as it is, has been able to modify their natural

temper.

To come nearer home: the surveys of some counties in Ireland bring us acquainted with a people scarcely more cultivated, and equally susceptible of the virtues belonging to their condition. "In more minutely examining the situation of this abandoned peasantry, we have an opportunity of seeing far into human nature, and behold the natives happy, and abundantly

* Gmelin, Déc. Russes, iii. 233, &c. In physical advantages no country has a lower place than Iceland. "Yet here," says Sir G. Mackenzie, "the moral and religious habits of the people at large may be spoken of in terms of the highest commendation. In his domestic capacity, the Icelander performs all the duties which his situation requires, or renders possible; and while by the severe labour of his hands he obtains a provision of food for his children, it is not less his care to convey to their minds the inheritance of knowledge and virtue. In his intercourse with those around him, his character displays the stamp of honour and integrity. His religious duties are performed with cheerfulness and punctuality; and this even among the numerous obstacles which are presented by the nature of the country and climate under which he lives." P. 332.

possessed of those qualities which endear mankind to each other. In acts of friendship to their neighbours, they are rarely deficient: their generous hospitality to strangers is proverbial: for educating their children they are particularly anxious, and a close attention to religion is universally prevalent; and though their idea of it may be strongly tinctured with superstition, it only argues that their minds have been totally neglected; as they show a great wish and anxiety for instruction even in religious concerns."* Another inquirer assures us, that "the heart of the poorest cotter is no stranger to generous feelings; his jug of milk, and plate of potatoes, are charitably offered alike to the errand-boy, and to the mendicant who appears before his door: in short, charity throughout the whole island supplies the place of poor laws."+

These instances make it sufficiently clear,

* Mr. Tighe's Survey of the County of Kilkenny.

Sir Richard Hoare's general remarks, at the close of

his Tour in Ireland. 1806.

that no argument can be raised against the goodness of the Deity, as if he had placed a portion of mankind in situations inconsistent with the object of their creation. It certainly could not be held just, that a man should be the subject either of punishment or reward, where his condition afforded him no opportunities of virtue. But it appears, that although the degrees of light diffused throughout the world are various, there is no where total darkness; and that although civilization, as originally proved, is the climate most favourable to virtue, there is no state where the seeds of morality are not planted, or refuse to thrive. Before, therefore, any derogation can be made on this score, from the evidence by which the divine goodness is supported, it must be maintained, that the Deity is either unable or unwilling to make compensation or allowance, in his future disposal of mankind, for whatever moral deficiencies arise from that general scheme, by which he has seen it best upon the whole to regulate the world.

417

CONCLUSION.

In the first volume of this work I endeavoured to show, that the evidence in favour of the existence of an independent, eternal, and omnipotent Creator, is such as to demand the assent of mankind.

In the considerations, which followed, of the attributes belonging to the Creator, I attempted to point out a remarkable proof of the wisdom with which the Creator has organized our world, and directed its various parts in subservience to his general designs. I also examined the objections which have most commonly been urged against the goodness of the Deity; and have proved, I imagine, at least thus much: that neither the existence, nor the extent, of natural and moral evil, can interfere with that belief

VOL. II.

E E

of the benevolence of the Creator, which the preponderating tendency of his works inclines us to entertain.

It only remains to consider the practical conclusions resulting from what has been proved; without which the judicious person who proposed the subject, rightly foresaw that any inquiry into the existence and attributes of the Deity would be a needless and unprofitable speculation.

Is, then, the existence of a Being, endued with these attributes, and enabling us to discover the relation we bear towards him by the reasoning powers of which he has made us partakers, a mere matter of philosophical disquisition, a speculative fact, which we are as much at liberty to neglect or examine, to allow or reject, as the Newtonian theory of the tides, or law of gravitation? Far otherwise. It cannot be plausibly maintained, that no relative duty on our part arises as a consequence from what is the certain conclusion of these inquiries; viz.