has been wasted, if the agent of all this evil be idiotic or insane at the time, the distress produced may be mourned as misfortunes, but they cannot be punished as crimes. The great and necessary element of all crime is wanting—freedom of will, ability to have acted otherwise. If, therefore, this be admitted as undeniable in civilized society, will there be any person so unjust as to say, that the will of God, which is equity itself, requires of His creatures that which they cannot perform? Or will man be so unjust as to assume, that the Lord punishes His creatures for crimes which He Himself has not only permitted, but absolutely ordained should be committed? Such inconsistency is indeed frightful to reflect upon; and yet, in the Formula Concordia, it is affirmed, that "the reprobate are raised up for the purpose of glorifying God in their condemnation."
In the pathetic lamentation of the Lord over Jerusalem, man's freedom is asserted: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and YE WOULD NOT." The will of the Lord is that none of His creatures should perish. His Divine goodness, which is His will, is constantly operating, through the medium of His providence, that evil may be subdued, and good reign predominant: when we therefore behold severe dispensations of His providence, we must not class them as angry judgments, or vindictive punishments, but as the corrections of an all-wise Parent, who sees no other way to reclaim His wayward children. The will of the Lord is manifest by His
