concluded, that there
are none which could; but that God has exerted all his omnipotence to introduce
all possible happiness, and as far as the imperfection of created things would permit,
to exclude all misery, that is, all natural Evil, from the universal system; which
notwithstanding will introduce itself in many circumstances, even in opposition
to infinite Power.
The Origin of Moral Evil lies much deeper, and I will venture
to assert has never yet been fathomed by the short line of human understanding,
That I shall be able to reach it, I have by no means the vanity to imagine: but,
laying aside all preconceived opinions and systematical prejudice I will in my
next endeavour to come as near it as lies in the power of,
S I R, &c
LETTER IV.
ON
Moral Evil.
LETTER IV.
On Moral Evil.
SIR,
I Must now leave that plain and easy
road thro' which I have hitherto conducted you, and carry you thro' unfrequented paths, and ways untrodden by philosophic
feet. Already, I think, the existence of Natural Evil has been sufficiently
accounted for, without any derogation from
the power, wisdom, or goodness of God.
What next remains to be cleared up, is the
Origin of Moral Evil; which, consistently with the same Divine Attributes, I have
never ken accounted for by any Author,
ancient or modern, in a manner that could give tolerable satisfaction
to a rational Inquirer. Nor indeed can this be ever effectually performed, without
at the same time taking into consideration all those most abstruse speculations
concerning the nature of Virtue, Free-will, Fate, Grace, and Predestination, the
debates of ages, and matter of innumerable folio's. To attempt this, therefore,
in the compass of a Letter, would be the highest presumption, did not I well know
the clear and ready comprehension or the person to whom it is addressed; and
also,
that the most difficult of these kinds of disquisitions are usually better explained
in a few lines, than by a thousand pages.
In order therefore to find out the true
Origin of Moral Evil, it will be necessary,
in the first place, to inquire into its nature
and essence; or what it is that constitutes one action Evil, and
another Good. Various have been the opinions of various Authors on this
Criterion of Virtue; and this variety has rendered that doubtful, which must
otherwise have
been clear and manifest to the meanest capacity. Some indeed have denied that there
is any such thing, because different ages and nations have entertained different
sentiments concerning it: but this is just as reasonable as to assert, that there
are neither Sun, Moon, nor Stars, because Astronomers have supported different
systems
of the motions and magnitudes of these celestial bodies. Some have placed it in conformity to truth,
some to the fitness of
things, and others to the will of God.
But all this is merely superficial: they resolve us not why truth, or the
fitness of
things, are either eligible or obligatory, or
why God should require us to act in one manner rather than another.
The true reason of which can possibly be no other than this, because some
actions produce Happiness, and others Misery:
so that all Moral Good and Evil are nothing more than the production of Natural.
This alone it is that makes truth preferable to falsehood, this that determines
the fitness of things; and this that induces God to command some actions and forbid
others. They who extoll the truth, beauty, and harmony of Virtue, exclusive of its
consequences, deal but in pompous nonsense; and they who would persuade us, that
Good and Evil are things indifferent, depending wholly on the will of God, do but
confound the nature of things, as well as all our notions of God himself, by
representing
him capable of willing contradictions; that is, that we should be, and be happy, and at the same
time that we should torment and destroy
each other; for injuries cannot be made benefits, pain cannot be made pleasure, and
consequently vice cannot be made virtue by any power whatever. It is the
consequences therefore of all human actions that must stamp their value. So far as the general practice of any action tends to produce
Good, and introduce happiness into the
world, so far we may pronounce it virtuous; so much Evil as it occasions, such is
the degree of vice it contains. I say, the
general practice, because we must always
remember in judging by this rule, to apply
it only to the general species of actions, and
not to particular actions; for the infinite wisdom of God, desirous to set bounds to
the destructive consequences which must otherwise have followed from the
universal
depravity of mankind, has so wonderfully contrived the nature
of things, that our most vitious actions may sometimes accidentally and collaterally,
produce Good. Thus, for instance, robbery may dirperse useless hoards to the benefit
of the publick. Adultery may bring heirs, and good humour too, into many families,
where there would otherwise have been wanting; and Murder free the world from tyrants
and oppressors. Luxury maintains its thousands, and
Vanity its ten thousands. Superstition and Arbitrary Power contribute to the grandeur of many nations, and the liberties of others are preserved by the perpetual contentions of avarice, knavery, selfishness and ambition: and thus the worst of vices and the
worst of Men are often compelled by Providence
to serve the most beneficial purposes, contrary to their own
malevolent tendencies and inclinations; and thus private vices
become public benefits by the force only of accidental circumstances. But this impeaches
not the truth of the Criterion of Virtue before mentioned, the only solid foundation
on which any true system of ethics can be built, the only plain, simple, and uniform
rule by which we can pass any judgment on our actions, but by this we may be enabled, not only
to determine which are
good, and which are Evil, but almost mathematically to demonstrate the proportion
of Virtue or Vice which belongs to each, by comparing them with the degrees of happiness
or misery which they occasion. But tho' the production of happiness is the Essence
of virtue, it is by no means the End: the great End is the probation of Mankind,
or the giving them an opportunity of exalting or degrading themselves in another
state by their behaviour in the
present.
And thus indeed it answers two most important purposes; those are, the conservation
of our happiness, and the test of our obedience: for had not such a test seemed
necessary to God's infinite wisdom, and productive of universal Good, he would never
have permitted the happiness of Men, even in this life, to have depended on so precarious
a tenure, as their mutual good behaviour to each other. For it is observable, that
he who best knows our formation, has trusted no one thing of importance to our
reason
or virtue: he trusts only to our appetites for the support of the individual, and
the continuance of our species; to our vanity, or companion, for our bounty to
others; and to our fears, for the preservation of ourselves; often to our vices
for the support of Government, and sometimes to our follies for the preservation of our Religion.
But since some test of our obedience was necessary, nothing sure could have been
commanded for that end so fit and proper; and at the same time so useful, as the
practice of virtue; nothing have been so justly rewarded with happiness, as the
production of happiness in conformity to the will of God. It is this conformity alone which adds merit to virtue, and
constitutes the essential difference between Morality and Religion. Morality obliges Men to live
honestly and soberly, because such behaviour is most conducive to publick happiness, and consequently to
their own; Religion,
to pursue the same course, because conformable to the will of their Creator. Morality
induces them to embrace virtue from prudential considerations; Religion, from those of gratitude and obedience.
Morality, therefore, entirely abstracted from Religion can have nothing meritorious in it; it being but
wisdom, prudence, or good œconomy, which, like health, beauty, or
riches, are rather obligations conferred upon us by God, than merits in us towards
him; for tho' we may be justly punished for injuring ourselves, we can claim no reward for self-preservation; as suicide
deserves punishment and infamy, but a Man deserves no reward or honours for not being guilty of it. This I take to be the meaning
of all those passages in our Scriptures in which Works are represented to have no
merit without Faith; that is not without believing in historical facts, in creeds,
and articles; but without being done in pursuance of our belief in God, and in obedience to his commands.What was that Faith, which the Author of the Christian Religion
indispensably required in all his disciples? It could not be a literal, and implicit
belief of the divine inspiration of all the Books of the Old Testament; and
consequently
of all the History, Chronology, Geography, and Philosophy contained in them;
because
to these he Jews, who rejected it, adhered with the most superstitious
exactness: it could not be the same kind of belief in the writings of the New
Testament, because these in his life-time had no existence: much less could
it consist in a blind assent to the numberless explanations of these books, and
least of all in the Belief of Creeds, Articles, and theological Systems founded
on such explanations, for all these were the productions of later Ages. It must therefore have been this, and this alone; a
sincere
Belief in the divine Authority of his mission, and a constant practice of all Moral duties from a sense of their being agreeable to his commands. And now, having
mentioned Scripture, I cannot omit observing, that the Christian is the only religious or moral institution in the world that ever
set in a right light these two
material points, the Essence and the End of virtue; that ever founded the one in
the production of happiness, that is in universal benevolence, or, in their language,
Charity to all men; the other, in the probation of man, and his obedience to his
Creator. Sublime and magnificent as was the philosophy of the Ancients, all their
moral systems Were deficient in these two important articles. They were all built
on the sandy foundations of the innate beauty of virtue, or enthusiastick patriotism;
and their great point in view was the contemptible reward of human glory; foundations which were by no means able to
support the magnificent structures which
they erected upon them; for the beauty of
virtue, independent of its effects, is unmeaning nonsense: patriotism which injures mankind in general for
the sake of a
particular country, is but a more extended selfishness, and really criminal; and all human glory but a mean and ridiculous delusion. The whole affair then of Religion
and Morality, the subject of so many thousand volumes, is in short no more than this:
The Supreme Being, infinitely good, as
well as powerful, desirous to diffuse happiness by all possible means, has created innumerable ranks and orders of Beings, all
subservient to each other by proper subordination. One of these is occupied by Man,
a creature endued with such a certain degree of knowledge, reason, and free-will,
as is suitable to his situation, and placed
for a time on this globe as in a school of
probation and education. Here he has an
opportunity given him of improving or debasing his nature, in such a manner, as to
render himself fit for a rank of higher perfection and happiness, or to degrade himself to a
state of greater imperfection and
misery; necessary indeed towards carrying
on the business of the Universe, but very
grievous and burthensome to those individuals, who, by their own misconduct, are
obliged to submit to it. The test of this
his behaviour, is doing good, that is, cooperating with his Creator, as far as his
narrow sphere of action will permit, in the production of happiness. And thus the
happiness and misery of a future state will
be the just reward or punishment of promoting or preventing happiness in this. So artificially by this means is the nature of all human virtue
and vice contrived, that their rewards and punishments are woven as it were into
their very essence; their immediate effects give us a foretaste of their future; and their fruits in the present life are the proper
samples
of what they must unavoidably produce in another. We have Reason given us to distinguish these consequences, and regulate our conduct; and lest that should neglect its post, Conscience also is appointed as an instinctive kind of monitor,
perpetually to remind us both of our interest and our duty.
