FROM-THE- LIBRARY OF
TWNITYCOLLEGETORONTO
TREATISE
VOL. II.
ON THE WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF
THE CREATOR.
Permittcs ipsis expendere Numinibus, quid
Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris ;
Parior est illis homo, quiim sibi.
Juv.
LONDON :
A
TREATISE
OS THE
RECORDS OF THE CREATION,
AND ON THE
MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE CREATOR ;
WITH
PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE JEWISH HISTORY,
AND
TO THE CONSISTENCY OF THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION WITH
THE WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF THE DEITY.
BY JOHN BIRD SUMNER, D.D.
l.tMMi BISHOP OK CHKSTEK.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
FIFTH EDITION.
LONDON:
J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY.
UDCCCXZXIIl.
- /
<3<5b
.38
CONTENTS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
PART II.
ON THE WISDOM OF THE CREATOR.
Introduction. Statement of the Attributes. Modes of
proving them a priori, and from the Works of the
Creation. (Page 1.)
CHAP. I.
On the Wisdom af the Creator, (Page C.)
Instances from the few Principles employed to execute his
Purposes in the natural World. Attraction, Gasses, Rare
faction, Condensation, &c.
Probability that similar Laws extend to the human Race.
CHAP. II.
On the Design of the Creator as to Man's Existence
upon Earth. (Page 16.)
That he might exercise his Faculties and Virtues. Proof,
A 3
Vl CONTENTS.
from the improvable Reason which distinguishes Mankind
from all other Animals. Remarks on the Fallacy of the
Scale of Existence. Faculty of improvement useless,
without a Situation fit to call it forth.
Purpose of this improvement, a higher State of Existence.
Proofs from Reason and Revelation.
Statement of the proposed Argument.
CHAP. III.
Whether Equality or Inequality of Ranks and Fortunes
is the situation best suited to the Developement and
Improvement of the human Faculties. (Page 31.)
Proofs in favour of Inequality : from the low State of So
ciety wherever Equality exists. North and South Ameri
cans. Reason of this analyzed. Effects of Example,
and Emulation, arising from Division of Property. In
stances from Pelew Islanders. Progress of Civilization.
Superiority of civilized Life.
Contrary Opinion of Godwin considered. Desire of better
ing the individual Condition, shown to be the only Spur
of Industry. Case of Sparta considered, and of Peru.
Use of Slaves in those Communities. Conclusion in fa
vour of unequal Fortunes, Ranks, and Conditions.
CHAP. IV.
Whether Equality or Inequality of Ranks and Fortunes
is the Condition best suited to the Exercise of Virtue.
(Page 85.)
Effect of a Community of Goods upon the Opportunities of
Virtue. Nature of Virtue examined. Rewardable Vir
tue supposes Difficulty. Opportunities to practical Virtue
CONTENTS. VII
in civil Society. Duties of the Rich; of the middle
Ranks ; of the Poor. Difference between Poverty and
Indigence. Case of Peruvian Society supposed. Low
State to which it would reduce Mankind. Conclusion in
favour of various Conditions.
CHAP. V.
On the Principle of Population, and its Effects : in
tended to show that ^fan in inevitably placed in
that Condition which is most calculated to improve his
Faculties, and afford Opportunities for the Exercise
of Virtue. (Page 113.)
Statement of the Principle under every Condition of So
ciety. Its Effect universal, in bringing- the Population up
to the Supply of Food. First Result of the Principle,
the Division of Property. Mode of Operation exem
plified, in the Case of a Single Family, for whose increase
the allotted District is too small. This the date of the Re
cognition of Property among the existing Families.
II. This Division of Property is followed by the Division of
Ranks through the Effect of casual Misfortunes, and
moral Habits, causing Property, at first equal, to run
into large "lasses Vain Attempts in the ancient Repub
lics to obviate this Tendency. Inequality becomes more
striking in the Progress of Civilization.
These Effects dependent upon the relative Ratio of the In
crease of Population, and of human Sustenance. Their
Consequence, individual Exertion.
Law of [ncrease, a Law of Design.
Wisdom of the Ordinance.
V11I CONTENTS.
CHAP. VI.
On the collateral Effects of the Principle of Popula
tion. (Page 157.)
Objections against the Dispensation.
Evil accompanying it, belongs to an imperfect State.
Its collateral Advantages. I. Universal Industry. A sti
mulus to exertion necessary to Mankind. Proofs from
Experience. A Compensation is made in the Advantages
derived from the Division of Labour.
II. Second collateral Benefit, the Communication of Arts
and natural Productions. Case of mere Reproduction
supposed ; its Consequences. Advantage of Migrations.
Instances, from Countries with and without Communica
tion : also from a View of the present state of the World ;
Asiatic Russia; Southern Asia : Africa; America. Dif
fusion of Christianity.
Adaptation of the Principle of Population to peculiar Cir
cumstances of every Society. Its Operation not severe or
coercive.
Recapitulation of the Argument. Concluding Remarks.
PART III.
CHAP. I.
On the Goodness of the Creator. (Page 205.)
Proofs of a benevolent Design in the Creator, from the
Constitution of Mankind.
Argument a priori.
CONTENTS. ix
Sceptical Objections from the Appearance of the World.
Proofs of benevolent Intention from the Gratifications at
tached to our Nature, both bodily, and secondly, intel
lectual ; sufficient to fix the Onus probandi on the other
Side.
Objections from the Existence of Evil.
CHAP. II.
The present Existence of Mankind considered as a State
of moral Trial ( Page 223. )
General Determination in favour of Virtue.
Statement of the Question. That Mankind are not placed
in the best conceivable State, conceded ; but in a State of
Probation.
Probable Reasons of such a Dispensation.
Trial necessary to future Reward. Instance in the Call of
Abraham, &c.
Difference of tried and untried Virtue.
Degree of Evil not greater than was necessary to the Purpose
of Discipline. Analogy from the Persecutions of the early
Christians.
Justice of placing Mankind in this State of moral Trial,
argued.
CHAP. III.
On the Goodness of God displayed in the. Christian Dis
pensation. (Page 261.)
The Sacrifice of Christ, a Scheme to obviate the fatal Effects
of Sin.
The Influence of Grace, to counteract the moral Weakness
consequent upon the Fall.
X CONTENTS.
Genera) Plan of Justice and Goodness disclosed in (lie Gospel.
Outline of that Plan, according to Scripture.
The Nature of the Atonement, and the Cause of our being
placed in a probationary State, above our Reason, but
not contrary to it ; and analogous to other of the divine
Plans.
Concluding View of the Ettect of moral Evil.
CHAP. IV.
On natural Evils, and those of civil Life. (Page 285.,)
Different View they present to different Minds.
Natural Evils explained by a probationary State.
Death — its moral Effects.
Disease — its moral Effects.
Evils of civil Life. Their Extent.
Affluence not necessary to Happiness.
Force of Habit. Intelligence not wanting to the lower
Classes, in a Christian Country.
Superfluities only rendered necessary by Power of Custom.
Essentials of Happiness, Occupation and Health.
Conclusion.
CHAP. V.
On the Capabilities of Improvement in a State of ad
vanced Civilization. (Page 328.)
State of Society in Great Britain. Question, whether it
admits of Melioration.
Ignorance of the Poor, not a necessary Evil.
Indigence, its Alleviations and Preventives.
Parochial Banks for small Savings, recommended.
CONTENTS.
Practicability of these Improvements.
Detailed in the Case of a Parish of a thousand Souls.
Power of the lower Classes to save if Facility were given.
Its Advantages shown by Calculations.
Result of the Whole, in favour of the divine Goodness.
CHAP. VI.
On the Evils of an uncivilized State. (Page 368.)
General Remarks.
Situation aVid Number of the hunting Tribes considered.
Pastoral Nations considered.
Agriculture naturally tends to Civilization.
Compensations of uncivilized Life, among the hunting and
pastoral Tribes.
in the equinoctial Regions.
Actual Extent of the Evil; and Provisions for its Remedy,
in Commerce and Colonization.
No Situations inconsistent with a State of Probation.
CONCLUSION. (Page 417.)
Recapitulation.
Practical Consequences.
Objection from want of visible Interposition answered, first,
from the Nature of Virtue ; and secondly, of Faith, as
essential to moral Trial.
Conclusion, as to the Duty incumbent on Mankind from
the Suggestions of natural Religion, confirmed by Reve
lation.
A
TREATISE,
PART II.
ON THE WISDOM OF THE CREATOR.
INTRODUCTION.
THE argument, as far as it has hitherto ad
vanced, has assured us of the being- of one self-
existent, eternal, intelligent Creator.
We proceed farther, and affirm that the
Creator is endued with infinite power, wisdom,
and goodness.
These attributes are strictly deducible from
those that have been already argued. It is too
VOL. II. B
2 INTRODUCTION.
evident to be denied, that no controul can by
any possibility be exercised over the will or
designs of that Being-, who is himself the first and
sole cause of whatever exists. The self-existent
Creator, therefore, must of necessity, that is as
being- self-existent and the cause of all other
existences, be possessed of infinite power.
Again, the Creator, as being the author of
all things, must possess a complete and actual
acquaintance not only with the things that
exist, or have existed, at any definite point of
time, but with whatever can possibly arise as
consequences from things so existing, or be
contingent upon them. Neither can He, on
whose original will it depended that certain
powers should contribute to produce certain
effects, be possibly ignorant of the means which
best conduce to any design, or of the end which
may result from any particular means. And
this perfect knowledge of all that is past and all
that is present, and all that is dependent upon
the past and present, is omniscience, or infinite
wisdom.
INTRODUCTION.
The goodness of the Creator is deduciblo
from similar inferences. For goodness, truth,
and justice, consisting- in the observance of the
mutual rights and relations of persons, can only
be impeded either by ignorance of the different
bearings and dependencies of actions, or by some
frailty and imperfection inducing the violation of
those bearings and dependencies, when known
and perceived. But the relations of all existing
beings, and of every possible action, are always
and at once present to the view of infinite
Wisdom. And a Being possesed of omnipotence
can be swayed by none of the weaknesses OF
frailties which assail imperfect natures, to a viola
tion of the eternal rules of truth and equity.
But these arguments from necessity, though
demonstrably irrefragable, produce a very weak
and transient effect upon the mind in comparison
with those proofs which are derived from the
several parts of the creation and the visible ar
rangement of the universe. These being always
before our view and within the reach of our
observation, contribute to give a strength and
4 INTRODUCTION.
permanency to our impression of the attributes,
proportioned to the frequent occasions by which
it is confirmed. The occasions indeed are limit
ed only by the extent of our observations upon
the animate and inanimate, the rational and ir
rational creation. From a subject so inex
haustible, and widening- daily with the increase
of knowledge and research, every individual
must select the proof which strikes his own
mind most forcibly.
With respect to the power, indeed, of the
Creator, there is little room for such selection.
The minutest created object displays power as
inconceivable to our capacities as the creation
of a system. The wonders which astronomy
unfolds to our contemplation, of world beyond
world, extending- into immeasurable space, and
filling our imagination with the idea of numerous
ranks of beings, the probable inhabitants of
those worlds, are often set before us as calcu
lated to raise the sublimest apprehensions of the
power of the Creator. But I conceive that the
fact of the creation being- once proved, the
INTRODUCTION. 5
power of the Creator is proved along- with it';
and that no person ever granted the one, and
denied the other.
Passing over therefore the attribute of power,
as implied in the act of creation, I shall bestow
my principal attention on the wisdom and good
ness of the Deity j and the more willingly, be
cause many who have given their assent to the
power displayed in the creation, have refused it
to the moral attribute of goodness, altogether ;
and have alleged many insulated appearances
which are supposed to be inconsistent with infi
nite wisdom.
ON THE WISDOM
CHAPTER I.
On the Wisdom of the Creator.
WHEN we desire to form an estimate of any
extraordinary degree of power, or knowledge,
or wisdom, we are led by a habit almost in
stinctive to compare the object proposed to us
with our own powers, under similar circum
stances, and to judge of its extent by the de
gree of difference resulting from such a com
parison. The same principle must be pursued,
in order to communicate to our limited facul
ties any idea of the wisdom of the Creator.
The utmost elevation which the human mind
can attain stops infinitely short of the absolute
omniscience of the Deity. The only notion
we can form upon the subject is relative ; by
taking the highest aim and object of human
OF THE CREATOR. 7
wisdom as a basis, and with this in view, con
templating- the vast provisions and simple
execution, which the general laws that regu
late the natural and moral world unfold to our
observation.
I shall attempt to illustrate this view of the
subject by a few particular instances ; which
will prove, if just, that both in the constitution
of the universe, and in the laws which respect
peculiarly the human race, the Deity has
shown the most comprehensive and prospec
tive wisdom.
Confessedly, the highest aim of philoso
phical theory is to account for the phenomena
it treats of by the fewest possible principles ;
and the great ambition of human art, practi
cally exerted, is to attain the end proposed by
the least complicated means. To contrive
that the same- machinery should execute
various purposes, and contribute by one ope
ration to the different exigencies of the manu
facture, is the summit of our ingenuity, the
8 ON THE WISDOM
result of a length of time, numerous trials, and
numerous disappointments. According- to this
test then, which our own efforts confess to be
the highest, I proceed to examine the wisdom of
the Creator.
We are sufficiently acquainted with the
mechanism of the natural world, to form some
notion of the universality of the laws which
accomplish the most immense purposes. With
respect to the system at large of which our
globe constitutes a comparatively inconsider
able part, one principle of gravitation preserves
the planets in their orbits, and determines the
descent of the most trifling body to the ground.
In proportion as researches into the planetary
system have penetrated deeper, which have
now ended in the complete development of
the Newtonian theory ; in that proportion has
the provision been more and more clearly un
folded, that by an obedience originally pre
scribed to this single and universal law, not
only the motions of the different bodies com
posing the system are regulated, but their
OF THE CREATOR. Q
aberrations and eccentricities are adjusted and
corrected, and the permanence of the system
itself is maintained, equally free from variation,
and from the necessity of interference to pre
vent variation.
Still farther, not only does one and the same
body give support and stability to the system,
but furnishes it with the essential requisites of
light and heat.
In descending- from the contemplation of the
whole system to the examination of the globe
to which we ourselves belong, we are attended
by the same comprehensive wisdom. The air
of our atmosphere, which is necessary to the
existence of the animal and vegetable world,
is composed of two elastic fluids, united in a
definite and exact proportion ; a proportion so
precisely suited to those for whose respiration
it was intended, that any difference in the
quantity of either ingredient would prove,
according to its degree, injurious or destruc
tive. The same air which supplies life and
10 ON THE WISDOM.
health to the human race, is equally and alone
salubrious to every other animal. It might be
expected that the portion of this air which
animals return in the alternate motion of the
lungs, having performed its service, would
prove of no farther utility : but it has been
otherwise contrived. This part of the atmos
phere, though insalubrious to man, affords the
most grateful nourishment to the plants by which
he is surrounded ; according to which provision
nothing is lost, and the constant purity of the
air we breathe is preserved.
The same air which in its compound state
supports the life of the animal creation, admi
nisters also to the comfort and necessities of
man in the shape of fire.* Combustion is the
decomposition of the atmosphere, a process
which, under certain circumstances of tempe
rature, most of the products of the earth have
* Though the phlogistic theory still retains some advocates,
and the one here alluded to is not without its difficulties, I
conceive that its general reception warrants the use I make
of it, in a view so rapid and cursorv as the present.
OF THE CREATOR. 11
in a greater or less degree the power of affect
ing ; and which is regularly accompanied by
the disengagement of the light and heat for which
we have such frequent occasion, when the assis
tance of the solar rays is either wanting, or in
applicable. The same elastic fluids which per
form these important purposes, in another state of
composition become the chief constituents of
water also. And the result is, that the princi
pal wants of the animal and vegetable world
are supplied by three elastic fluids, the peculiar
union of which furnishes us with water, fire
and vital air. Neither do these fluids require
the interposition of the Creator to supply their
constant expenditure. The original mandate
of eternal Wisdom provided, as far as we can
learn from physical researches, for a world of
which we cannot foresee the termination. The
simple gasses, disengaged by various natural pro
cesses, from the combustibles, vegetables, and
different substances which absorb them, are so
contrived as to form a natural re-union, and pre
serve a constant equilibrium.
12 ON THE WISDOM
The same principle of economy and of uni
versality in the means employed to produce
the most important results, might be exemplified
throughout the whole constitution of our globe.
It is no light provison, for instance, that the
fertility of the earth is incapable of the decay
which the perpetual production of plants might
be expected to cause : an effect which is guarded
against by the single law, that the destruction of
one race of vegetables affords aliment to a fresh
succession. By a contrivance equally prospec
tive, the same principle of rarefaction and con
densation which purifies the atmosphere, and re
gulates the temperature of the seasons, raises
water in the form of vapour to the clouds, and re
turns it to the earth as rain, thus diffusing a fer
tility universally, which would otherwise have
been confined to the banks of rivers : and it re
sults from these united operations, that the
moisture once given at the creation preserves
its own equilibrium, without increase, or dimi
nution, or reproduction. It is a part of the same
contrivance to furnish the means of communica
tion, and sometimes even of regular cummunica-
OF THE CREATOR. 1.3
tion, between countries the most widely sepa-
rated from each other.
I contend, therefore, that the slightest out
line of the constitution of the natural world
conveys a proof of the most comprehensive
wisdom : which having determined upon the
existence of a habitable system, like ours, ac
cording to a certain plan, obtained the purposes
required by the simplest conceivable means :
and arranged originally the various parts in a
regular and dependent order, which should
neither be subject to accident, nor require in
terposition. Indeed, there is sound reason to
believe that the argument here touched upon
may hereafter be carried to an extent, not only
far beyond that to which I have limited it, but
beyond that which is compatible with the present
state of our knowledge. Every year's experience
in natural philosophy diminishes the number of
those bodies which are necessarily considered
as simple, because they have never been hitherto
decomposed, and of course diminishes at the
same time the original principles employed in
14 ON THE WISDOM
the constitution of the universe. The argu
ment is progressive ; it is not merely co-exten
sive with our knowledge, but extending with
it. The opinion is not only justifiable, but
philosophical, that, notwithstanding the com
prehensive provisions with which we are al
ready familiar, we are not yet acquainted with
half the economy really employed in the struc
ture of the world. And yet, from the result of
our present inquiries, it appears, that " a few
undecompounded bodies, which may perhaps
ultimately be resolved into still fewer elements,
or which may be different forms of the same ma
terial, constitute the whole of our tangible uni
verse of things."*
It might be expected, however, that not the
inanimate world alone, but those for whose re
ception it was fitted, and to whose use it is
adapted, should be subject to their Creator's
regulation, and conform to laws of the saim-
general and comprehensive nature. This regu-
* Davy's Elem. of Chem. Phil. p. 503.
OF THE CREATOR. 15
lation, indeed, which the right government of
the universe appears to require, the free agency
of man seems to forbid, and to be inconsistent,
both in reason and experience, with the inter
ference which would be necessary to reduce
mankind to an uniform course of action. I
think it will nevertheless appear, that there
tire laws equally universal in their operation,
if not equally obvious with those already alluded
to, which confine within certain bounds even
the animate creation, and are not transgressed
by the free agency of man himself. A stronger
evidence of omniscient wisdom will hardly be
demanded, than such a provision would afford :
I shall therefore, with less hesitation, endeavour
to illustrate it, though the nature of the subject
will carry me into a somewhat prolix discussion.
16 ON THE OBJECT OF
CHAPTER II.
