their resulting vices, which may be witnessed among the higher classes of society. Besides, we find that misery and privation, in this life, lead the mind to the hopes and promises of a future happiness; and the poorest in Christian countries must have heard and understood some of the leading doctrines of the Scriptures; and their situation affords them no temptation to hesitate, with that spirit of scepticism which their superiors so often exhibit. Their labour is seldom so incessant but that they have time for instruction by preaching; and if they cannot read, it is the duty of those who can, to read the Scriptures to them. The end of living, or the preparation for eternal happiness, is as well accomplished among the miserable and poor, as among the rich; and if we believe the Scriptures, with much more facility. We may suppose that the noblest virtues are cultivated in adversity and want; and the most exquisite sources of happiness arise from the exercise of sympathy and benevolence. Each class in life has its peculiar virtues to exemplify. Physical evil is neither so abunddant, nor so severe, and intolerable, as moral; and, for the latter, the Gospel holds out a remedy. Wherever there is a defect of happiness, at least

of such happiness as this state of things is intended to convey, there is a defect of duty and benevolence, not on the part of the Creator, but on that of man." "But how do these observations apply," said his lordship, " to the physical and moral evil which we find among sayages, where the Gospel has never been carried, and where there are no rich, to supply the means of instruction, or remedy, by their benevolence, the evils of poverty and want? Why are they deprived of this? and should not a perfectly benevolent Creator have sent the Gospel to them also ?" "God has done so," I answered; "and the fault lies with man alone. Those who have received the Bible, have not prized it as they ought. They have not felt its power, nor obeyed its precepts. If that love to our neighbour, which the Scriptures inculcate, had animated those whom the Bible has reached, they would have carried the Bible ages ago to every corner of the globe. Man is capable of doing much, when his pursuit is excited by what he deems an important object. The dangers of the sea have been encountered for the love of money, or science, or power; and for the same motives every country has been traversed and explored; but no enterprise or ex

ertions to such an extent have been made to carry to the heathen the knowledge of the Scriptures. This defect, therefore, arises from the want of a true understanding and belief of the Scriptures, and from a positive neglect of its precepts."

66 What will become of the heathen at the last day?" asked his lordship. I said, "I might reply to him as Mr. Boyle did, when a person made a similar inquiry, You can be saved without knowing that.' I cannot give an opinion on a point on which I have no data, as the Scriptures seem to have been silent upon it. We know simply from them, that the heathen have a conscience which is capable of excusing or condemning them; that it acts as a law to them in place of a written law; that to whom much is given, from him much will be required; that if they are punished, their doom will be less severe than that of those who, having the Scriptures for their guide, neglect or deny them. The heathen are also described as perishing from the lack of knowledge. I can see that it is our duty to furnish them with the means of knowledge, but I cannot form any opinion with regard to their salvation. We know that God is just, and also a God of

love and mercy; and we may rest perfectly satisfied, that whatever he may do, will be right. I do not value the opinions, or rather conjectures, which have been formed on this subject, because there cannot be the least degree of certainty in any of them. Some think that the heathen will not be saved, since there is no other name under heaven by which man can be saved except that of Jesus Christ; and this name has never reached them. Barclay, in his Apology for the Quakers,' believes that as the light of the sun is dif fused a while after it is set,-so the influence of Christ's name may extend where it has never been heard; that God, who can work by means we know not of, and even without means, can produce in the heart of such of the heathen as may be saved, that change which the Scriptures teach as necessary; and hereafter they will then discover that they have been saved by the mercy of God, for the sake of Christ who died for all. This opinion is at least charitable and humane; but it is impossible for a fair reasoner to say more than, that he knows nothing of the subject."

"Is there not," said his lordship, "some part of the New Testament where it appears that the disciples were struck with the state of physical

"There

evil, and made inquiries into its cause?" are two passages," I said, "to which I suppose your lordship alludes. The disciples asked Christ, when they saw a man who had been born blind, whether this was owing to his own or his parents' sin? On another occasion his followers appear to have been asking some similar questions, in the cases of the men of Galilee, whom Pilate had killed, and in that of the men killed by the falling of the Tower of Siloam. He declares that, in the two latter cases, those who were killed were not greater sinners than others; and with respect to the blind man, that it was neither on account of his parents' nor his own sin, that he was thus afflicted, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. Hence it appears, that moral and physical evil in individuals are not always a judgment or punishment, but are intended to answer certain ends in the government of the world, and often, directly or indirectly, are productive of benefit both to the parties themselves and to others."

"Is there not," said his lordship, "a prophecy in the New Testament, which, it is alleged, has not been fulfilled, although it was declared that it should happen before the end of the then genera