of knowledge, which we are not furnished with faculties for attaining, at least in the present state,) yet surely it is of importance to learn from it, that the Natural and Moral World are intimately connected, and Parts of one stupendous Whole 'or System; and that the chief Objections, which are brought against Religion, may be urged with equal force against the constitution and course of Nature, where they are certainly false in fact. And this information we may derive from the work before us; the proper design of which, it may be of use to observe, is not to prove the Truth of Religion, either natural or revealed, but to confirm that proof, already known, by considerations from Analogy.

After this account of the method of reasoning employed by our Author, let us now advert to his manner of applying it; First to the Subject of Natural Religion, and Secondly to that of Revealed.

I. The foundation of all our hopes and fears is a Future Life; and with this the Treatise begins. Neither the reason of the Thing, nor the Analogy of Nature, according to Bishop BUTLER, give ground for imagining, that the unknown event, Death, will be our destruction. The states in which we have formerly existed, in the Womb and in Infancy, are not more different from each other than from that of Mature Age in which we now exist: therefore that we shall continue to exist hereafter, in a state as different from the present as the present is from those through which we have passed already, is a Presumption favoured by the Ana

logy of Nature. All that we know from Reason concerning Death, is the effects it has upon Animal Bodies: and the frequent instances among Men of the Intellectual Powers continuing in high health and vigour, at the very timé when a mortal disease is on the point of putting an end to all the Powers of Sensation, induce us to hope that it may have no effect at all on the Human Soul, not even so much as to suspend the exercise of its faculties: though if it have, the suspension of a Power by no means implies its Extinction, as Sleep or a Swoon may convince us*.

The probability of a Future State once granted, an important question arises, How best to secure our Interest in that State. We find from what passes daily before us, that the Constitution of Nature admits of Misery as well as Happiness; that both of these are the Consequences of our own Actions; and these Consequences we are enabled to foresee. Therefore that our Happiness or Misery in a future world depend on our own Actions also, and that Rewards or Punishments hereafter may follow our good or ill behaviour here, is but an appointment of the same sort with what we experience under the divine Government, according to the regular course of Nature.

may

This supposition is confirmed from another circumstance, that the Natural Government of God, under which we now live, is also Moral; in which Rewards and Punishments are the consequences of Actions, considered as virtuous.

and vicious. Not that every man is rewarded or punished here in exact proportion to his desert; for the essential Tendencies of Virtue and Vice to produce Happiness and the contrary are often hindered from taking effect from accidental causes. However there are plainly the rudiments and beginnings of a righteous administration to be discerned in the Constitution of Nature: from whence we are led to expect, that these accidental hinderances will one day be removed, and the rule of distributive Justice obtain completely in a more perfect state*.

The Moral Government of God, thus established, implies in the notion of it some sort of Trial, or a moral possibility of acting wrong as well as right, in those who are the subjects of it. And the doctrine of Religion, that the present life is in fact a state of Probation for a future one, is rendered credible, from its being analogous throughout to the general conduct of Providence towards us with respect to this world; in which Prudence is necessary to secure our temporal interest, just as we are taught that Virtue is necessary to secure our eternal interest; and both are trusted to ourselves.

But the present life is not merely a state of Probation, implying in it difficulties and danger; it is also a state of Discipline and Improvement; and that both in our temporal and religious capacity. Thus Childhood is a state of Discipline for Youth; Youth for Manhood, and that for old Age. Strength of body, and maturity of understanding, are acquired by degrees; and

neither of them without continual exercise and attention on our part, not only in the beginning of life, but through the whole course of it. So again with respect to our religious concerns, the present world is fitted to be, and to good men is in event, a state of Discipline and Improvement for a future one. The several passions and propensions, implanted in our hearts, incline us, in a multitude of instances, to forbidden pleasures this inward infirmity is increased by various snares and temptations, perpetually occurring from without: hence arises the necessity of recollection and self-government, of withstanding the calls of appetite, and forming our minds to Habits of Piety and Virtue: Habits, of which we are capable, and which to creatures in a state of moral imperfection, and fallen from their original integrity, must be of the greatest use, as an additional security, over and above the principle of Conscience, from the dangers to which we are exposed*.

Nor is the Credibility here given, by the Analogy of Nature, to the general doctrine of Religion, destroyed or weakened by any notions concerning Necessity. Of itself it is a mere word, the sign of an abstract idea; and as much requires an Agent, that is a necessary agent, in order to effect any thing, as Freedom requires a free Agent. Admitting it to be speculatively true, if considered as influencing practice, it is the same as false: for it is matter of experience, that with regard to our present interest, and as inhabitants of this world, we are

* Part I. Ch. 5.

treated as if we were free; and therefore the Analogy of Nature leads us to conclude, that, with regard to our future interest, and as designed for another world, we shall be treated as free also. Nor does the opinion of Necessity, supposing it possible, at all affect either the general proof of Religion, or its external evidence*.

Still objections may be made against the Wisdom and Goodness of the Divine Government, to which Analogy, which can only show the truth or credibility of Facts, affords no Answer. Yet even here Analogy is of use, if it suggest that the Divine Government is a Scheme or System, and not a number of unconnected acts, and that this System is also above our comprehension. Now the Government of the Natural World appears to be a System of this kind; with Parts related to each other, and together composing a Whole; in which System Ends are brought about by the use of Means, many of which Means, before experience, would have been suspected to have had a quite contrary tendency; which is carried on by General Laws, similar causes uniformly producing similar effects; the utility of which General Laws, and the inconveniencies which would probably arise from the occasional or even secret suspension of them, we are in some sort enabled to discern; but of the Whole we are incompetent judges, because of the small Part which comes within our view. Reasoning then from what we know, it is highly credible, that

* Ch. 6.

+ See a Treatise on Divine Benevolence by Dr. Thomas Balguy; Part II.

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