CONFERENCE IIL. 473 in these savages is not a sufficient guide. All that I can pretend therefore, is, only to show, that if human reason is not in fact sufficient, even practically sufficient for this purpose : yet, at least, it ought to be practically sufficient; and,perhaps my argu- ments will prove it. PITIt. Pray, Sir, be so good as to inform me, what you mean by saying, it ought to be sufficient? Will any of your ar- guments teach the all-wise God what he ought to have done, and 1n what other andbetter condition he ought to have placed man- kind, than he has.seen fit to place them in ? Will your argu- ments give wisdom to your Maker, or instruct him in rules of justice ? Or can any of your reasonings inform him, what supe- rior talents, and happiercircumstances, he ought to have bestow- ed upon his creatures? have you courage enough to reprove or, arraign the conduct Of the supreme Governor of the world towards his African or American subjects ! Is it right, Logisto, to talk at this rate ? Or is it safe to venture on such anunequal contest? What else can you mean, Sir, by affirming, that rea- son ought to be sufficient, but this, viz. that God ought to have given men better faculties, or he oughf to have bestowed upon them clearer light, and better helps, or ought to have brought them into the world withgreater advantages than his wisdom has thought fit to do : And what is this, but telling the all-wise God, he has' acted weakly, or charging the God of justice that he has dealt unjustly, or accusing the Father o 'Merciis that he has acted cruelly toward his creatures ? Loo. I confess, good Sir, that you confound me a little with these enquiries. I have no such hardiness of soul, as to dare to reprove my Maker, whom I adore with the most profound veneration and I do ackuosiledge, that whatsoever he does, must be right and just. And yet there are arguments which seem to prove, that man, who as you agree, is to be tried and judged in the other world, for his behaviour in this, should, some way or other, have sufficient powers given him to know and fulfil his duty : Otherwise, men would be excusable in their greatest superstitions and immoralities, as being destitute, by the necessity of their circumstances, of a sufficient guide iu matters of religion and virtue: And this is the first argument which I desire leave to offer upon this head,,as adifficulty which I cannot solve. Peru. Perhaps,Sir, it is an effectual relief to this difficulty, if we suppose mankind to be furnished with such reasoning powers as are, in the nature of things, and in a remote sense, sufficient to guide and conduct men in their religious affairs : For the neglect of using and improving these rational powers, is greatly Criminal : And it is this universal neglect of using ,then" well, that renders,then practically insufficient. if they employ
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