happiness. And moreover, in spite of the sin and suffering that have hitherto resulted from this freedom abused, yet the existence of such freedom, (without which man would not be man,) has already been the source of exquisite happiness to millions of human beings, and will yet be to infinite millions more, in the lapse of coming ages. Thus, will not only the goodness, but the wisdom, of God, in creating man as He did, receive at length its ample confirmation.
Now, it will be our purpose, in the present Section, to show that the existence of these noxious and baneful things in nature, whether of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, is not to be ascribed directly to the Divine Being, any more than pain and disease are to be ascribed to Him; but that these, like all other physical evils, sprung originally from moral evil in man.
The first argument in support of this position, will be drawn from reason,—the second, from Revelation. That the good Creator could not have been the originator of these destructive, evil, and abominable things in nature, such as furious and corpse-eating hyænas, filthy vermin, and devastating locusts, in the animal kingdom, nor of the useless and poisonous things in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms,—may be concluded on the same ground as that He could not have been the author of moral evil,—namely, that it implies a contradiction. From the same fountain, as already remarked, cannot proceed both sweet and bitter waters. Blessing and cursing cannot go forth from the same mouth; doing good and doing harm cannot proceed from the same hand: in a word, good and evil cannot be derived from the same source. For, if good and evil could proceed from the same source, then there must be two