When we consider how wonderfully the practice of Virtue is thus inforced by our
Great Creator, and that all which he requires of us under that title is only to be
happy, that is, to make each other so; and
when at the same time we look round us, and see the whole race of mankind thro' every
successive generation tormenting, injuring and destroying
each other, and perpetually counteracting the gracious designs of their Maker, it
is a most astonishing paradox how all this comes to pass; why God should suffer
himself to be thus defeated in his best purposes by creatures of his own making; or why man
should be made with dispositions to defeat them at the expence of
his own present and future happiness; why infinite Goodness should form creatures
inclined to oppose its own benevolent designs, or why infinite Power should thus
suffer itself to be opposed.
There are some, I know, who extricate themselves from this difficulty very concisely
by asserting, that there is in fact no such original depravity, no such innate propensity to vice in
human nature; but as this assertion is directly contrary to the express declaration
of the Scriptures, to the opinion of the Philosophers and Moralists of all ages,
and to the most constant, and invariable experience of every hour; I think they no more deserve an answer, than they who would affirm,
that a stone has no tendency to the Center by its natural gravity, or that flame
has no inclination to ascend.
.But the usual solution applied to this
difficulty by the ablest Philosophers and
Divines, with which they themselves, and
most of their readers, seem perfectly satisfied, is comprehended in the following reasoning: that Man came perfect out of the
hands of his Creator, both in virtue and
happiness, but it being more eligible that he should be a free-agent,
than a mere machine, God endued him with Freedom of will; from the abuse of which
Freedom, all Misery and Sin, that is, all natural and moral Evils, derive
their existence: from all such therefore the Divine Goodness is sufficiently justified,
by reason they could not be prevented without the loss of superior Good: for to
create Men free, and at the same time compel them to be virtuous, is utterly impossible.
But whatever air of demonstration this
argument may assume, by whatever fam'd
Preachers it may have been used, or by
whatever learned Audiences it may have
been approved, I will venture to affirm,
that it is false in all its Principles, and in
its Conclusion also; and I think it may be
clearly shewn, that God did not make Man absolutely perfect,
nor absolutely Free: nor, if he had, would this in the least` have justified the
introduction of wickedness and misery.
That Man came perfect, that is endued
with all possible perfections, out of the
hands of his Creator, is evidently a false
notion derived from the Philosophers of the first ages, founded on their ignorance of the
Origin of Evil, and inability to account
for it on any other hypothesis: they understood not that the universal System required Subordination, and
consequently
comparative Imperfections; nor that in the
Scale of Beings there must be somewhere such a creature as Man with all his infirmities about him: that the total removal
of these would be altering his very nature;
and that as soon as he became Perfect he must cease to be Man.
The truth of this, I think, has been sufficiently proved; and besides, the very
supposition of a Being originally perfect, and yet capable of rendering itself wicked
and miserable, is undoubtedly a Contradiction, that very power being the highest
imperfection imaginable.
That God made Man perfectly free is no less false: Men have certainly
such a degree of Free-will as to make them accountable, and justly punishable for the
abuse of it; but absolute and independent
Free-will is what, I believe, no created Being can be possessed of. Our actions proceed from our Wills, but our wills
must
be derived from the natural dispositions
implanted in us by the Author of our Being: wrong elections proceed from wrong
apprehensions, or unruly passions; and these from our original
Frame or accidental Education: these must determine all our actions, for we have
no power to act differently, these previous circumstances continuing exactly the
same. Had God thought proper to have made all Men with the same heads, and the
same
hearts, which he has given to the most virtuous of the species, they would all have
excelled in the same virtues: or had the Bias implanted in Human Nature drawn as
strongly towards the good side, as it now apparently does towards the bad, it would
have operated as successfully, and with as little infringement on human Liberty. Men, as well as all other animals, are
exactly fitted for the purposes they are designed for; and have inclinations and
dispositions given them accordingly: He, who implanted patience in the Lamb, obedience in the Horse, fidelity in the Dog,
and innocence in the Dove, might as easily have inspired the breast of Man with
these and all other virtues; and then his actions would have certainly corresponded
with his Formation: therefore, in the strict philosophical sense, we have certainly
no Free-will; that is, none independent of our Frame, our Natures, and the Author
of them.
But were both these propositions true, were Men originally
created both perfect and free, yet this would by no means justify the introduction of moral Evil;
because,
if his perfection was immediately to be destroyed by his Free-will, he might as well
never have been possest of the one, and
much better have been prevented from making use of the other: let us dispute therefore as long as we please, it must eternally be the same
thing, whether a Creator of infinite power and knowledge created Beings
originally wicked and miserable, or gave them a power to make themselves so, foreknowing they would
employ that power to their own destruction.
If moral Evil therefore cannot be derived from the Abuse of Free-will
in Man, from whence can we trace its origin? Can it proceed from a just, a wise,
and a benevolent God? Can such a God form Creatures with dispositions to do
Evil, and then punish them for acting in conformity
to those evil dispositions? Strange and astonishing indeed must this appear to us, who know so little of the
universal
Plan! but it is far, I think, from being irreconcileable with the justice of the
Supreme Disposer of all things: for let us but once acknowledge
the truth of our first great proposition, (and
most certainly true it is) that natural Evils exist from some necessity in the nature of
things, which no power can dispense with
or prevent, the expediency of moral Evil
will perhaps follow on course: for if misery could not be excluded from the works
of a benevolent Creator by infinite power,
these miseries must be endured by some
creatures or other for the good of the whole:
and if there were none capable of wickedness, then they must fall to the share of
those who are perfectly innocent. Here
again we see our difficulties arise from
our wrong notions of Omnipotence, and
forgetting how many difficulties it has
to contend with: in the present instance
it is obliged either to afflict Innocence or
be the cause of Wickedness; it has plainly no other Option: what then could infinite Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness do in this situation, more
consistent
with itself, than to call into being Creatures formed with such depravity, in
their dispositions, as to induce many of them to act in such a manner as to render
themselves proper subjects for such necessary sufferings, and yet at the same time indued with such a degreeSome have asserted that there can be no degrees of Free-will,
but that every Being must be absolutely free, or possessed of no Freedom at all: and this
seems to have been the principal error that has led those who have supported
both sides of this Question into so many absurdities; as it well might, since they
were both equally wrong in espousing a proposition, which contradicts both reason,
and experience, Brutes have a certain degree of Free-will; else why do we correct them for their misbehaviour,
or why do they amend upon correction? yet certainly they have not so great a degree
as ourselves. A man raving mad is not, nor is considered as a Free-agent; a man
less mad has a greater portion of Freedom; and a man not mad at all has the
greatest; but still the degree of his Freedom must bear a proportion to the weakness of
his understanding, and the strength of his passions, and prejudices; all which
are a perversion of reason, and madness as far as they extend, and operate on Free-will
in the very same manner: so that it is so far from being true, that all men are
equally free, that probably there are no two men, who are possessed of exactly
the same degree of Freedom. of Reason and Free-will as to put it
in the power of every individual to escape them by their good behaviour: such a Creature is Man; so corrupt,
base, cruel and wicked as to convert these unavoidable miseries into just punishments, and at the same time so
sensible
of his own depravity and the fatal consequences of guilt, as to be well able
to correct the one, and to avoid the other. Here we see a substantial Reason for
the depravity of Man, and the admittance of Moral Evil in these circumstances
seems
not only compatible with the justice of God, but one of the highest instances of
his consummate wisdom in ordering and disposing all things in the best manner their imperfect natures will admit.
I presume not by what has been here said to determine on the councils of the Almighty, to triumph in the
compleat discovery of the Origin of Moral Evil, or to assert that this is the certain
or sole cause of its existence; I propose it only as a Guess concerning the
reason
of its admission, more probable, and less derogatory from the divine wisdom, and
justice, than any, that has hitherto been offered for that purpose.
There is undoubtedly something farther
in the general Depravity of Mankind than
we are aware of, and probably many great
and wise ends are answered by it to us totally incomprehensible. God, as has
been shewn, would never have permitted the existence of Natural Evil, but from
the impossibility of preventing it without the lots
of superior Good: and on the same principle the admission of Moral Evil is equally
consistent with the divine Goodness: and
who is he so knowing in the whole stupendous system of Nature as to assert, that
the Wickedness of some Beings may not, by means inconceivable
to us, be beneficial to innumerable unknown Orders of others? or that the Punishment
of some may not contribute to the Felicity of numbers infinitely superior?
To this purpose the learned Hugenius says with great sagacity,
Præterea credibile est, ipsa illa animi vitia magnæ hominum parti, non
sine summo concilio data esse: Cum enim Dei providentiâ talis sit Tellus, ejusque
incolæ, quales cernimus,
absurdum enim foret existimare omnia hæc alia facta esse, quam ille voluerit, sciveritque futura.Cosmotheoros,
Lib, I. p. 34.
But let us not forget that this necessity of Vice and Punishment,
and its subserviency to publick Good, makes no alteration in their natures with
regard to Man; for, tho' the wisdom of God may extract from
the wickedness of Men some remote benefits to the Universe; yet that alters not the
case with regard to them, nor in the least
extenuates their Guilt. He has given them
reason sufficient to inform them, that their
injuries to each other are displeasing to him,
and Free-will sufficient to refrain from such actions, and may therefore punish their
disobedience without any infringement of
justice: He knows indeed, that though
none are under any compulsion to do Evil,
yet that they are all so framed, that many
will certainly do it; and He knows also
that incomprehensible secret why it is necessary that many should: but his knowledge
having no relation to their determinations
renders not their vices less criminal, nor the
punishment of them less equitable: for,
tho' with regard to God, Vice may be perhaps the consequence of Misery; that is, Men may be inclined
to Vice in order to render them proper objects of such a degree of Misery as was
unavoidably necessary, and previously determined for the sake of publick Good, yet,
in regard to Man, Misery is the consequence of Vice; that is, all human Vices produce
Misery, and are justly punished by its infliction.
