bedience to the laws of the Creator, are the only known guides in life. Rather, let every family member lay his hand upon his heart and ask, am I temperate; am I busy to useful ends; am I just and true; am I gentle and charitable; am I kind and forbearing; do I, as I would that others should do to me; do I consider life as a whole, and do I understand its purposes, so that I can minister to the good of those on whom I must depend for good to myself, and for relief and sympathy when sorrow overtakes me ?

367. Disappointments and Sorrows of Parents. It is not to be wondered at, that parents, who have, as they think, done all that parents should do, to make their children worthy, are afflicted, when their labor and exertion do not produce the intended effect. Their reasonable hopes are disappointed; their best feelings are tortured. An idle, ungrateful, dissolute son, is such a complicated cause of suffering, as may, if any thing may, lead one to murmur at the order of Providence. It may be admitted, that such a parent is very likely to break out with complaints against the world. This suffering, however keen and biting it may be, is not a natural, but a moral evil. There is a moral wrong somewhere at the root. Is it in the parent himself? Has he rightly understood the trust confided to him, in the true relation of a parent? Has he been austere, and uncompromising? Has he thrown his child off from him, by severity? Has he considered the nature of the human heart? Has he given to that of his son, the support of good principles, and sound reason, to aid him to stand up against the temptations that assail youth? Temptations which he ought to know to be inevitable. Has he watched the beginning of error, and drawn his child off from the descending plane? But, perhaps the downward course has been long begun upon, and such progress made in art and deceit, that the child has been able to elude parental inquiry. This can hardly happen with a watchful parent, while his child is under his own

roof. Perhaps the downward course has been begun upon, when a child is at a distant school, college, or in a place of business, preparing for manhood. If a parent has placed a child where he cannot superintend him, or with those who do not undertake to do this, or with those who do not superintend, though they undertake to do so, the parent is not excused, because others are in fault. A child who is sent away from home, is, as the world now is, always sent into some hazard. The hazard is, when least, that the preceptor, guardian, and master, may be deceived. The seductions may be such as to plunge a boy into ruin, even before those who see him daily, and who mean to do their duty, have the least intimation of it. There must be

error, then, somewhere. It is believed to be in society itself. If those who can order what society shall be, permit the means of moral ruin to grow up, and flourish among them, they may mourn, and call it a bad world, if they please, but they ought not to charge Providence with their sufferings.

368. In all large cities, towns, and even in villages, there are some persons, who live and thrive in whole, or in part, by aiding young. persons to ruin themselves, and to make life itself a burthen to parents. These persons are well skilled in the arts of seduction. They cannot go, and put their hands into a father's, or a master's pocket, and take thence what they covet. But they know how to put other hands there. They know what appetites to awaken, what desires to create; and how to cultivate them, and make them deep rooted, and firm, so that no wind of conscience, can blow them over. They know what the fruits will be to them. Those who have been, by such means, withdrawn from the paths of innocence and virtue, and who have succeeded in stifling the cries of conscience, strive to add to their degraded number. They place temptations before the unsuspecting, and lead them on; and thus one plausible young villian is enough to seduce, and poison a whole generation.

