II.

Where two events, both of which are perceptible, follow each other without any connexion between them, and the cause of the succeeding event is latent, ignorance ascribes the succeeding event to the wrong patent event instead of the real latent event.

In one of Bishop Latimer's Sermons, hesays: "Here was preaching against covetousness, all the last year in Lent, and the next summer followed rebellion; therefore preaching against covetousness was the cause of the rebellion. A goodly covenant. Here now I remember an argument of Master More's, which he bringeth in a book which he made against Bilney, and here by the way I will tell you a merry toy. Master More was once sent in commission into Kent, to help to try out if it might be what was the cause of Goodwin Sands, and the shelf that stopped up Sandwich Haven. Thither cometh Master More, and calleth the country before him, such as were thought to be men of experience, and men that could of likelihood best certify him of that matter concerning the stopping of Sandwich Haven. Among others came in before him, an old man with a white head, and one that was thought to be little less than an hundred years old. When Master More saw this aged man, he

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thought it expedient to hear him say his mind in this matter; for being so old a man, it was likely that he knew most of any man in that presence and company. So Master More called this aged man unto him, and said, "Father, tell me if you can, what is the cause of this great rising of the sands and shelves here about this haven, the which stopped it up so that no ships can arrive here. Ye are the oldest man that I can espy in all this company, so that if any man can tell any cause of it, ye, of likelihood, can say most to it, or at leastwise more than any man here assembled. Yea, forsooth, good master, quoth this old man, for I am well nigh an hundred years old, and no man here in this company anything near unto my age. Well, then, quoth Master More, how say you in this matter? What think you to be the cause of these shelves and flats that stop up Sandwich Haven? Forsooth, sir, quoth he, I am an old man. I think that Tenterden Steeple is the cause of Goodwin Sands: for I am an old man, quoth he, and I may remember the building of Tenterden Steeple, and I may remember when there was no steeple at all there; and before that Tenterden Steeple was in building, there was no speaking of any flats or sands that stopped the haven; and, therefore, I think that Tenterden Steeple is the cause of the destroying and decay of Sandwich Harbour."

This is a very common error of ignorance, and,

by an attentive observer, may every moment be seen.* Astrology is founded upon it. A person dies. At the moment of his death, the situation of the planets is observed, and there is supposed to be some connexion between the death and this position of the planets. This error seems to originate in a confused notion, that there is a succession of events, without suspecting the real latent cause, and supposing that it is traceable to a patent preceding event.

III.

Ignorance stops at second causes, and has a tendency to be sceptical.

Ignorance having formed an opinion as to the immediate cause of any event, is indolently content with the discovery, without suspecting or troubling itself with inquiry into any remote

* In one of the Annuals there is the following anecdote :-A traveller, who had been much distressed by a terrible night-mare, thus accounted for it: "If you will believe me, sir, my supper had been nothing particular; it was but one bloodpudding, a trifle of pickled salmon, a beefsteak and onions, and some Derbyshire toasted cheese, which I relished exceedingly, and not one drop did I drink but a jug of egg-flip-it must have been all owing to the bread !"

cause. It is content with knowing that the rainbow is caused by refraction and reflection, and lightning by electric matter. It inquires no further.

As astrology originates in the ascribing events to a wrong natural cause, so atheism seems to be traceable to this mental tendency to stop at the proximate cause.

It is thus that ignorance, by ascribing events to wrong causes, is exposed to wretchedness and misery. By ascribing them to chance, man is disarmed of the use of his reason and, like the Turk, will not move to avoid a cannon ball or the plague. By ascribing them to supernatural events, he is a slave to idle fears. By ascribing them to an erroneous natural cause, an existing evil will neither be prevented nor remedied: and, by resting upon second causes, he wanders through his existence without one thought of his Creator.

IV.

Intelligence is not deluded by imagination, but searches for the proximate cause of every event.

The ignorant natives are terrified by the Spectre of the Broken in the Hartz Mountains, and consider it an indication of approaching misfortune: not so the philosopher, who says, "After having ascended the mountain for thirty times, I at last saw the spectre. It was just at sunrise, in the

middle of the month of May, about four o'clock in the morning, I saw distinctly a human figure of a monstrous size; the atmosphere was quite serene towards the east ; in the south-west a high wind carried before it some light vapours, which were scarcely condensed into clouds, and hung round the mountains upon which the figure stood. I bowed; the colossal figure repeated it. I paid my respects a second time, which was returned with the same civility. I then called the landlord of the inn, and, having taken the same position which I had before occupied, we looked towards the mountain, when we clearly saw two such colossal figures, which, after having repeated our compliment by bending their bodies, vanished.". The cause of this is obvious. When the rising sun throws his rays over the Broken upon the body of a man standing opposite to fleecy louds, let him fix his eye steadfastly upon them, and, in all probability, he will see his own shadow extending the length of five or six hundred feet at the distance of about two miles from him.

Ignorance is alarmed at eclipses; not so the astronomer, he examines the cause and dissipates the illusion. So, man in a savage state is terrified by lightning, and ascribes it to the anger of a superior being; not so the philosopher, who says, speaking of lightning, "A rod was fixed to the top of my chimney, and extended about nine feet above it. From the foot of this rod, a wire,