If it be objected that this makes God the Author of Sin, I
answer,
God is and must be the Author of every thing; and to say that any thing is, or
happens, independent of the first Cause, is to say that something exists, or
happens, without any Cause at all. God is the Author, if it may be so expressed,
of all the natural Evils, in the Universe; that is, of the fewest possible in the
nature of things; and why may he not be the Author of all moral Evil in the same manner
and on the same principle? If natural Evil owes its existence to necessity, why
may not moral? If Misery brings with it its Utility, why may not Wickedness?
"If storms and earthquakes break not Heav'n's design,
"Why then a Borgia or a Catiline!"
Wherefore, it ought always to be considered, that, tho' Sin in
Us, who see no farther than the Evils it produces, is Evil, and justly punishable; yet in God, who
sees the
causes and connections of all things, and the necessity
of its admission, that admission may be no Evil at all, and that necessity a sufficient
vindication of his Goodness.
But it may be alledged that this principle totally changes the Nature of Vice, destroys the Criterion before affixed to it,
and encourages the universal practice of
wickedness: for if Moral Evil, and the punishment of it, are necessary towards promoting
universal Good, then the more
wicked men are, the more they promote
that Good; and the more they co-operate
with their Creator in compleating his great
and benevolent plan of universal happiness.
But this reasoning is extremely fallacious: because no collateral, remote, unknown
and undesigned Good resulting from Vice
can alter the Nature of it, or divest it of
criminality; and moreover if that Good
arises only from its punishment, so far is
it from an encouragement to wickedness,
that it proves only that the punishment
of it is necessary, and unpreventable;
nay in its nature incapable of remission, without a penal satisfaction
from some Being or other, nor does its co-operation with the designs of Providence
render it less criminal, or less worthy of his just indignation: all Histories
are filled with instances of the wickedness of Men conspiring to bring about the
Councils of the Almighty; such were the ambition and ferocity of the Romans, the
obstinacy of the Jews, the cruelty of Herod, and the treachery of Judas, yet were
these never esteemed for that reason meritorious, or innocent.
From this important proposition, that
all Natural Evil derives its existence from necessity, and all Moral from expediency
arising from that necessity; I say, from
this important proposition, well considered
and pursued, such new lights might be struck out as could not fail, if directed by
the hands of Learning
and Impartiality, to lead the human Mind thro' the unknown
regions of speculation,
and to produce the most surprising and useful discoveries in Ethicks, Metaphysicks,
and in Christianity too: I add Christianity, because it is a
Master-key, which will, I am certain, at once unlock all the mysterious and perplexing doctrines of
that amazing Institution, and explain fairly, without the least assistance from theological
artifice, all those abstruse speculations of Original Sin, Grace and Predestination,
and vicarious punishments, which the most learned, for want of this Clue, have never
yet been able to make consistent with Reason or Common-sense.
In the first place, for instance, the DoctrineOriginal Sin is a contradiction in terms; Original
signifying
innate, and Sin the act of an accountable Being: by this expression therefore of
Original Sin cannot be meant original or innate Guilt, for that is absolute
nonsense,
but only an original depravity, or an innate disposition to Sin. of Original Sin
is really nothing more than the very System here laid down, into which we have been
led by closely pursuing Reason, and without which the Origin of Moral Evil cannot
be accounted for on any principle whatever. Indeed, according to the common notions
of the absolute Omnipotence of God, and the absolute Free-will in Man, it is most
absurd and impious, as it represents the Deity voluntarily bringing Men into Being
with depraved Dispositions, tending to no good purposes, and then arbitrarily punishing them for the
sins which they occasion with
torments which answer no ends, either of their reformation or utility to the
Universe: but when we see, by the foregoing explanation, the difficulties with which Omnipotence was environed, and that it was obliged
by the necessity of Natural Evils to admit Moral, all these absurdities at once
vanish, and the Original Depravity of Man appears fairly consistent with the Justice,
and even Goodness of his Creator.
The Doctrines of Predestination and Grace as set forth in the
Scriptures, on the most impartial Interpretation, I take to be these: that some men
come into the world with dispositions so extremely bad, that God foreknows that
they will certainly be guilty of many crimes, and in consequence be punished for them; that to others He has given better dispositions,
and moreover protects them from vice by a powerful but invisible influence, in the language of those writings
called Grace: this Scheme has appeared to many so partial and unjust that they
have totally rejected it, and endeavoured, by forced interpretations, to explain
it quite out of the Bible, in contradiction to all the sense of language and the
whole tenour of those writings: and indeed, on the old plan of God's
absolute Omnipotence,
uncontrouled by any previous necessity, in the nature of things, to admit both Natural
and Moral Evil, it is highly derogatory from His wisdom and goodness: but, on the supposition of that previous necessity,
there appears nothing incredible in it, nor the least inconsistent with divine;
because if God was obliged by the nature of things, and for the good of the whole,
to suffer some to be wicked, and consequently miserable, he certainly might protect
others both from guilt and punishment. He in this light may be compared to the commander
of a numerous army, who, tho' he is obliged to expose many to danger, and some to
destruction, yet protects others with ramparts and covert-ways; but so long as he exercises
this power for the good of the whole, these distinctions amongst individuals ought
never to be imputed to Partiality or Injustice.
The DoctrineIf the punishments of the wicked serve not
some ends with which we are unacquainted, the sufferings of the innocent
can possibly bear no manner of relation to them; and consequently the words Sacrifice,
Attonement, Propitiation, and Vicarious Punishments can no more have any ideas affixed to them
than the ringing of a bell, or the blowing of a trumpet, but are mere Sounds without
any meaning at all. of Sacrifice, or Vicarious punishment, is the most
universal, and yet exclusive of this plan the most absurd, of all religious Tenets
that ever entered into the Mind of Man: so absurd is it, that how it came to be
so universal is not easy to be accounted for: Pagans, Jews and Christians, have
all agreed in this one point, tho' differing in all others; and have all treated
it as a self-evident principle, that the Sins of one Creature might be attoned for
by the Sufferings of another: but from whence they derived this strange opinion,
none of them have pretended to give any account, or to produce in its defence the
least shadow of a Reason: for that there should be any manner of connection between the Miseries of one
Being and the Guilt of another; or, that the punishing the Innocent, and excusing
the Guilty, should be a mark of God's Detestation of Sin; or, that two acts of
the highest Injustice should make one of Justice, is so fundamentally wrong, so diametrically
opposite to common-sense, and all our ideas of justice, that it is equally astonishing
that so many should believe it themselves, or impose it upon others. But on the
foregoing theory this also may be a little cleared up, and will by no means appear
so very inconsistent with Reason: for if a certain quantity of Misery in some part
of the Universal System is necessary to the Happiness and Well-being of the Whole; and if this
necessity arises from its answering some purposes incomprehensible
to the human Understanding; I will ask any impartial Reasoner, Why the Sufferings of one Being may not
answer the same Ends, or be as effectual towards promoting Universal Good as the Sufferings of
another? If the Miseries of Individuals are
to be looked upon as taxes which they are
obliged to pay towards the support of the
Publick, why may not the sufferings of one
Creature serve the same purposes, or absolve
as much of that necessary tax as the Sufferings of another, and on that account be accepted as a payment or
satisfaction for their
Sufferings; that is, for the Sufferings due
to the Publick Utility from the punishment
of their crimes, without which the happiness of the whole could not subsist,
unless
they should be replaced by the Sufferings of
others? As we are entirely ignorant why
Misery has any existence at all, or what interest it serves in the general System of things, this may
possibly
be the case for any thing we know; and that it is not, I am certain no one can affirm; with
Reason: Reason indeed cannot inform us that it is so, but that it may be,
is undoubtedly no contradiction to Reason.
If I mistake not it might be shewn, that this principle of the
necessity of Moral Evil, and its punishment, is the foundation on which the whole fabrick of the Christian Dispensation is
erected; the principle itself is avowed by the Author of that Dispensation in
clear, and express words: It must needs be, says he, that offences come; but woe
unto that man by whom the Offence cometh. That is, it is necessary towards compleating
the designs of Providence, that some men should commit crimes; but as no Individual is compelled by
necessity
to commit them, Woe unto all, who are thus guilty. He came by his excellent precepts,
and example, to diminish the quantity of Moral Evil in the World, and
of Misery consequential from its punishment, but found it necessary to replace that
Misery in some degree by his own voluntary, and unmerited Sufferings: and perhaps
the unparallel'd tortures inflicted on his disciples and followers might be also
necessary, and subservient to the same purposes.
From what has been here said, I think,
it is evident that the Origin of Evil is by
no means so difficult to account for as at
first sight it appears; for it has been plainly shewn that most of those we usually
complain of are Evils of Imperfection, which are rather the
absence
of comparative Advantages than positive Evils, and therefore, properly speaking,
no Evils at all; and as such, ought to be intirely struck out of the Catalogue.
It has likewise been made appear, that of natural Evils, which are the sufferings
of sensitive Beings, many are but the consequences naturally resulting from the particular
circumstances of particular ranks in the scale of Existence, which could not
have been omitted without the destruction of the Whole;
and that many more are in all probability necessary, by means to us
incomprehensible,
to the production of Universal Good. Lastly, it has been suggested, that
from this necessity of Natural Evils may arise the expediency of Moral, without
which those necessary Sufferings
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more, I am sure, of all it would require) encouraged by your
Favour, and assisted by your Sagacity, would undertake it, and condescend to fill
up these out-lines so inaccurately sketched out by,
S I R, &c.
