more than this, that these real evils proceed from "the fame fource as thofe imaginary ones of imper"fection, before treated of, namely, from that sub"ordination, without which no created fyftem can "fubfift; all subordination implying imperfection, all imperfection Evil, and all Evil fome kind of incon"veniency or fuffering: fo that there must be parti"cular inconveniencies and fufferings annexed to every "particular rank of created beings by the circum"ftances of things, and their modes of existence.

"God indeed might have made us quite other "creatures, and placed us in a world quite differently "conftituted; but then we had been no longer men, "and whatever beings had occupied our ftations in the "univerfal fyftem, they must have been liable to the "fame inconveniences."

In all this there is nothing that can filence the enquiries of curiofity, or calm the perturbations of doubt. Whether fubordination implies imperfection may be difputed. The means refpecting themselves may be as perfect as the end. The weed as a weed is no less perfect than the oak as an oak. That imperfection implies Evil, and Evil fuffering, is by no means evident. Imperfection may imply privative Evil, or the abfence of fome good, but this priva tion produces no fuffering, but by the help of knowledge. An infant at the breast is yet an imperfect man, but there is no reafon for belief that he is unhappy by his immaturity, unless some positive pain be fuperadded.

When this author prefumes to speak of the univerfe, I would advise him a little to diftruft his own

faculties,

faculties, however large and comprehenfive. Many words easily understood on common occafion, become uncertain and figurative when applied to the works of Omnipotence. Subordination in human affairs is well understood; but when it is attributed to the univerfal fyftem, its meaning grows lefs certain, like the petty diftinctions of locality, which are of good ufe upon our own globe, but have no meaning with regard to infinite fpace, in which nothing is high or low.

That if man, by exaltation to a higher nature, were exempted from the evils which he now fuffers, fome other being muft fuffer them; that if man were not man, fome other being must be man, is a pofition arifing from his established notion of the fcale of being. A notion to which Pope has given fome importance by adopting it, and of which I have therefore endeavoured to fhew the uncertainty' and inconfiftency. This fcale of being I have demonftrated to be raised by prefumptuous imagination, to reft on nothing at the bottom, to lean on ' nothing at the top, and to have vacuities from step. to step through which any order of being may fink into nihility without any inconvenience, fo far as we can judge, to the next rank above or below it. We are therefore little enlightened by a writer who tells us, that any being in the state of man muft fuffer what man fuffers, when the only queftion that requires to be refolved is, Why any being is in this ftate?

Of poverty and labour he gives just and elegant reprefentations, which yet do not remove the difficulty of the firft and fundamental question, though

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fuppofing the present state of man neceffary, they may fupply fome motives to content.

"Poverty is what all could not poffibly have been "exempted from, not only by reafon of the fluctuating nature of human poffeffions, but because the "world could not subsist without it; for had all been "rich, none could have submitted to the commands "of another, or the neceffary drudgeries of life; "thence all governments must have been diffolved,

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arts neglected, and lands uncultivated, and fo an "univerfal penury have overwhelmed all, instead of "now and then pinching a few. Hence, by the by, appears the great excellence of charity, by which men are enabled by a particular diftribution of the "bleffings and enjoyments of life, on proper occafions, "to prevent that poverty which by a general one "Omnipotence itself could never have prevented: fo "that, by inforcing this duty, God as it were de~ ❝ mands our affiftance to promote universal happi"ness, and to shut out misery at every door, where it ftrives to intrude itself.

"Labour, indeed, God might easily have ex«cufed us from, fince at his command the earth

would readily have poured forth all her treasures "without our inconfiderable affiftance: but if the "fevereft labour cannot fufficiently fubdue the ma"lignity of human nature, what plots and machi"nations, what wars, rapine, and devastation, what "profligacy and licentioufnefs, muft have been the

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confequences of univerfal idlenefs! fo that labour "ought only to be looked upon as a task kindly "impofed upon us by our indulgent Creator, ne❝ceffary

ceffary to preferve our health, our fafety, and our " innocence.'

I am afraid that the latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning. If God could easily have excufed us from labour, I do not comprehend why he could not poffibly have exempted all from poverty. For poverty, in its eafier and more tolerable degree, is little more than neceffity of labour; and in its more fevere and deplorable state, little more than inability for labour. To be poor is to work for others, or to want the fuccour of others without work. And the fame exuberant fertility which would make work unneceffary, might make poverty impoffible.

Surely a man who feems not completely mafter of his own opinion, should have spoken more cautiously of Omnipotence, nor have prefumed to fay what it could perform, or what it could prevent. I am in doubt whether those who stand higheft in the fcale of being speak thus confidently of the difpenfations of their Maker:

For fools rush in, where angels fear to tread.

Of our inquietudes of mind his account is ftill lefs reasonable." Whilft men are injured, they must be

inflamed with anger; and whilft they fee cruelties, "they must be melted with pity; whilst they perceive "danger, they must be fenfible of fear." This is to give a reason for all Evil, by fhewing that one Evil produces another. If there is danger there ought to be fear; but if fear is an Evil, why fhould there be danger? His vindication of pain is of the fame kind: pain is useful to alarm us, that we may shun greater

evils,

evils, but those greater evils must be presupposed, that the fitness of pain may appear.

Treating on death, he has expreffed the known and true doctrine with sprightliness of fancy, and neatness of diction. I fhall therefore infert it. There are truths which, as they are always neceffary, do not grow ftale by repetition.

"Death, the last and most dreadful of all Evils, is "fo far from being one, that it is the infallible cure for ❝ all others.

To die, is landing on fome filent fhore,

Where billows never beat, nor tempefts roar.

Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, 'tis o'er. GARTH.

«For, abftracted from the ficknefs and fufferings

ufually attending it, it is no more than the ex

piration of that term of life God was pleafed to " beftow 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 wick"edness, unreftrained by the profpect of a future "ftate, would grow fo infupportable, our fufferings "fo intolerable by perfeverance, and our pleasures "fo tiresome by repetition, that no being in the "universe could be fo completely miferable as a "fpecies 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 fuppo"fition of a future life: but if we consider it as a "paffage to a more perfect state, or a remove only in an eternal fucceffion of ftill-improving ftates