On the Design of the Creator in regard to the
Existence of Mankind upon Earth.
BEFORE we can decide upon the wisdom of
the Creator's provisions respecting man, we
must necessarily consider his design in bringing
him into existence ; which appears to be, that
he might exercise, according to his opportunities
in his progress through the world, the various
powers of reason and virtue with which he is en
dowed.
The proof which reason furnishes of this
design, without appealing to higher sources of
information, is this, that unless the Creator did
propose such an object to the existence of
mankind upon earth, he has bestowed upon
MAN'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 17
them needless and superfluous faculties, both
moral and intellectual. But to imagine this
with regard to man, would be to acquiesce in
a belief with respect to the most exalted inha
bitant of the earth, which is contradicted by
all our researches into the inferior orders of the
creation, and diametrically opposite to the ge
neral analogy of nature.
If we look to the inanimate world, there is
scarcely a part of which we cannot distinguish
the object, either general or particular, subser
vient to the various wants of living beings.
Among all the properties of things, we dis
cover no inutility, no superfluity. Voluntary
motion is denied to the vegetable creation, be
cause mechanical motion answers the purpose ;
which raises, in some plants, a defence against
the wind, which expands others towards the
sun, inclines them to the support they require,
and diffuses their seed. If we ascend higher
towards irrational animals, we find them pos
sessed of powers exactly suited to the rank
VOL. n.. c
18 ON THE OBJECT OF
they hold in the scale of existence. The oyster
is fixed to his rock, the herring traverses a vast
extent of ocean. But the powers of the oyster
are not deficient ; he opens his shell for nourish
ment, and closes it at the approach of an
enemy : nor are those of the herring super
fluous ; he secures and supports himself in the
frozen seas, and commits his spawn in the sum
mer to the more genial influence of warmer
climates. The strength and ferocity of beasts
of prey are required by the mode of subsist
ence allotted to them : if the ant has peculiar
sagacity, it is but a compensation for its weak
ness ; if the bee is remarkable for its foresight,
that foresight is rendered necessary by the short
duration of its harvest. Nothing can be more
various than the powers allowed to animals,
each in their order ; yet it will be found, that
all these powers, which make the study of nature
so endless and so interesting, suffice to their
necessities, and no more.
But man alone, if he is born for no other
purpose than to cultivate the earth, and con-
MAN'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 19
tinue his species, has been endued with a fa
culty, and this the noblest we are acquainted
with, for no assignable end. This faculty is
improvable reason ; and is of a much loftier and
more exalted nature than is necessary to his
mere existence or preservation. Ask the inha
bitant of Lapland or Paraguay, what is requisite
to the existence of man ; and a very low stan
dard of intellectual endowment will be returned.
The lowest ranks of savages, whose reason, how
improvable soever, has scarcely been raised by
exercise beyond the natural instinct of the bee,
can continue their unfortunate race, and pro
vide against the rigours of cold and hunger, as
effectually as the happier children of civilization.
All the superiority, therefore, of the philosopher
above the Hottentot, might have been lost, if the
situation had been wanting which led the way to
his improvement ; and all the power of mind
which lies dormant in the savage, and is awak
ened to full activity in the European, would be
a superfluous waste of talent, if it did not contri
bute to the general design, and co-operate with
some farther plan of the Creator.
( 'J
20 ON THE OBJECT OF
There are writers, it is true, who have taken
an extraordinary pleasure in levelling the broad
distinction which separates man from the brute
creation.* Misled to a false conclusion by the
infinite variety of nature's productions, they
have described a chain of existence connecting
the vegetable with the animal world, and the
different orders of animals one with another,
so as to rise by an almost imperceptible grada
tion from the tribe of simiee, to the lowest of
* M. Bonnet observes, that if we survey the principal pro
ductions of nature, we shall perceive that betwixt those of a
different class, and even those of a different species, there will
always be found some which will apparently link the classes
or species together. He has given a scale of beings on the
principle of gradation ; the first link of which connects man
with quadrupeds, by means of the orang-outang and monkey.
The idea is enlarged upon by Mr. White, in a treatise, entitled,
" An Account of the regular Gradations in Man, &c.w—
" This rash hypothesis, ' that the Negro is the connecting
' link between the white man and the ape,' took its rise from
the arbitrary classification of Linnaeus, which associates man
and the ape in the same order. The more natural arrange
ment of later systems separates them into the bimanous and
quadrumanous orders. If this classification had not been
followed, it would not have occurred to the most fanciful
mind to find in the Negro an intermediate link."— Pritchard
on Man, p. 67.
MAN S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 21
the human race, and from these upwards to
the most refined. But if a comparison were to
be drawn, it should be taken, not from the up
right form, which is by no means confined to
mankind ; nor even from the vague term rea
son, which cannot always be accurately sepa
rated from instinct ; but from that power of
progressive and improvable reason, which is
man's peculiar and exclusive endowment. It
has been sometimes alleged, and may be founded
on fact, that there is less difference between
the highest brute animal and the lowest savage,
than between the savage and the most improved
man. But in order to warrant the pretended
analogy, it ought to be also true that this lowest
savage is no more capable of improvement than
the chimpanzee or orang-outang. Among brute
animals of the same species, there are no de
grees of improvement. The wolf of North
America, as far at least as its natural powers are
concerned, resembles the wolf of the Alps j the
elephant of Africa may be mistaken for that of
India. Animals, in short, are born, with no
material exception, what they are intended to
22 ON THE OBJECT OF
remain, and bring their instincts with them
into the world. A well-bred dog is not taught
the sagacity with which he hunts his game :
a bird requires no parental instruction, but
builds her nest with as warm a lining, and in
a spot as suitable and secure, as that in which
it was hatched. But man must be taught,
either by precept or example, to direct his bow,
to climb his tree, to construct his hut : the
rudest savage is only stimulated by instinct, and
not instructed.
Here then lies the distinction, which may be
confounded, but can never be removed ; that
Nature has originally bestowed upon other
animals a certain rank, and limited the extent
of their capacity by an impassable degree :
man she empowered and obliged to become
the artificer of his own rank in the scale of
beings, by the peculiar gift of improvable rea
son : improvable, certainly not to an unbounded
extent, as some would fondly persuade them
selves, yet to an extent of which the bounds
have neither been assigned nor attained. The
MANS EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 23
rudest savage who may be compelled, as it has
been pathetically said, to shelter himself beneath
a heap of stones from the wind and rain, is
" born with all those faculties which culture
refines and education expands."
Let what is called the chain of existence be
drawn from the vegetable to the animal crea
tion, and from insects and reptiles to the high
est order of brutes, a rank to which the ape
has far less claim than the dog or beaver ; but
here the parallel ceases. There is nothing phi
losophical in the comparison of a being pos
sessed of improvable reason, with one that is
governed by natural instinct, because there is
no just analogy between the talents which are
compared.
This distinguishing talent, however, is be
stowed upon man to no effectual purpose, as
long as he continues in circumstances which do
not bring it into exertion. Man is, in fact, the
rnsitnre of education and discipline, and is
rendered so by the very faculty which charac-
£4< ON THE OBJECT OF
terizes him ; neither is it from what he is born,
but from what he is capable of becoming, that
he is entitled to claim a place at the head of
created beings that fall within our knowledge.
Supposing, therefore, as some may be con
tented to suppose, that the employment of the
human faculties had no higher object than the
advantages it produces in the present life, by
exalting the character and enlarging the ra
tional happiness of mankind, it would still be
desirable that the latent powers of intellect
should be excited, and the virtues of which
the civilized mind is susceptible brought for
ward into action. Even to those who carry
their views no farther, it must still appear a proof
of wisdom in the Creator, if he has provided
to secure the exercise of the best faculties of
the human race, at the same time that he has
assigned them faculties of such a nature as to
be improved, by that exercise, to an indefinite
extent.
But when the question is put, to what pur
pose this improvement of reason, with all is
MAN'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 25
consequences, tends ; it is not an answer en
tirely satisfactory, to reply, that mankind are
thus enabled to increase the sum of their pre
sent happiness. Reason is certainly very ill
employed in arguing1, that the happiness of
mankind is not promoted by its exercise. But
though there can be no hesitation in affirming
that the quantity of human happiness is greatly
enhanced by the exercise of reason, and that
its destined use is partly to make this addition ;
still there is so much imperfection, at best, in
our earthly happiness, that it would be difficult
to suppose this the sole and ultimate end for
which reason was bestowed on man.
It is scarcely worth while to glance at a con
jecture of some of the ancients, who pretended
that man was made capable of reason, that he
might hold dominion over the irrational animals.
They require no such domination. An infi
nitely small proportion allow the assistance of
man, and not one requires it. They are per
haps iH'crssary to the human race, and we be-
26 ON THE OBJECT OF
lieve, were created for its use ; but the human
race is so far from being necessary to them,
that the greater part degenerate, and lose their
finest properties, when reduced to a domestic
state.
The only answer to this question which ad
mits of examination, and agrees with the ana
logy of nature, affirms, that man has the power
of reason, and is destined to employ it, with
reference to a future and higher state of exist
ence. The assurance of this can only come
from Revelation. But the rational faculties of
man afford the strongest presumptive argument
in favour of a future state. For, that one who
uses these faculties best, should proceed in the
acquisition of knowledge and advancement of
virtue, and then, at the very time when having
passed the weakness of childhood and the ve
hemence of youth, he seemed to approach
nearest to perfection, should be suddenly
plunged into annihilation, is an order of things
so inconsistent with the general appearance of
MAN'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 2?
the Creator's wisdom, that the wisest of the
ancients could never reconcile their minds to
the belief of such a dispensation.
I shall, therefore, proceed on the assumption,
that the faculty man possesses of improvable
reason, is not superfluous ; but was given him
to be employed, partly for the advancement of
his happiness on earth, but chiefly with reference
to a future state of existence, in conformity with
some ulterior plan of his Creator.
This view of human life is not only justified,
but decisively confirmed, by the Christian
scriptures. The mind is there represented as
possessed of talents intrusted to its use, of which
an account is to be rendered hereafter. Human
life is declared to be a state of discipline, in
which the various faculties of mankind are to be
exerted, and their moral character formed, tried,
and confirmed, previously to their entering upon
a future and higher state of existence for which
they are destined ; and in which the final condi
tion of every individual will be proportioned
28 ON THE OBJECT OF
to the use he has made of his talents and oppor
tunities in this preparatory stage. Life, there
fore, is with great propriety described as a race
in which a prize is to be contended for ; as a
season for sowing the seeds of a future and im
mortal harvest ; as a journey, in which mankind
are merely pilgrims ; as a warfare, in which
the combatants must arm themselves with all the
virtues, and employ them with zealous courage
and enduring patience, that they may be fitted
to partake hereafter in the glories of an eternal
triumph.
This double consideration, of the nature of
the human faculties as requiring culture and
exercise, and of the purport of this life as a
state of discipline, is absolutely necessary as a
clue to any inquiry into the actual appearance
of the world. In all questions which relate to
the skill of any contrivance, it is pre-supposed,
that the intention and execution of the work
are alike understood, and considered together.
The most harmonious movements or the wisest
arrangements may be mistaken for chance and
MAN'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH. 29
confusion, by those who are unacquainted with
the design to which they are directed. It is
evident, that if the present state is not final, if
its object is discipline, what might appear to
us the happiest, or easiest, or best condition
for the human race in an immediate view,
would not be the most suitable to the ultimate
intention of the Creator. The object which
would be present to the divine mind, in deter
mining- the circumstances in which it were ex
pedient to place mankind, would be, to assign
them that state of being- which was best suited
to render this world the stage of discipline it
was designed to prove : one that should most
effectually and inevitably work out the powers,
exercise the virtues, and display the character
of man. And it might be expected from what
we see in other instances of the Creator's wis
dom, that he would place mankind in circum
stances through which the order of things best
calculated to further this design, should natu
rally establish itself, without any such imme
diate interference as might disturb the spon
taneity of human actions.
30 ON THE OBJECT, &C.
I think it may be rendered evident that He
has done so : and the proof of Wisdom I shall
endeavour to illustrate, is this ; that the order of
things, in which the human race arrives at the
highest degree of improvement, and has the
widest scope for moral and intellectual perfec
tion, is inevitably, and with some trifling excep
tions, universally established, by the operation of
a single principle, and the instinctive force of a
single natural desire.
CHAPTER III.
PFlietlier Equality, or Inequality, of Ranks and
Fortunes, is the Condition best suited to the
Developement and Improvement of the human
Faculties.
BEFORE I proceed to explain the action of a
principle on which so much depends, and the
mode of its operation, it will be requisite to
institute a careful inquiry as to the situation
most favourable to the exercise of the talents
and virtues of the human race. In a case
so intimately affecting their condition, it is
not sufficient to prove the wise subservience
of the means to the end, unless the end itself
be wisely proposed. It is not enough that the
contrivance should be aptly suited to the ob
ject, unless the effect of the whole prove bene-
32 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
ficial. However we might applaud, for ex-
ample, the exquisite skill with which a tyrant
had contrived his implements of torture, we
should certainly hesitate to call his contrivance
wisdom.
Supposing it then to be the design of the
Creator, as laid down in the preceding chapter,
to develope the faculties and virtues of man
kind in this stage of existence, as preparatory
to another ; what shall we affirm to be the con
dition of human life, which appears best calcu
lated to answer this purpose ? Is it society,
or is it solitude ? Is it a separation of tribes,
or an union of many ? Is it a state of equality,
or a state consisting of various degrees of rank
and fortune?
If this question were to be decided a priori,
and without reference to experience and ob
servation, it would certainly be determined in
favour of equality. For what can be more
promising as an ideal picture, than a state in
which tyranny and servility, penury and super-
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 33
fluity, arc alike unknown ; where, all
equal, the general harmony meets with no
interruption, and the abundance of one ministers
to the necessities of another ?
But as, in seeing- a complicated piece of
machinery, the most experienced artisan could
not judge of its powers or defects without the
opportunity of observing- its action and oper
ation : so the wisest philosopher can only reason
upon the effect of peculiar situation on the in
tricate habits and passions of mankind, from
what he knows by recorded experience and
observation. And judging thus of the effect
of equality upon the energies and happiness
of mankind, it becomes no less undesirable
in theory, than it is unattainable in general
practice. Wherever equality is found to exist,
and we have now a tolerable acquaintance
with almost every region of the world, man
kind are in the lowest and most savage state.
Accordingly, those writers who have traced
all the evils of human life to the inequalities
of rank and condition, have been forced to
VOL. II. 1)
34 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
lay this paradox as their foundation : that the
savage life, which is unwarrantably called the
state of nature, is that state of happy security,
every deviation from which begins in error,
and terminates in wretchedness. Rousseau
laments the necessity of acknowledging, that
" the very distinctive faculty of man, that of
progressive improvement, is the source of all
his evils, because it carries him from the origi
nal condition in which he might pass his days
in tranquillity and indolence."* The savages
of the Caribbee islands, who barter their ham
mock in the morning for some trifling gratifica
tion, and weep in the evening for its loss, are,
according to one of their eulogists, " the most
happy, the least vicious, the most social, the
most healthy, and the least counterfeit of all the
nations of the world."t " Is the savage op-
* Discours sur 1'Imgalite. He afterwards adds, " Ine
quality, scarcely existing in a state of nature, grows with the
growth of man's faculties and reason, and is permanently
authorised by the establishment of property and luus."
t Pere du Tertre. Raynal was also a great admirer of
savage life. These defend equality as it is found. Con-
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 35
pressed by superior fierceness and strength ?
Let his enemy," says Rousseau, " but once turn
his head, the weaker darts twenty paces into
the forest, his chains are broken, and he loses
sight of his enemy for ever."
That this freedom, carelessness, and indolence,
are the compensations which savages enjoy for
many of the advantages which their circum
stances deny them, I shall have occasion here
after to prove more explicitly : but it never can
be allowed that the perfection of existence
is compatible with insensibility to improvement,
or that happiness is consistent with ignorance
of rational enjoyment. It is forgotten by the
querulous and disappointed advocates of savage
life, that the evils of society do not owe their
birth to civilization, but spring up in spite of it ;
and are to be referred to the nature of man, not
to the constitution of society. The same course
of argument might reject agriculture, because
weeds thrive quickest in the richest soil.
dorcet, Codwin, N.r. only ivcumineud an ideal equality,
united with civilization.
1) <2
DO CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
A partial survey of civilized life represents,
it is true, each individual neglectful of the
general good, and struggling merely for the
advancement of his own ; flourishing by the
discomfiture of competitors, and elevated by
the depression of his brethren. But the other
side of the picture shows individual advantage
terminating in public benefits, and the desire
of aggrandizement which is stimulated by am
bition or domestic partialities, contributing
towards the welfare of the community at large.
Man, in all situations, has both opportunity and
inclination for vice, though all vices do not
flourish equally in all situations. But ferocity,
intemperance, and revenge, if they are not
worse, certainly are not better than avarice,
rapacity, or luxury : whilst the savage vices
have no compensation of delicate taste, refined
manners, improved understanding, or exalted
virtues. A. contest for riches or power does
not more disturb the harmony of life, than the
disputed possession of a palm-tree or a cabin :
but the latter produces no other fruit than
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 37
private rancour or revengeful malice : the former
enriches the state by the addition of two active
and useful citizens.
The argument, however, requires that it
should be distinctly shown, why that state of
civilization which admits and consists of a
gradation of ranks and of unequal conditions,
is precisely the situation which affords to man
the best opportunities of performing the pur
poses of his being.
I. If we except that lowest species of the human
race which the increase of population has driven
to seek subsistence at the utmost verge of the
habitable globe, and which seem to mark the
ultimate point of degradation to which man can
descend, no country is known to which the
distinction of ranks is altogether wanting. The
bravest warrior, or the most skilful hunter,
becomes the chief of his tribe : nor can pre
cedence exist, even of this rude sort, without
exciting some emulation. But as this influence
does not extend to the division of property,
38 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
and leads only to feats of courage and dexterity
in the field, we may justly represent these scat
tered hunting- tribes as an example of a state of
nature or equality.
In fact, even of this degree of equality the
native Indians of North and South America
afford us almost the only instance.* Reduced
in number, and degenerated, as there appears
reason to believe, from a more improved state
to which their ancestors had advanced, with
out government, or policy, or laws of their
own, they occupy a few spots in that vast con
tinent, f Their state of society exhibits to us
* " The Indians are strangers to all distinctions of pro
perty, except in tlie articles of domestic use, which every
one considers as his own, and increases as circumstances
admit. No visible form of government is established. They
allow of no such distinction as magistrate or subject, every
one appearing to enjoy an independence that cannot be con
trolled. They are total strangers to the idea of separate
property in land." — Travels by order of the American Govern
ment, under Captains Clark and Lewis.
+ This description does not include the Indians of New
Spain and Peru, many of whom are settled in villages, and
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 39
an assemblage of human beings, whose highest
enjoyment is indolence, and who are only
roused even to a temporary exertion, by the
sting of necessity. No prospect of security
can excite them to the energy requisite for
agriculture. Could an European village be
transported into Chili or Paraguay, with all its
industry and foresight, and ensured from the
maladies attendant on such a change of climate,
the soil and seasons would overspread them
with luxury and plenty for many generations.
But the inhabitants of South America, with all
the advantages of unimpoverished land and
luxuriant climate, are not less pressed for sub
sistence than the occupants of the most rugged
and inhospitable islands.* Careless of the
retain the advantages which they derived before the Spanish
conquests from a more advanced state of government and
civilization.