LETTER V.
ON
Political Evils.
LETTER V.
On Political Evils.
SIR,
ACCORDING to my proposed Plan there still remain two sorts of
Evils to be accounted for, Political and Religious; under which heads, (if you
are not already tired with so abstruse and unentertaining a
correspondence) I shall endeavour to shew you, that it is utterly impossible, even for Omnipotence
itself, to give a perfect Government, or a perfect Religion to an imperfect Creature;
and therefore, that the numberless imperfections inherent in all human Governments and Religions, are not
imputable to God, nor any defect of power, wisdom, or goodness in Him; but only to the inferiority
of Man's station in the Universe, which necessarily exposes him to Natural and Moral
Evils, and must, for the same reason, to Political and Religious; which are indeed but the Consequences
of the other Superior Beings may probably form to themselves, or receive from their
Creator, Government without tyranny or Corruption, and Religions without Delusions
or Absurdities; but Man cannot: God indeed may remove him into so exalted a Society; but
whilst he continues to be Man, he
must be subject to innumerable Evils;
amongst
which those I call Political and Religious are far from being the least.
But as these two kinds of Evils are very different, they will
require different considerations; I shall therefore, in the present confine
myself
to the Political only; by which I mean all those grievous burthens of Tyranny and
Oppression, of Violence and Corruption, of War and Desolation, under which all Ages
and nations have ever groaned on account of Government: little less destructive
perhaps to the happiness of Mankind than even Anarchy itself; but notwithstanding,
are so woven into the very essence of all Human Governments from the Depravity
of Man, that without them none can be either established, maintained or administered,
nor consequently can they be prevented without changing that Depravity into perfection; that is, without a compleat Alteration in Human Nature.
How this comes to pass may be easily explained by a short examination,
first into the nature and origin of Government in general, and afterwards into
those
of particular Forms and Policies; than which nothing has been more commonly misunderstood
and misrepresented.
As to Government in general, it is no
wonder, that it is so productive of Evil,
since its very Nature consists of Power
trusted in the hands of such imperfect and
vicious Creatures as Men, and exercised
over others as imperfect and vicious as
themselves; in which there must be Pride,
Avarice and Cruelty on one Side, Envy,
ignorance and Obstinacy on the other;
and Injustice and Self-Interest on both.
Its Origin also arises from the same impure source of human Imperfection; that
is, Men being neither wise nor honest enough, to pursue their common
or mutual interests without Compulsion, are obliged to submit to some, in order
to secure their lives and properties from the depredations of all: but tho' this
Necessity drives them into some kind of Government, yet it can never decide who
govern, because all Men being by nature equal, every one has an equal right to this
superiority: this therefore can be determined only by more Imperfections: that
is, by the Struggles of Ambition, Treachery, Violence and Corruption; from
success
in which universal scramble are derived all the mighty Empires of the Earth: One
Man at first by some of these methods acquiring the command over a few, then by
their aid extending his power over greater numbers, and at last by the assistance of those numbers, united by the
advantage of plundering others, subduing all opposition: and thus we see all human Government is the Offspring of Violence and Corruption, and
must inherit
the imperfection of both its parents. It
is plain also that national Governments
can never be supported by any other methods than those by which they were at first rais'd; for, being all independent of
each other, and retaining still their original
inclination to devour each other; and having no superior tribunal to refer to
for justice, they can have no means to secure
their own possessions, or to repel their mutual encroachments, but by force, which
is call'd the Right of War; that is, the
right of doing all the wrong that lies in
their power: For war, however dignified
with honours and encomiums by conquerors and their flatterers, is in fact nothing else but robbery
and murder. Nations having no more right to plunder each other than Parishes, nor
Men to kill one another in their political than in their private capacities.
If we look into the internal constitutions of all these Governments,
we shall find likewise, that they must be administered by the same violence and
corruption to which they are indebted for their Origin; that is, by hiring one part of the society to force the other
into subjection; and that none of them ever subsisted any longer than whilst the
stronger part, not always the most numerous, found it for their advantage to keep
the weaker in obedience: for it should be ever remembered, as the fundamental
of all politics, that men will never submit to each other merely for the sake of public Utility,If any one is so ignorant of human nature, as to fancy that
they will, let him make the experiment in a single parish, and there, if without
Power or Compulsion, Interest or Gratuity, solely by the strength of reason, and
motives of public advantage, he can perswade the inhabitants to submit to equal
and necessary taxes, to repair roads, build bridges, inclose commons, drain marshes,
employ their poor, or perform any works of general Utility: if he can accomplish
this let him retain his opinion, but if he finds it utterly impracticable, let him
not expect, that it can ever be done in a whole Nation, in which there are so many
more factions, interests and absurdities to contend with. too remote a benefit
to make any impression on the dull senses of the multitude; but must be always
beat or bribed into obedience. Higher orders of Beings may submit to each other on nobler motives, from
their sense of Virtue or of universal Benefit; but Man can be governed by nothing but the Fear of Punishment
or the hopes of Reward; that is, by Self-interest, the great Principle that operates
in the political World in the same manner that Attraction does in the natural, preserving
order and restraining every thing to its proper course by the continual endeavours
of every individual to draw all power and property to himself.There is indeed one other method of Government frequently made
use of by the most illustrious Princes and Legislators, that is Fraud; but, as this operates only by the appearance of Self-Interest, it may properly be comprehended under that head.
If we descend to the examination of particular forms of
government, we shall see them all exactly correspond with this general plan; we shall
find that none of them owe their Origin to patriarchal power, the divine right of
Princes, or the uninfluenced choice of the people; things which never existed but in the idle dreams of visionary politicians; but all to the
struggles of Ambition and Self-Interest,
subsiding at last into
some kind of policy; either into absolute Monarchy or some species of popular Government
more or less remote from it, as the different parts of it have had Strength or Fortune
to prevail; all which must be carried on by the same vitious methods of Violence
or Corruption, and consequently be productive of numberless, if not of equal, Evils.
In absolute Monarchies, for instance,
great violence must be exercised to keep
men, by nature equal, in so unnatural a Subjection; this must produce plots, rebellions, civil wars and massacres; and
these most require more Violence to repress
them: but this violence cannot be used
without much corruption; for it is not
the person of the sovereign, his crown and scepter, that can preserve his authority,
nor can he destroy thousands with his own
hand, like a Hero in a Romance; a powerful army must be kept in pay to enslave
the people, and a numerous clergy to deceive them;It has been represented as if the Author by
this designed to insinuate that the whole business of the Clergy was to deceive the people;
than which nothing can be more distant from
his intentions: all that he means is, that Men
will not easily submit to Tyranny unless their
consciences are first inslaved; or that popery is
the the most effectual support of arbitrary power: a
proposition
which he supposes no one will presume to contradict. whose ambition, avarice,
luxury and cruelty must be satiated with the blood and treasures
of that very People as a reward for their services: hence infinite Evils must
arise,
the lives, liberties and properties of all must be dependent on the capricious will
of One, or, what is worse, on the wills of his pimps, flatterers and favourites: justice
must be perverted by favour, and that favour can seldom be obtained but by adulation,
servility and treachery: this produces all kinds of Moral Evils, and these beget
more Political.
In Democratical governments, if there is less Violence there
is more Corruption; which in these indeed is the Basis of all Power, and productive
of the most mischievous effects; here all things are at the disposal of an ignorant
and giddy Multitude, always led to their own destruction by the flimsy eloquence
and pretended patriotism of Knaves, Fools, and enthusiastic Madmen; or commonly
of some extraordinary Genius, formed for popularity by a lucky composition of all
these excellent ingredients; all subordination is subverted; and the most insolent
and vitious of the people must be caressed, bribed and intoxicated, and by that
means rendered still more insolent and vitious; and all who by their methods
acquire their favour must: be no less vitious than themselves. If in despotic
Governments power cannot be attained but by Servility and Adulation, in
Democratical it can never be acquired but by the more pernicious vices of
Turbulence and Faction; for which Reason these are ever sure to be governed by the most wicked, ambitious,
avaricious, and mischievous of their Members.
Mixed Governments, tho' perhaps productive of fewer Evils than
either of the former, yet must necessarily partake of those belonging to both, and
be supported by more or less of violence, as they more or less approach the Despotic; or of
Corruption, as they come nearer to the Democratical principles:
the further they shrink from the iron scourges of the one, the more will they be
entangled in the golden fetters of the other; for Corruption most always
increase
in due proportion to the decrease of arbitrary power, since where there is less
power to command obedience, there must be more bribery to purchase it, or there can be no government at all. These have besides many Evils peculiar to
themselves, the very excellence
of these of constitutions being productive of
conveniences: for this excellence
consisting principally in this, that their different
ts are able to counteract each
others mischievous intentions, the reins of Government are kept tight only by each pulling
a different way, and they subsist by a perpetual contention, like a body kept
e by
the opposite effects of contrary sons: a very precarious and uneasy kind
of existence!
This exposes them in some measure to all the Evils incident to both
absolute and popular
Governments, tho' in a less degree: to the oppression of the
, and the licentiousness of the other,
factions at home, weakness
abroad, and nite expence in all parts of their admiration yet are there mixed constitutionsthe very best that human wisdom could ever discover for
the regulation of human societies.
All these Evils arise from the nature of
Things and the Nature of Man, and not
from the Weakness or Wickedness of particular Men, or their accidental ascendency
in particular Governments: the degrees of
them may indeed be owing to these, but
their existence is immutable. So long as
the Imperfection of human nature continues, so long will Princes, for the most
part, convert that power with which they
are trusted for the sake of publick Utility,
to the ignoble ends of their own avarice;
luxury or ambition; so long will the people
prefer present Self-interest to remote benefits
arising from national prosperity; and so
long will corrupt ministers employ this
popular venality to their own private advantage; and how many
soever
are lopt off,
Non deficit aureus alter.
