God manifested in the contrivance displayed throughout creation; and, where evil exists, it seems necessary to be referred to some other cause than the design of the contriver. It is evident, that the government of God, since he is benevolent in all his purposes, all-wise to know that which is most expedient for his purposes, and all-powerful to carry his designs into effect, must produce happiness, while that which is opposed to his government must as necessarily produce misery; hence the plain deduction, that conformity to his will produces happiness, and non-conformity misery. With such reasonings as these, for the ground of our arguments, we are obliged to conclude, that the source of all evil is opposition to the will of God.

We believe in an independent and eternal Being, whose wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence are manifested in every thing around us, proofs of which we need not now adduce, as they were the subjects of a former essay. We cannot imagine one of these attributes, without, by necessity, involving the others. If Jehovah were all powerful, he could not but choose to be all-wise; and if all-wise, he could not but be pure, holy, and benevolent. It is in the works of creation we should look for, and it is there that we see, these glorious attributes unfolded. There is an astonishing fitness made to exist between cause and effect; so much so, that, with the least contemplation, we cannot but be struck with the wisdom of God. The vastness of many of the works of creation, their magnificence and seeming infinity, may impress us with a sense of His omnipotence. But the evident contrivance of comfort and happiness, manifested in relation to man, and even to brutes, must convince us, if we possess any candour, of the great benevolence of God. We cannot, then, suppose that such a supreme Being either could or would create any thing imperfect.

If there is a certain unalterable relation established by infinite wisdom and goodness, between cause and effect, obedience to the regulations thus established must, by necessity, produce happiness, and, from the same necessity, disobedience will produce confusion and misery. If, in the formation of a complex machine, an ingenious artisan has established certain regulations, to put the whole in motion, we should never impeach his skill, because an ignorant or malicious workman set the regulations at defiance, and injured or ruined the machine. An inspection of the works would convince us of the contrivance and intention of the inventor, and we should not think him an

swerable for the negligence or disobedience of another. So in creation, if the laws of God produce, as they necessarily do, the happiness of man, a neglect, or contempt, of those laws, must as certainly produce misery.

Let us even look around, and observe how the experience of ages has shewn, that virtue, or conformity to the will of God, has always been followed with happiness, and that the most vicious have been the most miserable. The least reflection, then, must convince us, that, as all good results from the wise and benevolent institutions of the supreme Being; so, all evil must arise from a disregard to these institutions. If integrity leads to affluence and honour, any impeachment of it by dishonesty, must, of consequence, lead to poverty and disgrace. A certain confluence of causes in the material world produces beauty; and whatever disarranges or contradicts them, will render an object proportionably deformed. A certain confluence of causes in the moral world, will likewise produce happiness; and the disarrangement or contradiction of them, will also produce misery. Now, in all these things, the Creator must either have willed the happiness of man, or he must not; he must either have been indifferent respecting it, or it was not in his power to produce perfection. With respect to the former alternative, the contrivance manifested, proves that the Creator willed the happiness of his creatures; and, with respect to the latter, his benevolence and omnipotence refute such an idea.

We have, therefore, come to the conclu sion, that infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, in every regulation, moral and physical, has established certain causes and effects, that of themselves must necessarily produce harmony and beauty, comfort and happiness. We are likewise compelled to assign the existence of evil to sin, or a dis regard of these laws, which must as necessarily produce confusion and deformity, wretchedness and inisery. We next arrive at the important question, whether the wisdom, or the power, or the goodness of God, is not impeached by permitting those infringements of his will, which are attended with such dreadful consequences.

All natural evil resolves itself into moral evil, as its cause, for no matter, or creature that does not possess a will, can of itself disobey the commands of God, seeing that it must be acted upon by an external cause. Therefore, as man is plainly the only moral and accountable being on earth, his dere lictions alone must be the cause of the universal misery and deformity that we be

hold. The most virtuous cannot but confess, that the depravity of the human race has spread itself to a dreadful extent. Even the laws of society are not sufficient to prevent the atrocious crimes that every where abound; while those vices which these laws cannot affect, exist to a mournful degree. We hence deduce, that the universal depravity of man is the cause of universal misery. We take another step, and inquire who was the first and original transgressor, and whether man, when moulded by the hands of his Maker, sprang forth as such, an imperfect and sinful being.

Amidst all the extravagances of tradition, and the speculations of philosophy, we are informed by poets, historians, and mythologists, that the first age was pure, and man afterwards became corrupt. By referring to the sacred records, we find that man was created holy, and that he was a being with whom his Maker condescended to hold intercourse. We read, that he only enjoyed conditional happiness, and that death was to be the consequence of his disobedience. He sinned; and we all know the dreadful consequences that have ensued; but he sinned as a moral being, and by no necessity. He was supplied with uncontaminated reason, that he might comprehend the wisdom and justice of God in placing him in a state of probation, and was beforehand acquainted with the sentence pronounced on disobedience. He could not have sinned, had he not been a moral being, possessed of free-will; neither could he have been a moral and accountable being, placed here in a state of probation, had he not possessed free-will. If, then, the wisdom of God is impeached, it is in creating man a moral being, or in endowing him, as such, with a free-will. Now, let us deprive man of either of these, and he immediately becomes a mere passive agent in creation, shut out from all the pleasures of virtue; while, by its necessity, he could not expect hereafter, to rise to a higher state of existence, as the reward of an obedience inevitably enforced.

