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སརཡ་མ

them separately. The fire, it is very obvious, would take no notice of the bundles; would by no means consume, here and there, a bundle in the gross, but would affect that part of every portion that was combustible. It may speciously enough be said, what greater injustice is it to punish a society promiscuously than to involve an inuocent son in the punishment due to a sinful father? To this I answer, the natural system (which we need not doubt, on the whole, is right) occasions both the good and bad to suffer many times indiscriminately. But they go much farther.—They say, God, as it were, interferes in opposition to the settled course of things, to punish and include societies in one promiscuous vengeance. Were he to inflict extraordinary punishments distinct from those which sin entails on us, he surely would not regulate them by mere human assortments, but would make the juster distinction of good and evil individuals. Neither do I see

why it is so necessary, that societies, either here or hereafter, should be punished as societies. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." How happy may a lord bishop render a peasant at the hour of death, by bestowing on him his blessing, and giving him assurance of salvation? It is the same with regard to religious opinions in general. They may be confirmed and established to their heart's content, because they assent implicitly to the opinions of men who they think, should know. A person of distinguished parts and learning has no such advantages; friendless, wavering, solitary, and through his very situation incapable of much assistance: if the rustic's tenor of behaviour approach nearer to the brutes, he also appears to approach nearer to their happiness.

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You pray for happiness-consider the situation or disposition of your mind at the time, and you will find it naturally tends to produce it. In trav elling, one contrives to allow day-light for the worst part of the road. But in life, how hard is it, that every unhappiness seems united towards the close of our journey! pain, fatigue, and want of spirits; when spirits are more immediately necessary to our support! of which nothing can supply the place beside religion and philosophy! But then the foundation must be laid in meditation and enquiry! at an unmolested season when our faculties are strong and vigorous; or the tempest will most probably throw down the superstructure. How is a man said to be guilty of incredulity! Are there not sizes of understandings adapted to the different sorts, and as it were, sizes of narrations? Conscience is adsititious: I mean, influenced by conviction, which may be well or ill grounded; therefore no certain test of truth: but, at most times, a very faithful and a very prudent admonitor. The attraction of bodies and social affection of minds seem, in many respects, analogous. Attractions of either

kind are less perspicuous, and less perceptible, through a variety of counter attractions that diminish their effect. Were two persons to meet in Ispahan, tho' quite strangers to each other here, would they pot go near to feel a kind of friendship, on the single score of their being Englishmen? would they not pass a cheerful evening together over rice and sherbett?-In like manner, suppose two or three cotemporaries only, to meet on the surface of the globe, amid myriads of persons of all other ages whatsoever, would they not discover a mutual tenderness, éven

tho' they had been enemies when living? What then remains, but that we revive the memory of such relations now, in order to quicken our benevolence? that we are all countrymen, is a consideration that is more commonly inculcated, and limits our benevolence to a smaller number also. That we are cotemporaries, and persons whom future history shall unite, who, great part of us, however imperceptibly, receive and confer reciprocal benefits; this, with every other circumstance that tends to heighten our philanthropy, should be brought to mind as much as possible, during our abode upon earth. Hereafter it may be just, and requisite, to comprehend all ages of mankind. The best notion we can conceive of God, may be, that he is to the creation what the soul is to the body:

"-Deus est quodcunque vides, ubicunque moveris." What is man, while we reflect on a Deity, whose very words are works; and all whose works are wonders! Prayer is not used to inform, for God is omniscient: not to move compassion, for God is without passions: not to shew our gratitude, for God knows our hearts.-May not a man, that has true notions, be a pious man tho' he be silent?

To honour God, is to conceive right notions of him, says some ancient that I have forgot. I know not how Mr. Pope's assertion is consistent with the scheme of a particular Providence:

"The Almighty cause

acts not by partial, but by general laws."

What one understands by a general Providence, is that attention of the Almighty to the works of his creation, by which they pursue their original course, without deviating into such eccentric motions as

must immediately tend to the destruction of it. Thus a philosopher is enabled to foretell'eclipses with pre cision; and a stone thrown upward drops uniformly to the ground. Thus an injury awakes resentment; and a good office endears us to our benefactor. And it seems no unworthy idea of Omnipotence, perhaps, to suppose he at first constituted a system, that stood in no need either of his counteracting or suspending the first laws of motion. But, after all, the

mind remains; and can we shew it to be either impossible, or improbable, that God directs the will? Now whether the divine Being occasion ruin to fall miraculously, or, in direct opposition to the ordinary laws of nature, upon the head of Chartres-or whether he incline Chartres to go near a wall whose centre of gravity is unsupported, makes no material differ

ence.

ON TASTE.

I believe that, generally speaking, persons eminent in one branch of taste, have the principles of the rest; and to try this, I have often solicited a stranger to hum a tune, and have seldom failed of success. This, however does not extend to talents beyond the sphere of taste; and Handel was evidently wrong, when he fancied himself born to command a troop of horse. Mankind, in general, may be divided into persons of understanding and persons of genius; each of which will admit of many subordinate degrees. By persons of understanding, I mean persons of sound judgment; formed for mathematical deductions and elear argumentation. By persons of genius, I would

characterize those in whom true and genuine fancy predominates; and this whether assisted or not by cultivation. I have thought that genius and judginent may, in some respects, be represented by a liquid and a solid. The former is, generally speaking, remarkable for its sensibility, but then loses its impression soon: the latter is less susceptible of impression but retains it longer. Dividing the

world into a hundred parts, I am apt to believe the calculation might be thus adjusted:

Pedants

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Persons of original taste improved by art 5 There is hardly any thing so uncommon, as a true native taste improved by education.

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The object of taste is corporeal beauty; for tho' there is manifestly a το πρεπον ; a pulchrum," an "honestum," and "decorum," in moral actions; and altho' a man of taste, that is not virtuous, commits a greater violence on his sentiments than any other person; yet, in the ordinary course of speaking, a person is not termed a man of taste, merely because he is a man of virtue. All beauty may be divided into absolute and relative, and what is compounded of both. It is not uncommon to hear a modern Quixote insist on the superiority of his idol or Dulcinea; and, not content to pay his own tributę of adoration, demand that of others in favour of her accomplishments. Those of grave and sober sense cannot avoid wondering at a difference of opinions, which are, in truth, supported by no criterion.

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