t there could
be no natural evil, or suffering, under the administration of God, except
such as is a punishment for sin _in the person upon whom it is inflicted_.
We have wondered, that in declaring none but a tyrant could ever permit
the innocent to suffer, they have entertained no fears lest they might
strengthen the cause of atheism. For if it be impossible to justify the
character of God, except on the principle that all suffering is merited on
account of sin in the object of it, then it is easy to see, that the
atheistical argument against the goodness of God is unanswerable. The
atheist might well say: "Do we not see and know that the whole animal
creation suffers? Now for what sin are they punished? The inferior
animals, you will admit, are not capable of committing actual sin, any
more than infants are; and Adam was not their federal head and
representative. Hence, unless you can show for what sin they are
_punished_, you must admit that, according to your own principles, God is
a tyrant." How Dr. Dick, or Dr. Dwight, or President Edwards, or Calvin,
would have answered such an argument, we cannot determine. For although
they all assume that there can be no suffering under the good providence
of God, except it be a punishment for sin in the object of it, yet, so far
as we know, they have not made the most distant allusion to the suffering
of the inferior animals. Indeed, they seem to be so intently bent on
maintaining the doctrine of the imputation of sin to infants, that they
pay no attention, in the assumption of the above position, either to the
word of God, or to the great volume of nature spread out before them.

But we find the difficulty noticed in a prize essay of three hundred
pages, on the subject of native depravity, by Dr. Woods. The author
assumes the same ground with Edwards, that all suffering must be justified
on the ground of justice; and hence he finds a real and proper sin in
infants, in order to reconcile their sufferings with the character of God.
This is the only ground, according to Dr. Woods, on which suffering can be
vindicated under the administration of a perfect God. Where, then, is the
real and proper sin in the inferior animals to justify their sufferings?
This difficulty occurs to the distinguished author, and he endeavours to
meet it. Let us see his reply. It is a reply which we have long been
solicitous to see, and we now have it from one of the most celebrated
theologians of the