KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



129 



DESTINY— FATE— CONDUCT . 



Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, 



Is the best gift of Heaven, — a happiness that 



Far above the smiles and frowns of (so-called) Fate 



Exalts great Nature's favorites ; a wealth 



That ne'er encumbers, nor can be transferr'd. 



■ Armstrong. 



Shall ignorance of good and ill 



Dare to direct th' Eternal will ? 



Seek Virtue ; and of that possess'd, 



To Providence assign the rest. 



Gay. 



OW EXTRAORDINARY ARE THE 

 NOTIONS IMBIBED BY AT 

 LEAST ONE HALF THE WORLD ! 



It would really seem as if 

 sense were banished by choice, 

 and that people were from 

 their very cradle bent upon 

 sealing their own ruin ! A 

 very little consideration willl prove the truth 

 of what we say. 



The world we live in, is a very curious 

 world ; made up of the oddest elements. A 

 walk through our public streets never fails 

 to provide us with ample proofs of this. To 

 read the countenances of the passers-by, 

 — faithful reporters of what is going on in 

 their hearts, is a favorite study with us; and 

 use has made us a tolerable proficient in it. 

 If we were to enter into detail on this sub- 

 ject, we could paint a picture of life that 

 would make the stoutest heart sigh. We 

 have no wish, however, to bring too vividly 

 before the eye what, under existing circum- 

 stances, cannot be remedied. Many honest 

 hearts are literally " broken'' day after day ; 

 of which the world hears nothing, and for 

 which, if they did hear, they would care 

 nothing. It ever has been so ; ever will be 

 so. The eye of God, however, is upon the 

 sufferers. Their cry, no doubt, reaches His 

 ear ; and in Him they find that mercy which 

 is denied to them by their fellow creatures. 



Our object to day, is to reply to a few 

 questions put to us by a fair and very intelli- 

 gent correspondent, who is puzzled about 

 man's "destiny and fate." She has related 

 to us a number of curious circumstances 

 which have caused her, she says, many hours 

 of anxious thought ; and she wishes the 

 subject to be profitably touched upon for 

 the public benefit. With all our heart. 



Destiny and Fate are two naughty, idle, 

 silly words ; we should like to see them for 

 ever expunged from our English dictionaries. 

 But so great is the perversity of human nature, 

 that in proportion to the danger of handling 

 such fatal weapons the greater is the delight 

 in doing so. The believers in destiny and 

 fate, give our coroners more occupation in 

 their melancholy duties than all the rest of 

 the world put together. They tell us so 

 unreservedly. 



Without going very deeply into the many 

 causes of the fatal superstitions which thus 



Vol. V.— 3. 



lead men to their ruin, we may comment on 

 two, which are palpable to the commonest 

 observation. The first is, the general intro- 

 duction amongst us, in cheap literature, of the 

 lax morality prevalent abroad. Every novel, 

 or nearly so, savors of destiny, — the hero or 

 heroine being irresistibly " impelled to their 

 fate." This leaven works insidiously ; and 

 the effects of it are before the world, spreading 

 the sad influence far and wide. The second 

 cause of the moral evil we deplore, originates 

 in the pulpit.* Here the overwhelming 

 consequences of erroneous teaching cannot 

 be even outlined. They deal desolation 

 throughout the entire land, — one convert 

 to the evil doctrine seducing perhaps many 

 others to drink of the deadly draught. We 

 hardly need to enforce upon the readers of 

 Our Journal, the grand and noble doctrine 

 that man is both " a reasonable and respon- 

 sible being," — gifted with talents, fitting him 

 and qualifying him to shine in his day and 

 generation. The words — " Well done good 

 and faithful servant!" were not left on record 

 in the Sacred Volume without a grand 

 object, and a most significant meaning. 



It must be evident to all our readers, that 

 the whole tenor of our remarks has ever led 

 in the direction we now point at. Nor did we 

 introduce a translation of the works of the 

 immortal Gall into our columns, without 

 having a grand moral purpose in view. 

 Everybody that can reason fairly, and who 

 is not shackled with the trammels of preju- 

 dice, should devour the observations of this 

 great man. He gives us the positive results 

 of a lifetime of keen observation. His sin- 

 cerity is transparent, as his arguments are 

 forcible and convincing. If we read what 

 he says, our conscience cannot but acquiesce 

 in its truth. f We are glad to hear our fair 

 correspondent say that she " loves his senti- 

 ments, uttered as they are with such evident 

 honesty of purpose." 



Our correspondent confesses, that she 

 cannot quite understand how it is that the 

 gifts of fortune are so unequally bestowed. 

 Why one man should prosper and another 

 fail, — both having apparently been equally 

 industrious. Some, too, she says, become 



* Ministers of all denominations are in the 

 constant habit of enforcing this abhorrent doctrine. 

 Hence have suicides become matters of such 

 common occurrence. It is a grand mistake, and 

 a high offence against, Heaven, so to work upon 

 the weakness of a person's mind; nor ought Hi" 

 word "Religion" to be named in connection with 

 such malpractices. — En. K. J . 



f We particularly direct attention to his very 

 nice discriminations with regard to crime, and its 

 causes; also to his doctrine about hereditary evil 

 dispositions ; and other particularly-interesting 

 branches of his inquiry into the human mind. — 

 Ed. K. J. 



il 



