PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



in every country where he travelled , 

 diving into the depth of dungeons, and exposing 

 himself to the infected atmospheres of hospitals 

 and jails, in order to meliorate the condition of 

 the unfortunate, and to allay the sufferings of the 

 mournful prisoner. In prosecuting this labour of 

 love, he travelled three times through France, 

 four times through Germany, five times through 

 Holland, twice through Italy, once through Spain 

 and Portugal, and also through Denmark, Swe 

 den, Russia. Po.and, and part of the Turkish 

 empire, surveying the haunts of misery, and dis 

 tributing benefits to mankind wherever he ap 

 peared. 



&quot;From realm to realm with cross or crescent 



crown d, 



Where er mankind and misery are found, 

 O er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow. 

 Mild Hmoard journeying seeks the house of woe. 

 Down many a winding step to dungeons dank, 

 Where anguish wails aloud and fetters clank, 

 To caves bestrewed with many a mouldering tone, 

 And cells whose echoes only learn to groan, 

 Where no kind bars a whispering friend disclose. 

 No sun-beam enters, and no 7.ephyr blows ; 

 He treads, inemulous of fame or wealth, 

 Profuse of toil and prodigal of health : 

 Leads stern-ey d Justice to the dark domains, 

 If not to sever to relax the chains, 

 Gives to her babes the self-devoted wife, 

 To her fond husband liberty and life. 

 Onward he moves ! disease and death retire ; 

 And murmuring demons hate him and admire.&quot; 



Darwin. 



Such characters afford powerful demonstra 

 tions of the sublimity of virtue, of the activity of 

 the human mind, and of its capacity for contri 

 buting to the happiness of fellow intelligences to 

 an unlimited extent. We have also, in our own 

 times, a class of men who have parted from their 

 friends and native land, and have gone to the 

 &quot; uttermost ends of the earth,&quot; to distant barba 

 rous climes, exposing themselves to the frosts of 

 Labrador and Greenland, to the scorching heats 

 of Africa, and to the hostile attacks of savage 

 tribes, in order to publish the salvation of God, 

 and to promote the happiness of men of all lan 

 guages and climates. Some of these have felt 

 their minds inspired with such a noble ardour in 

 the cause of universal benevolence, that nothing 

 but insurmountable physical obstructions prevent 

 ed them from making rhe tour of the world, and 

 imparting benefits to men of all nations, kindreds, 

 and tongues. 



Can we then imagine, that such active powers 

 as those to which I have now alluded powers 

 which qualify their possessors for diffusing hap 

 piness to an indefinite extent among surround 

 ing intelligences will be for ever extinguished 

 by the stroke of death ? and that, after a few fee 

 ble efforts during the present transitory scene, 

 they will never again exert their energies through 

 all eternity ? This will appear in the highest de 

 gree improbable, if we consider, 1. The limited 

 sphere of action to which the generality of man 

 kind are confined in the present state. Most men 

 15 



are confined to laborious employments, and have 

 their attention almost entirely absorbed in provi 

 ding for their families, and in anxious solicitude 

 for their animal subsistence and success in life, 

 so that they find no scope for their moral powers 

 beyond the circle of the family mansion, and of 

 their own immediate neighbourhood. 2. The pe 

 riod within which the most energetic powers can 

 be exerted is extremely limited. It is not before 

 man has arrived near the meridian of life that 

 his moral powers begin to be fully expanded, 

 and it frequently happens, in the case of ardent 

 benevolent characters, that, at the moment when 

 their philanthropic schemes were matured, and 

 they had just commenced their career of benefi 

 cence, death interposes, and puts a period to all 

 their labours and designs. 3. In the present 

 state of the world, numerous physical obstruc 

 tions interpose to prevent the exertion of the 

 moral powers, even in the most ardent philan 

 thropic minds. The want of wealth and influ 

 ence ; the diseases and infirmities of an enfeebled 

 corporeal frame ; the impediments thrown in the 

 way by malice and envy, and the political ar 

 rangements of states ; the difficulty of penetrating 

 into every region of the globe where human be 

 ings reside, and many other obstructions, pre 

 vent the full exercise of that moral energy which 

 resides in benevolent and heroic minds, and con 

 fine its operations within a narrow span. But 

 can we ever suppose, in consistency with Divine 

 Wisdom and Benevolence, that God has implan 

 ted in tne human constitution benevolent active 

 powers, which are never to be fully expanded, 

 and tiiat those godlike characters that have oc 

 casionally appeared on the theatre of our world, 

 are never to re-appear on the field of action, to 

 expatiate, in the full exercise of their moral pow 

 ers, in the ample career of immortality ? To 

 admit such a supposition would be in effect to 

 call in question his Wisdom and Intelligence. 

 It is the part of Wisdom to proportionate means 

 to ends, and to adapt the faculties of any being 

 to the scene in which it is to operate. But 

 here, we behold a system of powers which can 

 never can be brought into full operation in the 

 present state ; and, therefore, if death is to put 

 a final termination to the activity of man, the 

 mighty powers and energies with which he is 

 endowed have been bestowed in vain, and we 

 are led to conceive of the Divine Being as de 

 ficient in Wisdom and Intelligence in his govern 

 ment of the intellectual beings he has formed. 



This will, perhaps, appear still more obvi 

 ous, if we attend to the following considerations. 

 Throughout the universe we perceive traces 

 of a system of universal benevolence. This re 

 distinctly perceptible in relation to our own globe, 

 in the revolution of day and night ; in the consti 

 tution of the atmosphere ; in the beautiful and 

 sublime scenes presented to the eye in every 

 country ; in the agencies of light and heat, and 



