our lot serves to develope, the faculties of body and mind, to strengthen and build up the character; how, in fact, all evil finally takes on some shape of good, and thus vindicates the divine wisdom in subjecting man to "vanity." To begin with the lowest form of the subject:

I. Physical Evils.-We may safely say that our usefulness and happiness are largely dependant on the development of all our powers and gifts, physical, mental, and spiritual. For accomplishing this, there must, of course, be occasion for that action of which this development is the legitimate result. But, if there were no evil connected with our present condition and estate, how could this be? Where the occasion for activity or exertion, if man were free from evil, and already as perfect as he is capable of being? And if you leave him one step this side of perfection, you involve him in the necessary evil of imperfection. But if perfect in all respects, what moving cause would there be for action? He has no wants to gratify; no enjoyment to obtain ; no inconvenience to be rid of; no work to perform; no end to seek or gain; no occasion, whatever, for the slightest exertion of body or mind. The propelling power would be gone to a great degree, and life would become as a still and stagnant pool, covered over with its green and slimy coating, unbroken by the winds of heaven, or the dip of a passing wing.

Take one example only. If there were no hunger; if man had been so constituted as never to want food, then there would have been no room for the activity, both of mind and body, which is now devoted to procuring this. The noble science of agriculture, which

is so rapidly unfolding the powers of the earth and the elements, and bringing us so constantly into the presence of infinite wisdom and benevolence, would have no being. The constant hum of business and enterprise heard all over the earth, and the wonderful and complicated movements connected with the supply of this one universal want, would cease at once. The far-stretching fields of grain, rich and ripe, waving in the wind, and adding such beauty to the landscape, and giving such joy to the heart of the beholder- the mill, with the noise of its grinding, and the wild merriment of its whirling wheels and rushing waters the pleasant garden-spot, with its various vegetable productions, and the satisfaction of cultivating and watching over it-the groves of delicious fruit, planted by the hand of man in every clime — the proud ship, that bears its freight of blessings from shore to shore-the canal, the rail-road, the steamship, the magnetic telegraph, all these would be struck out of existence; and the thousands who are engaged in these manifold employments, and find a life and joy in the activity they afford, would fall back into a dead silence and listlessness, and all would become a complete and thorough blank in the place of that quick life and cheerful industry, which are born of this want or evil, and those kindred to it.

II. Intellectual Evils, or the Evils of Ignorance.That ignorance of the government and works of God, ignorance of the truths of science, of the laws of organized life, and of the physical universe, is the source of much evil, of accident and suffering, no one can, or is disposed to, deny. But suppose there were no ig

norance in regard to these things; suppose God had, when he created man, thoroughly instructed him in all the sciences; and imparted to him, by direct miracle or revelation, a complete knowledge of all the laws of the physical world. It is true, you might in this way, get quit of all the suffering, of all the evil consequent upon ignorance; but would you not also annihilate all the mental action and effort consequent upon it?

If the Creator had given to man in the beginning, by inspiration or revelation, a knowledge of all the sublime and beautiful truths of astronomy, chemistry, geology, physiology, political science, natural philosophy, and all other departments of human knowledgethen all the labor of mind, the splendid intellectual triumphs by which these truths have been unfolded, and which have thrilled all souls that have witnessed their success, with admiration and joy-all this activity and consequent happiness had never been. And we had not known, as now, how glorious a creature the human mind is; how manifold its powers and resources; how heroically it will struggle against difficulties, till it rise up into the heavens, victorious over all, and reverently, yet without trembling, stand at last in the presence of the Eternal One!

But not only this. With the loss of these efforts and triumphs, must be numbered also the countless books written on these subjects; the glorious printing-press, giving wings to knowledge and truth; the beautiful and exquisite instruments with which science has wrought out her discoveries; and all the study and industry consequent upon them-all these must perish with the evils of ignorance; or rather, but for

the evils of ignorance they could have had no existence. All the truths of science and art known to us, there would be no use for them no call for mental effort to invent, or mechanical labor to execute.

If, then, there is any happiness in the discovery of truth, and the increase of knowledge, if any measure of our blessedness lies in the development and perfection of the intellect, all which necessarily involve the existence of previous ignorance and imperfectionthen, just to this extent, we are furnished with a solution of the great problem of evil; or, at least, we see some of the important uses which evil may subAnd now let us turn to

serve.

III. Moral Evil. If there had been no error or sin in the world, we should have known nothing of Jesus the Christ, that loftiest exhibition of perfected humanity, that single bright star in the mingled firmament of earth and heaven, whose light was never dimmed. We should have known nothing of his deeds of love and mercy in return for hate and cruelty; nothing of that life of his, always so serene and beautiful amid the storms of temptation and bigotry and persecution, and closed at last with that sublime prayer of forgiveness and blessing, the very record of which even now thrills the souls of the millions with unutterable emotions of reverence and joy. And so one of the most instructive pages in the history of humanity would have been left totally blank, with not a single bright word of heaven's language to catch the eye, or quicken the thought.

And of God, also if there were no sin, we should lose sight of half the glory of his character, and of the

beautiful and tender relations which he sustains to us. We should know him as a God of almighty power, of infinite wisdom, of perfect holiness; but of his saving grace, of his mercy, of his patient and watchful care for his wayward children, of his long-suffering and pardoning love, of his blessed promises of redemption

- if there were no moral evil, no error nor sin, what should we know of these glorious exhibitions of the divine character? How could they have been at all? How could we have loved and adored, in spirit and understanding, the affectionate Father and the perfect God, as we love and adore him now?1

But there is another phase to this question of moral evil, which deserves a thought. It will be allowed very readily, that the virtues of charity, forgiveness, generosity, self-sacrifice, faith, fidelity, are of great worth, and give the highest grace and beauty to the character. All will agree that without these noble virtues, it would become tame and spiritless, with scarcely a single trait to waken our admiration, or call forth our reverence and love. The lively and animated picture of the soul's struggles and triumphs, would lose its richest coloring and finish; and life itself would be without point, without any useful or elevating aim.

But if man had been created perfect, and never had fallen into any kind of sin, how could these virtues have birth or being? If there were nothing to try our patience or our love, how could the worth

1 JONATHAN EDWARDS says, "God does not will sin as sin, or for the sake of any thing evil; though it be his pleasure so to order things, that, he permitting, sin will come to pass, for the sake of the great good that by his disposal shall be the consequence." Works, vol. ii., 254. Edition 1829.