eans?
Cannot the Supreme Ruler of the world, in the resources of his infinite
mind, bring as much good out of holiness as can be brought out of sin? And
if so, why permit sin in order to the good of the creation? Are not the
perfect holiness and happiness of each and every part of the moral world
better for each and every part thereof than are their contraries? And if
so, are they not better for the whole? By this reply, the theist is, in
our opinion, disarmed, and the sceptic victorious. Hence we say, that the
former should have conceded the major, and denied the minor, premiss of
the above argument; that is, he should have admitted, that whoever can
prevent the sin of another, but, instead of so doing, contributes to it by
his concourse, is an accomplice: and he should have denied that God, being
able to produce holiness in the place of sin, both permits and contributes
to the reign of the latter in his dominions. The theist should have denied
this, we say, if he would have raised the ever-blessed God above all
contact with sin, and placed his cause upon high and impregnable ground,
far above the attacks of the sceptic. But as it is, he has placed that
cause upon false grounds, and thereby exposed it to the successful shafts
of the adversary.

Another reason assigned by Leibnitz(226) and King(227) for the permission
of moral evil is, that if God should interpose to prevent it, this would
be to work a constant and universal miracle. But if such a thing were
possible, why should he not work such a miracle? By these authors
themselves it is conceded, that the Almighty often works a miracle for the
production of moral good; and, this being the case, why should he not
exhibit this miracle on the most grand and magnificent scale of which it
is possible to conceive? In other words, why should he not render it
worthy of his infinite wisdom, and power, and goodness? Is it not by a
like miracle, by a like universal interposition of his power, that the
majestic fabric of the material globe is upheld, and the sublime movement
of all its countless orbs continually carried on? And if so, are not the
order and harmony of the moral universe as worthy such an exercise of his
omnipotence as are the regularity and beauty of the material? We defend
the Divine Author and Preserver of all things on no such grounds. We say
that a universal holiness is not produced by the omnipresent energy of his
power, not because this would be to work a mi