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    To the Editor of the Monthly Repository .

    JSIaidstone ^ sir , April 12 , 1809 . In reply . to a writer in your last number , who asks , * ' if pain and eirii could not have been Avoided , what becomes of the Almighty power of God ? " it may be observed ( though the observation is tr ite ) , that even infinite power cannot perform contradictions .

    But it may be again asked , " what contradiction is thex * e in suppose ing that pain and evil might have been excluded from the creation ?"

    I would reply to this question by proposing others . Are there not evident marks' of goodness in the provision which is made for the enjoyment of sensitive creatures ; and in the benevolent dispositions of many of our own species ? And with respect to the power of God , can he to whom the whole course

    of Nature is subject ; who revolves innumerable worlds in re gular oj'bits , be less than omnipotent ? Yet though proofs are not wanting either of the benevolence or of the power of the Deity , we Iv'now , from experience , that much evil exists : and can a more

    satisfactory solution of this difficulty be given than that " the supposi ? tion of creating sensitive creatures capable pf enjoyment , but not liable to pain , does somehow involve a contradiction , ' though we Cannot tell how *

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    But though this is a point which perhaps in ay never be so fully and clearly elucidated as we could wish , at least in the present life , is there not some reason , inde- * pencjently of the divine perfections , to conclude that we could

    not have been made capable of enjoyment without at the same ti ; ne being liable to sutler 2 Can we conceive , for instance , that we might have enjoyed the pleasures of eating and drinking , without being liable to hunger and thirst 2 Or would we have every thing necessary for the gratification of our wishes ready prepared for our use without any labour or contrivance of our own ? Then what exercise

    could there be for our mental or bodily powers ? How could we ever arrive at any considerable degree either of wisdom or strength ^ unless we were very differently constituted , and in a

    manner- of which we can scarcely form any conception ? And should we be happier than we are , had we neither understanding nor indus- * .-try , nor occasion to employ them ? Would we wish to remain for ever

    in a state of infancy , with guardian angels to guide and direct us ? Or how could we ever emerged fron& such a state without the fre - quent and salutary recurrence of difficulties and hardships to iyn ~ prpvo our minds and invigorate ,

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    MR , AILCHIN ON THE NECESSITY OF PAIN AND EVIL , —

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    so far , they never will make an infinite total ; but if every sinful act be infinite , it follows that even an infinite person could make satisfaction for but one sin ; a

    thousand such persons would be necessary to satisfy justice for a thousand sins . HETERODOXUS .

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    Mr . Allchin on the Necessity of Pain and Evit . 3 S 1

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 331, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/29/