enter, but where there is a want of knowledge? Does not all history bear
testimony, that in proportion as men have been more or less enlightened,
they have been less or more liable to this charge? It is knowledge then,
which must banish this frightful companion of the mind. Wherever
individuals acknowledge, in a more extensive degree than others, the
influence of the Divine Spirit in man, these, of all other people, will
find the advantages of it. Knowledge leads to a solution of things, as
they are connected with philosophy, or the theory of the human mind. It
enables men to know their first and their second causes, so as to
distinguish between causes and occasions. It fixes the nature of action
and of thought; and, by referring effects to their causes, it often
enables men to draw the line between the probability of fancy and
inspiration. How many good men are there, who, adopting a similar creed
with that of the Quakers on this subject, make themselves uneasy, by
bringing down the Divine Being, promiscuously and without due
discrimination, into the varied concerns of their lives? How many are
there, who attribute to him that which is easily explained by the
knowledge of common causes? Thus, for instance, there are appearances in
nature, which a person of an uninformed mind, but who should adopt the
doctrine of the influence of the Spirit, would place among signs, and
wonders, and divine notices, which others, acquainted with the
philosophy of nature, would almost instantly solve. Thus again there may
be occasions, which persons, carrying the same doctrine to an undue
extent, might interpret into warning or prophetic voices, but which a
due exercise of the intellect, where such exercise has been properly
encouraged, would easily explain. This reminds me of a singular
occurrence: A friend of mine was lately walking in a beautiful vale. In
approaching a slate-quarry he heard an explosion, and a mass of stone,
which had been severed by gunpowder, fell near him as he walked along.
He went immediately to the persons employed. He represented the
impropriety of their conduct in not having given proper notice to such
as were passing by, and concluded by declaring emphatically, that they
themselves would be soon destroyed. It happened, but six weeks
afterwards, that two of these men were blown to pieces. The words then
of my friend were verified. Now I have no doubt that ignorant persons,
in the habit of referring every thing