CONFERENCE IV. 497 African and American souls done, that they should be bornunder so dark and dismal a climate, in the midst of such impious cus- toms, such universal oblivion or neglect of God, such insuperable prejudices, andwith such strong vicious propensities, that it is ten thousand to one, as you confess, if ever any of them come to the knowledge and favour of God, to the practice of true reli- gion, and to the enjoyment of future felicity ? Iias the equity, or wisdom, or will of God acted fairly with all these miserable millions ? IIas divine and infinite goodness expressed itself toward them as becomes a Creator, a Father of his creatures, and a God of unbounded love? Or can his justice ever pronounce a sentence of condemnation, as a Judge upon them for sinning against such laws as they never knew nor had a practical and proximate capacity to find out? PITH. Pray, good Logisto, calm your spirit, and rebate your fire : Be not so vehement and pathetic in your oratory for the sinful race of sinful man : Take heed that while you act the zealous advocate for rebel creatures, you do not repeat the crime, and the danger of which I took the freedom to warn you before : Have a care of running furiously upon an accusation of the all- wise and righteous Creator. If you give me leave, Sir, I will endeavour to soften andrelieve the terror of this objection, by laying before you several weighty considerations. But before I begin them, I must remind you, that while you argue from the justice and goodness of God, that there ought to be such a proxi- mate and practical sufficiency in all mankind, to obtain the favour of God in a way of religion, you argue against plain matter of fact again, and which you yourself have allowed, and that more than once, in this afternoon's conference. Forgive me therefore, dear Sir, if I am constrained to repeat again to you, that plain fact is an unchangeable and obsti- nate thing, and will notbend to any of our arguments, though derived from the divinesttopic: All our notionsof the immense goodness and eternal equity and justice of God, and our strong.. est inferences from them, can never prove any thing contrary to plain fact, nor demonstrate that not to be thecase, which really andactually is thecase. And I am sure the argument is much stronger and more convincing when turned into this form, viz_ This is the sad ease of the African and American savages, and yet God is just and good i therefore it is certainly consistent with divine equity and goodness : This argument, I say, is much stronger thanfor you to tell me, it isnot agreeable to your notions of divine equity and goodness, that this slm.Ald be their case, and therefore, in opposition to plain fact, you infer, this is not their case. Are you so sure that your scanty notions and your fallible reasonings on the equity and goodness of a God are exactly true, VOL. III. I I.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=