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belief his philosophical doubts, if they had not power to shake, had grieved and offended. During the latter period of his life I was frequently in his company amidst persons of genuine piety, and I never heard him venture a remark at which such men, or ladies, still more susceptible than men, could take offence." 1

So far as the scope of rational proofs is concerned, Hume's system was thoroughly sceptical. It cast doubt upon the substantial existence of both mind and matter, questioned the validity of the category of causation, and discredited the ability of testimony to establish the fact of miracles. Still, had Hume's writings contained a larger element of reverence for sacred things, it would not be necessary, in spite of his radical propositions, to charge him with a wholesale scepticism. Men of the most believing temper, while magnifying the office of faith or spontaneous sentiment, have sometimes accorded almost as little to the sphere of demonstration as was left to it by Hume. Moreover, it actually appears that Hume gave to sentiment some part of that which he took away from reason. Various passages in his writings indicate a preference for the theistic conception, or the supposition of an intelligent Author of nature. It appears also that he did not mean to challenge unqualifiedly the idea of causation. In a letter, belonging presumably to his later years, we find him writing: “Allow me to tell you that I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause. I only maintained that our certainty of the falsehood of that proposition proceeded neither from intuition nor

1 Quoted by J. H. Burton, Life and Correspondence of David Hume, ii. 439.

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demonstration, but from another source. many different kinds of certainty, and some of them as satisfactory to the mind, though perhaps not so regular, as the demonstrative kind." To this may be added the response which Hume gave to Boyle, as the latter intimated that his excessive grief over the death of his mother was due to his lack of religious faith. "Though I throw out my speculations," said the philosopher, 66 to entertain the learned and metaphysical world, yet, in other things, I do not think so differently from the rest of the world as you imagine." 2

Some effort was made in the direction of an ecclesiastical censure upon the opinions of Hume. In the General Assembly of 1756 it was moved to appoint a committee to inquire into his teaching. The motion, however, was far from commanding a majority. To the end, Hume lived in friendly relations with the leading clergymen of Edinburgh.

The Philosophy of Common-Sense founded by Thomas Reid, and carried forward by Dugald Stewart and others, served in a measure as an offset to the system of Hume. The distinctive characteristic of this philosophy was its stress upon intuitive beliefs, or those fundamental truths which command the assent of men of sound understanding who attend to them without prejudice. Demonstration, it was maintained, is not needed for this order of truths; being thoroughly agreeable to man's mental constitution, they carry in themselves an adequate sanction.

On the whole, very little of positive heterodoxy came to the surface in Scotland during the eighteenth cen

1 Burton, i. 97, 98.

2 Burton, i. 293, 294.

tury. In the early part of the century, Simson, professor of divinity in Glasgow, fell under suspicion of Pelagianism, and in 1729 was suspended from teaching and preaching. Among those who thought his sentence too light was Thomas Boston, one of the "Marrow Men," as they were called. The Erskines were included in the same party. They derived their name from a work which they brought to notice, a work composed in the time of the Rebellion by an Oxford Puritan, and styled the "Marrow of Modern Divinity." Its tone was the extreme opposite of Pelagianism, and its strong statements on the subject of grace were pushed well-nigh to the border of Antinomianism. The Assembly censured the book. In the latter part of the century some of the Moderates evinced more or less dislike of creed subscription, and a few are supposed to have leaned to Arian or Socinian views. A book written in 1790 by Dr. M'Gill of Ayr, on the death of Christ, incurred the charge of Socinianism, but the author by the help of explanations succeeded in escaping sentence of deposition. Those credited with similar views were styled the "New-light" party,—a designation which appears in the poetry of Burns.

The eighteenth century, in general, was not a time of eminent religious enterprise in Scotland. While something was done to propagate Christian knowledge among the rude and Romanized Highlanders, and a society was organized to this end, there was a general lack of missionary zeal. Church extension was not carried forward, and many sanctuaries were allowed to become dilapidated. The border of the nineteenth century had been passed before practical Christian enterprise began to press forward with worthy strides.

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VII. IRELAND FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE

UNION (1691-1800).

The Revolution left Ireland a conquered country. The hopes which had been awakened during the administration of Tyrconnel, of throwing off English supremacy, rooting up the Protestant interest, and driving the Protestant land-owners out of the country were doomed to bitterest disappointment. The Irish soldiers who marched out of Limerick in 1691, and took ship for France, were right in judging that there dismal prospect before their country. "When the wild cry of the women, who stood watching their departure was hushed, the silence of death settled down upon Ireland. For a hundred years the country remained at peace, but it was the peace of despair. No Englishman who loves what is noble in the English temper can tell without sorrow and shame the story of that time of guilt. The work of oppression, it is true, was done, not directly by England, but by the Irish Protestants; and the cruelty of their rule sprang in great measure from the sense of danger and the atmosphere of panic in which the Protestants lived. But if thoughts such as these relieve the guilt of those who oppressed, they leave the fact of oppression as dark as before... . . The conquered people, in Swift's bitter words of contempt, became 'hewers of wood and drawers of water,' to their conquerors. 99 1 Full as much indulgence, no doubt, was granted to Irish Romanists as was commonly allowed at the same date to Protestants

1 Green, History of the English People, iv. 53, 54

in Roman Catholic countries. Men were burned alive. in Portugal and Spain, and hanged in France, on the score of religious opinions and practice, in the first half of the eighteenth century. But oppression in one quarter is no adequate justification for it in another.

Probably nearly three fourths of the population of Ireland at the time of the Revolution were Romanists. The deprivations, therefore, that were effected fell here upon the body of the people, and not upon a mere fragment, as was the case in England. In no less than four respects they were subjected to heavy disabilities before the law; namely, in property, in political rights, in education, and in religious privileges. About a million acres of land were reckoned as forfeited. Restrictions were imposed upon the power of Roman Catholics to acquire real estate, or to bequeath the same according to their choice. Romish parents could be compelled to make allowances for Protestant children. If the eldest son turned Protestant, the estate was attached to him, so that it could not be mortgaged or conveyed by the Romish father. Gun-makers and sword-cutlers must disavow Romanism and engage not to receive Romish apprentices. In any trade, except the linen industry, a Roman Catholic could not have more than two apprentices. On the offer of five pounds he might be compelled to part with his horse. As Romish lawyers were efficient aids in the evasion of these regulations, laws were passed to the effect that no one should act as a solicitor who had not given adequate proof of his Protestantism. Besides these restrictions were others quite as fruitful of misery to the Irish people as any of those mentioned, to the Irish

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