*"The effects of famine are common to almost all the
equinoctial regions. In the province of New Andalusia in
South America, i have seen villages whose inhabitants art-
forced to disperse themselves from time to time in the de
serts, to pick up a M-anly subsistence from the wild plants.
In tin- province de los l*astos, the Indians, when the potatoes
40 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
regular and fixed supply which cultivation
affords, they depend for two thirds of the year
on the precarious resources of hunting1 and fish
ing ; and are so sparing in their exertions
towards providing a sufficient stock, that a
diminution of the quantity of game, or delay of
the usual season for procuring it, exposes them
to all the misery of scarcity and famine. Yet
are they incapable of judging of die probable
future from the past distress : nor ever led by
experience to prevent the recurrence of an evil.
The same indifferent carelessness appears also
in their dress and lodging, if such terms can
be applied to the miserable protections which
the Americans contrive against the vicissitudes
fail, which are their principal nourishment, repair sometimes
to the most elevated ridge of the Cordilleras to subsist on
the juice of achupallas. The Otomais at Uruana swallow,
during several months, potter's earth, to absorb the gastric
juice. Under the torrid zone, where a beneficent hum!
seems every where to have scattered the germ of abundance,
man, careless and phlegmatic, experiences periodically a
want of subsistence which the industry of more civili/id
nations banishes from the most sterile regions of the North."
— llumboldt, vol. i. p. 123.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES.
of weather. It appears, also, in the total ab
sence of a quality so universal among- civilized
nations, curiosity : a quality which probably
originates in the idea of gaining some new
acquisition, and is certainly in a great degree
characteristic of an active mind. An European,
with all his convenience of dress and equipage,
passes unnoticed through an assembly of half-
naked Indians ; or if he attracts any degree of
curiosity, a fragment of scarlet cloth, or a string
of beads, is more coveted than any addition he
could propose to their real comfort.*
* Dr. Pinckard, after describing his visit to an Indian
town up the river Berbische, adds, " The curiosity by which
we were actuated was by no means reciprocal : we passed
through their huts, and round their persons, in a manner
unnoticed : and they continued at work, or unemployed,
exactly as we found them." Notes on the West Ind. ii. 422.
All travellers unite in the same rewarks. See Ashe, or
I HIM. The latter says, " When an Indian is settled on his
hams, their usual and favourite posture, no reward can
make him stir ; so that if a traveller has lost his way, and
happens to reach any of their cottages, they hide themselves,
though the whole of their labour would consist in accom-
l>'»ii\ ing the traveller a quarter of a league, for which they
would be generously rewarded."
42 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
Without dwelling on the detail of manners
uniformly the same, and generally acknow
ledged, it is sufficient to observe that equality
of rank and condition, wherever it is met with,
affords a similar scene of careless ignorance,
and indifference to all improvement. The
nearer you approach towards it, the more stag
nant and inactive is the human mind ; the
farther you recede from it, the energies are ex
cited in proportion. It must be allowed,
therefore, that the same appearance must have
a common cause of universal operation. Is
this cause to be sought, as some writers have
been inclined to conclude, in the nature of the
people themselves ? Certainly not. We learn
the contrary from the same evidence which has
hitherto been adduced against them. \Ve are
informed by Ulloa,* that " a great part of the
rusticity in their minds must be attributed to
the want of culture. The Indians of the
missions of Paraguay are, among others, re
markable proofs of this, where, by the zeal,
* Vol. i. p. 435.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 43
address, and exemplary piety of the Jesuits, a
regular well-governed republic of rational men
has been established : and the people, from an
ambulatory and savage manner of living, have
been reduced to order, reason, and religion.*
In all the villages. of the mission are schools for
learning, not only to read and write, but also
.nechanic trades ; and the artificers here are not
inferior to those of Europe. These Indians in
their customs and intellects are a different sort of
people from those before mentioned ; not that
they have any natural advantage over the others,
for I have observed throughout the whole king
dom, that the Indians of the several provinces
through which I travelled, are alike."
A more general intercourse with uncivilized
nations has now in a great measure removed
the erroneous prejudice which formerly existed
•* It is much to be regretted, that an improvement so
happily begun, should have been stopped by the recal ot the
Jesuits in 1767. A favourable account of the Indian com
munity established by them may be seen in Burke's Euro
pean Settlements, vol. i.
44 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
upon this subject ; and it is commonly agreed,
that education and habit contribute more than
climate to form the man ; and that the barbarism
of savages is to be ascribed to the defects of
their civil, and not of their natural constitution.
The cause, in fact, is no other than that very
equality, upon which so many undeserved en
comiums have been lavished ; but which removes
at once from the mind of man all the industrious
emulation, which is excited among- civilized peo
ple by the desire of bettering their individual
condition.
Happy savage ! say the advocates of equa
lity :* if his cabin but ill defends him from the
storms, or his tattered blanket from the cold,
he sees no proud superiors who behold his
shivering with insulting pity ; no lofty palaces,
which seem to mock his poor and indigent ha
bitation. They forget, that to the absence of
this palace and these superiors, he owes the misery
of his hut of reeds, and the insufficiency of his
scanty clothing.
* Rousseau sur 1'Inegalite.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 45
The truth of this becomes obvious on a very
slight consideration. Men, in every state, are
less induced to a change of their present habits
by reason, than by example. If you affirm to
an American that the prospective labour of a
month or two will enable him to rest through
the year secure in his supply of food, and to
defy a scarcity of game, you excite no emotion
in his mind ; the ideas to be conveyed are so
numerous, and those to be eradicated so deeply
rooted, that it is impossible by arguments of
this nature to effect a change of habits. But
let an European settle in his neighbourhood,
let him see the comfort of his habitation, the
plenty of his granary, the warmth of his cloth
ing, the regular process of his industry ; and
by degrees he will exchange his furs for useful
implements, rather than for spirits ; will con
struct his cabin with logs instead of reeds ; and
acknowledge the excellence of the example by
his imitation.*
* " The desire of property proceeds from experience ;
and the industry by which it is gained, or improved, requires
such a habit of acting with a view to distant objects, as may
4<6 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
This melioration, however, will never take
place, while " all around him are clothed in
the same simple garb, feed on the same plain fare,
and have houses and furniture exactly similar."*
Though his forests abound with timber, that
he cannot imagine to himself the superiority of a
dwelling built by geometrical rules, or under
stand it when proposed to him, is no matter of
overcome the present disposition either to sloth or to enjoy
ment. This habit is slowly acquired; and is, in reality, a
principal distinction of nations in the advanced state of me
chanic and commercial arts." Ferguson on Civil Society,
part ii. sect. 2.
If there could be any doubt on this subject, it is sufficiently
removed by the improvements made in the condition of the
Indian nations of North America by the Quakers, entirely
on the principle of example. An interesting account of their
success is given in the Ed. Review, vol. viii. p 442. Euripides
perhaps alludes to the want of objects of emulation at Sparta,
in the following lines of a play which abounds in political
discussion.
So^oy ce, Trei'idv r etaopqv TOV o\ftiov,
ttevTjTa. r' etc TOVQ ir\ova!.ov£ aVo/3\e7re« v,
ZrfXovvd', 'iv O.VTOV ")(prma.T(i)v epwc f\\]'
Tct T otKrpd roue p>] (Jv<Trv\ei<: SeSoiKei'ai.
Supplices, 1. 187.
* Robertson's America, vol.ii. 133.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 4?
surprise, while he is surrounded by huts like that
in which he was born. But if he saw before him
the comfort and security of a regularly con
structed habitation, the latent spark of industry
would be excited, and his ignorant patience
converted into active emulation.
This example, however, will never arise
among the nations of any uncivilized country,
and if introduced, will be witnessed without ef
fect, till the first blow has been given to the
system of equality, by recognising that division
of property which secures to every man the
fruit of his own labour. It is this mainspring
which keeps the arts and civili/ed industry in
motion. " The first, who having enclosed a
spot of ground, has taken upon himself to assert,
This is mine, and has remained undisturbed in
the possession of it, gives a new aspect to the
society,"* and lays the foundation, not of crimes,
and wars, and murder, as Rousseau proceeds to
say, as if these were unknown to the savage;
but of improvement and civilization,
* Rousseau sur
48 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE.
Man is easily brought and quickly reconciled
to labour ; but he does not undertake it gratui
tously. If he is in possession of immediate ease,
he can only be induced to relinquish that pre
sent advantage by the allurement of expected
gain. Gratification, which in some degree or
other forms the chief excitement of civilized life,
is almost unknown to the savage. The only
stimulus felt by him, is that of necessity. He is
impelled by hunger to hunt for subsistence, and
by cold to provide against the rigour of the
seasons. When his stock of provision is laid in,
his rude clothing prepared, and his cabin con
structed, he relapses into indolence ; for the
wants of necessity are supplied, and the stimulus
which urged him is removed. However ex
perienced he may be in the preparation of skins
for clothing or of reeds for building, beyond the
wants of his own family he has no demand for
ingenuity or skill ; for the equality of property
has confined each man's 'possessions to the bare
necessaries of life ; and though he were to em
ploy his art in providing for his whole tribe,
they have nothing to offer him in exchange. As
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 4-9
long- as this state of things continues, it is plain
that we can expect neither improvement of art
nor exertion of industry. Whatever is fabricated
will be fabricated with almost equal rudeness,
whilst each individual supplies his own wants ;
and he will continue to supply them, as long- as
the wants of the society are limited to the de
mands of nature. An intelligent traveller, who
had an opportunity of observing this on the spot,
remarks exactly to the point, that " the Indians
of Guiana have no interest in the accumulation
of property, and, therefore, are not led to labour
in order to attain wealth. Living under the most
perfect equality, they are not impelled to in
dustry by that Spirit of emulation, which in
society leads to great and unwearied toil." :
II. But as soon as it has been agreed, by a
compact of whatever kind, that the property
before belonging to the community at large,
shall be divided among the individuals who
compose it, and that whatever each of them
shall hereafter obtain, shall be considered as
* Notes 011 the West Indies, ii. 24<i.
vol.. ii. i;
50 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
his exclusive possession ; the effect of this di
vision will show that industry requires no other
stimulus than a reward proportioned to its
exertion.
We have an instance in the natives of the
Pelew Islands, who, deprived as they were of
all external advantages, afford a most decisive
contrast to the inactivity of the American
tribes. Before their accidental discovery in
1783, they had enjoyed no intercourse with
civilized nations, had no acquaintance with
the use of iron, or the cultivation of corn, or
regular manufacture. But they had been for
tunate in the establishment of a division of
ranks, ascending from the servant to the king ;
and a division of property, rendering not only
" every man's house, furniture, or canoe, his
own, but also the land allotted to him, as long
as he occupied and cultivated it."* The effect
of this is distinguishable in habits so different
from those hitherto represented, that, " the
portion of time each family could spare from
* Keate's Account of the Pelew Islands.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 51
providing- for their natural wants, was passed
in the exercise of such little arts, as, while
they kept them active and industrious, admi
nistered to their convenience and comfort."
Here also were no traces of that want of cu
riosity, which all travellers remark as so extra
ordinary in America. Industry had sharpened
their minds. The natives were constantly in
terested in obtaining- every information respect
ing- the English tools and workmanship ; and
the brother of Abba Thule found amusement
for hours, in the novelty of a grindstone, polish
ing the iron which was scattered about the
tents.
In fact, the division of property is the source
from which all the arts of civilization proceed.
Before this division has taken place, the indo
lent suffer no inferiority, the active receive no
gain. But from the date of the recognition of
property to the individual, each man is rich,
and comfortable, and prosperous, setting aside
the common infirmities which flesh is heir to,
according to his portion of effective industry
i: -J
52 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
or native genius.* From this period, lie is
continually impelled by his desires from the
pursuit of one object to another ; and his ac
tivity is called forth in the prosecution of the
several arts which render his situation more
easy and agreeable.
* To limit industry or genius, and narrow the field of in
dividual exertion by any artificial means, is an injury to
human nature of the same kind as that brought on by a
community of possessions. Where there is no stimulus to
industry, things are worst; — \vhcre industry is circumscribed,
they cannot prosper ; and are then only in a healthy state,
when every avenue to personal advantage is open to every
talent and disposition. A state of equality is an instance of
the first case ; the division of the people into castes, as
among the ancient Egyptians and still among the Hindus, of
the second. This division has been considered by all intelli
gent travellers as one powerful cause of the stationary cha
racter of the inhabitants of that country : and the effect
would have been still more pernicious, if time or necessity
had not introduced some relaxation into the rigorous restric
tions originally established, and so ancient, as to be attri
buted to SIVA. As long, however, as the rule is generally
adhered to, that a man of a lower class is restricted from
the business of a /tig/ier class, so long, we may safely pre
dict, India will continue what it is in point of civilization.
See Asiat. Researches, vol. v. art. 3. An approach to the
same eilect may be witnessed in the limitation of honours,
privileges, and immunities in some countries of Europe.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 53
Since the produce of every man's labour is
secured to his own use, the soil, being- better
tilled, affords a better return : and the plenty
of provisions allows the society to clothe and
lodge themselves with more attention to com
fort. By this application to a variety of ob
jects, commodities of different kinds are pro
duced ; which are exchanged for one another,
according to the demand of different indivi
duals. This operation is so simple, that it may
be easily expected in the poorest community ;
and our voyagers found it well understood by
the natives of the South Sea Islands. At the
same time it is so extensive in its effects, that
all the different ramifications of trade and com
merce, and even the distinctions of wealth and
rank, may be traced to this common origin.
For, through this medium, the division of pro
perty leads immediately to accumulation.
At first, the best hunter, and the best maker
of arms for defence or the chace, would be
come the richest individual of the society.
These desire to display their wealth, as the
.04 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
African chiefs, by ornament, and to feel its ad
vantage in their comfort. They part with the
superfluous produce of their skill to the man
who weaves them the finest cloth, and tinges
it with the brightest dye ; or who provides for
them the best-constructed habitation.* So that
those who exercise the arts of ingenuity at home,
soon become no less rich in the means of sub
sistence than those who procure it from the
forest, or labour for it in the field. Property
thus acquired, and exceeding the continual wants
of the proprietor, descends to the children of
the artist ; and with it is perhaps inherited
* As Paris, in the Iliad, is represented as inhabiting a house
built by the best artificers in Troy. B. vi. 1. 315.
"Ot 61 eTroirjaav ddXapov, Kdl cwfia KCII dvXiji',
Eyyu'flt re tlpta'^oto /cut ''EkTOpoc, eV iro'Aet aKprj.
When artificers were in sufficient repute to be sought out for
their skill, we cannot doubt that they would be amply repaid
for it. " There was in Homer's time great difference in the
possession of individuals ; some had large tracts of laud with
numerous herds and flocks, others had none. This state of
things is generally favourable to the arts; a few who have <i
superabundance of wealth, being better able, and generally
more willing, to encourage them than numbers who have only
a competency." Mitford's Greece, vol. i. p. 185.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 55
the skill by which it was obtained. In process
of time, successful warriors, or the children of
successful warriors, rich in conquered lands,
tog-ether with those who have inherited or gained
possessions which exempt them from the neces
sity of farther labour, begin in periods of tran
quillity to require amusements at home : for,
long before society has arrived at this point,
the chief enjoyment has ceased to be found in
indolence.* This desire of amusement brings
into demand a new set of persons, the men of
letters ; whose business it is first to entertain,
and afterwards to instruct ; and who must re
ceive at least such a reward of their powers
as repays them for withdrawing from active
labour. To furnish amusement during the
respite from the toils of the field of war, which
a feast or a peace afforded, was the first em
ployment of the epic and dramatic poets of
antiquity ; as well as of the Troubadours and
* " In every fertile soil, where a great extent of property
is allowed, there is room for elegance, sumptuousness, and
the encouragement of the arts." Wallace on Numbers of
Mankind, p. 18.
-0() CO.NDITION MOST SUITABLE
minstrels of the middle ages.* These begin
ning's, as culture refines the taste and increases
the demand, lead at length to the infinite
variety of intellectual pursuits, which form the
business of so large a part of the society, as
it advances farther towards literature and re
finement.
National possessions require the defence, not
of every citizen, as in a ruder state, since it
would be now inexpedient to divert them from
more useful avocations ; but of an established
profession. Individual possessions require, as
they become more extended and various, the
defence of statutes, which it is also the business
of a peculiar profession to interpret. Medicine,
which in uncivilized countries is confined to the
* The poet, or harper, has a place among the chiefs in
Homer, who describes his office and situation, representing
ltiniself, probably, under the character of Dcmodocus.
Tw & lipa FIoi'ToVooc 0>;«:e Bp&VOf dpyvporfXov
MeffffySaiTVfJidi'wi', irfwr Kttn-u ftatpw epeiVac.
AvTvp e'irei TTI'MJUH; KI.II edqrt/OC e£ evro,
MoiV ap' am$ov di'tJKCV «enV/uevai K\en dvi'ituv.
Oil o. v. (;.•>.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. $1
experimental knowledge of a few simples, be
comes a complex and detached study. Religion,
too, is no longer united wih the office of chief,
but it is intrusted to a peculiar body of men.
Commerce takes a wider range ; and what was
once confined to the simple barter of super
fluous articles, branches out into an arduous
science, and opens an extensive field of specu
lation.*
These are the principal features, though the
portrait is very incomplete, of the gradual pro
gress of all the arts, all the sciences, and all
the opulence which distinguish civilization. It
is not pretended that we can trace every stroke
of the outline, still less that we can point out
every shade that contributes towards the finished
picture ; the effect of which, after all, is subject
to infinite variations, according to peculiarity
of situation, climate and government. The
process which leads from the rudest to the most
civilized society, continues for many centuries,
and meets with many and various checks before
* See Millar on the Origin of Hunks, p. 3, 1 37.
58 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
the perfect figure is formed ; like some of the
secret processes of nature, which elude our ob
servation and research, but terminate in her most
curious and valuable productions.
And that the civilized man is to be classed
as the most perfect, and not as a depraved part
of the species, it can scarcely be necessary to
prove. The union of various characters, whose
bent of disposition has inclined them to the
different pursuits which have been just enume
rated as composing- civilized life, produces the
quick apprehension, the versatile talent, the ac
curate discernment, the steady conduct, which
entitled man to be called the chief of created
beings. What comparison is there between
that perfection of the corporeal powers, which
a constant dependence upon the senses has
produced in the savage, and that habitual power
of reason with which a cultivated mind is accus
tomed to trace events to their sources, and
pursue them to their consequences ? If experi
ence assures us, that, wherever equality is esta
blished, savageness will continue, let us see to
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. O(J
what state equality would reduce the world.
Observe the savage in his retirement ; his eyes
bent on vacancy, his stagnant mind making no
compensation for the inactivity of his body ;
or follow him to his feast, which has no object
but intemperate excess, and is succeeded by a
deathlike torpor ; or watch him when roused
by hostility from his indolence, cherishing even
by artificial means, hatred and revenge, and
vigorous only to supplant his enemy by strata
gem and treachery. Compare this representa
tion, which it is mortifying to hold up as the
description of a human being, not with the
philosopher, whose active mind could even find
in the bath a solution of his problem ; not with
another of the wonders of antiquity, who re
fused even to sleep a complete dominion over
his faculties ; but merely with the ordinary exer
tion and habitual activity of civilized existence ;
with the vigilant observation that unfolds the
mysteries of nature, or the patient abstraction
that facilitates the works of art ; with the energy
of animated conversation that dignifies the
rational entertainment ; and then let the moral-
60 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
1st or historian misuse as he will the powers he
owes to civilization, in extolling- an uncivilized
state, yet he can never disprove the acknow
ledged fact that inequality sharpens and exer
cises the natural powers of man, and that this
exercise of the natural powers brings the human
species to that degree of excellence which He
who made him capable of it, intended him to
attain.
