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|)eople, hovr they are living, the grMtor^ part of them upon the very edge of want, necea- sity barely at the ataffh end, famuie al ihe door, epidemic disease ever watching and road; tm Bpread its win^ abroad and devour much peo^; their inurclblepafti^ionj; in a continual ferinent«aad bftn^ns; forth crimes hitherto unhc&id of; oev* tiagrations of whole families ; murders, not by Botitar}- AAsaMimj^, but by armed troops; (ntri- cide!i and patricides; abdttctions of women for VII.] iHtiLAyD» EVIL cONnitiorv. 1201 uftthmony, after tlie maniter of New-^Hollaiid Sftviq^ea rather than civilrxt-d vmd rrli^ioiia nitrn;. their Bap«r£tition> by the margin of holy wells, by con- vecralcd lakes, in solitary- dells, and rocky moun- tains ; ibeir exorcisms of evil spirits, aiid easy faitb io the miraculous pricAU, more kindred to Ike Hiiperttition of the Uoutfa* African oationfi than of other Oiilholic laiKls : — these things b^in^ t>nt too wv)l known, and on e^ery tiaiul acknowledged, audi I may aay» of all lamented, 1 coooeive it frere but a loss of time to dilate upon, and shall therefore addresfl myself rather to consider the sources of the evil and the method of itAciire, It is the usual way with men, for a ^reat evil tO'look for a coDSpieuoUB cause; and as nothing ftandoth out so procnincatly as tlie adminLstratora of gorcrament, they hare generally a largo share of the blame laid upon their shoulders. But if any one would consider for a moment how little the doings or misdoings of government have aflbcted the i^haracterorhisowQ mind, or changed the events of hit life; and how little they are able, if they chose, to make an ignorant man wise, or a vicious man virtuous; and when they do usurp this office, as in China and other patriarchal governments, what helpless children they make of mm, he would soon discover that it resLs with causes far more near at hand, and constant in tbeir operation, to undermine the stable and good con- dition, or to restore the ruined and evil condition, of a people- (Jovemments, then, only begin to be felt with fatal consequence, when they nnder^ take more than belongs to them, and, from pre- scrviDg peace and levying lawful tribute, would med41t with the private intercotue of man with 1302 lUKLAMD't KVIt COKDITIOK, [Dhw ^ duld, the duties of man to himself, and the duiie^ of man lu his Maker: of which personal, s«ctal» and religious conditions, tbc wholcfiomc or u&- wiioloome Mate h that which doth determine the character of a peu|>le, yea^ aitd the character of their government alio : wherefore