It is the mifapprehension of this, that is the fundamental error
of all ignorant, but well-meaning, speculative politicians,It is a strange, but a certain Truth, that in
politicks most principles speculatively right are
practically wrong: to give a few instances of
this kind out of many commonly adopted: viz.
that those who are possest of most property will
fight best in its defence: that national business is most successfully carried on by assemblies of Men
uninfluenced and unconnected: that unbounded
Liberty, civil and ecclesiastical, is most conducive to publick happiness and virtue: all these Propositions have
reason on their side, but experience against them: they all captivate vulgar minds,
because they look like truth, and they look like truth,
because
they would be true if mankind in general acted upon honest or even upon rational
principles; but as in fact they do neither they are utterly Life, and all political
structures built on such unstable foundations will inevitably fall to the Ground. of all others the most untractable in government, and mischievous
in business, the engines with which knaves work, and the ladders on which they mount
to preferment: who endeavour to destroy all governments, because they are not
perfect;
and oppose all administrations, because they cannot govern men by such means as
they are not design'd, or form'd to be governed by: who, by a Sysiphæan kind of
politics, are ever labouring to roll up a stone, that must recoil upon them; and to render that faultless, which infinite power and wisdom cannot
exempt from inconveniences, abuses, and imperfections.
Should one enumerate all of this kind, which cannot be excluded
from Government without the total alteration of human nature, they would be endless; to
instance but a few: all political bodies, like the natural,
must have the
seeds of their own dissolution sown in their very essence, and like them be destroyed by every excess; by excess of poverty or
riches, of slavery or liberty, of ignorance or knowledge, of adversity or prosperity: a
strong proof of their imperfection, that they cannot bear excess even of the
greatest good; and yet they cannot be formed of more durable materials, so long as they
are constituted of human creatures. All power trusted in the hands of so imperfect a creature as man, must be pernicious and oppressive, and yet
somewhere such power must be trusted.
All human Laws must be liable to misconstruction, and uncertainty, yet without
Laws property cannot be secur'd. All popular Elections must be attended with
corruption, licentiousness, and the perversion of justice, yet without them the liberty of no country can be preserv'd. All
national provisions for the poor must not
only be encouragements to idleness, but
productive of contests, and oftentimes of
cruelty, yet without such many honest but
unfortunate people must inevitably perish.
All religious tests, and subscriptions, are
in their own natures subversive of truth and
morals; yet the folly of one part of mankind, and the knavery of the other, will
scarcely permit any government to subsist without them; Trade and wealth are the
strength
and the pursuit of every wise nation, yet these must certainly produce Luxury, which no less certainly
must produce their destruction. All War is a complication of all manner of Evils
natural and moral, that is of misery and wickedness; yet without it national contentions
can never be determined. No Government can be carried on, nor subordination preserv'd,
without forms, and ceremonials, pomp, and parade; yet all such, from the inferiority
of human nature giving itself airs of grandeur and magnificence, and the despicable expedients it is obliged to have recourse to support it, must always have
something mean and ridiculous
in them to exalted understandings. All Governments are in a great measure upheld
by absurd notions infused into the minds of the people, of the divine right of some particular person or family
to reign over them; a foolish partiality for some particular spot of ground; an
outrageous zeal for some religion which they cannot understand, or a senseless pursuit of Glory which they can never attain; these are all false principles, yet
without them, or some like them, no nation can long subsist: they can never be
defended by reason, yet reason can produce no others that can supply their places.
Every flourishing nation endeavours to improve Arts, and cultivate Reason and good sense; yet if these
are extended too far, or too universally diffus'd, no national government or national
religion can long stand their ground; for it is with old establishments as with
old houses, their deformities are commonly their supports, and these can never be
remov'd without endangering the whole fabrick. In short, no Government can be administer'd without in some degree deceiving the people,
oppressing the mean, indulging
the great, corrupting the venal, opposing factions to each other, and temporising
with parties.
It is this necessity for Evil in all Government, which gives that
weight and popularity, which usually attends all those
who oppose, and calumniate
any Government whatever; appearing always to have reason on their side, because the
Evils of ...1 power are conspicuous to the meanest
capacity, whereas the necessity for
those evils are perceivable only to superior understandings: every one can feel
the burthen of taxes, and see the inconveniences of armies, places, and pensions,
that must encrease them, but very few are able to comprehend that no Government
can be supported without them in a certain degree; and that the more liberty any
nation enjoys, the greater must be their number and necessity. The most ignorant
can perceive the mischiefs that must arise from corrupt Ministers and venal Parliaments; but it requires some
sagacity to
discern, that assemblies of men unconnected by
self-interest will no more draw together in the business of the publick than horses
without harness or bridles; but, like them, instead of being quietly guided in
the right road of general utility, will immediately run riot, stop the wheels of
government, and tear all the political machine to pieces.
From hence it comes to pass that all ignorant wrongheaded people naturally run
into opposition and faction, whilst the wise man knows that
those
Evils cannot be eradicated, and that their excess only can be prevented; that thus
far every honest man still endeavour to his utmost, but to proceed farther only fools
will hope for, or knaves pretend. He knows that numbers of men must always act in
the same manner, if in the same circumstances; that Politics are a science as reducible
to certainty as Mathematicks, and in them effects as invariably follow their
causes: that the operations of Will are as uniform, as those of matter and motion; and
that tho' the actions of individuals are contingencies, those of numbers are
constant, and invariable: that tho' a single man may possibly prefer publick utility to
private advantage, it is utterly impossible, that the majority of numerous bodies
should
be actuated by the same generous and patriotic principles;This
may be demonstrated by a familiar Instance: It is by no means uncommon for a single Die to come up a Six, altho' the odds against it are
five to one, but that a Majority of five hundred Dice should at the same
time come up Six's is scarcely within the power of Fortune; because the odds
against
each individual become almost infinite when operating upon the whole five hundred
together. For the same reason, supposing every Sixth Man to be wise, honest, and
public-spirited, which surely in any Country is a very liberal allowance, there
would not be the smallest probability that the Majority of any five hundred to
be chosen out of the whole, would be of that sort, tho' elected with the
utmost impartiality;
but, if ambition, self-interest, and corruption interfere in the choice, as they
most infallibly will, these will render it totally impossible. these can spring only from Virtue
and Wisdom, benevolent hearts, and comprehensive understandings;
which, being the portion but of a few more
exalted individuals, can never be found in the multitude to be govern'd: nor can
they be bestow'd in any extraordinary degree on those who govern, who would thereby
be rendered unfit for their occupations: Statesmen and Ministers, who must be
hackney'd in the ways of men, cannot be made of such pure and refin'd materials;
peculiar must be the composition of that little creature call'd a Great Man.
He must be formed of all kinds of contradictions: he must be indefatigable
in business, to fit him for the labours of his station, and at the same time fond
of pleasures, to enable him to attach many to his interests by a participation of
their vices: He must be master of much artifice and knavery, his situation requiring
him to employ, and be employed by, so many knaves; yet he must have some honesty, or those very knaves will be unwilling
to trust him: He must be possess'd of great magnanimity perpetually to confront
surrounding enemies, and impending dangers; yet of great meanness, to flatter
those
enemies, and suffer tamely continual injuries, and abuses: He must be wise enough
to conduct the great affairs of Mankind with sagacity and success, and to acquire
riches and honours for his reward; and at the same time foolish enough to think
it worth a wise man's while to meddle with such affairs at all, and to
accept of such imaginary rewards for real sufferings. Since then in all human
Governments such must the Governors, and such the Governed eternally be, it is
certain they must be ever big with numberless imperfections, and productive of abundant Evils
and it is no less pain, that if infinite Goodness could not exclude natural and
moral Evils, infinite
Power can never prevent Political.
I hope, Sir, the picture I have here drawn of human nature, and
human Government, will not appear to you too much of the Caricature kind: your
experience in both must inform you that it is like, tho' your good nature may
incline you to be sorry that it is so. I trust likewise to your good sense to distinguish,
that what has here been said of their imperfections, and abuses, is by no means
intended as a defence of them, but meant only to shew their necessity: to this every wise man ought
quietly to submit, endeavouring at the same
time to redress them to the utmost of his
power; which can be effected by one method only; that is, by a reformation of Manners: for
as all Political Evils derive their Original from Moral, these can never be remov'd,
until those are first amended. He therefore, who strictly adheres to Virtue and
Sobriety in his conduct, and inforces them by his example, does more real
service
to a State, than he who displaces a Minister, or dethrones a Tyrant; this gives
but a temporary relief, but that exterminates the Cause of the disease. No immoral Man then can
possibly be a true patriot; and all those who profess outrageous
zeal for the liberty and prosperity of their
Country, and at the same time infringe her
laws, affront her religion, and debauch her
people, are but despicable Quacks, by
fraud or ignorance increasing the disorders
they pretend to remedy: as such, I know, they have always appear'd
to your superior judgment, and such they are ever esteem'd by,
S I R, &c.
LETTER VI.
ON
Religious Evils.
LETTER VI.
On Religious Evils.
