every portion of its frame, a perpetual circulation of particles, it would appear absolutely necessary to its existence, and yet more to its continuance through the long course of ages in which we have found it to remain unaltered and uninjured, that its Maker should have had present in his mind the course of every atom of matter, throughout every portion of its progress, and foreseen the consequences resulting from every law of nature, during each several and separate moment of its opera

tion.

These then are the leading facts, and the principal reasons, which induce us to attribute the power of prescience, or fore- . knowledge, to the Deity, and, further, as there also appears degrees and gradations of excellence in the creation; a horse, for example, being superior to a clod of earth, and man, a more complicated, as well as a more noble production, than a quarry of marble-it must, from the same premises, equally ensue, that in the exact proportion as a thing is worthy of care, or liable to destruction, so must be the degree of foresight necessary for its preservation and the prescience exerted to direct the progress of a body, must be in the ratio of its complication.

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Thus far, reasoning à priori, there would appear to be no difficulty in the subject--he that creates, must of course direct ; he that combines, most assuredly must regulate; and he that ordains laws, must necessarily be acquainted with their operation. Coming down however to facts, and examining into the actual state of things, the case suddenly alters; we here find events apparently irreconcileable with our former reasonings, and phenomena which would seem to baffle all our calculations. Matter may indeed obey the impulse of matter, and blindly submit to laws which are capable of being discovered, and consequently calculated upon; but here are living beings, endowed with an inherent freedom of choice, whose springs of action are under their own guidance and direction, and who would in many cases appear to act totally independent of any external government or influence whatsoever.

Man, and every other animal (and let this be well remembered, not man alone, but every being warmed with the breath of life) have the power of commanding their actions, of indulg ing their passions, and of turning to the right hand, or to the left, according to their own good will and pleasure.

This would, at first sight, appear totally subversive of all certainty of conduct, and consequently inconsistent with the existence of the power of prescience; at least upon the grounds which have herein been already stated as the foundation of that quality. A little further observation, however, will givə

rise to at least a suspicion, that beneath all this apparent confusion, there may still lie concealed an actual regularity; and it will not be long perhaps, before we are led to surmise that the mind of man, obscure and uncertain as its operations may appear to the casual observer, is, in fact, governed, at least in certain instances, and directed, upon certain occasions, by laws, and causes of action, which would seem equally strong, equally resistless, and equally immutable, with the most arbitrary and universal of those that are known to exist in the material and physical world. If for more than 6000 years, the force of attraction has invariably caused falling bodies to gra vitate towards the earth, for the same term, and with as few exceptions, has the law of self-preservation operated upon the mind of man, and prevented him from rushing on that which would visibly produce his destruction. As too, the one of these effects has arisen from the inherent nature of matter, so has the other been produced by the undeviating operation of motive. This it is, which working secretly, but effectually, in the mind of man, has ever led him to provide for his own safety, to seek his own happiness, to indulge in pleasure, to fly from pain, to satisfy his appetites by their indulgence, and gratify his passions by following their natural dictates. If the actions consequent on motive indeed were not defined, and certain, and did not act in a regular undeviating course as cause and effect, we might with equal reason expect that men should leap from the precipice, as that they should aim to walk secure upon its summit, and should as frequently have seen them plunge into the ocean, as prefer to live peaceably on dry land; poison would be as commonly taken as nutriment, misery as much prized as pleasure, and the whole human race might, at any given period, if caprice or chance had so directed, have become totally extinct.

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But the fact is, that we calculate differently. We fully know the force and effect of motive on the human mind; and, even in the most trivial occurrences of life are continually fashioning our conduct accordingly. We wish, for example, to excite a rich man's compassion towards a miserable object, whom we deem deserving of it, and why do we do this? Simply because we know, that compassion will operate as a motive, and cause him to desire, and seek the relief of its object. If, how ever, human actions were uncertain, and independent of motive, it might be as well, perhaps, to arouse in him the passion of hatred, and the desire of revenge, as upon such a supposition, they would be equally likely to prompt him to actions of benevolence, with the other softer passion. Nor is it the force of motives simple and uncompounded merely, with which wa

