{"id":"01KG8AKAGXKEY1K07K4PWFT73J","cid":"bafkreigegxpak5jey5xmy4yt6qtnykvauvmrtnemmettoapc4gtxhkf4n4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2995,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":2936,"text":"beauties. But when the blemishes were displayed, her husband, no adept\r\nin the female nature, had tried to use reason with her, instead of\r\nsomething far more persuasive. Hence his failure to convince and\r\nconvert. The act of withdrawing from her, seemed, under the\r\ncircumstances, abrupt. In brief, there were probably small faults on\r\nboth sides, more than balanced by large virtues; and one should not be\r\nhasty in judging.\r\n\r\nWhen the merchant, strange to say, opposed views so calm and impartial,\r\nand again, with some warmth, deplored the case of the unfortunate man,\r\nhis companion, not without seriousness, checked him, saying, that this\r\nwould never do; that, though but in the most exceptional case, to admit\r\nthe existence of unmerited misery, more particularly if alleged to have\r\nbeen brought about by unhindered arts of the wicked, such an admission\r\nwas, to say the least, not prudent; since, with some, it might\r\nunfavorably bias their most important persuasions. Not that those\r\npersuasions were legitimately servile to such influences. Because,\r\nsince the common occurrences of life could never, in the nature of\r\nthings, steadily look one way and tell one story, as flags in the\r\ntrade-wind; hence, if the conviction of a Providence, for instance, were\r\nin any way made dependent upon such variabilities as everyday events,\r\nthe degree of that conviction would, in thinking minds, be subject to\r\nfluctuations akin to those of the stock-exchange during a long and\r\nuncertain war. Here he glanced aside at his transfer-book, and after a\r\nmoment's pause continued. It was of the essence of a right conviction of\r\nthe divine nature, as with a right conviction of the human, that, based\r\nless on experience than intuition, it rose above the zones of weather.\r\n\r\nWhen now the merchant, with all his heart, coincided with this (as being\r\na sensible, as well as religious person, he could not but do), his\r\ncompanion expressed satisfaction, that, in an age of some distrust on\r\nsuch subjects, he could yet meet with one who shared with him, almost to\r\nthe full, so sound and sublime a confidence.\r\n\r\nStill, he was far from the illiberality of denying that philosophy duly\r\nbounded was not permissible. Only he deemed it at least desirable that,\r\nwhen such a case as that alleged of the unfortunate man was made the\r\nsubject of philosophic discussion, it should be so philosophized upon,\r\nas not to afford handles to those unblessed with the true light. For,\r\nbut to grant that there was so much as a mystery about such a case,\r\nmight by those persons be held for a tacit surrender of the question.\r\nAnd as for the apparent license temporarily permitted sometimes, to the\r\nbad over the good (as was by implication alleged with regard to Goneril\r\nand the unfortunate man), it might be injudicious there to lay too much\r\npolemic stress upon the doctrine of future retribution as the\r\nvindication of present impunity. For though, indeed, to the right-minded\r\nthat doctrine was true, and of sufficient solace, yet with the perverse\r\nthe polemic mention of it might but provoke the shallow, though\r\nmischievous conceit, that such a doctrine was but tantamount to the one\r\nwhich should affirm that Providence was not now, but was going to be. In\r\nshort, with all sorts of cavilers, it was best, both for them and\r\neverybody, that whoever had the true light should stick behind the\r\nsecure Malakoff of confidence, nor be tempted forth to hazardous\r\nskirmishes on the open ground of reason. Therefore, he deemed it\r\nunadvisable in the good man, even in the privacy of his own mind, or in\r\ncommunion with a congenial one, to indulge in too much latitude of\r\nphilosophizing, or, indeed, of compassionating, since this might, beget\r\nan indiscreet habit of thinking and feeling which might unexpectedly\r\nbetray him upon unsuitable occasions. Indeed, whether in private or\r\npublic, there was nothing which a good man was more bound to guard\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFFBZ1MHAKYCEX77RFW","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAH8B82W2KBC5D05HSDR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAH8DBEN6GD3XESP5DV0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.541Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:08.091Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}