Franklin points out to his recipients that he thinks his position is clear and that they will be able to distinguish between what he takes to be true by demonstration (with certainty) and what is known only with probability.

   1.  There is said to be a First Mover (God), Maker of the Universe.

   2.  (God) is said to be all wise, all good and all powerful.

           These, Franklin says, are the foundation of his argument.  What follows are conclusions from these two claims.

    3.  If God is all good, what(ever) he does must be good.

   4.  If he is all wise, what(ever) he does must be wise.

           Franklin comments on these conclusions, saying that they are evident to anyone with common sense, and it would be contradictory to deny them as soon as the first two propositions are understood.

   5.  God is all powerful; there can be nothing existing or occurring in the universe against God's consent or without his consent.  What God consents to must be good, because God is good.  Therefore, evil does not exist.

        According to Franklin, there are many people who have confused themselves and others in trying to answer the question whether there is evil.  It is obvious that evil exists, but in reality they are not really "evils, ills or defects" in the universe.  This, Franklin says, is obvious since it is impossible for there to be anything existing or done that is contrary to the will of God.  It is also impossible for there to be anything more powerful than God, so evil cannot be more powerful than God.

   God never does anything or allows anything without a good reason.  If we say that God does not have the power to stop evil, then he is not all powerful.  If we say God permits evil for a better good, that would be contradictory since if the end is good and the action or event contributes to the good, then the action IS good.

   6.  No being can do anything but what is good because no actions can be contrary to God's will.

   7.  This means that all created things are limited in their actions - that is, they can do nothing but what God would have them do.  So there can be no such thing as liberty, free will, or power to do or refrain from doing an action.

        Franklin explains that there is liberty in the sense that a heavy body may fall.  If there is nothing to hinder it, it will fall.  But all things that fall that are not hindered in their fall are necessitated to fall.  Look at it like this.  If we were radically free, as Franklin would have it, "we have but as one Chance to ten thousand, to hit on the right Action; we should then be perpetually blundering bout in the Dark, and putting the Scheme in disorder. . . ."    So it is necessary that our actions be governed by all-wise Providence.  This is consistent with the regularity of the universe where there is no defect.

   8.  If there is no free will, there is neither merit nor demerit in creatures, from which it follows that "every Creature must be equally esteem'd by the creator."

        "When the Creator first design'd the Universse, either it was His Will and Intention that all Things should exist and be in the Manner they are at this Time; or it was his Will they should be otherwise, il.e., in a different Manner: To say it was His Will Things should be otherwise than they are, is to say Somewhat hath contradicted His Will, and broken his measures, which is impossible because inconsistent with his Power; therefore we must allow that all Things exist now in a Manner agreeable to His Will, and in consequence of that are all equally Good, and therefore equally esteem'd by Him."