III. At this point of the argument, however,
I find myself opposed on my own ground by
some of the latest advocates of equality. The
Abbe Raynal and Rousseau, with others to
whom allusion has heretofore been made,
though perceiving that equality must produce
savageness, still preferred the savage state for
the sake of the equality. But another sect of
inquirers, aspiring as anxiously as any one to
the perfection of the human race, and enjoying
indeed, a much brighter view of its perfecti
bility than common observers can be per
suaded to entertain, recommend at the same
time an equality of fortunes and conditions, as
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. f)l
tending- both to produce that perfection, and to
maintain it.* " The established administra
tion of property," we are told, " is the true
levelling system with respect to the human
species, by as much as the cultivation of intel
lect is more valuable and more characteristic
of man, than the gratifications of vanity or ap
petite. Accumulation of property treads the
powers of thought in the dust, extinguishes the
sparks of genius, and reduces the great mass
of mankind to be immersed in sordid cares ;
besides depriving the rich of the most salu-
* I am aware it may be thought that 1 have paid too
much attention to a writer now so completely forgotten as
Mr. Godwin. But it seemed to me very much to the purpose
of a treatise like the present, to show that the inequality of
conditions which the ordinances of Providence render neces
sary, is also agreeable to the attribute of divine wisdom.
And if this was to be proved, it was convenient to find the
arguments on the opposite side concentrated, as in Mr. God
win's Political Justice ; and at the same time it was fair to
take the ablest and best known statement of (hem that has ap
peared in this country.
It is probable, too, that many, though thev may allow
with Mr. Malthas that equality is unattainable in prarlioc,
may agree generally with Mr. Godwin that it is desirable in
theory.
62 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
brious and effectual motives to activity. If
superfluity were banished, the necessity of the
greater part of the manual industry of mankind
would be superseded ; and the rest, being
amicably shared among the active and vigor
ous members of the community, would be bur
densome to none. Every man would have a
frugal yet wholesome diet ; every man would
go forth to that moderate exercise of his cor
poreal functions, that would give hilarity to the
spirits ; none would be made torpid by fa
tigue, but all would have leisure to cultivate the
kindly and philanthropical affections, and to let
loose their faculties in the search of intellectual
improvement."*
The advantages represented to us as likely
to result from this equal distribution of the
gifts of fortune, are twofold — intellectual and
moral. With respect to the first, how rapid,
it is said, " would be the advances of intellect,
if all men were admitted into the field of know
ledge ! At present, ninety-nine persons in a
* Political Justice, b. viii. c. 3.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 63
hundred are no more excited to any regular
exertions of general and curious thought, than
the brutes themselves. What would be the
state of the public mind in a nation where all
were wise, all had laid aside the shackles of
prejudice and implicit faith, all adopted, with
fearless confidence, the suggestions of reason,
and the lethargy of the soul was dismissed for
ever?"*
It is here impossible not to envy that san
guine imagination, which surveying mankind
from China to Peru, could discover a single
nation so happily exempted from the common
frailties of humanity, as to disclose the germ,
or even to contain the seeds, of a general im
provement here so luxuriantly described. The
truth is, that man, who obviously requires an
urgent stimulus to manual exertion, has equal
need of a strong and sensible incitement to the
exertion of the mind. It is not necessary to
maintain the degrading opinion, that the im
provement of the intellect can only be stimu-
* Polit. Justice, vol. i. p. 461.
64 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
lated by the actual and immediate influence of
the love of gain. It is sufficient to know, that
the vast and complicated machine of human
society, the movements of which are as intri
cate as the motion is constant, was originally
actuated, and is kept in continual activity, by
each individual's desire of bettering- his own
condition. Experience proves this ; by show
ing us, from the examples of rude countries,
that exertion is never made till it begins to be
individually productive. Banish then super
fluity, remove what is called " the gratification
of vanity or appetite ; " is it reasonable to ima
gine that the same industry will be employed,
when the inducement by which it is excited
has been taken away ? The impulse, indeed,
once caused, the active habits once introduced
by the hope of individual advancement, reaches
far beyond the immediate influence of the prin
ciple ; but it does not follow that it would con
tinue, if the principle itself were removed.
That natural and spirit-stirring desire is the
nourishment of the body politic ; it is the fer
tilizing source which supplies the juices to the
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 65
tree ; and though the stem may for a while
show signs of life, and even continue to put
forth shoots after the nourishment is dried up,
it soon becomes a barren trunk, the decaying
monument of former strength and vigour.
What, I would ask, are the circumstances
which in the general constitution of civilized
society lead to the cultivation of the mind ? Is
it, comprehensively speaking, the desire of
spreading useful knowledge ? is it the abstract
love of science ? is it not rather the conviction,
that wealth is procured by learning, that dis
tinguished honours reward distinguished abi
lity, which implants the principle in early life,
which generates in youth the habits of indus
try, and animates the labours of maturer age ?
The largest share, beyond comparison, of the
useful discoveries in moral or philosophical
science, in history or civil policy, is derived
from the learned professions, which are filled
by men who have looked forward from their
youth to the various branches of learning as
the means of acquiring both subsistence and
VOL. II. F
66 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
reputation. But these sources of information
will be cut off, when the hope of improving
fortune, and of accumulating- property, is re
moved ; when the inexorable agrarian law pre
scribes to each man his condition, apportions
to him his lot, and forbids him to improve it.
The love of fame and distinction may operate
for a little while, and upon a few minds ; but
being, as we are assured, " a delusion," * it
will soon cease to deceive, when no longer
supported by the substantial good of increased
fortune, and enlarged means of gratification.
It matters not that the information contributed
to the general stock by the leisure of the
learned professions, deviates from the regular
path of their duties ; that it is not connected
with their necessary labours, but the voluntary
amusement of their retirement ; for the habit
which is thus exercised in retirement, was ge
nerated in the activity of business ; and the
study which becomes - recreation, owes its ori
gin to the necessity of labour : like the stream
* Polit. Justice, i. 487.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 67
which fertilizes the valleys, but descends from
the side of some bleak and barren mountain.
The argument which is commonly employed
to enforce youthful application, is the prospect
of future success and competency. How is it
that a father urges his son to overcome his
natural indolence ? He points out to his obser
vation some prosperous adventurer, who, born
to slender circumstances, by industry, tem
perance, and prudence, has raised himself to
public distinction or splendid fortune. His
precepts, thus illustrated by the examples
which the world every where affords, must
have a powerful, and, it may be added, an
honourable effect upon the mind. But reverse
this intelligible argument ; and say, " Enter
the field of knowledge, promote the general
advance of intellect. Let your mind be deli
vered from all anxiety about corporal support,
and expatiate freely in the field of thought
which is congenial to her. It is the duty of
each individual to assist the inquiries of all." *
* Polit. Justice, vol. i. p. 463.
F2
68 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
Few persons, I conceive, entertain such san
guine views of human nature, as to suppose
that if the pursuit of knowledge had been
encouraged by no other stimulants, it would
not have been confined within much narrower
limits.
Nor would it be a satisfactory answer to
these observations, to point out the numerous
persons who apply to the cultivation of their
minds, though urged by no necessity. The
necessity of labour to the majority, establishes
a standard which it is an object of emulation to
attain : but remove that general necessity, and
you break the main-spring of the whole. It
may be fairly asserted, that one third, at least,
of the community receive as good an education
now, as it would be possible to give them even
though things were levelled to the proposed
equality. Yet, notwithstanding the advan
tages of education, the example of general ac
tivity, and the force of early habit, the prone-
ness of the mind to sink into languid indolence,
as soon as it ceases to be stimulated by the
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 6Q
immediate view of reward or the sensible pres
sure of necessity, too plainly blazons the truth
that mankind are not so constituted as to be
swayed by abstract rules, rather than sensible
motives ; and that nothing can be more chime
rical than the expectation of a whole people
setting- out upon the pursuit of knowledge,
with no stronger inducement than the prospect
of general utility.
It is, indeed, curious to observe how im
possible it is to preserve consistency in an
argument the basis of which is defective.
" Hereditary wealth," says the author of Poli
tical Justice, " is in reality a premium paid to
idleness, an immense annuity expended to
retain mankind in brutality and ignorance.
The poor are kept ignorant by the want of lei
sure. The rich are furnished indeed with the
means of cultivation and literature, but they
are paid for being dissipated and extravagant.
The most powerful means that malignity could
have invented, are employed to prevent them
from improving their talents, and becoming
70 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
useful to the public."* What, however, are
these means, except the power of enjoyment
without the necessity of labour ? It is hard to
say what obstacles prevent the rich from cul
tivating- the mind in the present state of things,
which would not oppose the improvement of
the whole community on the principle of uni
versal and equal competency. To appoint to
every one, on his entrance into the world, the
limits of his fortune, would be the most suc
cessful method of encouraging ignorance and
privileging idleness.
IV. The great, indeed the only test of poli
tical expediency, is practice : the only guide,
experience. Of this the advocate of equality is
aware ; and therefore refers us, though in a
cursory manner, which betrays his conviction of
the weakness of his prop, to the " great practical
authorities, Crete, Sparta, Peru, and Paraguay."!
* Pol. Just. vol. ii. p. 459.
t The missionary government of Paraguay was so peculiar,
and so far from independent, as not to require any discussion.
Its authors and supporters, the Jesuits, did not spring up, and
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 71
The first mention of these countries does not
certainly excite in the reader of history, the idea
of moral or intellectual perfection. We re
member the barbarous treatment of the Helots
at Lacedaemon, and the systematic massacres by
which their numbers were reduced. We are re
minded of the proverbial disesteem in which the
inhabitants of Crete* were held by the surround
ing nations ; while Peru and Paraguay suggest
to us the idea of " societies, still at the time of
their discovery, in the first stages of their transi
tion from barbarism to civilization. "t Let us,
however, briefly inquire whether the imperfec
tions were accidental, which forbid the proposing
of these governments as models, or whether they
proceeded from the very nature of their equal
constitution, and are not, in fact, " great practical
authorities" in favour of that different establish-
had not their education, in a state of equality. The Indians
however, it may be observed, were only just emerging from
gross ignorance when the missionaries were for them so un
fortunately recalled.
* Polybius, 1. 6. Mitford's Greece, i. 280.
f Robertson's America, iii. 353.
72 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
memt which nature has uniformly introduced
where her laws are not counteracted by some
very peculiar provision.
The laws of Minos led the way to those of
Lycurgus. Their principles were the same ;*
namely, that all freemen should be equal. It
will be sufficient, therefore, to comprehend
them under one head, and to take the laws of
Sparta from their panegyrist Xenophon.t Ly
curgus, it appears, divided the possessions of
the state into lots, according to the number of
citizens he found ; and these parcels of land
were neither to be increased by subdivision,
* These principles were, " that all freemen should be
equal ; and therefore that none should have any property in
lands or goods ; but that citizens should be served by slaves,
who cultivated the lands on public account That the citi
zens should dine at public tables, and their families subsist
on public stock." Adams on Ant. Republics. This con
stitution of Crete is enthusiastically described by Strabo.
Aristotle, 1. 2, de Rep. speaks of" that of Sparta in a very
different tone.
f De Laced. Politeia, cap. 7. See also Plutarch in Vila
Lycurgi. According to the latter authority, even ra cTriTrXa,
personal and moveable property, was divided.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. J3
nor diminished by alienation ; but the redun
dant population was drained off in colonies.
Every thing conspired to keep down and restrain
the natural tendency of wealth towards in
equality. The frugal and public mode of living
rendered it useless to acquire wealth with a view
to gratification. The peculiar nature of the
cjrrent coin rendered its accumulation impossi
ble. It was the boast of the country, " that, in
other states of Greece, all men were allowed to
exercise their fortunes in whatever way they
chose, in agriculture, navigation, merchandise,
or the arts ; but that, in Sparta, Lycurgus had
forbidden freemen to be concerned in any
business by which money is acquired, and to
study those things only which tend to preserve
freedom."*
If equality of condition can expand the mind,
if relaxation from the labour to which the lower
orders are commonly subjected, can withdraw
it from the ground we tread upon, and raise it
* Xen. cap. 7.
74 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
to the subjects of contemplation that are con
genial to active intelligence ; here surely we
shall find the genius to have flourished that
enlarged science, and pointed out the immu
table truths of morals ; here we shall find the
source of that refined literature, which has ren
dered Greece the instructress of so many ages.
Far otherwise. The truth of history obliges us
to confess, that the constitution of Sparta gave
to her citizens independence and bravery, but
none of the virtues which render those qualities
engaging. The regulations which preserved
equality, benumbed the activity of the mind ;
rendered the Spartans formidable indeed to their
neighbours, because restless at home ; and rest
less at home, because deprived of the resources
of industry. Crete, though somewhat less bar
barous, and not averse from the arts of poetry
and music, has left to posterity no memorial of
literary genius, or examples of illustrious virtue.
Upon the whole, these republics are so far from
having practically shown us, that no farther sti
mulants to the cultivation of the mind are re
quired, than opportunity and leisure, that the very
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 75
equality which is the theme of so much pane
gyric is explained to us by writers of less equal
and more laborious communities ; to whose un
fettered activity alone it is owing-, that the once
important names of Crete arid Lacedcemon are
not as completely obscured and blotted out by
time, as the ruins of Carthage or Babylon.*
Peru offers us an example of the equal divi
sion of property, but not of equality of con
dition. t The distinction of ranks was there
fully established. " A great body of the inha
bitants, under the denomination of Yanaconas,
were held in a state of servitude. Their garb
* Cicero (Brutus, 1. 13) remarks that Sparta had never
even produced an orator ; which is most extraordinary in a
country where there was so much liberty. Tyrtaeus was an
Athenian, though he wrote (or sung) at Lacedzemon. In
Crete, the names of Thales, who was sent to Lacedaemon to
soften the Spartan manners by his lyric poetry, and of Chry-
sothemis, who gained the musical prize at the Olympic games,
have been recorded.
t The account of this division, and the mode of cultivation,
as given by Robertson, is highly interesting, and seems the
groundwork of Mr. Godwin's ideal system.
76 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
and houses were of a form different from those
of freemen. Like the Tamenes of Mexico, they
were employed in carrying- burdens, and in per
forming every work of drudgery. Next to
them in rank were such of the people as were
free, but distinguished by no official or here
ditary honours. Above them were raised what
the Spaniards denominated Orejones. They
formed what may be called the order of nobles,
and in peace, as well as war, held every office
of power or trust. At the head of all were
the Children of the Sun, who, by their high
descent and peculiar privileges, were as much
exalted above the Orejones, as these were ele
vated above the people."* These different
orders must necessarily have infused a spirit
into the general body, and have prevented that
stagnation which results from total equality.
The arts of industry and refinement, unknown
in Sparta, were here carried to some perfection.
But it is remarkable, that the peculiarity of
their administration of property gives a prac-
* Robertson's America, vol. iii. p. 339.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 77
tical illustration of the very evils which I origi
nally alluded to, as universally accompanying
the equalization of fortunes. " In the towns of
the Mexican empire, stated markets were held,
and whatever could supply any want or desire
of man was an object of commerce. But in
Peru, from the singular mode of dividing pro
perty, and the manner in which the people were
settled, there was hardly any species of com
merce carried on between different provinces ;
and the community was little acquainted with
that active intercourse, which is at once a bond
of union and an incentive to improvement."
A recent intelligent traveller makes the same
conclusion : " If we examine,'* he says, " the
mechanism of the Peruvian government under
the Yncas, generally too much exalted in Europe,
we shall find, that wherever the people are
divided into castes, of which each can only follow
a certain species of labour, and wherever the
inhabitants possess no particular property, the
people, preserving for thousands of years the
same appearance of external comfort, make
78 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
almost no advances in moral cultivation."* Nor
did these institutions, which denied to the Peru
vians the advantag-es of refinment arising from
industrious communication, compensate the loss,
as with the Spartans and Cretans of old, by
that public spirit and love of freedom which is
the just object of admiration. " There is not
an instance in history, of any people so little
advanced in refinement, so totally destitute of
military enterprise. Peru was subdued at once,
and almost without resistance ; and the most
favourable opportunities of regaining their free
dom, and of crushing their oppressors, were lost
through the timidity of the people."-}-
This review of those few countries which
have, by artificial means, kept down the natural
tendency of property to run into large and
unequal masses, and have retained any degree
of equality together with civilization, abundantly
proves to us that the distribution of fortunes,
* Humboldt, vol. i. p. 162. Robertson, vol. iii. p. 355.
f Robertson, vol. iii. p. 35(i.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 79
which nature has rendered inevitable, is in fact
the only one conducive to general improve
ment. The most insuperable objection, how
ever, still remains to be brought forward.
" When labour should be rendered in the strict
est sense voluntary, when it should cease to
interfere with our improvement, and rather
become a part of it, or, at worst, be converted
into a source of amusement and variety,"* who
would undertake those employments which form
the largest, and not the least necessary part
of the labour of the community, which no
variety could render satisfactory, no perversion
of taste amusing ? to which, in short, nothing
could reconcile the mind, but the necessity of
working for subsistence, and the constant and
presiding influence of gain ? When the " quan
tity of exertion is to be so light, as rather to
assume the guise of agreeable relaxation and
gentle exercise, than of labour,"t what shall pre
serve all the roads, the mines, the canals, of the
community ?
* Polit. Just. vol. ii. p. 494.
t Pol. Just. ii. 482.
80 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
" Labor omnia vincit
Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas."
But will the sense of justice, or the sense of
shame, to which we are referred as the genu
ine correctives of idleness, cut a canal in a
century, or induce a body of individuals, al
ready, according- to the supposition, possessed
of competence, to conduct the subterraneous
operations of a mine ? At the first stroke, then,
of equality, we are deprived of the useful, as
well as of the precious metals ; of coals, in
many countries no less indispensable ; the pro
duce of the richest districts is locked up or
wasted, while the poorest are reduced to famine
through the want of cultivation. There is not
a manufacture, even after the exclusion of all
luxury, that does not require processes very
" inconsistent with the most desirable state of
human existence." *
* The absence of luxuries, however ornamental, and even
of the polite arts, might certainly be considered as desirable,
if the condition of the main body of the people was in con
sequence improved. " Servants, labourers, and workmen
of different kinds, make up the far greater part of every
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 81
How then was this difficulty overcome in
the "great practical authorities" we have been
considering? In a manner which must surely
deter the advocates of equality from the defence
even of their own system. In Sparta, four
hundred thousand slaves were devoted to forty
thousand citizens. In Crete, nine tenths of
mankind were doomed to slavery, to support
the citizens in total idleness, excepting those
exercises proper for warriors. In Peru, it has
already been observed, that " a great body of
the inhabitants were kept in a state of servitude.*'
And to this servitude, no doubt, the Peruvians
were indebted for the celebrated road of the
Yncas, extending from Cusco to Quito, about
fifteen hundred miles.
political society. No society can surely be flourishing and
happy, of which the far greater part of the members are
poor and miserable." (Smith's Wealth of Nations, b. i. 1. 8.)
But the same great authority has observed with perfect truth,
that the " accommodation of an European prince does not
always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal
peasant, as the accommodations of the latter exceed those
of an African king." Every condition of life is alike a
gainer by the arts of civilization.