SIR,
I NOW come to my last head of Evils which I call Religious; by
which I mean all that madness, and folly, into which mankind have perpetually fallen
under the name of Religion; together with all those Persecutions, Massacres, and
Martyrdoms, which some have been induced to inflict, and others to suffer, from an
Enthusiastic zeal for those errors and absurdities: Evils of the most enormous
size, and which of
all others are the most difficult to be accounted for, as their existence seems
most inconsistent with infinite Goodness, and most easily preventable by infinite Power,
For, tho' human nature could not be exempted from natural and moral Evil (as
has been shewn) even by Omnipotence,
yet, one would think, a far less degree of
power might have been sufficient to have
defended it from Religious; by imparting
to Mankind a true, rational, and explicit system of Theology and Ethics; by which
means all the absurdities of false Religions,
and all the calamities flowing from those absurdities, would have been effectually prevented. Wonderful therefore must it appear,
since the
happiness of Men, thro' every part of their existence, so much depends
on their Religion, that is, on their entertaining right notions of God and his Attributes, of their duty
to him, and their behaviour to each other; most wonderful, I say, and astonishing
it must appear, that a wise and benevolent Creator should so far have deserted his
Creatures on this important occasion, as to have suffered them, thro' all generations,
to have wandered amidst such perilous precipices in the dark; or if at any time
he has vouchsafed them any supernatural light, that it should have been so faint
and glimmering that it has rather served to terrify them with the gloomy
prospect
of their danger, than to enable them to avoid it.
If we look back as far as history will carry us, we shall find
all ages and nations practising, under the name of Religion, such inhuman, obscene, stupid and execrable Idolatries, that it would disgrace
human Nature but to enumerate them:
we shall see the wisest Men of the wisest
Countries consulting Oracles of wood and stone, and confiding in the foolish superstition of the flight of birds, the entrails of
beasts, and the pecking of chickens; we
shall see them butchering their innocent
herds and flocks as an attonement for their
vices, and sacrificing their enemies, their
slaves, their children, and sometimes themselves, to appease the wrath of their imaginary Deities, of whose worship no cruelty
was too horrid to be made a part; and by
whose infamous examples no wickedness
was too execrable to be patronised. At
length Christianity appeared, a sketch of
Morality, the most rational, and of Religion the most sublime the world had ever
seen; which, if ever God condescended to
reveal his Will to Man, undoubtedly makes the fairest pretensions
to be that Revelation: and indeed, if we seriously consider its internal Excellence,
the reasonableness of its Morality, the sublimity of its Theology, that it alone
has fixed the right Criterion of Virtue, alone discovered the magnanimity of Forgiveness: that its notions of the Deity, his attributes and
dispensations, are so unlike
all that ever entered into the heads of the wisest philosophers of preceding ages,
and yet so well confirmed by the learned discoveries of all succeeding times; so
far exalted above all human reason, and yet so conaonant with it, and what is
most concluaive, so infinitely above the Capacities of those who published them to the
World; if we add to this its obscure rise and amazing progress, I think,
we can scarcely doubt but that there must be something Supernatural in it: and yet, with all these marks of Divinity stamped upon it, far from answering that idea of Perfection which we might expert
from the divine Interposition, it was but a Sketch, whose Out-lines indeed appear
the Work of a consummate Matter, but filled up from time to time by unequal and
injudicious hands. It had many defeats in its institution, and was attended with
many and great Evils in its consequences; in its institution it wanted Universality, By want of Authenticity is here meant only the want of that demonstrable, and infallible Authority, of which all historical Facts are in their
own Natures incapable; and which, had the friends of the Christian Revelation never
pretended to bestow upon it, the truth of that event had been no more disputed,
than the truth of any other well-attested History whatsoever.Authenticity, The want of Perspicuity in this Revelation needs surely no
other testimony, than the Millions of Writers, who for seventeen Centuries have
laboured to demonstrate, harmonise, systemise, illustrate, and explain every one
of its Doctrines; and the no less numberless, and various Opinions,
that remain to this Day concerning them all: much indeed of this obscurity has
proceeded from Men's endeavours to make it what they fancied it should have been,
but for which it was never intended; that is, a regular, clear, and explicit body
of moral and political Institutes.Perspicuity, and By Policy is here meant all Institutions and Regulations
of human Government, both civil, and ecclesiastical; concerning which the Author
of the Christian Religion has carefully avoided giving any directions. All these he has left to be ordered by every State in such a manner as shall appear to
them most convenient, and has commanded his disciples to be subject, as Men, to their
ordinances, not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake; but foreseeing the
infinite mischiefs that must arise from trusting human Creatures with a divine power,
he has forbid them as Christians, either to exercise, or submit to any authority
over each other, under any pretence of its being derived from himself: Ye know,
he says, that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and
they that are great exercise authority upon them; But it shall not be so among you;
&c. Matt. xx. 25. And perhaps there is no
stronger proof of the divine
Wisdom
of this great Instructor of Mankind, than the extraordinary caution with which he has passed over a subject, on which no
rules could be prescribed not inconsistent either with Practice or with Virtue:
and yet a Subject which all other Legislators have considered as their most important
Object.Policy, and
in its consequences it was soon corrupted, and from that corruption productive of
the most mischievous effects. Its great
Author designed it not to be exempted from any
of there Imperfections. He revealed it only to a small and obscure corner of the World in Parables and Mysteries: He guarded not its
original Purity, which seems to have died with himself, by committing it to any
written Records, but left it in the hands of illiterate Men, who, tho' they were
honest enough to die for it, were never wise enough perfectly to understand it.
All Policy he disclaims in express Words, saying, My kingdom is not of this
World; that is, 1 meddle not with the Political Affairs of Mankind; I teach
Men to despise the World, but not to govern it. Nor did He expect any better
consequences
from its progress than those which actually followed: He was by no means ignorant of its future corruption,
and that, tho' his primitive institution breathed nothing but Peace, and Forbearance,
Good-will and Benevolence; yet that in mixing with the Policies and Interests of
Mankind, it would be productive of tyranny and oppression, of martyrdoms and massacres,
of national wars and family dissentions. Think not,
says he, I come to send peace on Earth, I come not to send
peace but a Sword: for I am come to set a man at Variance against his father,
and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A Prophecy too fatally fulfilled!
From what inscrutable source can all these imperfections, and
all these consequent Evils, derive their existence? On what incomprehensible plan
must the wise Disposer of all things proceed, to suffer men thus
to bewilder themselves in the labyrinths of
error, and from thence to plunge into the gulphs of wickedness and misery, when the
least direction from his omnipotent hand
would lead them thro' the flowery paths of
Truth to Virtue and Felicity? Strange!
that he has not given them reason sufficient to perform this important office! Stranger! that, if ever he condescended to assist that
Reason with his infinite Wisdom,
even the Religion that results from that supernatural assistance should be still deficient
in almost every one of the principal requisites necessary towards accomplishing the
great and beneficent ends it was designed
for! that it should want Universality to render it impartial, Authenticity to make it
demonstrable, Perspicuity to make it intelligible, and Policy to make it useful to Mankind: that it should immediately have been corrupted, and from
that corruption been productive of all the Misery and Wickedness it seemed calculated
to prevent. But on examination we shall find, that these Evils, like all those of
which we have before treated, owe their existence to no defect of goodness or power
in God, but to the imperfection of Man and their own necessity: that is, to the
impracticability of giving a perfect Religion to an imperfect Creature. From whence
this impracticability arises I will endeavour to explain.
There are but two methods, that we
know of, by which God can communicate
a Religion to mankind: that is, either by
the deductions which he has impowered
him to make by the Force of that natural Reason which he has implanted in
him, or by the extraordinary interposition
of Divine Revelation: now from the first
of these little need be said to shew that nothing perfect can be expected: our
Reason
is unstable in its foundations, and uncertain
in its conclusions; our lives are extremely short, and our progress in science no
less tedious, and retarded by numberless obstacles: much of our time is employed in
getting ideas, and much in acquiring language to express them: few Men have capacities to
reason, and fewer leisure: some
having sense but no learning, want materials to work with: others having learning
and no sense, become more absurd by having amassed much matter to mistake about:
so that to raise any tolerable system of Religion, or Morals, from human reason, requires the labours of many generations;
from all which have already part how little
truth can we collect? and yet perhaps much of
that little is owing to Revelation, which we are apt to think unnecessary from the very assistance we have
received from it; like the Country-man who despised the Sun because it shined in
the daytime. We see but a very small part of the great Whole, and see that small
part so superficially, that we comprehend not the essence of any thing; neither of Metaphysicians divide all Being into Spirit and Matter: to
Spirit they attribute motion, activity, sensibility, thought, will, and reason, free from all
solidity, and extension; to Matter
they ascribe solidity and extension only, void of
all self-motion, sense, and perception: but these descriptions are quite arbitrary, founded only
upon their own imaginations, and by no means consistent with experience: for Spirit seems to
have many properties not so distinct from Matter
by its intimate Union with it in the composition
of all animals; and matter has certainly many qualities
contradictory
to this distinction, such as cohesion, attraction, elasticity, electricity, fermentation,
heat, and vegetation, none of which can be accounted for from the mere passive principles
of solidity and extension.Body or Spirit, of Many philosophers have considered Time and Space as real essences; whereas they have certainly no more than an imaginary existence derived
solely from the imperfection of human conceptions, and human language. They are in
themselves really nothing, and the attributes we bestow upon them are applicable
with equal propriety to nothing: that is, nothing has neither beginning nor
end, nor can be comprehended within any bounds. The intervening period between
historical facts we distinguish by the names of days and years; the distances
between places we call yards and miles, and from this manner of expressing ourselves they gain the appearance of being
something; whereas abstracted from those facts, and places, they are really nothing:
so that if all things were annihilated, Space would immediately vanish, and literally
speaking, Time would be no more.Space or Time, of All the Ideas we have of Infinity and Eternity are acquired
by adding in our imagination Miles to Miles and Years to Years, by which means we
come never the nearer to them: for no addition of parts can ever make any thing infinite or eternal; no two objects can be placed at an infinite distance,
because
they would then be the two ends of Infinity: an infinite number is a contradiction
in terms; and therefore every thing that is infinite or eternal must exist in some
manner which bears no manner of relation to Space, or Time, and which must therefore
be to us totally incomprehensible.Infinity or Eternity; we know scarce any thing of any
thing, and least of all of the nature of God or ourselves; and
therefore it is by no means surprismg that all
Religions derived from such a source should be full of Errors and Absurdities.
