been productive of fo much happiness. And it fhould be a rule with us, when we are confidering any particular thing in the fyftem of nature, to take in every thing that is neceffarily connected with it, and every thing that we should lofe if we were deprived of it; fo that if, upon the whole, we fhould, in that cafe, lofe more than we should gain, we must pronounce the thing complained of to be beneficial to us, and fhould thankfully bear the evil, for the fake of the greater good that accompanies it. Fire, for inftance, is the occafion of a great deal of mifchief and diftrefs in the world, but this is not to be compared with the benefits that we derive from the ufe of that element. It may be faid, indeed, that the divine being might have feparated these things, and, if he had been perfectly benevolent, might have given us the good unmixed with evil. But there are many pains and evils which are useful to us, and upon the whole give us a greater enjoyment of life, as being pains and evils in themselves. It The is a common obfervation, that many perfons are much happier, in a variety of respects, in the prime of life, and especially towards the close of it, for the pains and the hardships they fuffered at their entrance upon it. The difficulties we meet with contribute to ftrengthen the mind, by furnishing proper exercise both for our paffions and our understandings, and they alfo heighten our relifh of the good that we meet with. more attention we give to evils of all kinds, the more good do we fee to accompany them, or to follow them; fo that, for any thing that we know, a better fyftem, that is, a fyftem abounding with more happiness, could not have been made than this, even as it is at prefent; and much more if we fuppofe, what is very probable, a tendency to much greater happiness in the completion of the whole fcheme. One of the greatest and most striking evils in the fyftem of nature, is that one animal fhould be made to prey upon another, as lions, tygers, wolves, eagles, ferpents, and other beafts, birds, and infects of prey; and, at first fight, it might feem more agreeable to benevolence, to have formed no fuch carnivorous creatures; as every animal would then have lived without fear or apprehenfion, and the world, as we are apt to imagine, would have been the scene of univerfal peace and joy. But this is the conclufion of a fuperficial observer. For it may easily be demonftrated, that there is more happiness in the prefent fyftem than there would have been in that imaginary one; and, therefore, that this conftitution of things, notwithstanding its inconveniences, must have appeared preferable in the eye of a benevolent being. If all the species of animals had been suffered to multiply without interfering with one another, they would all have foon been involved in famine and distress; and whenever they died, their carcaffes would have infected the air, and have made it nauseous and unhealthy; whereas, at prefent, all animals have, in general, a sufficiency of food; they suffer very little from the fear of danger; while they are in their vigour, they are are pretty well able to defend themselves, or to provide for their fafety by flight; when they grow feeble, and life would become a burthen, they ferve to fupport the life and vigour of animals of a different species; and the pangs of a fudden and violent death are not fo dreadful as thofe that are occafioned by lingering fickness. If any animals die by a natural death, there are other animals enow, quadrupeds, birds, and infects, that are ready to feize upon the carcafe; and to them it is, in the most putrid ftate, grateful and wholesome food. Man is a carnivorous animal, but it is happy for the animals which he lives upon that he is fo. What a number of cows, and fheep, and fowls, do we feed, attend upon, and make happy, which, otherwife, would either have had no existence at all, or a very miferable one; and what is a fudden and unexpected death, compared with their previous enjoyment; with a life fpent in far greater pleasure and fatisfaction than they could otherwife have known? Farther, Farther, all the evils we complain of are the refult of what we call general laws, in confequence of which the fame events invariably follow from the fame previous circumstances; and without thofe general laws, all would be uncertainty and confufion. Thus it follows from the general law of gravitation, that bodies heavier than the air will, when unfupported, fall to the ground. Now cannot we conceive that it is better, upon the whole, that this law of nature, which is productive of a thousand benefits every moment, and whereby the whole earth, and probably the whole univerfe is held together, fhould be preserved invariably, than that it fhould be fufpended whenever any temporary inconvenience would arife from it; as whenever a man fhould ftep from a precipice, to prevent his breaking his bones, or being dashed to pieces? If there were no general laws of nature, causing the fame effects to follow from the fame previous circumstances, there would be no exercife for the wifdom and understanding of intelligent beings; and, confequently, we fhould not be in cir cumftances |