VOL. II. G
82 CONDITION MOST SUITABLE
The political advantage, therefore, of equality
is, we see, a splendid image,* which crumbles
at the touch : and there would be no surer
method of fixing mankind in stationary barba
rism, if the constitution of things had not posi
tively forbidden that it should ever be introduced
into real or general practice. We are told,
indeed, that a state of great intellectual improve
ment is to obviate the objection arising from
indolence. Our experience, however, of the
slow and painful progress of intellectual improve
ment does not authorize any sanguine expecta
tions of a rapid or considerable advance beyond
the present standard of civilized countries. The
records of a hundred generations, during which
we have a tolerable history of mankind, oblige
us to conclude that there is no way by which
* It is impossible that these obstacles to its practice should
not have been felt by Mr. Godwin, during the close attention
to the subject which his inquiry demanded ; but by an inge
nious rejection of all details, 'and an abundance of general
remark, he has kept the total impracticability of the system
out of the first view of the reader, who is charmed by the
delusive prospect, and overlooks the impassable barriers that
lie between.
TO HUMAN FACULTIES. 83
the mind can be so effectually prompted to exer
tion, as by the prospect of those tangible re
wards which minister comfort or supply necessity.
When the race of men shall have been to such a
degree improved, as to require no other motives
of action* than benevolence, and a sense of
public utility, the main prop will certainly be
taken from the argument which I have here
pursued. But in the mean time it is not pre
sumptuous to conclude, that the situation best
calculated to improve by exercise the faculties of
man, is civil society, consisting, as it does, of
unequal fortunes, ranks, and conditions.t
* " The moment I require any farther reason tor supplying
you, than the cogency of your claim, the moment, ia addi
tion to the dictates of benevolence, I demand a prospect of
reciprocal advantage to myself, there is an end of that poli
tical justice and pure equality of which I treat." Pol. Just.
ii. 513.
•j- This must not be understood as favouring the accumu
lation of wealth into few hands. The more gradual the
steps by which you ascend from the lowest to the highest
fortune, the more advantageous is the state of the community.
Much inconvenience results, in many countries, from the
colossal fortunes of a few individuals, contrasted with general
poverty. The civilization is always least advanced where
any of the intermediate steps are wanting.
G 2
84 ON THE CONDITION
CHAPTER IV.
Wliether Equality or Inequality of Ranks and
Fortunes, is the Condition best suited to the
Exercise of Virtue.
IF the advantages arising to mankind from
their union in civil society could be pursued no
farther, it would be a sufficient evidence of the
Creator's wisdom, that he had provided for
bringing the human race into a situation so
favourable for the development of their facul
ties. But intelligence, though the distinguish
ing ornament of our species, is still to be held
inferior and subservient to virtue. And since
the great object of our existence on earth is
believed to be moral discipline, it might be,
difficult to reconcile the inequality of condi
tions with that main purpose of human life,
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 85
unless a state consisting- of such unequal con
ditions had a farther advantage, even beyond
its first effect of bringing the mental faculties
to their highest perfection. The truth is, how
ever, that the inequality of conditions, which is
the foundation of civil society, affords not only
the best improvement of the human faculties,
but the best trial of the human virtues ; it is the
nursery most suited to their formation, and the
theatre most fitted for their exercise.
The advocates of equality are not contented
with denying this j they assert the very con
trary. " Reduce all conditions to equality,''
it has been said, " and the great occasions of
crime will be cut off for ever." This bold de
claration must not be admitted even in passing :
for it is impossible to suppose any condition of
things so equal, that no man shall desire what
belongs to another. A change of this sort, if
effected at all, must originate in the inward
habits, and riot in the outward situation of
man. But the truer proposition is, that the
great occasions of virtue would be cut off for
86 ON THE CONDITION
ever, without any corresponding1 deduction on
the score of vice.* A complete community of
goods, if it could possibly exist on a large
* Pol. Justice, i 462. The observations of Aristotle on
this subject deserve attention, because he had an opportu
nity of seeing that of which we have no instance, the actual
operation of a certain degree of equality with some share of
comparative civilization. " The bare necessaries of life,
food and fuel, clothes to cover our nakedness, and a home to
shelter us from the storm, comforts, which it is pretended, the
equalization of property would enable all men to enjoy, are
not the only incentives to injustice. The greatest crimes
are committed for none of these things. It is not to avoid
cold or hunger that tyrants cover themselves with blood ;
and states decree the most illustrious rewards, not to him
who catches a thief, but to him who kills an usurper. Pha-
leas's plan of equalizing property is useful, therefore, against
the least and most inconsiderable only of the evils which
infest society, evils against which there is an appropriate
remedy in industry and moderation.
" The equalization of fortunes may have some slight ten
dency to stifle animosity and prevent dissension. But its
effect is always inconsiderable, and often doubtful ; since
those who think themselves entitled to superiority will not
patiently brook equality. The wickedness of man is bound
less ; and is an evil that cannot be remedied by equalizing
property, whether lands or moveables." Lib. 2. de Polit.
chap, vii.; or v. of Dr. Gillies's translation, from which 1 here
quote, as being sufficiently accurate for the purpose.
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 87
scale, might diminish the temptations to fraud
and robbery ; but these constitute only a small
part of the moral guilt of mankind ; while, on
the other hand, all those virtuous habits which
derive both their origin and their perfections
from the varieties of the human condition, all
the dispositions of mind to which the different
circumstances of civilized life give play and
action, would lose the occasions under which
they are now formed, and the opportunities in
which they are displayed. The Platonic view
of moral virtue, which places it in the contem
plation of ideal excellence, may be consistent
with a state of perfection, but is incompatible
with a state of probation. Virtue is an active
and energetic habit, arising from the various
relations of human life, and exercised in the
practice of real duties ; so that, as you increase
the number and variety of those relations, you
enlarge its sphere of action ; and in proportion
as you contract them, in proportion as you
bring down the conditions of mankind towards
an uniform level, you lower the standard, and
reduce the degree of moral excellence.
88 ON THE CONDITION
It may possibly be argued, that this descrip
tion of virtue originates not in the nature of
virtue itself, but in the situation of man ; and
that I represent as its essential property what
is only its accidental quality. It may be
thought, that although, according to the pre
sent constitution of things, man must certainly
deny himself many gratifications, and repress
his natural feelings and desires, in compliance
with the laws ordained for his conduct : yet
that he would be an equally virtuous being, if
placed in circumstances that required no such
reluctant exertion.
It is undeniable that there may be a species
of virtue, visible and pleasing to the Creator,
which shall consist in the internal habit of the
mind, independent of any outward action ; an
equable, unmoved, pious, and pure state of the
soul, not shining by victorious exertion against
opposition, but admirable for its intrinsic ex
cellence. There is nothing unintelligible in this
idea of virtue, though it is rather an object of
our conception than of experience. Such is
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 8<J
probably the virtue of beings, higher than our
selves in the scale of creation ; such may be our
virtue hereafter, in a purer state, and in a purer
world. It is superior in positive excellence to
any that we can possibly acquire, because the
difficulties and repulses which man encounters
in his endeavours towards the perfection which
he sets before him, are all so many proofs of his
inferiority, and of the weakness of his moral
principle.
The Deity however, when he determined to
make this stage of existence a passage to ano
ther, in which the virtues here cultivated and
exhibited should be rewarded, and the contrary
habits punished in proportion, had it not in con
templation to create a perfect character, but to
discipline an imperfect one. Therefore, he did
not place human beings in a state where inherent
virtue should be most sublime, but where prac
tical virtue should be most conspicuous, and most
properly the subject of reward. But untried
virtue is the object of love, esteem, or admira-
90 ON THE CONDITION
tion, rather than of reward ; which being
a recompense for good performed, requires, or
supposes, that such good should not have been
the unavoidable consequence of the circum
stances in which the agent was placed, but his
voluntary election from various conflicting ob
jects set before him. Virtue, therefore, cannot
become justly rewardable, till it has been proved
equal to trial ; in other words, till it has shown
itself capable of enforcing the practice of some
duty, or the sacrifice of some inclination, in obe
dience to certain obligations by which it is
bound.
Humble, therefore, as the pretensions of the
fairest human virtue must ever be in regard to
intrinsic worth, it may, notwithstanding, be
more deserving of reward than virtue far supe
rior to it in dignity and stability. Its com
parative value is proportioned to the difficulties
it has overcome. The intellectual powers of
the laborious student may never arrive at the
vigour of the lofty genius ; yet though the
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. (J1
mind of superior mould commands the highest
admiration, the industrious exertions of the
other are the object of more just approbation
to the impartial observer of their mutual pro
gress. The Creator is such an observer of the
actions of mankind ; and, in appreciating their
deserts, will take into consideration their natu
ral powers, opportunities, and difficulties, ra
ther than the positive degree of moral virtue
they have attained.
It is certain, at least, that this idea of re-
wardable virtue falls in with our common and
familiar notions. In for.ninsr our estimate of
o
merit or demerit, we habitually take into ac
count the circumstances of the agent ; and ad
mire the moderation of Cyrus or the continence
of Scipio, more than the privations of a recluse
or an anchoret. Justice appears brightest
where it has proved superior to opportunities
of fraud ; benevolence, where something is re
signed by its exercise. The virtue of Adam in
Paradise was liable to no trial, except that of
obedience to a positive law ; and if that obe-
92 ON THE CONDITION
dience had not been exacted, would have been
entitled to no contingent reward.*
* As human life is constituted, it is difficult to find the
case of a virtue which is not exposed to actual temptation.
But perhaps an instance in point may be taken from the vir
tue of loyalty, which, in a time of civil union, lies dormant
and unregarded ; no man praises another, or values himself
for possessing it, as if it were called into daily display, like
charity, justice, or temperance. Change the complexion of
the times, and loyalty becomes an active virtue ; and no one
will deny that it was a virtue of considerable account in the
numerous persons, many of them in a very inferior condition,
who favoured the concealment and escape of Charles the
Second after the battle of Worcester. Independently of all
political considerations, it is impossible not to admire the
rooted fidelity which was proof against a large reward on one
hand, and the dread of the punishment of treason on the
other.
What loyalty is in quiet times, such would all virtue be in
a state which precluded temptation ; and it approaches
nearer to this dormant state, in proportion as the temptations
are fewer or less powerful. Introduce the idea of reward
and the case becomes still clearer. For, as we should ridi.
cule a subject who demanded any favour of his king in return
for his inherent loyalty, or abstract veneration of the mo
narchical character ; so we should think that loyalty worthy
of any reasonable requital which had been evinced in seasons
of public commotion, and practised at the expense of pecu
niary sacrifice and at tin- risk of personal danger.
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 93
It does not follow from this reasoning, that
it is the duty of man to expose his moral con
stancy to hazard, or that virtue ought to court
danger, and place itself in the midst of volun
tary temptation. The description here given
of rewardable virtue will not even derogate
from the merit of those, whatever it may be
thought to be, who in various ages have re
treated from the seductions of the world, and
shut the door against its pleasures. For virtue
though it demands occasions for its exercise,
and does not consist in the absence of all
temptations to the contrary practice of vice,
may very properly consist in the avoiding, as
well as in the overcoming, the attractions of
vicious pursuits. To retreat beyond the reach
of objects which are likely to conquer our prin
ciples and resolutions, is actual virtue ; but it
supposes the existence of those objects. It
has indeed been often alleged as a reproach
against a monastic life, that it was excluded
from the opportunities of virtue, and sacrificed
active duties to passive devotion ; but it should
not be forgotten, that a world of temptation
1)4 ON THE CONDITION
existed without the walls of the monastery,
which it was some virtue to avoid.
All the merit, however, which can arise from
such a sacrifice, all the train of graceful and
benevolent virtues, which have their origin in
the various conditions of which human society
is composed, and the mutual dependence of
these upon each other, are unknown to a state
of equality. In exact proportion as you reduce
the conditions of mankind to one uniform level,
and diminish the number and variety of rela
tions which they bear towards each other, you
circumscribe the opportunities of virtue, and
narrow the theatre of its exertion. The state
of savage life, which, after what has been
said in the preceding chapter, I must be
allowed to make synonymous with equality,
affords little room for that benevolent expan
sion of the heart, which arises from the exercise
of the social affections. The place of those
social affections is filled by selfish appetite, and the
unsubdued violence of natural feelings ; and the
moral state is marked by the absence of that gene-
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 95
rous affection, which in civilized life springs up
within the domestic circle, and, extending- from
thence to all who are placed within reach of
its influence, spreads joy and happiness in every
direction.
The connexion, on the contrary, which unites
the various ranks of civil society, is peculiarly
calculated to call forth all the benevolent, all
the social duties, of which the human heart is
capable. It is perhaps true, that the first
prospect of a country far advanced in civiliza
tion, appals us by the vast disproportion ob
servable between the wealth of a few, and the
poverty of the many : nor can we rid ourselves
of the idea of superfluity and indigence, even
when it becomes apparent that these extremes
are connected by an almost regular gradation
of intermediate fortunes. If mankind had no
ulterior destination, and their enjoyment on
earth was the sole end and purpose of their
being, this disproportion would not only be re.
markable if it existed at all, but inexplicable
if it existed necessarily. But the case becomes
J(J ON THE CONDITION
altogether different, when every situation is
considered as being accompanied by its pe
culiar duty, and forming a separate sphere
of probation. The various conditions of hu
man life each require a settled course of action,
according to a principle deliberately embraced
for the right government of the conduct : and
in proportion as the conditions are various, the
more room there is for the exercise of virtue,
in determining and adhering to the line of
duty.
Take, for example, the superfluity of the
rich. This is not gratuitously bestowed, but
imposes upon them the peculiar duty of judi
cious expenditure. To determine what excess
beyond the natural wants is suitable to an ex
alted station or an abundant fortune, and what,
on the other hand, may be justly condemned
as useless and ostentatious luxury, is a ques
tion which demands the constant exercise of
judgment, and lays a most beneficial restraint
upon all the selfish feelings. For, let it not be
thought that all superfluities should be pruned
:\IOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 97
off as luxury, or blamed as vanity : some part
of an extensive fortune may be properly em
ployed in encouraging those liberal arts which
contribute towards the perfection of man, and
in diffusing- that wholesome industry which
the regular expenditure of the rich spreads in
a thousand channels. I hold no concurrence
with the unsound axiom, that vice, in any case,
ran be productive of public utility ; but it would
argue an unjustifiable austerity to deny that
the judicious liberality of the opulent, though
not employed on purposes usually termed cha
ritable, is beneficial to a civilized community.
The exercise of judicious charity is still more
imperative. This demands of the affluent not
only a denial of some luxurious vanities, but
what is often more reluctantly sacrificed, a
portion of their time, and a sound exertion of
discriminating judgment. Those stated and
uninquiring bounties, which, having their as
signed periods, are expected by the receivers
as their regular income, and, having no defi
nite object, produce no definite advantage,
commonly meet with no other return than in-
VOI.. II. II
98 ON THE CONDITION
gratitude. But much less wealth than is often
misapplied in such indiscriminate purposes, or
in others of a more useful but equally ostenta
tious kind, might invigorate drooping industry,
might solace patient suffering, and, above all,
might widely spread those advantages of edu
cation, which, if universally diffused, would
prevent one half the miseries and privations
we lament in the world. The charity which
is often employed to wipe the tear of distress,
might, by a more prudent application, stop the
source from which it flows.*
* It is interesting to find this clearly recognized by
Aristotle, who had seen the consequence of a regular distri
bution of public bounty at Athens. 'Owov $' curl irpoaotiai, Sel
fjirj TTOielv 8 rvv 61 Stjfjaywyol iroioval. rd yap Trepidvra vepovvi.
\afjiftuvovai fie a^ia, KOI TciXii' deoi'rai rtSy dvru>v. 6 rerpi^evoc
yap efffi iriQoq tj roidvrr] fioqSeia roFc QTropoic- 'AXXct £ei TOV
d\riQivwQ IrinoTixov, opqv OTTWC TO TrXrjdoQ HYJ \iav Airopov »/'.
Pol. lib. vi. ch. v. " \Vhen revenues superabound, it is now
usual with demagogues to divide the surplus among the
poor : but this is to pour water into a sieve. A good statesman,
instead of occasionally relieving the wants of the poor, who
quickly return to be again relieved, will continually strive to
better their permanent condition." To compare Aristotle's
" Politics " with Smith's Wealth of Nations, is as absurd on
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 99
This peculiar exercise, proposed to the active
virtue of the rich, springs entirely, let it be ob
served, from the relative situation in which they
are placed by the inequalities of fortune. De
stroy that inequality, there is no industry to en
courage, no genius to stimulate ; a loss indeed
that would be of less importance, if it could be
added, that no want would require relief, no
misery demand alleviation. But they have not
studied in the rigid school of experience, who
imagine that equality could banish the most
poignant distresses of life, or that the greatest
misfortunes to which mankind are subject ori
ginate in their external circumstances.
It would be a trespass on the province of
the moralist, to take more than a cursory view
of the duties which their situation more parti
cularly imposes upon the middle and lower
ranks of society. In the former of these, a
prudential restraint upon the passions stands
the one band, as it is on the other to deny that it contains a
fund of profound and judicious remark on the constitutions
<>f antiquity, though mixed with some fundamental errors.
H 2
100 ON THE CONDITION.
most prominent, and deserves especial remark,
as being totally unknown in those conditions
of society where an equal hand supplies alike
the thoughtless and the temperate, the frugal
and the extravagant. This duty arises out of
the rapid growth of population. The difficulty
which exists in an old and fully peopled coun
try, of acquiring support in the rank and sphere
to which each individual belongs by birth, re
quires an habitual restraint, and a prudent de-
r.ial of those inclinations which, in other cir
cumstances of the human race, are only felt to
be gratified.* Since the desires which it is
* Should any one be inclined to question the wisdom of
a provision which requires this restraint, and allege its fre
quent infraction as an argument against the dispensation, let
him reflect on the state of those countries where the restraint
is disregarded, or where there is little occasion for its exer
cise ; as in many parts of the East, and among the Poly
nesians, &c. Their example is a sufficient proof how little
is gained, on the score of mor.ality, by the facility of grati
fication, or the absence of restraint. America is a case still
more in point, being generally understood to be the country
where marriage takes place earlier, and more easily, than in
any other of equal civilization. Yet it is not represented as
superior in the virtue of chastity to countries where the multi-
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 101
necessary to subject to these checks, are always
natural, and sometimes laudable ; and since the
evils which attend their gratification are pro
spective and even distant, while the gratification
is itself immediate ; reason has here an occasion
of exercising- her peculiar province, in keeping
the right balance between opposite interests ;
and the right use of that province leads to the
perfection of those virtues which are the chief
ornament and characteristic of man.
It is equally true with respect to the lowest
plication of the species is ten times slower. Among1 Euro
pean nations, where the duty of restraint is recognised, the
sexual passion is the great touchstone of virtue, and of the
efficacy of religion. That it is too often violated, all must
lament : that it is observed to a considerable extent, no one
can deny ; or that its observance would be more general and
easy if proper attention were paid to the subject in educa
tion, and if absurd custom had not autliori/ed the habitual
use of inflammatory liquors, at an age \\hich by no means re
quires any such artificial incitement. The Creator has not
made the indulgence of any passion obligatory on mankind ;
but vicious custom may pervert the intention of nature, and
change a necessary provision into a moral poison.
See, on the first part of the subject of this note, Maltlius's
<>bst nations, vol. ii. p. 493.
