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There is a tract entitled, "The Characters of a believing Paradoxes. christian, in paradoxes and seeming contradictions," which is spurious. (a)

Such are his religious sentiments in different parts of his works; but they are not confined to his publications. They appear where, according to his own doctrine, our opinions may always be discovered, in his familiar letters, in the testimony of his friends, in his unguarded observations, and in his will.

says,

In a letter to Mr. Mathew, imprisoned for religion, he Letters. "I pray God, who understandeth us all better than we understand one another, contain you, even as I hope he will, at the least, within the bounds of loyalty to his majesty, and natural piety towards your country." In the decline of his life, in his letter to the Bishop of Winchester, he says, "Amongst consolations, it is not the least to represent to a man's self like examples of calamity in others. In this kind of consolation I have not been wanting to myself, though as a Christian, I have tasted, through God's great goodness, of higher remedies." (b)

In his essay on Atheism there is an observation, which Sceptics. may appear to a superficial observer hasty and unguarded, inconsistent with the language of philosophy, and at variance with his own doctrines. It was written, not in prostration to any idol, but from his horror of the barren. and desolate minds that are continually saying, "There is no God," (c) and his preference, if compelled to elect, of the least of two errors. "I had rather," he says, "believe all

of our alphabet. May God the Creator, Preserver, and Restorer of the universe, protect and govern this work, both in its ascent to his glory, and in its descent to the good of mankind, for the sake of his mercy and good will to men, through his only son Immanuel."

(a) The evidence of this may be found in the preface to vol. vii.

(b) See letter to the Duke of Buckingham, postea, p. 445.

(c) See postea, p. 443, note (a).

the fables in the Legend and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind." (a)

As knowledge consists in understanding the sequence of events, or cause and effect, (b) he knew that error must exist not only from our ignorance, but from our knowledge of immediate causes.

In the infancy of his reason, man ascribes events to chance, or to a wrong natural cause, (c) or to the imme

(a)

"Great God! I'd rather be

A pagan suckled in a creed outworn:
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."-Wordsworth.

(b) All the order and happiness in the world depend upon the regular sequence of events.

"All things that are have some operation not violent or casual. Neither doth any thing ever begin to exercise the same, without some fore-conceived end for which it worketh. And the end which it worketh for is not obtained unless the work be also fit to obtain it by. For unto every end every operation will not serve. That which doth assign unto each thing the kind, that which doth moderate the force and power, that which appoints the form and measure of working, the same we term a law. So that no certain end could ever be attained, unless the actions whereby it is attained were regular, that is to say, made suitable, fit, and correspondent unto their end, by some canon rule of law.”—Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity.

The blessings which result from the regular sequence of events will be evident by a moment's consideration of the misery attendant upon an interruption of this regularity: suppose, for instance, that calculating upon the nutritious effects of food, it was to have the effect of poison, or that sugar had the effect of arsenic; or that fire, instead of exhilarating by a genial warmth, had the violent effects of gunpowder; or that, at the moment of attack, gunpowder ceased to be inflammable, is it not obvious what misery must result?

(c) The following anecdote from a sermon of Bishop Latimer will clearly illustrate this: "Here now I remember an argument of Master More's, which he bringeth in a book that he made against Bilney, and here by the way I will tell you a merry toy. Master More was once sent in commission into Kent, to help to try out, if it might be, what was the cause of

diate interference of a superior benevolent or malevolent being; (a) and, having formed an opinion, he entrenches

Goodwin sands and the shelf that stopped up Sandwich haven. Thither cometh Master More, and calleth the country before him, such as were thought to be men of experience, and men that could of likelihood best certify him of that matter concerning the stoppage of Sandwich haven. Among others came in before him an old man with a white head, and one that was thought to be little less than a hundred years old. When Master More saw this aged man, he thought it expedient to hear him say his mind in this matter, for, being so old a man, it was likely that he knew most of any man in that presence and company. So Master More called this old aged man unto him, and said, Father, tell me, if ye can, what is the cause of this great rising of the sands and shelves here about this haven, the which stop it up, so that no ships can arrive here? Ye are the eldest man that I can espy in all this company, so that if any man can tell any cause of it, ye of likelihood can say most of it, or at leastwise more than any man here assembled. Yea, forsooth, good Master, quoth this old man, for I am well nigh a hundred years old, and no man here in this company any thing near unto my age. Well then, quoth Master More, how say you in this matter? What think ye to be the cause of these shelves and flats that stop up Sandwich haven? Forsooth, sir, quoth he, I am an old man; I think that Tenderden-steeple is the cause of Goodwin sands; for I am an old man, sir, quoth he, and I may remember the building of Tenderden steeple, and I may remember when there was no steeple at all there. And before that Tenderden steeple was in building, there was no manner of speaking of any flats or sands that stopped the haven, and therefore I think that Tenderden steeple is the cause of the destroying and decay of Sandwich haven. And so to my purpose, preaching of God's word is the cause of rebellion, as Tenderden steeple was the cause that Sandwich haven is decayed."