We behold the magnificent creation, and all the varied and beautiful productions of the earth; we find, by reason and revelation, that they were formed for man, and that man was made lord of nature. From these things we are led to conceive of his importance and glorious destiny. We cannot ask why man was created; such convictions arise, that it was for the noblest purposes; and, if he has defeated them, let him not add to his crimes, by foolishly charging the consequences of his transgressions upon

his Maker.

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"Is man more just than God? Is man more pure Than he who deems e'en seraphs insecure? Creatures of clay-vain dwellers in the dust! The moth survives you, and are ye more just ?" But, it cannot be proved that the existence of evil will, in the end, be injurious to the universe, or to the glory of God. We cannot pretend to declare, whether those, who have been saved from perdition since the fall, will not receive incomparably greater happiness, than if man had never been expelled from paradise. We cannot say that the goodness of God has not been manifested in a greater measure by the revelation imparted to man, the scheme of redemption devised, the sacrifice of his Son, and the gift of his Spirit, than if man had never sinned. We cannot comprehend whether the glory of the Most High would have shone brighter by the prevention of sin, than by its complete destruction and overthrow. These conjectures and reasonings are like those of an ignorant and uninformed individual approving or condemning the wisdom exemplified in state counsels. In all the arrangements of Providence, however mysterious they may be, the wise and benevolent intentions of the Most High are so manifest, that we can draw but one conclusion.

With respect to natural evil and misery, if we carefully examine the subject, we shall see, that by far the greater part is occasioned by man himself, and the rest is wisely ordained as a preventive to, or punishment for, sin. In the arrangements of Providence, from the records of his tory, and even from personal experience, we are led to confess that there is an overruling power which directs the steps of man. We see that the least circumstance, and the greatest events, are under the guidance of this power, and as much evidence those attributes of the Supreme Being before mentioned, as the material world. Were it not for this restraining power, the most dreadful misery would inevitably result. There would be no check upon sin, and it would of itself hasten the completion of that universal wretchedness to which it constantly tends. Happiness would cease; and this world, instead of being a place of probation, would be a place of torment. But Providence, with infallible wisdom, overrules the counsels of men, encourages virtue, and defeats the triumphing machinations of sin.

In conclusion: Evil is traced to a disobedience of the regulations of the Supreme Being, and the power of this disobedience, to the free-will of man, as a moral being. It is not for us to argue whether the happiness of the human race is increased, u

the whole, by this arrangement, or whether the present existence of evil will finally be detrimental to the glory of God. We do not pretend to possess the capability of comprehending a subject which involves infinite knowledge; but we may use the words of Epictetus, "Si omnino ego Deum declararem, vel ego Deus essem, vel ille Deus non potest;" or, as they are paraphrased by Young

"Could we perceive him, God he could not be ;
Or he not God, or we could not be men:
A God alone can comprehend a God."

PUNCTUALITY and order ought to be strictly observed by all men, in their several vocations; for, if a regular system be not adopted and pursued in any station of life, confusion will soon ensue: neglected duties will crowd upon the mind, and dispose it to attend but slightly and negligently to them, or to pass them by unperformed. Religious, social, and professional duties claim a particular and a separate attention. They should not interfere with each other; but the most fitting occasions should be selected, and the most determined resolution formed, to perform each with full purpose of heart.

No stations in society, however low, can be successfully filled without a due regard to order, much less can those which require the greatest activity and care. If in an humble sphere disorder is considered dangerous, in one whose duties are numerous and diversified, it cannot but lead to the most disastrous consequences. Duties which are neglected at the proper time, or put off to a more convenient season, stand very little chance of ever being performed at all; for, when different obligations press upon the mind at the same moment, it is apt to get bewildered, and, in the multiplicity of objects, to pursue none in a manner calculated to command success.

Inconsistency of deportment is the sure characteristic of an indolent man, of a man who does not look into the state of his affairs, nor conduct them with regularity and order. Should a fleeting idea of generosity shoot through his brain, and induce him to open his purse to the calls of charity, he knows not that he has the means to give, in justice to those with whom he may stand connected. If he boast of all his actions as being guided by strict honour, we need but look to his daily transactions to disprove such an assertion. Whatever plausibility he may affect, how

ever anxious he may be to appear a differ ent man to what he really is, his own sluggishness, his habitual and incorrigible inattention to his best interests, and to the suc cess of his worldly, and the advancement of his spiritual concerns, sufficiently, shew that, whatever he may pretend, he is not, in reality, an honest and an upright man, How can he be true to his word, or honest in his transactions, when he suffers his affairs to become intricate and perplexing through wilful inattention? How is it likely that he will attend to his eternal welfare, when his worldly interests are found inadequate to stimulate him to exertion? The fact is obvious, that a bad member of society can never be a good christian; and he must be both a bad member of society, and a bad man, whe can involve himself in misery and ruin, by a wanton abandonment of himself to sloth and all its fatal train of ills.