102 ON THE CONDITION
ranks, that their peculiar circumstances open
at once a field both for the trial of their virtue
and the improvement of their reason. To see
so many around them in the easy and undisturbed
possession of what they are themselves inces
santly labouring- to attain, because their own
ancestors have been either less prudent or less
fortunate, requires the constant exertion of
patient contentment. Their reason is employed
meanwhile, in some cases, to point out the ad
vantage of preserving- a cheerful equanimity
under those hardships which no discontent can
remove or alleviate ; and in others, to discover
what prospect there may be of meliorating-, by
successful industry, the difficulties inseparable
from the very lowest condition. The strug-g-le
to escape this is the constant spur of labour.
Reason must teach the foresight which enables
a healthy and vigorous youth to provide against
the infirmities of age ; and by which a father
points out to his children the path in which they
may tread the rough road of life with fewest
obstacles, and the fairest prospect of success.
I>y this right application of the rational faculties,
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 103
poverty may be rendered tolerable, and indi
gence avoided. These conditions, it must be
ever remembered, are essentially distinct and
separate. Poverty is often both honourable and
comfortable ; but indigence can only be pitiable,
and is usually contemptible. Poverty is not only
the natural lot of many, in a well-constituted
society, but is necessary, that a society may be
well constituted. Indigence, on the contrary, is
seldom the natural lot of any, but is commonly
the state into which intemperance and want of
prudent foresight push poverty : the punishment
which the moral government of God inflicts in
this world upon thoughtlessness and guilty ex
travagance. It is one of the moral advantages
of civil society, that every condition has a ten
dency to sink into the degree immediately below
it, unless that tendency is counteracted by pru
dence and activity ; and the descent, which from
the higher ranks becomes degradation, from the
lower becomes indigence.
From the collected aggregate of these various
duties, results that mutual dependence and
104 ON THE CONDITION
connexion, which is the bond of society. The
labour of the lowest class, which feeds the super
fluities of the highest, like the vapour which has
been drawn from the earth, descends again in a
thousand channels, and fertilizes the soil into
which it falls. There are persons, it must be
confessed, who, in such a constitution of things,
can see only " a spirit of oppression, a spirit of
servility, and a spirit of fraud ;" and, in truth,
among the infinite varieties and corruptions of
the human mind, some will doubtless find an oc
casion of falling, where others find an occa
sion of virtue. But it may be maintained,
that, exclusive of the particular duties which
this scheme of society renders incumbent on
each individual, and every class of individuals,
the general spirit of dependence, the general
connexion, not necessary but voluntary, is highly
favourable to that benevolence which was truly
said to approximate mankind nearest to the
divine nature. There is little in the situation of
man, which can make us select independence as
most congenial to him. For his original and
his continued existence, he is indebted to his
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 105
Creator. For the real comforts and happiness
of his life, he must be indebted to his fellow-
creatures. All those who, in the crowded scene
of civilization, are mainly employed in pursuing-
their own advantage, can only attain their end,
by promoting collaterally the happiness of their
neighbour. The confidence, the reciprocal kind
ness, the intercourse which arises from this con
nexion, is surely as amiable as that proud inde
pendence which has been recommended as the
chief advantage resulting- from an equality of
ranks and possessions.
Let us examine the case before appealed to,
and conceive a division of property like that in
Peru. "The largest share of the lands was
reserved for the maintenance of the people,
among whom it was parcelled out. They pos
sessed it, however, only for a year ; at the ex
piration of which, a new division was made in
proportion to the rank, the number, and exi
gencies of each family. All these lands were
cultivated by the joint industry of the com
munity. The people, summoned by proper
106 ON THE CONDITION
officers, repaired in a body to the fields, and per
forming- their common task, while songs and mu
sical instruments cheered them to their labour."*
There is something, it must be confessed, in
this description, so unlike the unwilling toil and
incessant drudgery we see around us, that a
sanguine mind must imperceptibly be seduced
by its fascination. That the concerns of an ex
tensive community cannot be regulated in this
manner, and were not even in Peru, has been
already shown, by an examination of particu
lars ; and the progress of population makes it
evident, that the long duration of such a state of
* Robertson's America, iii. 339.
So, among the Negroes on the banks of the river Gambia,
the seed-time is a period of much festivity. "Those who
belong to the same village unite in cultivating the ground,
and the chief appears at their head, armed as if he were
going out to battle, and surrounded by a band of musicians,
who, by singing and playing upon musical instruments, en
deavour to encourage the labourers. The chief frequently
joins in the music ; and the workmen accompany their labour
with a variety of ridiculous gestures and grimaces, according
to the different tunes witli which they are entertained."
Millar, Orig. of Ranks, 159.
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 107
things is absolutely inconsistent with the eco
nomy on which the world is constituted, unless
that obstacle is provided against by some arti
ficial expedients. But laying aside for a moment
these considerations : to a degree how inferior,
when compared with his present dignity and
station, would man be lowered, when reduced to
a situation so regular and mechanical !
Virtue, as it has been truly and frequently
remarked, is not more seen or tried in high and
splendid situations, than in the every -day oc
currences of quiet and tranquil life ;* since that
obedience to given rules, on which virtue de
pends, is no less necessary in a humble, than in
an exalted sphere. But this remark does not
apply to the sameness of a life such as has been
here described, where the faculties have no ex
citement, where half the passions would lie
dormant, and that noblest virtue which consists
* Arist, Eth. X. 8. 'Ot tctw-at rwv Ivvaaruv ov\ IJTTOV
a eirieiKtj Trpc/rreu', c«XXa xal ^dXXov. IKUVOV £e roiavff
. earut yiip 6 /3/oc evciit^wy, TOV Kara. TI)V a'per^V
i et sc<|»|.
108 ON THE CONDITION
in the moderation and right direction of them,
must want all opportunity of exercise. The
real fact is, that such equality would sink the
general standard of morality, first, by rendering-
stagnant the human faculties, and secondly, by
cutting off the existence of exalted characters.
It is by observation of the actions of man
kind in various situations, and of their effect
upon the character of the actors and the hap
piness of others, that the leading rules of
morality are discovered and laid down. Whe
ther virtue be defined to consist in the suit
ableness of the affections to their objects, in the
conformity of the actions to the truth or fitness
of things, or in a benevolent regard to general
utility and expediency,* questions which have
4 I would not be understood to give any of these as defi
nitions of Chr 1st i fin virtue. It is so evident, that the same
definition of virtue will not be applicable to persons \vho
have, and who have not, the advantage of Revelation, that
it is surprising so much fruitless pains should have been
taken to bring both situations under the same rule. If
asked what has been my view of virtue in this chapter, I
should say, that, considered as a settled principle of action,
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. 109
afforded an advantageous employment to reason
in various ages ; it can certainly only be judged
of in situations admitting the various relations
of society, and displaying the effects of their
various duties. This is the field where intellect
should expatiate, and these are the situations
where, in fact, the brightest ornaments of hu
manity have successively appeared and shone.
If we trace the progress of morals from Con
fucius to Socrates, and from Cicero to the
present day, all who have formed the truest
judgment and delivered the justest rules of
action have lived in a state where the distinction
of ranks was most marked, and every variety of
condition visible.*
it consisted in the being influenced by right motives to the
attainment of a right end, according to the degree of light
enjoyed by the agent. In proportion as the right end is
perceived and the right motives are understood, human
virtue becomes more or less perfect. Therefore intelligence
is absolutely necessary to the higher degrees of virtue.
* This observation is confirmed by what has been before
remarked of the ancient Greeks, that they were first natural,
then mural, and last of all political plilosophers.
Ferguson has obstruct, speaking of Rome, under (he
110 ON THE CONDITION
Even if the opportunities of moral observa
tion, indispensably necessary to enlarge the
views and comprehension of the moralist, could
be supposed compatible with equality ; still,
the mind to observe, and to reduce observations
to practice, would be wanting-. Any state of
society, which does not admit and provide for
literary leisure, is inconsistent with the due
culture and proper discipline of the mind. In
Peru, or a state like that of Peru, Socrates
would have studied husbandry, and Solon have
regulated the plough. Such employments are
compatible with active, but not with contempla
tive exertion. Generals, if antiquity is to be
believed, have been summoned from the field ;
but no philosophers.
On the whole, we may be allowed to con
clude, that if it had been possible, according
emperors, "The civil law received from the consultations of
lawyers, the decisions of judges, and the edicts of princes,
continual accessions of light and authority, which has ren
dered it the great basis of independence to all the modern
nations of Europe." R. R. v. 416.
MOST SUITABLE TO VIRTUE. Ill
to the established system of the universe, for
mankind to have continued equal in their for
tunes and conditions, the same equality would
have extended to their minds. The conse
quence would have been a general inferiority
of the rational faculties. The existence of high
practical rules raises the general standard of
morality ; because, even if few attain the sum
mit, all are tending, more or less, towards it.
But those lights of the world, which have
occasionally appeared, and have established,
from collected observations, the most useful
rules of conduct, and the sublimest morality,
would have been extinct. Extinguish then
these lights, annihilate these general rules,
diminish at the same time the temptations to
vice and the opportunities of virtue, the advan
tage is doubtful, the evil certain. Experience
does not acquaint us, that even the vices would
be less gross or numerous j but it is undeniable
that the approved virtues would be both of a
lower standard, and of rarer occurrence. Va
riety of condition enlarges the sphere of active
duty ; and every circumstance that enlarges
112 ON THE CONDITION, &C.
the sphere of duty, contributes towards the
perfection of a being-, whose distinguishing
faculty is obedience to reason, and whose most
valuable quality is a power of moral and intel
lectual improvement commensurate with his
individual situation.
ll.'i
CHAPTER V.
On the Principle of Population, and its Effects :
intended to show that Man is inevitably placed
in that Condition which is most calculated to
improve his Faculties, and afford Opportunities
for the exercise of Virtue.
I AM willing to suppose it has appeared from
the foregoing discussion, that a state of society,
consisting of various ranks and conditions, is
the state best suited to excite the industry and
display the most valuable faculties of mankind.
Taking, therefore, into consideration the object
of man's existence upon earth, it might naturally
be expected that the Creator would devise
a mean which would inevitably tend to bring
the human race, for the most part, into such a
situation.
VOL. II. 1
J 14- EFFECTS OF THE
And this, in fact, I believe to be the final
cause of that " principle of population," with
whose powerful agency we have recently been
made acquainted ; the final cause, in other
words, of that instinctive propensity in human
nature, under all governments, and in every
stage of civilization, to multiply up to the means
of subsistence, and even to press, by increase
of numbers, upon the limits of the food as
signed them. The consequence of this univer
sal tendency is, to render an inequality of for
tunes, and a consequent division of ranks, no
less general ; not as a matter of agreement or
expediency in which mankind have a liberty of
option ; but as a matter of imperious necessity,
growing out of the established constitution of
their nature.
The existence of this principle was first re
marked by political economists in the con
cluding half of the last century, and allusions
to it may be found in the writings of Wallace,
Hume, Franklin, Smith, and particularly of
Mr. Townsend, who in the course of his travels
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 115
through Spain had an opportunity of illustrating
its influence and effects in every valley and
opening- of the mountains, many of which in
that country are in a manner insulated from the
rest of the world. The human race, he ob
serves, however at first, and while their num
bers are limited, they may rejoice in affluence,
will go on increasing, till they balance their
quantity of food. From that period, two appe
tites will combine to regulate their numbers.
But the merit of establishing the fact, that,
notwithstanding the checks to population, both
from natural and moral causes, which exist,
more or less, in every country, mankind do
every where increase their numbers, till their
multiplication is restrained by the difficulty of
procuring subsistence, and the consequent
poverty of some part of the society : this merit
is justly due to the comprehensive treatise, in
which Mr. Malthus has unfolded this important
branch of human history. The work to which
I allude, is too well known to justify any
abridgment of its leading doctrines, and too
i 2
116 EFFECTS OF THE
well digested to allow any material addition to
its statements.*
* I would be understood to speak here of the facts estab
lished by Mr. Malthus, as to the different ratio of increase of
mankind and their support ; in saying which, I do not allude
to the arithmetical and geometrical ratios, as if they were
established laws of nature, but to the universal tendency of
the species to increase faster than subsistence can be sup
plied. With the hypothetical ratios which open the subject
in Mr. Malthus's work, I have no immediate concern. Even
though as abstract facts they may be undeniable, the general
argument of Mr. Malthus is independent of them : and the
propositions he brings forward would stand as well even if
the introductory statement could be overthrown. Whatever
exceptions may be urged against the mode in which Mr.
Malthus has introduced his arguments, or to some of the
particular consequences he has deduced from them, on which,
of course, even the surest premises leave just room for dif
ference of opinion ; it is impossible to rise from his trea
tise without a conviction, that there is a tendency in mankind
under all known circumstances, to pass the limits of their
actual supply. It may, however, naturally be asked, how a
treatise, which admits the justice of Mr. Malthus's premises,
and even takes them as a basis, should represent the effects
of the principle of population upon mankind, under such a
different aspect ? This will admit of very satisfactory expla
nation. It was the object of Mr. M. to show the strength of
that principle. Its strength was to be proved by a circum
stantial detail of the checks which retard or diminish popula-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 11?
The fact stands thus. An instinctive prin
ciple in our nature, forcibly urgent, wherever
it meets with no discouragement from the diffi
culty of providing for a family, mutually at
taches the sexes to each other. Where this
desired and desirable union is unrestrained, and
tion in every country of the world, notwithstanding and in
spite of which, no country has actually any food to spare.
Those checks are, moral restraint, vice, and misery. Of
these three, moral restraint, i. e. restraint upon marriage
from prudential considerations, is incalculably the most uni
versal and effectual, and is distinctly stated as such by Mr.
M. vol. ii. p. 75. But it is a silent and an unseen check,
and, comparatively, makes no figure in the account ; whereas
the vices and the natural evils to which mankind are liable,
wear a tremendous appearance when collected into a small
space to prove a particular point. That there was much
poverty, much vice, much misery in the world, was well
known before ; but it was lost in the more evident appearance
of industry, plenty, and content, till all the checks to popula
tion were brought together in the aggregate, to point out to
us the vigorous operation of the law of increase. For this
reason, Mr. Malthus's first volume, though none of its main
facts can be disproved, is not to be taken as a representation
of the actual state of human nature, but of the disorders to
which it is liable. The human constitution is not to be judged
of from a system of nosology ; nor the state of society in
England from Mr. Colquhoun's View of the Police of the
Metropolis.
118 EFFECTS OF THE
its offspring- subject to no premature mortality,
the increase which attends it is so rapid, as to
double the original population in twelve or fif
teen years. And, not to insist upon extreme
cases, the increase in countries to a certain
degree civilized and widely extended, is known
to proceed in a geometrical ratio, i. e. to double
the population in twenty-five years, as long as
it continues possible, by the employment of skill
and labour on a surface of unoccupied land,
to find a plentiful subsistence for this growing
population.
This tendency to multiplication has long ago
so far filled the greater part of the habitable
globe, that very few spots remain where it has
still room to exert and expand itself. But as
the instinct no where ceases, till it meets with
its natural check from the diminished supply
of food, there is no country, either civilized or
uncivilized, where its force does not intrude
itself on our observation. This fact is mani
fested by the difficulty and distress, to which
it is notorious that every state of society, except
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 119
the first possessors of uncleared countries, is re
duced in order to procure subsistence for some
of its members. It arises from the activity of
the principle, which, as long as it remains un
checked, as in America, and to a considerable
degree in some parts of the Rusisan empire, so
quickly doubles the population, that in old and
fully peopled countries the population is still
constantly pressing against the means of sup
port, and labouring to increase, by every possi
ble mode, the quantity of food which the country
affords.
A survey of the different conditions in which
we find mankind collected ; whether the hunt
ing state, the pastoral, the agricultural, or the
commercial ; will satisfactorily prove, that by
a principle inherent in their constitution, man
kind invariably press against, and have a ten
dency to surpass their actual and available
supply of food.
It would appear that in the hunting countries,
though they are so thinly peopled, that a tra-
120 EFFECTS OF THE
veller may go many hundred miles without
meeting- half a dozen persons, the distresses
which are occasionally suffered from hunger
are incredible. Mr. Hearne, after describing
some in which he was so unfortunate as to par
ticipate, desires that these may be considered
as no more than the common occurrences of an
Indian life, in which they are frequently driven
to the necessity of eating one another.*
It would appear, that in the immense dis
tricts of Asiatic Russia, Turkey, and the inha
bited parts of Africa, we find the same truth
universally meeting us. In security of property,
arising from vicious government at home, and
from the perpetual risk of foreign incursions,
spreads an unnatural sterility over the most
fertile countries of the world. Yet it is an un
deniable fact, that the people, under every
* Quoted by Mr. Weyland, in his volume on Population
and Production, p. 34. It is necessary to remark here, that
the cause of these evils is not over-population, but want of
regular industry. The fact really proved is, that there is no
country where the demand for food is below the supply.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 121
circumstance of discouragement, rudely press
against the limits of their actual subsistence.
Even countries so peculiarly situated as North
America, and the newly settled districts of
Russia, do not furnish an exception to the general
rule : the pressure, of course, is less severe ;
population only reaches the available supply,
without passing it ; but still it reaches those
bounds ; there is nothing to spare.
With regard to the more crowded commercial
countries of Europe, the most advanced we
know in point of absolute civilization, we have
only to look around us in order to be satisfied
whether the people do not increase up to the
means of support; i. e. whether those who have
no other maintenance than the daily wages of
their labour, do not increase till that labour
earns barely sufficient to support their families.
The result of such observation cannot fail to be,
that in every department of national industry
there are more claimants for employ than em
ployers; that the demand is for labour rather
than for labourers ; that there are somewhat
122 EFFECTS OF THE
more manufacturers, more artificers, more agri
culturists, than can be usefully or profitably,
under the existing circumstances, kept in activity
by the funds destined for their maintenance.
And as labour is the only claim to support which
the lowest classes can urge ; to be without
employ, is to be without support ; and to mul
tiply beyond the demand for labour, is to multi
ply beyond the available supply of subsistence.
While every new discovery acquaints us that
this principle is not partial in its influence, we
learn from history that it has always operated,
and produced the same effect. The invasion
of Egypt by the shepherd kings, for whose
increase their original limits had become insuf
ficient, took place within three hundred years
of the deluge, and shows how rapidly the most
desirable part of the East had been occupied.*
* The other accounts we possess of this period tend to the
same conclusion. The partition of countries, a hundred
years after the flood, was of course dictated by expediency,
if not by absolute necessity. The dispersion from Babel
followed at the distance of a hundred and fifty years, and it
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1C23
The numerous migrations from the maritime
states of Asia and ancient Greece, show the
constant tendency of the parent countries to
multiply beyond the means of comfortable sub
sistence. Neither the fertility nor the barren
ness of any region seems to prevent the same
cause from ending in the same result. Even
in the abundant climate of the South Sea Is-
was soon after that event, that the invasion alluded to in the
text happened, by part of the family of Ham, who, accord
ing to Manetho, took possession of Memphis, under the title
of Auritae, or shepherds. See Bryant, Ant. Myth. vol. i.
How much light is thrown upon history by the exposition of
the principle of population, appears from the following pas
sage of Mr. Mitford : u Mankind, according to the most
ancient of historians, considerably informed and polished,
but inhabiting yet only a small portion of the earth, was in
spired generally with a spirit of migration. What gave at
the time peculiar energy to that spirit, which seems always
to have existed extensively among men, commentators have
indeed, with bold absurdity, undertaken to explain ; but
the historian himself has evidently intended only general,
and that now become obscure information. All history,
however, proves that such a spirit has operated over the far
greater part of the globe ; and we know that it has never yet
ceased to actuate, in a greater or less degree, a large portion
of mankind." Hist, of Greece, vol. i. sect. 1.