are acquainted; for we are daily accustomed to calculate their effects, when combined also, and can, in many cases, even foretell their operation, when they come into competition with each other. Thus, for instance, we know, that, in the unprejudiced mind, simple truth will have its due effect, and produce immediate and unequivocal conviction; but the skilful orator can with equal ease achieve the favour and assent of the ignorant and the unenlightened, the prejudiced, and the illiberal; calculating upon their erroneous feelings, and making due allowances for their perverted passions, availing himself of their ignorance, and addressing himself to their prejudices, he foresees with equal certainty, in the one case, as in the other, the tendency and operation of his arguments, and gains the shore as readily in the last, as in the first instance, by merely making due allowance for the current of the stream. As indeed the chemist discerns the compound, which will be produced by the mixture of different liquids, and the mathematician perceives the line, which will be described between contending attractions, even so may the compounded feelings of the human mind be analysed, the bearings and effects of each component motive be discovered, and the actions, of which they will collectively be productive, foreseen. From a retrospect therefore of merely the ordinary occurrences of life, and a statement of principles and opinions on which we are hourly in the habit of reasoning and acting, it would appear that the operations of the human mind are regular and invariable in their nature, and a necessary consequence of this regularity, and want of variation in the mind, is that men should think and act differently from each other, This may at first appear a paradox; but it will be resolved, when we reflect that men are all, and individually, placed under different circumstances, and also that they are originally endowed with passions and dispositions different sometimes in their nature, and almost always in their degree, from those of every other individual. Similarity of effect, under such circumstances, would be the greatest proof of a variation in the cause. Every man, however, proceeds regularly in his course according to those circumstances, and in compliance with those passions and dispositions; not, as is sometimes represented, one man choosing truth, and one man preferring error; but all pursuing the dictates of their understanding, as modified by their experience in life, their education, or their several opportunities of improvement; nor yet, as is still more frequently believed, one man gratified with good, and another content with evil, but all equally pursuing the bias of their several feelings and affections, as they may chance

to be governed by reason, or swayed by their respective passions and wicked dispositions. Various individuals then, placed in the same circumstances, and exposed to similar temptations, would necessarily conduct themselves in a different manner; but their behaviour would still be found in perfect and invariable accordance with their several characters and dispositions: so much so, indeed, that in the exact ratio with which we were acquainted with those characters and dispositions, should we be enabled to predict what would be their several and distinct behaviours under the given circumstances. The mere uneducated clown, in such a case, would probably guess but ill; let us suppose, however, that he were intimately acquainted with the parties, and even his surmises would gain a considerable accession of probability. The man of sense would yet further approximate towards truth; whilst the philosopher, who had deeply studied the springs and causes of human actions, and who could, to a certain degree, calculate the various operations of the same motive, on minds differently constituted, would make as near advances to it, as it is at all consistent with the actual confinement of our faculties, and the present imperfection of our knowledge. Thus far advanced into the regions of futurity-here, however, man must stop the simple question is, can God go further?

The power of PRESCIENCE, arising from the influence of motive, and built upon the certitude of human action, we here have traced in regular gradation from the fool to the sage, from the clown to the scholar, from the ignorant to the learned--what shall we say then? Does it stop there? Assuredly it does not. The order, which even we, poor finite beings, have discovered, may it not be fully traced? The regularity which, with all our blindness, we have discerned, may it not be successfully pursued? A mind sufficiently capacious, powers sufficiently enlarged, are all that are required for the task; and surely we shall not look for these in vain, when we seek them in the bosom of him, who called this order into being, from whom this succession emanated, and the nature and extent of whose attributes, we find ourselves able to express, only by calling them infinite!

As the heavens are above the earth (says the Deity) so are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts; and yet here is a task, not only conceived, but actually in part performed by man, which he still dares to assert is too hard for the Deity. Here is a contingency foreseen, and provided against, by every clown that cultivates the soil, but which is too uncertain for one possessed of omniscience to calculate upon. Has the Deity actually then framed a ma

chine that shall baffle all his powers of judgment, and defeat his means of foresight? has be indeed built a house which he cannot govern? erected a mansion which he must not enter? and is his knowledge of arithmetic really so confined, that he cannot analýze combinations which himself had formed? The system is too absurd! the hypothesis is too ridiculous! Man should not idly sport thus with his Maker-he should not arrogantly deny a power to Deity, which he himself possesses and enjoys-he should not seek to draw the veil of darkness between the earth and the skies, and to conceal futurity from the eye of the God of heaven.

[The connection between the prescience of the Deity, and the actions and situation of man, will form the subject of a second essay.]'

AN ENQUIRY, WHETHER THE ACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE ALONE ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING MEN RELIGIOUS AND VIRTUOUS? WITH A REPLY TO T. THOUGHTS ON RELIGION.'

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To the Editor of the Freethinking Christians' Magazine.

SIR,

THE subject we are about to examine, derives its leading importance from the value that is attached to it by Deists, who, when they have been overcome in their strong holds, and driven from their fortifications, sharply turn round, and exultingly exclaim, your Revelation is useless, it is completely unnecessary; for we can discover all those principles that are of real importance, from the study of nature and circumstances of man! Could they prove this point by clear deductions drawn from unmixed and indisputable premises, their argument would be complete, and the rational advocate of Reve lation would sit down convinced, and honestly acknowledge its inutility; but such, reader, is not the case, nor never could have been so considered, had not these men taken existing effects, and conjured up a false cause. Let it be our business in this enquiry to expose their errors, and demonstrate that the true and only cause exists in Revelation alone!

In justice to our opponents, let us give, with our refutation, their principles, in order that the world may judge wherein the truth lieth; and I do not know that this can be better done than by re-stating part of T. II's. "Thoughts on Religion," in vol. ii. p. 487, of your Magazine.

The Deity." Universally present, in whom we live and have our being-he is in all that moves and acts and exists