FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   >>  
untry; a depravity which proceeds unchecked because of the total want of discipline, and for which there is no other corrective than what may be supplied by fanaticism, which is itself an evil. If there be nothing exaggerated in this representation, you must acknowledge that though the human race, considered upon the great scale, should be proceeding toward the perfectibility for which it may be designed, the present aspects in these kingdoms are nevertheless rather for evil than for good. Sum you up now upon the hopeful side. _Montesinos_.--First, then. I rest in a humble but firm reliance upon that Providence which sometimes in its mercy educes from the errors of men a happier issue than could ever have been attained by their wisdom;--that Providence which has delivered this nation from so many and such imminent dangers heretofore. Looking, then, to human causes, there is hope to be derived from the humanising effects of Literature, which has now first begun to act upon all ranks. Good principles are indeed used as the stalking-horse under cover of which pernicious designs may be advanced; but the better seeds are thus disseminated and fructify after the ill design has failed. The cruelties of the old criminal law have been abrogated. Debtors are no longer indiscriminately punished by indefinite imprisonment. The iniquity of the slave trade has been acknowledged, and put an end to, so far as the power of this country extends; and although slavery is still tolerated, and must be so for awhile, measures have been taken for alleviating it while it continues, and preparing the way for its gradual and safe removal. These are good works of the government. And when I look upon the conduct of that government in all its foreign relations, though there may be some things to disapprove, and some sins of omission to regret, it has been, on the whole, so disinterested, so magnanimous, so just, that this reflection gives me a reasonable and a religious ground of hope. And the reliance is strengthened when I call to mind that missionaries from Great Britain are at this hour employed in spreading the glad tidings of the Gospel far and wide among heathen nations. Descending from these wider views to the details of society, there, too, I perceive ground, if not for confidence, at least for hope. There is a general desire throughout the higher ranks for bettering the condition of the poor, a subject to which the gover
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   >>  



Top keywords:

reliance

 

Providence

 

ground

 
government
 
subject
 

relations

 

gradual

 

conduct

 
foreign
 

removal


acknowledged
 

iniquity

 

imprisonment

 

longer

 

indiscriminately

 

punished

 

indefinite

 

country

 
things
 

measures


alleviating

 

continues

 

awhile

 

tolerated

 

extends

 

slavery

 

preparing

 

bettering

 

heathen

 

nations


desire

 

Gospel

 
tidings
 

employed

 

spreading

 

Descending

 

perceive

 
confidence
 
society
 

details


general

 
higher
 

disinterested

 

magnanimous

 
condition
 
omission
 

regret

 

reflection

 

missionaries

 

Britain