rewards and punishments, to which a moralist looks forward, may be doubted.

I answer, that general rules are neceffary to every moral government; and by moral government I mean any difpenfation, whofe object is to influence the conduct of reasonable creatures.

Re

For if, of two actions perfectly fimilar, one be punished, and the other be rewarded or forgiven, which is the confequence of rejecting general rules, the fubjects of fuch a difpenfation would no longer know, either what to expect or how to act. wards and punishments would ceafe to be fuchwould become accidents. Like the ftroke of a thunderbolt, or the discovery of a mine, like a blank or a benefit ticket in a lottery, they would occafion pain or pleasure when they happened; but following in no known order, from any particular courfe of action, they could have no previous influence or effect upon the conduct.

An attention to general rules, therefore, is included in the very idea of reward and punishment. Confequently whatever reafon there is to expect future reward and punishment at the hand of God, there is the fame reafon to believe, that he will proceed in the diftribution of it by general rules.

Before we profecute the confideration of general confequences any farther, it may be proper to anticipate a reflection, which will be apt enough to fuggeft itself in the progrefs of our argument.

As the general confequence of an action, upon which fo much of the guilt of a bad action depends, confifts in the example; it fhould feem, that if the action be done with perfect fecrecy, fo as to furnish no bad example, that part of the guilt drops off.

In the case of fuicide, for inftance, if a man can fo manage matters, as to take away his own life, without being known or fufpected to have done fo, he is not chargeable with any mischief from the example; nor does his punishment feem neceffary, in order to fave the authority of any general rule.

In the first place, thofe who reafon in this manner do not observe, that they are setting up a general rule, of all others the leaft to be endured; namely that fecrecy, whenever fecrecy is practicable, will juftify any action.

Were fuch a rule admitted, for inftance, in the cafe above produced, is there not reafon to fear that people would be disappearing perpetually?

In the next place, I would with them to be well fatisfied about the points propofed in the following queries:

1. Whether the fcriptures do not teach us to expect that, at the general judgment of the world, the moft fecret actions will be brought to light*?

2. For what purpose can this be, but to make them the objects of reward and punishment?

3. Whether, being fo brought to light, they will not fall under the operation of thofe equal and impartial rules, by which God will deal with his creatures?

They will then become examples, whatever they be now; and require the fame treatment from the judge and governor of the moral world, as if they had been detected from the firft.

"In the day when God fhall judge the fecrets of men by "Jefus Chrift." Rom. xi. 16" Judge nothing before the time " until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things "of darkness, and will make manifeft the councils of the heart.” 1 Cor. iv. 5.

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С НА Р. VIII.

THE CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL CONSEQUENCES PURSUED.

THE general confequence of any action may be estimated, by afking what would be the confequence, if the fame fort of actions were generally permitted.-But fuppofe they were, and a thousand fuch actions perpetrated under this permiffion; is it juft to charge a fingle action with the collected guilt and mifchief of the whole thoufand? I anfwer, that the reafon for prohibiting and punifhing an action (and this reafon may be called the guilt of the action, if you please) will always be in proportion to the whole mifchief that would arife from the general impunity and toleration of actions of the fame fort.

Whatever is expedient is right." But then it must be expedient upon the whole at the long run, in all its effects collateral and remote, as well as in thofe which are immediate and direct; as it is obvious, that, in computing confequences, it makes no difference in what way or at what distance they enfue.

To imprefs this doctrine upon the minds of young readers, and to teach them to extend their views beyond the immediate mischief of a crime, I fhall here fubjoin a ftring of inftances, in which the particular confequence is comparatively infignificant; and where the malignity of the crime, and the feverity with which human laws pursue it, is almoft entirely founded upon the general confe

quence.

The

The particular confequence of coining is, the lofs of a guinea, or half a guinea, to the perfon who receives the counterfeit money; the general confequence (by which I mean the confequence that would enfue, if the fame practice were generally permitted) is, to abolish the use of money.

The particular confequence of forgery is, a damage of twenty or thirty pounds to the man who accepts the forged bill; the general confequence is, the ftoppage of paper currency.

The particular confequence of fheep-ftealing, or horfe-ftealing, is a lofs to the owner, to the amount of the value of the fheep or the horfe ftolen; the general confequence is, that the land could not be occupied, nor the market fupplied with this kind of ftock.

The particular confequence of breaking into a house empty of inhabitants is, the lofs of a pair of filver candlesticks, or a few fpoons; the general confequence is, that nobody could leave their house empty.

The particular confequence of fmuggling may be a deduction from the national fund too minute for computation: the general confequence is, the deftruction of one entire branch of public revenue; a proportionable increase of the burthen upon other branches; and the ruin of all fair and open trade in the article fmuggled.

The particular confequence of an officer's breaking his parole is, the lofs of a prifoner, who was poffibly not worth keeping; the general confequence is, that this mitigation of captivity would be refufed to all others.

And what proves inconteftibly the fuperior importance of general confequences is, that crimes are the fame, and treated in the fame manner, though the particular confequence be very different. The crime and fate of the house-breaker is the fame, whether his booty be five pounds or fifty:

And the reafon is, that the general confequence is the fame.

The want of this diftinction between particular and general confequences, or rather the not fufficiently attending to the latter, is the cause of that perplexity which we meet with in ancient moralifts. On the one hand, they were fenfible of the abfurdity of pronouncing actions good or evil, without regard to the good or evil they produced. On the other hand, they were startled at the conclufions to which a steady adherence to confequences feemed fometimes to conduct them. To relieve this difficulty, they contrived the To go or the honeftum, by which terms they meant to conftitute a measure of right, diftinct from utility. Whilft the utile ferved them, that is, whilft it correfponded with their habitual notions of the rectitude of actions, they went by it. When they fell in with fuch cafes as thofe mentioned in the fixth chapter, they took leave of their guide, and reforted to the honeftum. The only account they could give of the matter was, that these actions might be useful; but because they were not at the fame time honefta, they were by no means to be deemed juft or right.

From the principles delivered in this and the two preceding chapters, a maxim may be explained, which is in every man's mouth, and in moft men's without meaning, viz. "not to do evil that good may come" that is, let us not violate a general rule, for the fake of any particular good confequence we may expect. Which is for the moft part a falutary caution, the advantage feldom compenfating for the violation of the rule. Strictly fpeaking, that cannot be " evil," from which good comes;" but in this way, and with a view to the diftinction between particular and general confequences, it may.

We will conclude this fubject of confequences with the following reflection. A man may imagine,

that