If it be asserted that God might have given to Man a more comprehensive
Reason and a greater Insight into Nature and Futurity: I answer, he certainly might,
and he might also have given him the strength of the Horse and the swiftness of
the Stag, as well as the understanding of an Angel; but then he had not continued
to be Man; or if he had, he would have suffered many superior Evils from there
unhappy acquisitions.
If we consider the other method, by which God can communicate
a Religion to Mankind, we shall find it no less incapable of producing a perfect one; because tho' God is
sufficiently
able to give a perfect Religion, Man is utterly unable to receive it. God cannot
impart knowledge to Creatures, of which he himself has made them incapable by their
nature and formation he cannot instruct a Mole in Astronomy, or an Oyster in Musick, because he has not given, them Members
nor Faculties necessary for the acquisition of those sciences: neither is this any
diminution of his Omnipotence, because acting in such a manner would be willing Contrarieties at the same time: it would be
opposing his own Designs, making Creatures what they are not, and granting them
Powers which he thought proper to deny them: a Revelation therefore from God can never be such as we might expert from infinite
Power, Wisdom and Goodness, but must condescend to the Ignorance and Infirmities of Man. Was the wisest Legislator in
the World to compose Laws for a nursery, they must be childish Laws: so was God
to reveal a Religion to Mankind, tho' the Revealer was divine, the Religion
must
be human, or it could be of no use to those for whose sake it was revealed: and
therefore, like them, it must be liable to numberless Imperfections, amongst
which all those Deficiencies before-mentioned are absolutely
unavoidable, and impossible to be prevented by any power whatever these are the
Want of Universality, Authenticity, Perspicuity and Policy; its certain Corruption,
with all that inundation of Wickedness and Misery which must flow from that Corruption.
Great and numerous Evils! from which it is not difficult to shew, that no Revelation communicated to Man can be exempted by an Omnipotent Revealer.
First then it must want Universality: that is, however conducive
it may be to the virtue and happiness of Mankind in general, it cannot be alike
communicated to all Men in all ages and all nations of the World; because, from the
nature of things, it must have a beginning and a progression: it must at first
be revealed at some time and in some place; and when-ever and where-ever that is,
there must have been times and places in which it was not revealed; and therefore
it is impossible it can be Universal; and this not proceeding from any impotence or partiality
in the Revealer; but from the modes of existence of all human affairs.
It must likewise want Authenticity; that is, tho' its divine
Authority may be more or less credible according to the circumstances of the evidence,
yet it can never be capable of a direct or demonstrative proof; because God must
communicate this Revelation to Mankind either by a general or a particular Inspiration: that is, either by
inspiring all men, or by inspiring a few to teach it to others: the first of
these methods, or a Universal Inspiration, is impossible in nature, and absurd even in imagination, and would
be the total alteration of human nature: the other must ever be liable to infinite
uncertainty, because tho' a Man may possibly know when he himself is inspired, (tho'
that, I think, may be very well questioned) yet, that he should ever produce indubitable
credentials of a Divine Commission to others, who are uninspired,
seems utterly impracticable, there being no
marks by which the fact can be ascertained,
nor any faculties in the human mind which
are able to distinguish it: the excellence of
the Revelation he teaches, its beneficent
ends, and the miracles he may work in its
confirmation, may altogether render it
more or less probable, but can never amount
to a certain proof, because we know so little
of the ends and consequences of things, and so much less of the nature of Miracles: we
understand indeed nothing about them, but
that we ourselves are unable to perform
them; but what Beings of superior Orders
may be able to do we cannot tell; nor yet
what power, inclination or permission such
Beings may have to deceive us: If it is impossible therefore we can be certain of the
divine Authority of a Revelation, even by
a personal communication with its first Author, much less can we be
assured of it
thro' the fallacious mediums of Tradition
or History; for whoever observes the propensity men have to impose upon
themselves
and others, how difficult it is to come at a
true representation of the commonest fact,
even at the distance of a few miles or a few
years, will be easily convinced, that all human Tradition can be nothing more than a
Complication of designed Fraud and inevitable Error; a Glass which misrepresents
all objects by magnifying or diminishing
them, just as it is placed by the hand of
Knavery for the inspection of Folly and
Credulity. History indeed carries with it
a greater Authority, but must ever be liable
to infinite Imperfections: we can never be
certain that the Writers of it, being Men,
were not imposed upon themselves, or did
not intend to impose on others; and therefore its original evidence cannot be conclusive, and must grow
daily weaker in proportion to its antiquity: it must necessarily be subject to all
uncertainties proceeding from the variation of languages and customs, ignorant transcribers,
false translations, interpolations and forgeries; and as the histories of Religions
are more connected with Mens interests than those of other occurrences, so they
must
be ever more subject to these Frauds and Impositions; for the same reason that a
Bank-note is more likely to be counterfeited than a Newspaper. It is therefore
impossible
that History can afford us any certain proof of a supernatural and miraculous
dispensation, because a Fact, unlikely to be true, can never be demonstrated by a relation not
impossible to be false. If it be said, that God may inspire the writers of such
important Records with Infallibility; I answer, the Proof that he has so inspired them will be attended with no
less difficulty than the proof of that
divine authority which is to be established by it; and it must ever be absurd to prove the truth of a Revelation by the infallibility
of its Records, and the infallibility of its Records from the truth of the Revelation.
It is plain therefore, that, tho' infinite Goodness may reveal a Religion to
so imperfect a creature as Man, yet infinite Power cannot, by reason of that Imperfection,
give to that Revelation such a degree of Authenticity, that is, such a demonstrable
proof of its divine Authority, as some Men unreasonably expect, and others as ridiculously
bestow upon it.Nothing here offered is meant by any means to invalidate the authority of Revelation: that of the
Christian
is possessed of as much certainty as the nature of the fact, and the nature of its evidence will
admit of. Those who endeavour to bestow more upon it, do in reality but make it less; and, like unskillful Architects, weaken a building already
sufficiently strong,
by overloading it with unnecessary supporters.
It must want Perspicuity: that is, it must be much more obscure
both in its speculative and practical Doctrines, than might be expected from the
interposition
of infinite wisdom, truth and benevolence. In its speculative Doctrines, Obscurity must be unavoidable, because they must treat of subjects above the reach of
our Comprehensions: which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered
into the heart of Man to conceive; and therefore no Power can impart to us clear
and explicit Ideas of such things without first bestowing on us new faculties and
new senses; that is, without the total alteration of our Natures. But what is most of all extraordinary
is, that it must be likewise to a certain degree obscure in its practical and moral
precepts; and this from a reason not the less valid for having never before been insisted on; which is, from the Necessity of Moral Evil: that is, since God, as
has been shewn, was obliged by Necessity to admit Moral Evil into the Creation,
he must probably be obliged, by the same Necessity, to suffer it in some degree
to continue; and therefore cannot inforce the universal practice of Virtue by laws
so explicit, by threats and promises so glaring, and by commands so incontestably
of divine Authority, as can admit of no doubt; for these would be so absolutely
irresistible as at once to eradicate all human Vice, which has already been proved
to have been admitted only from the impossibility of its exclusion without the introduction of greater Evils, or
the loss of superior Good. If Omnipotence could not prevent the existence of Moral Evil by the original
formation of Man, totally to extirpate it by Revelation would be to counteract his
own wise, tho' incomprehensible designs and therefore a Divine Revelation can never
be a regular Body of practical institutes, clear and perspicuous, free from all
doubts and altercations, inforced by perpetual Miracles, by visible and immediate
Rewards and Punishments; but a still Voice whispering gentle Warnings, divine
Admonitions and supernatural Truths; a Light shining, in a dark place, illuminating
to a certain degree the native obscurity of the human Mind, and discovering by faint
glimmerings the Deigns of Providence, and a distant prospect of a future Life.
It must also want Policy: that is, it can
never prescribe political rules by which
Mankind can be conducted in the Government of Nations, or their pretended rights
of War and Peace, because all these affairs
being incapable (as has been shewn) of being carried on by any other means than
those of violence, fraud, and corruption;
a Divine Revelation cannot possibly give
any directions about them; because all
such must be necessarily inconsistent either
with Virtue or with practicability: totally
to forbid these methods of governing mankind, who can be governed by no other,
would be destructive of all government;
to allow them, of all Morality: and therefore it is necessary that Men should be left
to act in these matters at their peril, as particular circumstances may require, with
only a general system of religion and morality for their guide. If a divine Revelation
can give no laws for the management of
Civil Government, much less can it institute
any new policies peculiar to itself, under the
names of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical; all
which, however divine in their Original, must necessarily be administer'd, if administer'd by Man, by
the same unjustifiable
methods as others, with this additional inconvenience, that they could never be
justly
resisted. God cannot therefore, I apprehend, delegate Spiritual power to Man,
without patronizing all that Violence, Corruption, and Iniquity, which must result
from it, and without which no power in
the hands of Men can be exercised over
men. For the imperfection of Man is
incompatible with the purity of a Divine
Government. The Government of all creatures must correspond with their natures;
and it seems to me as impossible that Societies of Men should submit
under a Divine Government, as that Wolves and Tygers shou'd live together under
the regulations of human Policy: but most of all impossible it must be that a divine
and human Government should subsist together in the same Society, for they must
immediately clash: and whenever that happens, the least spark of divine authority,
if really divine, must infallibly consume all human power, and destroy all Civil
Government whatever.
