gs which require no proof. Is not the doctrine of Bayle a thing of
this kind? It certainly seems evident that if God hates sin above all
things, and could easily prevent it, he would not permit it to appear in
his dominions. This view of the subject recommends itself powerfully to
the human mind, which has, in all ages, been worried and perplexed by it.
It seems to carry its own evidence along with it; to shake the mind with
doubt, and over-spread it with darkness. Hence, we should either expose
its fallacy or else fairly acknowledge its power.

On the other hand, the theory of Leibnitz, or rather the great fundamental
idea of his theory, is more than a mere hypothesis. It rests on the
conviction of the human mind that God is infinitely perfect, and seems to
flow from it as a necessary consequence. For how natural, how irresistible
the conclusion, that if God be absolutely perfect, then the world made by
him must be perfect also! But while these two hypotheses seem to be sound,
it is clear that both cannot be so: there is a real conflict between them,
and the one or the other must be made to give way before our knowledge can
assume a clearly harmonious and satisfactory form.

The effects of the hypothesis of the sceptic may be neutralized by
opposing to it the hypothesis of the theist. But we are not satisfied to
stop at this point. We intend, not merely to neutralize, but to explode,
the theory of the sceptic. We intend to wrest from it the element of its
strength, and grind it to atoms. We intend to lay our finger precisely
upon the fallacy which lies so deeply concealed in its bosom, and from
which it derives all its apparent force and conclusiveness. We shall drag
this false principle from its place of concealment into the open light of
day, and thereby expose the utter futility, the inherent absurdity, of the
whole atheistical hypothesis, to which it has so long imparted its
deceptive power. If Leibnitz did not detect this false principle, and
thereby overthrow the theory of Bayle, it was because he held this
principle in common with him. We must eliminate this error, common to the
scheme of the atheist and to that of the theist, if we would organize the
truths which both contain, and present them together in one harmonious and
symmetrical system; into a system which will enable us, not merely to
stand upon the defensive, and parry off the attacks of the sceptic, but to
enter upon his own territory, and demolish his