124 EFFECTS OF THE
lands, the pressure of famine is not unknown ;
and " the hungry season, or time of scarcity,"
is familiarly spoken of by those who have re
sided there. The same is true even of the
more genial districts of South America.* In
climates the most opposite to these, as for in
stance, those of Lapland or New Zealand, any
deviation from the usual course of the seasons
brings upon the inhabitants as sensible a dis
tress from scarcity, as the crowded kingdoms
of China or Hindostan sustain by the failure of
their crops of rice, and the deficiencies of the
public granaries.
Such then is the established fact, that, ac
cording to the attachments and instincts of our
common nature, the human race continues to
increase, till the population presses upon the
actual supply of food ; so that there will always
be in every inhabited country as many persons
existing as it will support at all, and always
more than it can support well. And having
merely stated this undeniable truth, it becomes
* Humboldt's New Spain, vol. 1.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1 25
my object more particularly to consider its
effects upon the moral and political state of
mankind.
I. The primary result of this universal ten
dency to increase, is the division of property.
The property of first necessity to every man,
is his supply of food. Whilst this is plentiful,
he is careless about it. Its value originates
with its scarcity. If the fruits of the earth
were supplied from a source as regular and
inexhaustible as the water of the ocean, there
could be no occasion, and there would, pro
bably, be no thought, of their appropriation.
If every family, like the Israelites in the wil
derness, could supply their wants without the
necessity of labour or the fear of deficiency,
no one would think of setting bounds to the
demand of any claimant, or grudge his neigh
bour his share of the superabundance.
By the constitution of things, however, it
appears, that abundance, even if it exists for a
while, can never be of long duration. It de-
126 EFFECTS OF THE
feats itself. Wherever it is found, the number
of claimants is daily increasing in proportion,
and will soon require an addition to the supply
of food, which can only be procured by labour ;
and as soon as it demands labour, becomes
valuable.*
* I need hardly observe, that I do not state this as the
mode in which we have been uniformly led to the division of
property ; the case is only put hypothetically, to prove that
even under the most favourable circumstances the pressure
of population would soon either render such division inevi
table, or leave the inhabitants in the most wretched and
stationary condition, if they refused to comply with the inten
tions of Providence for their comfort and improvement.
The hypothesis, however, has so much justification in
fact, that it is very nearly a representation of the case of
Abraham and Lot. " The land was not able to bear them,
" that they might dwell together ; for their substance was
" great, so that they could not dwell together. And there
" was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle, and
" the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And Abraham said unto Lot,
" Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
" and between my herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we are
" brethren. Is not the whole land before thee ? separate
" thyself, I pray thee, from me ; and if thou wilt take the
" left hand, then I will go to the right hand ; or if thou de-
" part to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Thus
" Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan ; and Lot journeyed
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 127
Let us suppose, for example, a couple in the
situation of the first created man and woman,
having" the world all open before them. Here
the idea of scarcity seems entirely precluded.
Let them take possession of a district, con
sisting of 200,000 acres, which, according to
the average power and cultivation of land in
Great Britain, would support 100,000 persons.*
Reckon twelve persons at the end of the first
twenty years ; who, under such favourable cir-
" east, and they separated themselves one from another."
(Gen. xiii.)
A more recent example is given by Mr. Elphinstone, in
his Account of Cabul. The tribe of Kharotics in Afghauu-
istaun, are so closely hemmed in by mountains, that they
are unable to extend their cultivation. According to the
Mahometan laws, the lands of each person were divided
among his sons. The gradual increase of population, there
fore, showed itself in this, that each man's portion became
regularly less and less, till it was soon too small to maintain
a man." In consequence, upwards of 300 families had re
nounced their share of the land, and become thorough wan
derers. Elph. Cabul, 447.
* Weyland on Poor Laws, p. 273. This is the average of
a high state of cultivation, though not of the highest possible.
People would certainly emigrate, before they endeavoured to
make their land more productive than it is in England.
1 EFFECTS OF THE
cu instances, would certainly, taking- one period
with another, multiply according- to the quickest
known increase of the species, and double their
number every fifteen years.* Within a hundred
and forty years from the creation, these eight
persons would have above 3000 descendants ;
which in sixty years more, would ascend to
49,152. One g-eneration farther would give us
98,304 persons, and carries us already as far
as the point to which population can possibly
go, the point of subsistence.
It is evident that in the later stages of this
increase, food, however plentiful at first, would
become scarce, and the object of eager de
mand. It is evident too, that at last, the only
resource would be to increase the supply of
food by the emigration of part of the society,
* " According to a table of Euler, calculated on a mor
tality of 1 in 36, if the births be to the deaths in the propor
tion of 3 to 1, the period of doubling will be only 12| years.
In the back settlements of America, the population has been
found to double itself in fifteen years. Sir Wm. Petty sup
poses a doubling possible in so short a time as ten years."
Malthus, i. 7.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 12})
or to diminish the demand for it at home by
laying a restraint upon the natural desires.
In the case of an unoccupied world, with
the prospect of plenty on the opposite side
of a river, or across the chain of hills which
bounded the district, there is no doubt which
alternative would be chosen. Before, how
ever, men consented to leave the spot of
their nativity, and to try the fortune of fresh
cultivation, they would certainly argue, that
what could not be possessed without a sa
crifice, or obtained without labour, must be
long to each person, according to the labour
he was able or willing to employ.* It is
true, that, while the common store was always
full, it was of little consequence whether ten
shares were subtracted from it, or one ; but
since the demand had now become greater
* Even if it should be thought, that at first, while emigra
tion wore so easy, the division of property might possibly not
precede it, that consequence must at all events ensue as soon
as emigration became difficult, which in the course of nature,
as here described, it would soon become.
VOL. If. K
130 EFFECTS OF THE
than could be supplied, it was unreasonable
that one person with a numerous family should
draw upon the common stock for ten times as
large a portion, as another who contributed an
equal share of labour. It would be required,
therefore, as the only remedy of this inequality,
that those who had the advantage of mutual
attachment and affectionate children, should
pay the price of that advantage ; which they
would do, as soon as each family provided for
its own support.
The immediate resource is at hand, to divide
the lands belonging to the society between
the existing families : and this resource would
be applied to, as soon as the first pressure of
scarcity was sensibly felt, and produced dis
putes as to the equal rights of contending
claimants. Such a change in the circum
stances of a society may be easily understood,
by supposing a parallel case in the article of
water ; which being in many countries of the
world inexhaustibly abundant, is common pro
perty : but ceases to be so, as soon as the supply
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 131
requires to be increased by expense or labour.
It is easy to imagine the water of a well which
had been commonly resorted to for the consump
tion of a village, so far to fail, that it should be
necessary to raise by labour what was requisite
for the daily expenditure. As long as the well
poured forth its supply spontaneously, no one
thought of limiting, or even observing, what his
neighbour drew from it. But when circum
stances are altered, will the inhabitants of the
village unite their common labour to fill a re
servoir, to which all shall have an equal claim ?
Some one will soon argue, I require a single
gallon, and my neighbour twenty, for daily
consumption : it is not reasonable that I should
contribute twenty times as much labour as I
receive in return : the well is amongst us all ;
but let each draw his own supply.
If we merely change the terms, the conse
quence of a division of territory upon the first
scarcity of subsistence is evident : the com
mon territory is the common well, and culti
vation is the labour it requires.
K 2
132 EFFECTS OF TIIK
Here then, from the time when the claimants
for food pressed against the supply, not of the
whole world, but of the district they had first
peopled, we have the date of the recognition of
property, resulting- from the necessities imposed
upon man by the constitution of things : and
in the recognition of property we have the
point, as was before observed, from which in
dustry, arts and civilization set out. Human
nature, if we judge from experience, requires
that the individual should be satisfied that the
effects of his personal exertion should con
tribute to his personal comfort. According
as he is more or less assured of this, he is
more or less active and laborious. Look at the
degrees of industry in different countries : the
variation is uniformly true to this principle.
Where property is recognized, but insecure, as
in countries where the police is deficient,
though the effect of labour is more evident
than when its produce is carried to a common
store, still, as its advantage is uncertain, the
individual is less disposed to exertion than the
inhabitant of a well-regulated community.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 133
Again, where the government is regular, but
the despotism severe, there will be much humble
industry, but little accumulation of property ;
it is worth while to enjoy, but not to lay up
what will soon become an object of rapacity.
In every case, the exertion bears a close pro
portion to the visible and certain advantage it
produces. This advantage is never less visible,
than when labour contributes to a common
store.
The step, therefore, immediately following
the first distress for food, is the determination
that each family should support itself, and each
individual enjoy the fruits of his own labour.
And since it is an acknowledged truth, that,
according to the nature of things, the supply of
food can only be increased at a much slower rate
than an unchecked population will multiply,*
* In an anonymous pamphlet lately published at Paris,
which professes to exhibit " les vraies causes de la misere et
de la felicite publiques," the author, who calls himself " an
ancien administrateur," repeats with great parade the old
objection against Mr. Malthus's reasoning, viz. that popula
tion cannot be said to increase faster than subsistence, as
134 EFFECTS OF THE
there is every reason to suppose that in all
ages and countries a very short period, even
long as there is any unsettled land in the world. The fact,
however, of the natural ratio of increase, is not affected by
pointing out spots in the universe where there are no inhabi
tants to multiply. The only just mode of calculating on this
subject, is that adopted by Mr. M., viz. to set the possible po
pulation of any given country, supposing the principle un
checked, against the possible domestic supply. Mr. M. does
not deny that the redundant population in one district may
be transferred to another ; he only shows, that, where in
crease is unchecked, there will be a redundant population.
We may safely grant, therefore, that, " il n'y a d'autres li-
mites pour la production des subsistances destinees aux
peuples repandus sur le globe, que celles du globe merae, et
de 1'industrie humaine qui en fertilise le sol." (P. 12.) But
it is equally true, that nothing except actual want in one
country leads human industry to reclaim another. Man does
not voluntarily leave his native soil. Necessity is the agent
which enforces emigration.
From the unfeeling mode in which emigration is some
times proposed as a remedy for all the evils of indigence, one
might imagine that it was as easy to cross the Atlantic and
stock a farm in Louisiana or Kentucky, as for Adam or Noah
to find a settlement. What does it signify to the thousands
who may be thrown out of employ by sudden changes of po
litical affairs, or the sudden depreciation of agricultural pro
duce in this the best regulated and richest country of the world ;
what docs it signify that there are millions of acres of unoc-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 135
shorter than that supposed in the preceding-
calculation, has been suffered to elapse, before
the expediency had been seen of dividing the
occupied lands among- the existing families.
For it can hardly be thought that the few tribes
which still afford an example of a general stock,
furnish a material exception to the division here
represented as arising necessarily from the law
of nature. Most of these tribes depend prin
cipally, if not entirely, for their support, on the
produce of the chase. The chase requires the
co-operation of numbers : and it is obviously
cupied land in the universe, ready to repay their labour with
abundance ? They may too justly exclaim with the poet,
() quis nos gelidis in vallibus Hiemi
Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra !
Fs there a capital to support them till that land is reclaimed ?
Is there a fleet in port, ready to carry them gratuitously to
their Eldorado? The expedition which proved fatal to Raleigh
was not halt' so rash or cruel, as the project of encouraging
population with a view to emigration, without providing at
the same time that this resource should be easy and uniform.
This is not meant to argue that England is over-peopled,
but only to show that it is vain and fallacious to talk of emi
gration as a ready and simple cure for the evils of poverty or
scarcity.
136 EFFECTS OF THE
natural, that what has been acquired by the united
labour of the tribe, should be laid up for equal
distribution. It is indispensable too, that where
the people depended upon the comparatively
regular returns of agriculture, the necessity of
appropriation and division would be soonest
perceived. It is a matter of easy calculation,
how much corn a certain portion of land will
produce, and how many persons a certain
quantity of corn will support. But the supply
derived from fishing or the chase being irregular
and variable, there are no data afforded for a
certain calculation, which might point out the
necessity of imposing the burden of providing
for his own and his family's wants upon each
individual.
II. The first effect, it has appeared, of the
natural law which uniformly presses the popu
lation against the means of subsistence, is the
division of property. Its second effect, spring
ing inevitably from the former, is the division
of ranks. To explain the process by which
this result is produced, we will return to the
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1^7
district which we left a few pages ago, in want
of subsistence for its redundant population, and
resorting to the first and most obvious means
of remedying the evil. Let us suppose then,
that forty or fifty families from this over-peopled
society, shall emigrate into a new and uncul
tivated tract of country, all hitherto equal and
independent ; but taught by experience to agree
that each family should provide for its own
wants, and enjoy the produce of its own
industry.
These free settlers, entering upon their new
world, and dividing their territory into equal
shares, proceed to cultivate it with equal zeal,
but by no means with equal success. One man,
whose strength and vigour enable him to pro
secute his work unremittingly, prospers in his
undertaking, and reclaims a quantity of land
not only sufficient to supply his own wants, but
to afford an overplus. Even if his family in
creases, his children, as they grow up, add so
much labour to the common stock, that the
surplus above all their wants increases gradu-
138 EFFECTS OF THE
ally with their strength and skill, till they are
enabled to support a second family in addition
to their own. In the natural course of things,
however, others must prove less fortunate.
One is cut off by sickness, and leaves his chil
dren dependent upon the care of friends. *
Another is deprived by some accident of the
power to use his tools, till the season of crop
ping the ground is past : it follows, that he
must be fed by the more successful labour of
his companions.
But it cannot be expected that the produce
of their labour should be long imparted gra-
* The first colonists from this country to America under
went hardships and misfortunes which fatally realize this
description. A company of Puritans, who laid the founda
tion of the New England colonies, arrived at Cape Cod in
November 1620, one hundred and twenty in number, divided
into nineteen families. Each family had an allotment of
land for lodging and gardens, in proportion to the number
of persons it contained ; and, to prevent disputes, the situa
tion of each family was chosen by lot. Within two or three
months half of the company was dead. Neal's History of
the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 121. See also Hume's Appendix to
James 1.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 139
tuitously ; for there is no superfluous food :
even this small society is gradually increasing
as fast as this supply increases, and the pro
duce of each year finds claimants equal to its
amount ; claimants who can only be satisfied
by adding to the labour, in proportion to the
demand. The man, therefore, who has nothing
else to offer, exchanges the prospect of his
future labours when his strength shall be reco
vered, for sustenance during his present dis
tress ; an agreement which is quickly made
with the more fortunate cultivator whose in
dustry has returned him a surplus. But the
additional labour thus supplied, enables our
first adventurer to turn up more soil, or to till
the rest more skilfully. The gradual increase
of his surplus produce, according to the known
return of agricultural labour, makes him spee
dily celebrated in the colony as one to whom
all may resort, whose efforts have been unsuc
cessful, or whom the evils incident to humanity
have cut off from exertion ; as one from whom
they may receive immediate support, in return
140 EFFECTS OF THE
for the labour they can give, or engage to give,
in exchange.*
B
Hitherto, let it be observed, only those ca
sualties of illness or death to which all alike
are subject, have been mentioned as the causes
* " When a people have emerged ever so little from a
savage state, and their numbers have increased beyond the
original multitude, there must immediately arise an inequa
lity of property ; and while some possess large tracts of land,
others are confined within narrow limits, and some are en
tirely without any landed property. Those who possess more,
laud than they can labour, employ those who possess none,
and agree to receive a determinate part of the product."
Hume, Essay iv. This inequality is not confined to the
case of agriculturists alone. Pastoral nations are subject to the
same laws. " The wealth they enjoy in their herds and flocks
is distributed in various proportions, according to the indus
try or good fortune of different individuals; and those who
are poor become dependent on those who are rich, who are
capable of relieving their necessities, and affording them
subsistence. As the pre-eminence and superior abilities of
the chief are naturally exerted in the acquisition of that
wealth which is then introduced, he becomes of course the
richest man in the society ; and his influence is rendered pro
portionally more extensive. According to the estate he has
accumulated, hz is exalted to a higher rank, lives in greater
magnificence, and keeps a more numerous train of servants
and retainers." Millar on the Origin of Ranks, p. 152.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 141
of inequality. But there are moral differences
in the characters of men, which would tend to
hasten the same result. All have not equal
skill ; all have not equally patient industry.
Many would resign their apportioned share,
instead of bartering" their labour for subsistence :
and thus, by beggaring- themselves, and aug
menting the superfluity of their wiser neigh
bours, would quicken the effect which the
course of nature was producing by slow de
grees. So that it is no hypothetical conclu
sion, but consistent with the habits and dispo
sition of mankind, to affirm, that in less than
a century the land originally parted among fifty
families, would be possessed by twenty in very
unequal shares : upon whose return for their
labour, exerted in various ways, the posterity
of the original settlers, and the rest of the
increased colony, must be dependent for their
annual support.*
* " Rome, like most other of the ancient republics, was
originally founded upon an agrarian law, which divided the
public territory in a certain proportion among the different
citizens who composed the state. The course of human
142 EFFECTS OF THE
It is unnecessary to proceed farther. On a
small and confined scale, this is a history of
the subordination of ranks ; and, in many actual
cases, the mode in which we know it has pro
ceeded. In this manner, as we learn from
history, Ionia, and southern Italy, and all the
shores of the Mediterranean which afforded a
practicable opening-, were peopled with the
overflowing's of the Grecian states ; and in this
manner the conquered countries of Italy were
affairs, by marriage, by succession, and by alienation, ne
cessarily deranged this original division, and threw the lands,
which had been allotted for the maintenance of many dif
ferent families, into the possession of a single person."
Smith's Wealth of Nations, vol. ii. It is worth observing
here, that if equality could have subsisted any where toge
ther with the division of property, it would have subsisted
at Rome. Romulus and his successors not only divided
equally the lands of the state, but they enacted such laws
respecting succession, that the marriage of the female into
another family should not cause alienation. Neither was it
allowed to make a will, except in the public assembly, before
the promulgation of the twelve tables. By these rules equa
lity was preserved at Rome much beyond its natural period.
Montesq. 1. xxvii. So at Athens it was not allowable to be
queath money out of the family before Solon's time. See
Plutarch, Life of Solon, i. p. 196, ed. fir.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 143
afterwards replenished with settlers from Rome.
The colonists of North America are of more
recent experience ; and the very case here sup
posed has an example in the settlers in Prince
Edward's Island under Lord Selkirk's direc
tion, where each man had a portion of land
assigned him, according to his own strength
and that of his family. These and other emi-
grators have been subject to no other regula
tions than the division of lands by an agrarian
law. The only inequality they have set out
with, has been that which the constitution of
nature has established between different men ;
which produces the effect in question, by act
ing in conjunction with that primary law of
Providence by which it is ordained, that sub
sistence shall universally become the object of
eager competition.
In some cases, as we know, attempts have
been made to resist this constitution of nature,
and obviate its effects. The early Roman kings,
when they apportioned settlements among their
citizens, adopted peculiar precautions to pre-
144 EFFECTS OF THE
vent alienation.* One of the modes by which
this is effected, in the usual course of nature,
is the failure of male heirs. It was orig-inally,
however, enacted at Rome, that the marriag-e
of the female into another family should not be
followed by an eventual alienation of the pater
nal inheritance. On a similar principle, in
some of the provinces of North America, the
rights of primogeniture were either annulled
or curtailed. These attempts have all, eventu
ally, proved fruitless.
