reasons with those assigned under the former proposition."

WILLIAM KING.

This author was a native of Ireland, and became Archbishop of Dublin. His work, "De Origine Mali," was published in 1702.

The "origin of evil" has ever been a subtile and perplexing question to the metaphysician and the moralist. We find it among the records and fragments of the earliest philosophy; and up to the present hour it seems as far removed from a satisfactory solution, as it was at the first moment it was moulded into a philosophical interrogatory.

The first four chapters of the work are devoted to,

1st, The existence of a Deity, and that God must, from the nature of our conceptions of his attributes, be invested with the most absolute freedom of action. Natural evil, the Archbishop affirms, is inevitably involved in every act of creation; for all created existences must be imperfect in their very natures, and placed at an infinite distance from the perfections of Him by whom they are called into being.

2nd. A perfect equality in the capacities and functions of created beings, and consequently of their susceptibility to pain and pleasure, is impossible even in idea; for such an equality would prove destructive of all those notions we entertain of the subordination and wisdom so requisite for the government of the universe, and which we consider as necessary attributes of Divine Intelligence.

3rd. It is perfectly in accordance with Divine wisdom, to create beings of various degrees of perfection, for even mere matter is itself raised in the scale of existence by being created. The Archbishop illustrates his meaning on this point in the following terms, "There are infinite degrees of perfection between a being absolutely perfect and nothing. Of which, if existence be conceived as the first, every thing will be so many degrees distant from nothing, as there are perfections found in it joined with existence. In this scale, then, God will be the top; and nothing, the bottom; and how much farther any thing is distant from nothing, it is so much the more perfect, and approaches nearer to God. How much any thing can resemble God in perfection, or how nearly approach to him, we know not; but we are certain that there is always an infinite distance between them. It must have been determined, therefore, by the will of God, where he would stop; since there is nothing but His own will to bound his power. Now it is to be believed that the present system of the world was the very best that could be, with regard to the mind of God in forming it. It might have been better perhaps, in some particulars, but not without some new and probably greater inconveniences, which must have spoiled the beauty, either of the whole or of some chief part.

"From hence it appears also, that all beings cannot have equal perfections. For the world must necessarily be composed of various parts, and these parts of others, and so on. But a part must needs come short, both of the divine perfection and

the perfection of the whole. For it is nothing with regard to all the perfections which it has not, whether these be divine or created; and since one part is not another, nor the whole, it is plain that every part wants the perfections not only of the whole, but of other parts also. And that the whole is more perfect than a part, is evident from hence, that it necessarily includes the multiplied perfection of every part; and besides, the parts, when joined together and connected, acquire a new and peculiar perfection, whereby they answer their proper ends, which they could not do asunder; they defend themselves much better, and assist each other."

4th. The Archbishop endeavours to show that the evils which are conceived to arise from matter and motion, such as generation and corruption, are not to be considered as militating, in the smallest degree against Divine wisdom.

And 5th. It is every way consistent with the Deity's benevolence to create some spirits or thinking substances, which may be dependent upon matter and motion, possessing various organs, sensations, affections, and passions, the exercise of any one or all of which being necessary to the motions of the body or bodies to which these substances may respectively be connected.

It is in these four chapters that the author endeavours to account for all kinds of natural evil, such as physical imperfection, famine, pestilence, and death, by inducing us to look at them not in their individual natures, but in relation to the

constitution of the universe at large. He constantly keeps the proposition before the eye of the reader, "That not one of the evils or inconveniences of our system could possibly have been prevented without a greater.

DR. BUTLER.

Dr. Butler published his famous "Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature," in 1736. This treatise has long maintained a high character in England, although we meet with few traces of it among Continental writers.

The leading principle which pervades all the speculations of Butler is, that there is a more exact correspondence between the natural world and the constitution of man, than is commonly imagined. We perceive that his inward frame displays a striking agreement with his bodily form; and both harmonize with the physical arrangements of the universe. Our various passions, feelings, and emotions, are peculiarly adapted to our condition. When we submit our constitution to examination, and pay attention to what our consciousness indicates, we recognise a remarkable fitness between the external senses, and various bodies and elements around us. We see a complicated system of organs and instruments suited to accomplish certain fixed ends or purposes. The eye is made to see, the palate to taste, and the ear to hear; and when we look at the in

timations which we have of external things, in and through these varied channels, and compare them with the mere hidden and internal faculties of the soul, we perceive a radical conformity to a high principle of order and system. Human nature is not a simple or uniform element, but a combination of many things, which blend and harmonize for a definite end. The body is an aggregate of different senses, organs, and functions; and our intellectual nature is compounded of a number of instincts, judgments, passions, emotions, and propensities. Over all these numerous parts and offices of thought and feeling there presides a ruling power; a power which is uniform in its nature and influence among all classes of men, and whose especial province it is to exercise a controlling authority over all these faculties-and this power is the act of reflection. It goes under various other designations, but of its existence and influence we can entertain no doubt whatever. is our constant guide, monitor, and judge. Butler observes, "That which renders beings capable of moral government, is their having a moral nature, and moral faculties of perception and of action. Brute creatures are impressed and actuated by various instincts and propensities; so also are we. But, in addition to these, we have a capacity of reflecting upon actions and characters, and making them objects of our thought."

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