Almighty One. But, on the other hand, where the grounds for the exercise of an attribute seem clear, it is a right and wholesome application of the faculty of hope that is implanted in the human mind, to expect that the fruition of the attribute will be granted.

Now, of all the attributes of Deity, we are led to believe that none will be more scrupu lously exercised than that of justice. The justice of God demanded the sacrifice of the Redeemer, for without shedding of blood mercy did not procure remission of sins. To do justly is required of every man by the Almighty, and nothing is more hateful to our just and merciful Creator than the complaints of injustice and oppression from the earth, that enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. (James ix. 4;) God's justice is infinitely perfect, and shall not the Judge of all the earth do right, even to the meanest of His own creatures? and does not doing right, in a Being of infinite justice and power, imply the rectifying of all wrong? And if it is received as a maxim in human law that "there is no wrong without a remedy," how much more in that eternal and unchangeable equity which dwells in the bosom of God?

Can we suppose, then, that He will pass over

the wrongs done to animals-especially when we think that the mere punishment of man by human law in this world, or by Divine vengeance in the next, for cruelty to animals, makes no recompense to the poor sufferer for what it has unrighteously endured.

What! does God value this part of his creation so highly, as to make a covenant with animals, even as with man, after the flood? has He fenced them round with such stringently protective laws? May the rest of the Sabbath be broken to save their lives, or give them ease? and doth not even one lie down in death without our own heavenly Father's notice? And can we suppose, for one instant, that their acute sensations of suffering shall pass unregarded, that a feeling corporeal and mental shall be granted them, and no notice taken of the torture and outrage so constantly and cruelly inflicted on that sense of feeling; in short, that thousands upon thousands of animals shall pass their lives as victims to the cruelty, the pride, the rapacious lust of man, and be ever uncheered by the single ray of that blessed hope which illumines man's path of misery and affliction, and enables him to bear up under the adversities of life, even to suffer persecutions with cheerfulness,

to welcome torments with joy and triumph, and to embrace death, knowing in himself that he has in heaven a better and more enduring substance.

In the case of man, we do not hesitate for a moment to advance the present perplexed state and order of things, the triumphing of the wicked and the afflictions of the good, the apparently unjust distribution of rewards and punishments in this life, as an argument for the necessity of a future state in another world, where all seeming incongruities shall be rectified, and the ways of God towards man amply vindicated.*

We believe God to be holy and just; we believe that He loves righteousness and goodness, and hates iniquity: and that as Governor and public Magistrate of the world, he is con

* "The system of nature assures us that benevolence is a leading principle in the Divine mind. But that system is at the same time deficient in a means of making this benevolence of invariable operation. To reconcile this to the recognised character of the Deity, it is necessary to suppose that the present system is but a part of a whole, a stage in a great progress, and that the redress is in reserve.”—Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, p. 388.

cerned to countenance and encourage the former, and to discountenance and discourage the latter. But is this done under the present dispensation of the world? Not generally-not more so now than in David's time, when he saw the ungodly in such prosperity: then surely we must come to the conclusion, as the parable of the wheat and the tares certifies us, that the Justice of God is to be displayed in another world-recompense and reward to be administered in the future state. And, indeed, if sentence was executed speedily in this life, how would it be a state of probation and faith? It is certainly most agreeable to our reason, with the truths of Revelation before us, that there should be an unsettled and mixed state of affairs here, a perfect and fixed retribution hereafter.

Hear Archbishop Tillotson's argument for the Immortality of the Soul as adduced from the premises of apparent confusion and wrongness in this mortal state; "Now the providences of God," he says, "being in a great measure promiscuously administered in this world, so that no man can make any certain judgment of God's love and hatred towards persons, by - what befals them in this world, it being the lot of good men many times to suffer and be

afflicted, and of wicked men to live in a flourishing and prosperous condition: I say, things being thus, it is very agreeable to the notions we have of the Divine holiness and justice, to believe that there will be a time come, when this wise and just Governor of the world will make a wide and visible difference between the righteous and the wicked: so that though for a while the justice of God may be clouded, yet there will a time come when it shall be clearly manifested, and every eye see it and bear witness to it, when judgment shall break forth as the light, and righteousness as the noon day. It is possible that sin for a while may go unpunished, nay, triumph and prosper; and that virtue and innocence may not only go unrewarded, but oppressed, and despised, and persecuted. And this may be reconciliable enough to the wisdom of God's Providence, and the justice of it, supposing the immortality of the soul, and another state after this life, wherein all things shall be set straight, and every man shall receive according to his works: but unless this be supposed, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE ΤΟ SOLVE THE JUSTICE OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE."

VOL. I.

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