USES OF THE DOCTRINE OF NATURAL LAW. 183 



The entire conduct of a large portion of society, 

 and more or less that of nearly all the rest, is re- 

 gulated, or rather cast loose from regulation, by 

 the want of definite ideas regarding that fixed 

 plan of the divine working, on the study and ob- 

 servance of which it is evident that our secular hap- 

 piness nearly altogether depends. Even acute men 

 of the world are daily seen acting to their own mani- 

 fest injury, in consequence of their utter ignorance 

 of any system of law pressing around them. With 

 the great bulk of societ}-, life is merely a follow- 

 ing of a few inferior instincts, with a perfect blind- 

 ness to consequences. By individuals and by 

 communities alike, physical and moral evils are 

 patiently endiured, which a true knowledge of the 

 svstem of Providence would cause to be instantly 

 redressed. Daily health and comfort, life itself, 

 are sacrificed through the want of this knowledge. 

 It is not in the heyday of cheerful, active, and 

 prosperous existence, or when we look only to the 

 things which constitute the greatness of nations, 

 that we become sensible of ibis truth. We 

 must seek for convictions on the subject, beside 

 the death-beds of amiable children, destroyed 

 tlu"ough ignorance of the rules of health, and hung 

 over by parents who feel that life is nothing to 

 them when these dear beings are no more ; in the 



