We daily pursue our business and our pleasure, thoughtless of the thousand
operations which are going on, and the busy mechanism employed in securing
the objects we desire. The warm current that is flowing from the centre to
the extremities, with its life‐giving energies, and then returning to be
purified and again sent forth; the myriads of branching nerves that are
the sensitive discerners of good or ill; the unnumbered muscles and
tendons that are contracting and expanding in all parts of our frame; the
nicely‐adjusted joints, and bands, and ligaments, that sustain, and
direct, and support; the perpetual expansion and contraction of the vital
organ; the thousand hidden contrivances and operations of the animal
frame, all are quietly and constantly performing their generous functions,
and administering comfort and enjoyment to the conscious spirit that
dwells within.
Nor is the outer world less busy in performing its part in promoting the
great design of the Creator. The light of suns and stars is traversing the
ethereal expanse in search of those for whom it was created; for them it
gilds the scenes of earth, and is reflected in ten thousand forms of
beauty and of skill. The trembling air is waiting to minister its aid,
fanning with cool breezes, or yielding the warmth of spring, sustaining
the functions of life, and bearing on its light wing the thoughts that go
forth from mind to mind, and the breathings of affection that are given
and returned. For this design earth is sending forth her exuberance, the
waters are emptying their stores, and the clouds pouring forth their
treasures. All nature is busy with its offerings of fruits and flowers,
its wandering incense, its garnished beauty, and its varied songs. Within
and without, above, beneath, and around, the same Almighty Beneficence is
found still ministering to the wants and promoting the happiness of the
minds he has formed for ever to desire and pursue this boon.
We are now prepared to meet the questions proposed, (_i.e._) is the
Creator a being who, with the varying humors of man, sometimes prefers
evil to good, and sometimes prefers good to evil, or does he invariably
choose what is _best for all_, even in cases where it may involve personal
sacrifices and suffering to himself?
In attempting to answer this question, we have set forth the evidence to
be found in the works of the Creator which establishes the position that
his _chief end_ or _ruling purpose_ is to produce the greatest possible
happiness with the least possible evil.
The question then reads, does the Creator destroy happiness and cause
needless pain, and thus thwart his own chief desire and great end; the end
for which he made all things?
The very statement of the question is its most forcible answer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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