A methodical attention to business will enable a man to assign to every duty its proper importance, and to perform it at the most convenient season. Set aside order, do every thing accidentally, by fits and starts, and you lay the foundation of much disquietude: you expose yourselves to the imputation of being characters without uniformity, on whom no depend ence can be safely placed. Conscience, that faithful monitor, the pointer-out of vice, and directer to honourable conduct, loses much of its power over such. The confused state of their affairs, and the continual perturbation in which their minds are kept, have a tendency to stifle its friendly warnings. But it ought to be recollected, that, though stifled, it cannot be overcome. If its upbraidings be hushed for a moment, they will hereafter break forth with tenfold power, and exhibit, in all their turpitude, the accumulated catalogue of aggravated crimes. The disorder into which the affairs of the indolent are thrown, cannot but at times create vexation, disappointment, and pain. Then will conscience, long abused, step in to their utter dismay, and upbraid them with being the cause of their own misfortunes, the authors of their own ruin. Wise may that man be pronounced, who listens to its first whispers, and regulates his conduct by its dictates.

The man who has brought himself to the verge of ruin by his own misconduct cannot but be conscious, that he is the culpable author of the miseries he is doomed to endure and this self-conviction, forced upon him by the agonizing tortures of a guilty conscience, and which he is too

by better conduct for the future, his steps become daily more irregular, till he is involved in a maze of difficulties, and his mind gets totally dissipated, and incapable of being concentrated for the prosecution of any useful object. A regular attention to order, on the contrary, is of great advantage, as it enables a man to perform every thing at the fittest time, and to keep one duty from encroaching upon the province of another. It enables him to pursue his calling successfully, without any apparent hurry; because all his plans are well concerted, and he makes it his business and delight to act up to those plans.

Let us contrast these two opposite characters, in our minds. Let us see the ruinous irregularity of the one, and the wisdom of the other's plans, and with what persevering assiduity he executes them; and then decide, according to our judgments and consciences, upon the tenor of our own conduct. Let these faithful monitors but have their legitimate influence, and the manifold dangers into which our corrupt inclinations, uncurbed by grace, and unaided by reflection, would lead us, will be happily averted. The state of our affairs will become satisfactory, and our minds be tranquillized by the cheering thought, that we are pursuing the line of duty the way to happiness and peace.

Self-examination is a duty which cannot be too much or too earnestly recommended. Let us look into our breasts, and see, at the close of each succeeding day, whether we have spent our time aright, whether the duties of our callings have been well performed, and whether, in what we have done, we have especially had the glory of God, and the good of our souls, in view?

To neglect alike our spiritual and temporal affairs, and to bring them to a state of confusion and desperation by bad management or dissolute habits, evinces a disposition thoroughly depraved. To attend to the latter, while we slight the former, is little better; for, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" The true Christian prays for grace to strengthen and support his mind, and to sustain him in all his labours. He is convinced that he cannot observe order in his religious duties, without observing it likewise in his secular pursuits; in short, that he cannot do his duty to God, without doing it to his fellowcreatures. He feels it his duty, therefore, to ask himself frequently and seriously about what he has been employed, and how he has performed his obligations to God and man; and he can never rest satis

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fied till his conscience respond to his inquiries, that his affairs are in an orderly and prosperous state, and that his works, through faith, are acceptable in the sight of God.

The greatest benefits may be expected to result from a proper improvement of time. It will put the mind in a proper frame to enjoy all the blessings which this world can afford, and to indulge the hope of a joyful immortality. The pleasures of the present moment are often imbittered by unfounded apprehensions and harassing cares. To brood over ideal calamities, and to be uneasy, while free from sickness and misfortune, through fear of being subject to them at some future time, is surely preposterous to the last degree. The mind that is fully occupied to some useful purpose, is entirely free from these false alarms, and more disposed to be grateful for actual blessings, than to repine at imaginary ills.

The good man knows that this life is at best but a vale of tears, that it is not his abiding home, but only a state of probation for a better world, and, therefore, strives to be content under every circumstance of fortune. It may well be asked, then, If health, peace, and competence, be our portions, what wisdom can there be in our not enjoying those blessings, merely because there cannot be a certainty that they will always remain with us? Gradations in society are essential and unavoidable; and, as we know that wealth and prosperity do not necessarily constitute happiness, there is much ground for consolation to those who occupy subordinate stations, which the peaceable and orderly know how to enjoy. The state of a man's mind, more than the adventitious circumstance of birth and fortune, adapts him for the enjoyment of spiritual and temporal blessings; and, without a well-regulated mind, and a clear conscience, it will be in vain for any one to expect to enjoy either. Edenhall. THOMAS IRELAND.

CREATION. NO. VII. (Continued from p. 401.) HAVING treated on the orbs of the solar system, central, primary, and secondary, we proceed to the consideration of the atmospheres which surround these orbs, and the ether which includes the whole.

Around many of the spheres, secondary as well as primary, in this system, atmosand the prepheres have been discovered; vailing opinion is, that every sphere therein is furnished with this appendage to the solid matter of which it is composed.