We have the evidence of our own consciousness that it is fear of evil to ourselves or to others that is the _strongest_ motive power to the mind. If we should find that no pain resulted from burning up our own bodies, or from drowning, or from any other cause; if every one perceived that no care, trouble, or pain resulted from losing all kinds of enjoyment, the effort to seek it would be greatly diminished. If we could desire good enough to exert ourselves to seek it, and yet should feel no discomfort in failing; if we could _lose every thing_, and feel no sense of pain or care, the stimulus to action which experience has shown to be most powerful and beneficent would be lost. We find that abundance of ease and prosperity enervates mental power, and that mind increases in all that is grand and noble, and also in the most elevating happiness, by means of danger, care and pain. We may properly infer, then, that evil is a necessary part of the experience of a perfectly‐acting mind. So strong is the conviction that _painful penalties_ are indispensable, that the kindest parents and the most benevolent rulers are the most sure to increase rather than diminish those that are already involved in the existing nature of things. Again: without a revelation we have no knowledge of any kind of mind but by inference from our experience in this state of being. All we know of the _Eternal First Cause_ is by a process of reasoning, inferring that his nature must be _like_ the only minds of which we have any knowledge. We assume, then, that he is a free agent, regulated by desire for happiness and fear of evil. We thus come to the conclusion that this organization of mind is a part of the _fixed and eternal nature of things_, and does not result from the will of the Creator. His own is the eternal pattern of an all‐perfect mind, and our own are formed on this perfect model, with susceptibilities to pain as an indispensable motive power in gaining happiness. We will now recapitulate some of the particulars in the laws and constitution of mind which tend to establish the position that its Creator’s grand design is “to produce the greatest possible happiness with the least possible evil.” Intellectual Powers. First, then, in reference to the earliest exercise of mind in _sensation_. The eye might have been so made that light would inflict pain, and the ear so that sound would cause only discomfort. And so of all the other senses. But the condition of a well‐formed, healthy infant is a most striking illustration of the adaptation of the senses to receive enjoyment. Who could gaze on the countenance of such a little one, as its various senses are called into exercise without such a conviction? The delight manifested as the light attracts the eye, or as pleasant sounds charm the ear, or as the limpid nourishment gratifies its taste, or as gentle motion and soft fondlings soothe the nerves of touch, all testify to the benevolent design of its Maker.