other intimations which may be collected from Scripture to the same effect.* Who indeed can deny that such a discipline and exhibition of character may be a preparation requisite to some ulterior purpose in man's final destination?t If the being surrounded with so much evil increases the difficulty of his situation, it must be allowed that the characters of those who overcome these difficulties are exalted in proportion. Natural and moral evil are closely connected together in their consequences as well as in their origin. The weakness of our bodily constitutions, and the many disorders to which they are liable, are both attended "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for, "when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which "the Lord has promised to them that love him." James i. 12. 66 Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Revel. ii. 10. So also, ch. iii. 10, we find "the hour of temptation" spoken of, which shall come 66 66 66 upon all the world, to try them that are upon the "earth." To the same purpose is the declaration, xxi. 7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Compare vii. 14; iii. 11, 12; xi. 26. See Macknight on the Epist. Essay vii. s. 4. with temptations of their own, and give to foreign temptations additional power. Evil examples surround us on every side, and the inclination to transgress which actuates us within, is constantly deriving fresh force from external impulse. On the other hand, we both feel, and are confidently assured, that there is a power bestowed upon us equal to the existing danger, and by which it may be overcome, and the character of virtue triumphant, though far from perfect, finally established. Now, it would oppose all our natural convictions, to deny that virtue, thus proved victorious, is of a different nature, and more properly the subject of reward, than untried innocence, which has never been exposed to danger. This being admitted, it will scarcely be thought a question within the limit of our faculties, whether the degree of moral evil which exists is that precise degree which would alone be adequate to the intended purpose, or whether the Deity might not have restrained the bad passions of the human race within stricter bounds, and still have made life a state of probation. When the thousand different turns and relations of things on which every action depends, and the nice points of discrimination by which every character is shaded and marked out, are taken into the account, he will not be deemed wise who shall venture to assert that the proposed object could have been accomplished by a less sacrifice of good, or a smaller proportion of evil. It is true, that when we survey the violence, the injustice, the rapacity, which have at all times prevailed in the world, and consider the malignity of some of the human passions, and the vehemence of others, we are sometimes inclined to indulge such a suspicion.* But, on the other hand, we ought to bear in mind, *Johnson, in his masterly review of Soame Jenyns's Inquiry, has ventured to affirm, " Whether evil can be wholly separated from good, or not, it is plain that they may be mixed in various degrees; and, as far as human eyes can judge, the degree of evil might have been less, without any impediment to the good." Where that these very vices give occasion to the exercise of the opposite virtues; that, if there were less violence, less provocation, less injury, there would also be less room for meekness and forgiveness, less opening for those passive virtues, the excellence of which is proportioned to their rarity; which are rare because they are difficult, and difficult because they find the strongest opposition from man's inward nature, and least applause from the surrounding world. Trial, in fact, is supposed, in the first formation of the abstract idea of all the virtues. is fortitude, without opposition? What is prudence, but a right course among difficulties? Patience is the daughter of affliction. Justice is most brightly exhibited amidst that complication of affairs, in which the business of the world involves mankind. We cannot possibly affirm whether the lustre would have been equal, if the labour had been less; or what degree of attrition could be spared, without detriment to the effect. Perhaps, however, it may assist us in a subject which no thinking person will affirm to be within the grasp of our understandings, to compare it with a case in which we have some assistance from past experience For instance, would it not have been natural to believe, that the persecutions which the converts to Christianity underwent during the three first centuries, were a needless trial of their sincerity and constancy? God, it might be argued, knew their hearts and saw their faith. Attachment to an earthly ruler can only be shown by open risk; but the Searcher of hearts does not require the same actual displays of fidelity, since he knows beforehand who will and who will not abide the fiery ordeal. To what purpose then did he suffer such refinements of cruelty to be exercised on one side and undergone on the other, as might appear to the contemporaries a plausible proof that he did not approve or support the cause?* Such * Οι ἐπιεκιέστεροι καὶ κατὰ ποσὸν συμπαθεῖν δοκούντες, ὠνείδιτον πολὺ λέγοντες· ποῦ ὁ θεὸς αὐτῶν, καὶ τί αυτοὺς ὤνησεου ἡ θρησκεια, ἢ καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἕλοντο ψυχῆς. Euseb. de Martyribus Lugdunensibus, Hist. v. c. 1. |