A common instance of this species of error is in the love-note of the spider, called the death watch. Sitting by the bed of a sick or dying friend, when all is still, the noise of the spider is heard a short time before the death of the sufferer; and the events are, therefore, supposed to be connected. Astrology is, perhaps, founded upon this delusion.

(a) Near to the Hartz mountains in Germany, a gigantic figure has from time immemorial occasionally appeared in the heavens. It is indistinct, but always resembles the form of a human being. Its appearance has ever been a certain indication of approaching misfortune. It is called the Spectre of the Broken. It has been seen by many travellers. In speaking of it, Monsieur Jordan says, "In the course of my repeated tours through the Hartz mountains, I often, but in vain, ascended the Broken, that I

himself within its narrow boundaries, or is indolently content without seeking for any remote cause, (q) but

might see the spectre. At length, on a serene morning, as the sun was just appearing above the horizon, it stood before me, at a great distance, towards the opposite mountain. It seemed to be the gigantic figure of a man. It vanished in a moment." In September, 1796, the celebrated Abbé Hauy visited this country. He says: "After having ascended the mountain for thirty times, I at last saw the spectre. It was just at sunrise, in the middle of the month of May, about four o'clock in the morning. I saw distinctly a human figure of a monstrous size. The atmosphere was quite serene towards the east. In the south-west a high wind carried before it some light vapours, which were scarcely condensed into clouds and hung round the mountains upon which the figure stood. I bowed. The colossal figure repeated it. I paid my respects a second time, which was returned with the same civility. I then called the landlord of the inn; and having taken the same position which I had before occupied, we looked towards the mountain, when we clearly saw two such colossal figures, which, after having repeated our compliment by bending their bodies, vanished. When the rising sun throws his rays over the Broken upon the body of a man standing opposite to fleecy clouds, let him fix his eye steadfastly upon them, and in all probability he will see his own shadow extending the length of five or six hundred feet, at the distance of about two miles from him."

(9) This is explained by Lord Bacon, in his doctrine of Idols, under the head "Abandoning Universality." He says, "Man has a tendency to abandon universality, that is, to stop too soon in his inquiries, and to conclude that he views the truth which he possesses in all its extent." This may be thus illustrated:-Rings twirled upon an axis appear spheres. A lighted stick, moved quickly in a circle, appears a circle of fire, or what boys call gold lace. A lighted flambeau carried quickly by night appears tailed like a comet. When a musical string is struck, it vibrates, and the strings appear double, treble, &c. These appearances originate in a new impression being made before the effect of a former impression is removed; for if these motions are performed slowly, such appearances do not exist. It may, therefore, be considered a general truth, that when a new impression is made upon the organ of sight before the effect of a former impression is removed, that is, when the motion of impulse is quicker than the motion of recovery, this peculiar effect is produced. Now the position, that "Man has a tendency to abandon universality," assumes that, the mind, having discovered this truth with respect to the sense of seeing, is apt to rest content therewith, without considering that it

philosophy endeavours to discover the antecedent in the chain of events, (a) and looks up to the first cause. (b)

is only a sprout from some general or more universal truth pervading different parts of nature.

That this truth is not confined to the sense of seeing will appear from a few moments' consideration.-Does not gunpowder produce its effect by the rapidity with which the crude spirit of the nitre avoids and flies from fire, where the impelling force is quicker than the force of resistance? are not such great masses of matter as an elephant or a whale moved in the same manner by the repeated action of animal spirit? is not, also, animal spirit itself in the same manner put to flight by the action of opium? Is it not, therefore, an universal truth, that great effects are produced when the motion of impulse is quicker than the motion of recovery?

Again, to fall suddenly from a discord upon a concord is agreeable in music; but this truth is not confined to music: a sudden alteration in tone is often agreeable in public speaking; and it may, perhaps, be said universally that there always is delight in breaking the continuity of any painful sensation.

Again, the quavering upon a stop in music gives delight to the ear; but this pleasure from quavering is not confined to music: for the playing of light upon the water or the sparkling of a diamond give the same delight to the eyes; and, perhaps, it may be said universally, that gentle and quickly varying excitement, gentle fluctuating undulation, unattended with pain, is pleasant.

The cause seems to be, either mental indolence, which contents itself with the truth it possesses, without the trouble of inquiring whether it can be extended; or the never dreaming of the possibility of any extension, from want of the habit of exercising the understanding to its full extent, of giving scope to the understanding to range.

The errors with respect to cause and effect may be thus exhibited:

1. From ignorance of the cause, ascribing events

1. To chance.

2. To a wrong natural cause.

3. To immediate interposition of a superior.

2. From knowledge of proximate cause.

Abandoning universality.

(a) See ante, note (a), page 439.

(b) Hume, in his general corollary at the conclusion of his Essays, says, "Though the stupidity of men, barbarous and uninstructed, be so great, that they may not see a sovereign author in the more obvious works of nature, to which they are so much familiarised, yet it scarce seems

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