Lastly, it must very soon be corrupted,
and from that corruption be productive of the most mischievous effects: for, as the
purest stream pour'd into an impure vessel must partake of its impurity; so
must the most perfect Religion, that can be reveal'd
by God to so imperfect a Creature as Man,
partake of his imperfection, and produce many and great Evils,
both natural and moral; that is, much of that misery, and wickedness, which it
was intended to prevent: this no wisdom can obviate, no power put a stop to, so
long as that imperfection remains; but it must constantly come to pass from a train
of unavoidable consequences, which must invariably follow their causes, so long
as human nature continues what it is.
For instance, when a Divine Revelation is first communicated
to mankind, it must be received (if received at all) because its precepts are approved,
and its authority believed; and all those nations who thus approve the one, and
believe the other, must esteem it both their interest and their duty to encourage
and support it. This they can effect by no other means than by granting peculiar privileges
to all who profess it, by forming from it their national Religion, and publick worship,
and by maintaining an ,Order of Men to preach that Religion, and minister that worship
to the people; all which amounts to a National Establishment. Now the moment any
Religion becomes national, or established, its purity must certainly be lost,
because
it is then impossible to keep it unconnected with men's interests; and if connected,
it must inevitably be perverted by them. Whenever temporal advantages are annex'd
to any religious profession, they will be sure to call in all those who have no
religion at all: knaves will embrace it for the sake of interest, fools will follow
them for the sake of fashion; and when once it is in such hands, Omnipotence
itself
can never preserve its purity. That very Order of Men, who are maintained to support its interests,
will sacrifice them to their own; and being
in the sole possession of all its promises, and all its terrors, and having the tenderness of
Childhood, the weakness of Age, and the
ignorance of the vulgar to work upon; I
say, these Men, vested with all these powers, yet being but Men, will not fail to
convert all the mighty influence they must derive from them to the selfish ends
of their own avarice and ambition, and consequently to the total destruction of its Original Purity: from it they will lay claim to powers
which it never design'd them, and to possessions to which they have no right; to
make good these false pretensions, false histories will be forg'd, and fabulous traditions
invented; groundless terrors will be flung
out to operate on superstition and timidity;
Creeds and Articles will be contriv'd to confound all Reason, and tests
imposed to sift outall who have honesty or courage enough to resist these unwarrantable
encroachments. Devotion will be turned into farce and pageantry, to captivate men's
eyes, that their pockets may with more facility be invaded: they will convert Piety
into Superstition, Zeal into Rancour, and this Religion, notwithstanding all its
Divinity, into diabolical malevolence. By degrees knaves will join them, fools believe
them, and cowards be afraid of them; and having gained to considerable a part of
the World to their interests, they will erect an independent dominion among
themselves
dangerous to the liberties of Mankind, and representing all those who oppose their
tyranny as God's enemies, teach it to be meritorious in his fight to
persecute them
in this world and damn them in another. Hence must arise Hierarchies, Inquisitions,
and Popery; for Popery is but the consummation of that tyranny which every religious System in the hands of Men is in
perpetual pursuit of, and whose principles they are all ready to adopt whenever
they are fortunate enough to meet with its success.
This Tyranny cannot subsist without fierce and formidable Opposition,
from whence innumerable Sects, Schisms, and Dissentions will lift up their contentious
heads, each gaping for that very power, which they are fighting to destroy, tho'
unable either to acquire or retain it; and introductive only of their constant
concomitants, Ignorance, Self-conceit, Ill-breeding, Obstinacy, Anarchy, and Confusion.
From these contests all kinds of Evils must derive their existence, blood-shed
and desolation, persecutions, massacres, and martyrdoms.
All these Evils, you see, are but the necessary Consequences
of the national Establishment of any Religion which God can communicate to Man, in
whose hands its Divinity can never long preserve its purity or keep it unmixed with
his imperfections, his folly and wickedness. Nay, so far is the Divinity of a Revelation
from being able to prevent its corruption, that it will but increase and hasten it; for the greater share of Divinity
it partakes, the greater must be its Excellence; the greater its Excellence, the
more universal must be its Approbation; the more it is approved, the more it
must
be encouraged; the more it is encouraged, the sooner it will be established;
and the sooner it is established, the sooner it must be corrupted and made subservient
to the worst purposes of the worst of men; yet it is plain this Establishment is
no more than the consequence of its excellence, and men's approbation; no more
than the alternative of its total extinction, and without which it cannot be preserved at all;
and therefore the corruption of every divine Revelation communicated to Man, is,
by the nature of Man, clearly unavoidable.
From what has been here said it appears plainly, that all the
numerous Evils which adhere to, and all the mischievous effects which follow all
human Religions, whether natural or revealed, by no means owe their existence to
any want of power, wisdom or goodness in God, but like all others, to the
imperfection
of Man; that is, to his folly and wickedness, which must inevitably corrupt them.
It is also, I think, no less evident, that all arguments levelled against the divine
Original of Christianity, founded on its imperfections and pernicious
consequences,
(which are all, I think, that have any weight) may be proved to be vain and inconclusive; and
this not by concealing or denying those imperfections and pernicious consequences, as many have absurdly attempted, but by fairly
shewing, that
they all proceed from the imperfections of those Creatures to whom it is revealed; and that,
so long as those continue, there cannot be prevented by any wisdom, goodness, or power whatever.If we look into the Deistical Writings of all times, we
shall
find, that they have always attacked the Christian Religion most successfully from
this Ground; they have shewed the many Imperfections that adhere to it, and then
concluded, that nothing imperfect could drive its Original from God: their
adversaries have injudiciously denied those Imperfections, which for the most
part are true, and agreed to their Conclusion, which is indiputably false; for
every thing we possess is derived from God, and yet we possess nothing
endued with absolute Perfection.
Thus, Sir, if I mistake not, I have sufficiently, tho' concisely,
answered that most abstruse and important Question, Whence came Evil? and
proved, that all the Evils we feel, and all which we see around us, derogate not
in the least from the wisdom, power, or goodness of our Creator; but proceed entirely
from that subordination which is so necessary to the happiness and even to the existence of the great and incomprehensible Whole. I have
shewn that all subordination
must imply imperfection in some Beings or other; and that all imperfection must
consist in the absence of comparative good, or the admission of positive Evil. I
have shewn that most of the Evils we usually complain of are of the first kind;
the want only of those perfections we see others enjoy, or imagine infinite power
might have bestowed upon ourselves; which are therefore in fact no Evils at all; that those of the latter sort, or positive Evils,
are such as from the nature of things must intrude themselves into Creation, and
therefore that Omnipotence can do no more than make choice of that System which
admits the fewest; being obliged by the imperfection of all created Beings, the untractableness of Matter, and some incomprehensible connection between Good and
Evil, Happiness and Misery, to admit both, or to give existence to neither. I have
likewise shewn that Moral Evil may have its necessity and utility, as well as Natural; at least, that if Natural Evils are
necessary, Moral ones are expedient, to prevent
that necessary Misery from falling to the share of perfect. Innocence, and to convert
unavoidable sufferings into just punishments; that tho' the essence of all Moral Evil consists in the production of Natural, yet it may have some collateral
tendency
to Good; and that the Wicked, whilst they are justly punished
for the miseries which they occasion, may probably, by that very guilt and punishment,
some way remotely contribute to universal happiness. I have shewn that if Natural
and Moral Evils could not be prevented, the existence of Political and Religious
Evils must of course be unavoidable, they being but the certain consequences of the
other: that all human Government must be in the highest degree imperfect, and big
with all manner of Evils, being the dominion of ignorant and wicked creatures over
each other; that, as such creatures can be governed only by fear of punishment
or hopes of reward, all Government amongst them must be founded on Violence or Corruption,
and ever supported and administred by the same vitious and unjustifiable methods: that no power whatever can give a perfect Religion to so imperfect a creature as Man, either by Nature or
Revelation; not by nature, because, whilst that is human nature, he can never
discover
by Reason the Truths on which a Perfect system of Theology or Ethics can be
erected; not by Revelation, because he wants faculties to comprehend such supernatural
discoveries, altho' they should be imparted to him; that, was he capable of once
receiving a perfect Religion, it is not possible he could long retain it;
because,
if it could be kept entirely separate from his worldly interests, it would soon
be neglected and perish in oblivion; and, if it was not, such a connection would
quickly corrupt its purity, and destroy its. essence, so that national
establishments
would be necessary for its support, and yet infallibly productive of its destruction.
That all these Evils proceed not from wrong dispositions or accidental causes, but singly and solely from the imperfection of Man; and yet that
in the gradation from infinite perfection to absolute nothing, there must be one
rank occupied by such a Creature as Man with all his imperfections about him;
that these imperfections must be annexed to his situation, and adhere to every thing that relates
to him, to his happiness, to his morals, to his government, and to his religion: that, in like manner, all other created Beings
must have Evils and Imperfections
peculiar to their stations and proportioned to their inferiority; notwithstanding
all which, there is as much Good, and as little Evil in the universal system as
the nature of Creation will admit of; and that therefore it is a work equal to what
we might expect from the Operations of infinite Benevolence joined with infinite
Power.
F I N I S.
Indexes
Index of Latin Words and Phrases
- Pœena metusque aberant, nec verba minacia fixo:
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- Ver erat æternum, placidisque tepentibus auris Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores; Mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat, Nec renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis, Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant, Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella:
1
- Non deficit aureus alter.:
1
- Præterea credibile est, ipsa illa animi vitia magnæ hominum parti, non sine summo concilio data esse: Cum enim Dei providentiâ talis sit Tellus, ejusque incolæ, quales cernimus, absurdum enim foret existimare omnia hæc alia facta esse, quam ille voluerit, sciveritque futura:
1
Index of Pages of the Print Edition