478 STtENGTIt AttD WEAKNESS OF fUMAN REASdj: claim of merit, that we should be born in such families wh'ers we enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education from our in- fancy, and the knowledge of things human and divine, while the inhabitants of the cottages of the Peake in Derbyshire, were never taught to know letters, and are so grossly ignorant of the things of God and men ? Who made the difference be- tween us and the miners in Cornwall, who spend their days in darkness, and are ever conversant with earth and Iead or tin, while we range the sciences with pleasure, and dwell in clay- light, and amidst the delights of learning? To whom are our praises due on this aceotun; but to our common Maker and Lord ? Ifwe were only to consider otirselves as men left to find out the way to happiness by our own reasoning powers, are not you and I, Sirs placed in much superior advantages to theheathens in Africa, or even tathe poor miners in Cornwall ? And why may not the same God make as great a difference between his crea= tures, in bestowing the superior advantages of revelation on some, rather than on others, according to his own good plea= sure ? You yourself must grant, that God has not favoured all men with the same powers, means, or opportunities to obtain future happiness in the way of natural religion, why may he not then distinguishhis favourites in point of revelation ? It is enough for us, Logisto, if we can but maintain this- 136;0, that God does not deal unjustly with any of his creatures 7 But it is evident, we must allow him to dispense his favours as he pleases; he is not bound to make us all equal in the blessings or the powers of soul or body, with regard to this life, or the life to come, though he has made us all men. And as be has con-, fessedly bestowed on some persons much nobler inward advan-' tages, in the sagacity of their reasoningpowers, to find out the way to virtue and happiness, why may he not conferhigher outward advantages on some, than he has on others ? Why may he not give some of his creatures the light of revelation, to guide them to happiness, while he gives othersonly the light of reason ? May not the great God, the Possessor of all things irl heaven and earth, do what he pleases with his own benefits V If he has given the blindest and most unhappy nations in the world all that is due to them by nature, in their circumstances, and a natural sufficiency for their happiness, he has done enough to secure his own providence from any just accusations. An Afri- can has no right to complain, that he was not born a Briton ; nor a porter that he was not born a prince ; nor Sophronius and I, that we were not made prophets or apostles. If God has fur nished all men with such natural powers, as, being improved in the best manner, would lead them to virtue, religion, and happi- ness, surely his creatures may give him leave to make so much
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=