369. This mournful course of seduction, profli

gacy, and crime, is called by some persons, the natural evils of society. Such persons are poorly instructed. They are as clearly mere moral evils, as murder is a crime These are to be charged upon the parents themselves. Who are they who vote, and legislate in a free country? Do not they make the laws, which send the accused to prison, and felons to the gallows? Cannot these persons declare, by their laws, that their children shall not be seduced, and physically, intellectually and morally ruined before their eyes? Are not social communities instituted to declare and to enforce, obedience to the laws of nature, and of the Deity? Have they not the power to do, what this high Authority commands to be done? This power does exist, and is exercised on many subjects of insignificant character, compared with these. Suppose the legislative authority should declare it to be an infamous crime, to receive a minor into certain places; and to take his money, or give him credit, for horses and carriages on the Sabbath, what social right would be thereby violated? Has any member of society a right, by any law divine, natural, or human, to help an ignorant, or perverse child, to ruin himself, for the reason that one can get a living by such means? If these contemners of parental hope and right, were to rob a parent, even to his last shilling, this could be endured. They would have taken that which came from the earth; and something of like value, can, by industry, be drawn from the earth again. But who can purify a corrupted heart; restore to sanity, a perverted and bewildered mind; or, cleanse the body from the leprosy of vice! It cannot be doubted, that every civil community, has the power, and the right, to take all such measures as will best secure the ends, and purposes, for which it was instituted. If, then, the trustees of this power, pervert and abuse it; if they ignorantly, or wilfully. neglect, or refuse to take the good which is allowed to them, they ought, at least, not to add impiety to their transgressions, and charge the Creator, with their own follies and sins.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Misfortune, Sickness, and Death.

370. We have, at length, found, if they are to be found, the causes of natural evil. There can be, it is said, no ignorant or voluntary immorality, in misfortunes, sickness, or death. It is as easy,

To vindicate the ways of God to man,'

What are mis

on these subjects as on any others. fortunes? They are said to be the happening of some unexpected event, which could not be foreseen nor prevented. How many of those events which do happen, could be foreseen or prevented? Let it be supposed that the inhabitants of a closely settled town, are engaged in rendering their due homage to the Creator. A single spark emitted from a chimney, or the taking fire in the soot of a chimney, or the using of light combustibles for a lawful and commendable purpose, begins a conflagration, which reduces that town to ashes. The most complicated suffering and distress, accompany, and follow in the train of this evil. Fire will undoubtedly consume. This is a law of nature. That law has shown its application in this case. Is this, therefore, a natural evil? Most clearly it is a moral evil. It may be one, however, so entirely free from all intentional wrong, as to command the most sincere sympathy, and charity. Yet it is a moral evil. Fire was given to serve; not to tyrannize, and ruin. It can be commanded. The very giving it an opportunity to tyrannize, and destroy, is a moral evil. There might have been, by human agency, such a course of conduct as would have prevented the original cause of the evil. Care and foresight are required of the several members of society for their own good, and for the good of othBut would not such extreme caution, make life a slavery? Certainly not. Life was given for action, and for use, and to preserve all things ne

ers.

cessary for use. Is it best to observe this law, or to have one's town made a desolate ruin ?

371. A ship is struck by lightning at sea, and set on fire. The ship's company do every thing that courage, strength, and intelligence can do, to extinguish the fire, and save the ship. They find it impossible; they then obey another law, which commands to do the greatest good to themselves which is possible. They escape from their burning ship in their boats. They are overwhelmed by the sea, or starved to death. No human exertion could prevent this mournful catastrophe. Is not this a natural evil? This is the operation of a general law, which happened to occasion loss of property, and of life. Suppose the ship to have been where she should be; and that all wise precautions had been taken to prevent the injurious action of the electric fluid on her; still the destruction is not a natural evil, unless one be prepared to say, that the Deity erred, in providing in his creation, for the action of this fluid. Surely this fluid never acts but for purposes consistent with infinite wisdom, and divine benevolence. It may be a far more efficient agent in the material world, than human research has yet been able to disclose. The ship owner, and the navigators, may have been unfortunate, that the ship, and its company, were at that spot, at that time. But no one will contend that the electric fluid must not act, because it sometimes destroys property, and life.

372. A child falls, and its limbs are thereby broken; its spine is deranged, and it becomes a hump-backed cripple for life. This is very far from being a natural evil. Some one was greatly to blame in permitting a child to be in such a situation, that such an accident could happen to it. But because this, and similar sorrowful misfortunes may happen, are we to suspend the laws of gravitation? Let one imagine, if he can, what would be the ef fect of such suspension. Our duty is to know what these general laws are, and to provide, as in most cases we may, against their injurious effect. It is