Indeed, had it been possible, compatibly
with the law of increase, f to preserve an
* " Si lorsque le legislateur fait un pareil partage (des
terres) il ne donne pas des loix pour le maintenir, il ne fait
qu'une constitution passagere ; 1'inegalite entrera par le cote
que les loix n'auront pas defendu, et la republique sera per
due." Mont. 1. v. chap. 6. Experience, however, must have
proved to Montesquieu's satisfaction, that no law could bar
out inequality, which has always found some quarter unde
fended.
•j- Under the Jewish theocracy, an express provision was
seen to be necessary, in order to counteract the natural ten
dency of fortunes towards inequality. In that government
it was desired to preserve, as nearly as possible, the same
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 115
equality of condition throughout a community,
it would have been universal among- the an
cient republics. It was the great ambition of
most of their legislators, and no measures were
left untried to accomplish it. Phaleas, for ex
ample, proposed the equalization of fortunes
at Chalcedon, as a most salutary institution,
easily established in new settlements, and
which, he thought, might be introduced into
old countries by one simple law, commanding
the rich always to give portions with their
daughters, but never to receive any ; and the
poor always to receive, but never to give
them.* In legislating for Athens, Solon had
balance between the tribes, the heads of families of the same
tribes. Since, however, it was foreseen that this was contrary
to the usual course of things, and that inequality would soon
disturb this peculiar provision, it was especially ordained
that a release of all debts and servitudes should take place
every seventh year. It was still farther provided by the law
of jubilee, that every 50th year, all alienated lands should be
restored, and the estate of every family, being cleared from
all incumbrances, should return to the family again. Deut.
xv. Lev. xxv. See Lowman, chap. 4. An exception esta
blished by such forcible measures is the strongest confirma
tion of the general law.
* Arist. de Rep. 1. ii. chap. 7.
VOL. II. L
146
EFFECTS OF THE
the same object in vie\v.* The early institu
tions of several states both limited the acqui
sition, and prohibited, under certain circum
stances, the sale of lands. In Locris, a citizen
was not allowed to dispose of his estate, unless
he could make it appear that he was reduced
to this necessity by some unmerited and mani
fest calamity. Philolaus, at Thebes, proposed
some peculiar laws relating to the adoption of
children, which had in view the perpetuating
the original divisions of the territory.t In
some states it was a law, that no individual
should possess above a certain measure of
* " Solon allowed a brother to marry his sister on the
father's side, but not his sister uterine ; because, by marry
ing the latter, he might have increased the estate which de
scended to him from his father, by that which came from the
first husband of his mother, and thus, in his own person,
have accumulated two inheritances. Several other of Solon's
laws breathe the same spirit." Gillies on Arist. Polit. p. 92.
See also Montesquieu, 1. v. chap. 5.
-f- The original here only shows, that the subject required
regulation, without acquainting us with its precise nature :
No^oSer^c au'roic (9»;/3at'oic)e'yeVero 4>t\d\aoc, Kepi r' a\\utv
TIVWV, KCII Trepl 7->;c irat&MTflAlCj ovc KaXovoiv eYeu'ot rJ/tOVC
OertKovi;. Kat rour' eanv t£iwc vir e/ceiVov y
<rw£>jrat TWV K\t'j()t>jt'. L. ii. chap. 12.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 14-7
ground : in others, this regulation was confined
to lands within a limited distance from the ca
pital. Some commonwealths enacted that no
family should be allowed to part with its ori
ginal lot of land, or ancient inheritance ; and a
law of Oxylus, king of the Elians, forbade any
man to mortgage above a certain proportion of
his estate.*
But, in all cases, the legislator's intention
was frustrated, sooner or later, by the silent
operation of nature overpowering the feeble
bulwarks of human regulation. Even in Crete
and Sparta, where the prohibition against ac
cumulating personal property seemed likely to
perpetuate equality, and did, in fact, preserve it
longest, still the course of nature at length
prevailed, and to such a degree, that a strong
complaint made against the Spartan government
by Aristotle, is its unequal distribution of pro-
perty.t
* Arist.de Hep. 1. vi. s. 4.
f Lycurgus prohibited the acquisition of lands by pur
chase, but set no limits to their transmission and accumula-
L 2
148 EFFECTS OF THE
The cause, too, by, this time, became evident
from the permanent effect ; which is justly at
tributed, by the same philosopher, to the prin
ciple of population. Lawgivers forget, he
says, that it is necessary to limit the increase
of families, if they wish to limit the extent
of fortunes. If children multiply beyond the
means of supporting- them, the intention of
the law will be defeated, and families will be
reduced from opulence to beggary.* It was
from this conviction that both he and Plato
resorted to those detestable measures for re
straining- the increase of children in their ima
ginary commonwealths, which have contri
buted more, perhaps, than any other instance,
to furnish a practical evidence of the defec
tion by gifts and wills. The consequence was, that, in
Aristotle's time, the landed property had been engrossed by
few. Hence the foundation of Montesquieu's remark : " Jl
faut done que Ton regie dans cet objet, les dots des femmes,
les donations, les successions, les testaments, enfin, toutcs les
manieres de contracter." L. v. ch. 5.
* L. ii. ch. 7. Again, in the 7th book, he says, 'Atvra-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 14-9
tive morality acquiesced in by the wisest of the
ancients.
Such, then, is the fact, that, by the original
constitution of human nature, inequality uni
formly finds its way, in spite of every obstacle.
The stream which is constantly setting- against
the barriers raised to oppose it, has a source
so deep and permanent, that it has always,
at no distant period, either found a channel,
or forced one. There is no country which,
in the course of a century or two, has not
exhibited the same spectacle of abundance
and poverty ; of some who have accumu
lated the superfluous produce of their la
bours; and of others who are eager to ex
change their labour for a portion of that super
fluity.
In the gradual progress of time the in-,
equality becomes more and more striking,
and all the arts of civilization follow in its
train. A certain portion of the society being
exempted from the necessity of labour, apply
to other pursuits ; literature is cultivated,
L 3
150 EFFECTS OF THE
genius is excited and encouraged. A chain
of innumerable links is formed from the co
lossal fortunes of the highest rank, to the
large and increasing class who are obliged to
give their daily labour for their daily subsis
tence. It is by means of this class that all
those works of utility are accomplished, which
adorn the beautiful structure of a civilized
country, and which, in a healthy state of
things, reflect their share of advantage upon
the hands that labour in their execution. And
it is by a union of all the various classes
that the community flourishes in strength and
opulence ; that the arts are every day minis
tering some new comfort to man's wants, or
some assistance to his labours ; in a word, that
the gradual enlargement of the sources of know
ledge and improvement of the human condition
takes place, which has been shown to exalt and
dignify civilized man.
It has thus appeared, from a brief state
ment of the laws which regulate population,
that the instinctive principle which attaches
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 151
the sexes to one another, and rears a family,
keeps the inhabited districts of the world
so continually full, as to call into action all
their resources, and oblige them to econo
mize the means of subsistence, by making
them the reward of individual exertion. I
have also traced the progress by which this
principle necessarily leads to an inequality
of ranks and fortunes, which effect, indeed,
it has constantly and universally produced
in a greater or less degree, from the earliest
date of history. For the primary agent is
all along to be found in that original law,
which multiplies the consumers of the fruits
of the earth faster than the fruits themselves.
The difference of men's habits and powers
would signify nothing, if food were so plen
tiful that it could be procured without a re
turn of labour. Were it the law of the uni
verse, no matter how brought into execution,
that every man born into the world should
find himself heir to indolence and plenty,
then there need be no division of property,
since no one could possibly, according to
152 EFFECTS OF THE
the supposition, possess what his neighbour
wanted, or require what his neighbour had.
Or if it had been appointed that all mankind
should possess the same genius, the same
powers of mind and body, and be exempt
from physical evils, the division of property
would not necessarily have been accompanied
by inequality. But since the fact is ordained
otherwise, and, for reasons already shown,
wisely ordained ; since men are born with
various capacities of mind, and different degrees
of bodily strength ; since the necessaries of life
can only be produced by labour ; and since
there are, in all countries, more claimants
for the necessaries of life than can be easily
or plentifully supplied with them ; it must inevi
tably follow that possessions shall be appropriated
and unequally divided ; and that the conveniences
of life shall belong, in the greatest abundance,
to the head which is most fertile in resources,
or the hand which is the most industrious in
exertion.
If then the wisdom is to be estimated by
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 153
the fitness of the design to its purpose, and the
habitual exercise of the energies of mankind is
allowed to be that purpose, enough has been
said to confirm the original proposition. The
Deity has provided, that by the operation of
an instinctive principle in our nature, the hu
man race should be uniformly brought into a
state in which they are forced to exert and im
prove their powers : the lowest rank, to obtain
support ; the one next in order, to escape from
the difficulties immediately beneath it ; and all
the classes upward, either to keep their level,
while they are pressed on each side by rival
industry, or to raise themselves above the
standard of their birth by useful exertions of
their activity, or by successful cultivation of
their natural powers. If, indeed, it were pos
sible, that the stimulus arising from this prin
ciple should be suddenly removed, it is not
easy to determine what life would be except
a dreary blank, or the world except an un
cultivated waste. Every exertion to which
civilization can be traced, proceeds directly or
indirectly from its effects ; either from the actual
154 EFFECTS OF THE
desire of having- a family, or the pressing- obli
gation of providing for one, or from the neces
sity of rivalling the efforts produced by the
operation of these motives in others.
I cannot suppose it will be disputed, that
the law, ordaining the multiplication, of which
the effects are thus extensive, is a law of de
sign. Among brute animals, we find the qua
lity of fecundity subjected to intelligible re
gulations, and proportioned to the utility or
peculiar circumstances of the species : since it
is denied to strength and rapacity, and be
stowed as a compensation for a short term of
existence. Of the latter case, the hare and
rabbit, and the insect tribes, afford familiar
examples : whereas the kite lays but two eggs,
the eagle but one, and the elephant produces
only a single calf. In another department of
nature, it is observed that a cod-fish lays many
million eggs, whilst a whale brings usually one
cub, and never more than two. It would have
been incomprehensible if the multiplication of
animals had not fallen under the regulation of
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 155
Providence, and been subject to assigned laws ;
and these, with a thousand other instances
that might be as readily adduced, manifestly
prove that it has been directed by design. And
as it would be contrary to all just analogy to
believe, that brute animals received an atten
tion denied to the human race, it is impossible
to suppose that the ratio of increase among
men, and its consequences, were not present
to the contemplation of the Creator. In point
of fact, we know that even the casualties to
which one sex is more exposed than the other,
are provided for by the excess of male over
female births, a foresight which can only be
attributed to the original mandate of Pro
vidence.*
* It is not so generally acknowledged, but appears from
Humboldt's recent inquiries, that this law of nature is no
less established in the different climate of America than in
Europe. The proportion of male to female births in New
Spain he determines to be " as 100 : 97, which indicates an
excess of males nearly equal to that in France, where for 100
boys there are born 96 girls From the whole of the data we
may conclude, that in Europe, as well as in the equinoctial
regions, which have enjoyed a long state of tranquillity, \v«-
156 EFFECTS, &C.
I am justified, therefore, in concluding, that
the Deity has displayed the same comprehen
sive wisdom which is seen in the natural world,
by regulating, according to a general law, the
state and condition of mankind, and bringing
it, without actual control or interposition, to
a conformity with his plan of moral govern
ment.
should find an excess of males, if the seas, the war, and dan
gerous employments peculiar to our sex, did not tend inces
santly to diminish their number." Pol. Ess. i. 253.
157
CHAPTER VI.
On the Collateral Benefits derived by the Human
Race from the Principle of Population.
IT will, perhaps, be objected to the preceding-
survey of the effects of the principle of popula
tion, that it exhibits only the brig-lit side of the
picture. Some persons may be disposed to
argue, that if the rapid multiplication of the
species augments the treasures of civilized so
ciety, it also entails upon civilization a certain
inheritance of want, and pain, and misery ;
and that the human race are little benefited by
arts and improvements, which are wrung from
them by the urgency of their necessities : that,
however plain it may be made, that the means
employed accomplish their apparent object, still
it is by a mode so harsh and ungentle in its
158 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
operation, that the wisdom of the Creator is im
peached, rather than displayed, when the intricate
web of human society is thus unfolded, and its
texture unravelled.
To these and similar objections, which have
been sometimes urged against the view of hu
man society exhibited by Mr. Malthus, some
concession must be made. There is undoubtedly
much want and misery, that is, much natural
evil in the world. And since the law of increase
is an agent of such vast importance in deter
mining the condition of mankind, it cannot fail
of producing, in the course of its operation, much
of that natural evil, which is an ingredient in
the cup of human nature, and inseparable from
the present condition of our species. The per
mission of this will properly come under future
consideration.
If we were peopling an Utopia, or amusing
our fancy, after the manner of the ancient phi
losophers, with creating an imaginary republic,
we should undoubtedly be inclined to banish
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 159
from it all necessity for severe labour. We
should omit the curse denounced upon the first
transgressors, and literally fulfilled upon their
posterity, ordaining that the earth should bring
forth thorns and thistles, and that man should
eat bread by the sweat of his brow. But these
sports of the imagination deviate from the real
state of things in one most important particular.
They all suppose that this world is the final
object, as well as limit, of man's existence.
They proceed, therefore, on premises altogether
different from those I originally laid down, as
derived both from reason and revelation ; and
which affirm, that the present state affords only
a partial developement of the Creator's designs.
It is on no other premises, I repeat, that I
profess to consider the appearance of the world.
Those who neither allow the arguments with
which reason furnishes us, strongly militating
against the supposition of this being the final
stage of man's existence ; nor listen to the
voice of Revelation which confirms these natural
intimations ; those, I say, who limit their views
160 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
to this contracted horizon, must take up other
ground ; and must defend their ideas of the
Creator's providence as they can, upon the
principle of optimism. But, in a world allowed
to be initiatory and preparatory, it cannot justly
surprise us to find the necessity of labour ad
mitted ; or to hear the wisdom of the Creator
displayed by a view of a dispensation, which
regularly brings the labours of mankind into
action. Were our lot cast in a state at present
perfect, we should, no doubt, see sufficient rea
son to adore the wisdom of the Creator. But
the inhabitants of Paradise, and the inheritors of
a fallen world, are not likely to meet in the
same arguments, though they may agree in the
same conclusion.
Under these qualifications, I shall endeavour
to show, not that the human race is in the best
conceivable condition, or that no evils accom
pany the law which regulates their increase;
but that this law makes, upon the whole, an
effectual provision for their general welfare ;
and that the prospective wisdom of the Cre-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. l6l
ator is distinguishable in the establishment of
an ordinance which is no less beneficial in its
collateral effects, than it is efficacious in accom
plishing- the first and principal design of its
enactment.
These collateral advantages are, first, the
establishment of universal industry, and se
condly, the quick and wide diffusion of the
beneficial results of that industry. These are
secured by the ordinance which regulates the
increase of mankind.
I. Fecundity depends upon various causes,
some of which are obvious, and others very
partially understood : but by the average cal
culation of marriages in Europe, which is pro
bably a fair average for the world at large,
four births may be reckoned for every mar
riage. No doubt a fiat of the Creator might as
easily have ordained that the produce should
be less by one fourth, or that every marriage
should bring three children. In this case, the
result would still have raised the population
VOI. II. M
162 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
fully up to the means of subsistence, with the
difference only of doubling the period before it
reached that limit.* Therefore it would have
protracted for a time, the end proposed by the
physical law of increase, without preventing
ultimately the difficulties inseparable from a
redundant population ; it would have delayed
the exertion of habitual industry, and the ex
istence of the useful arts and sciences, resulting
from that industry, by all that period of years
during which the population was protracted,
not only in the first peopling and subsequent
re-peopling of the world, but in the occupation
of all new countries. Eventually the pressure
of the population against the supply of food
would have been no less certain and regular,
unless it had also been ordained, that the supply
* Independent of the longevity attributed in Scripture to
the patriarchs, the world may have reached the amount of its
present population,' supposed to be • 1000 millions, in about
550 years : allowing" ten^rpersons to be alive at the end
of the first twenty years, and to double their number every
subsequent twenty. Several calculations of the kind occur
in Wallace on the Number of Mankind.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. l63
of food should always and every where proceed
in the same ratio as population.
Any complaint, therefore, must be urged,
not against the particular ratio of increase from
each marriage, which is, in fact, variable in
different countries, and depends upon nume
rous circumstances with which we are little
acquainted ; but against the general and incon
trovertible fact, that, according to the present
constitution of the human race, the increase of
the species has a tendency to proceed at a
quicker rate, than the increase of the supply
of food.
It certainly requires no great stretch of fancy
to imagine such a dispensation as might have
rendered the ratios, in which population shall
proceed, and the quantity of human suste
nance be increased, so equal to one another,
as entirely to remove all difficulty as to the
support of mankind, however large their num
bers might become. No restriction, no quali
fication was set against the original command
164 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
in Paradise, " Increase and multiply." But
when Paradise was forfeited, then came the
subsequent denunciation, that the replenishing
of the world should entail the obligation to
labour on its inhabitants.
If it was desirable that there should be any
exertion among mankind, this obligation was
indispensable. The nature of a being living
under a dispensation of unlimited abundance,
ought to be no less different than the consti
tution of the world he inhabited. As human
nature now is, the implanted principle which
leads to marriage is, mediately or immediately,
the source of all effective industry. We have
no reason to believe that the stream would
continue to flow, if the source were cut off
by which it is visibly supplied. Could a
family be supported without labour, the
known stimulus to exertion would be re
moved ; energy would , be exchanged for in
dolence, and the arrival of plenty would be
followed by the stagnation of the human
faculties.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. lC5
We see around us a world under the power
ful agency of this incentive ; and whatever
may be thought of the weakness or wickedness
of mankind, the fairest side of the picture they
present is that which their unwearied industry
and active intelligence afford. At the same
time, experience does not authorize us to be
lieve that a necessity less urgent than that
now existing, would excite their dormant
powers, or furnish the appearance of energy
we admire. On every side, to whatever age,
or rank, or condition we look, an inherent
principle of indolence betrays itself, which can
only be expelled by the operation of a still
more powerful desire.
In savage life, indolence puts on the ap
pearance of a positive gratification, too valuable
to be bartered for any return of prospective
advantage, and only relinquished on the pres
sure of actual uneasiness. Among the lower
classes in civilized society, much of the same
principle is manifest. Some prefer any chance
or precarious mode of seeking subsistence to
166 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
regular industry : others are industrious till
they have removed the urgency of immediate
want, and, when that is satisfied, remain idle
and dissolute till it returns again. The more
gratifying sight of constant and contented ex
ertion, still furnishes no countenance to the
belief that it would be voluntarily undertaken,
or continued without necessity. As we ad
vance higher in the scale, we find the same
necessity operating no less extensively, stimu
lating invention, giving stability to exertion,
and, in the end, bringing all those talents to
maturity by which mankind is no less bene
fited than adorned. Few of the most useful
discoveries or acquirements, can be attained
without such an unremitting attention, such a
sacrifice of present enjoyment, as only a very
powerful incentive can enforce : if it were
otherwise, why is this field of exertion left
almost exclusively to those who are not born
heirs of that plenty which a different dispen
sation might render universal? Why are the
avocations which conduce most to the welfare
of the species, seldom pursued by those who
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 167
are not driven to them by the strong hand of
necessity, i. e. who can by any easier means
comply with the instinctive principle of nature,
and support a family in the rank and sphere to
which they were born ?*
It is as possible to picture to the imagination
a race of men, who should require no stimulus
to the exercise of their minds and powers, as it
is to conceive a soil that should be fertile
without cultivation. But our business is with
the world as it exists, and with men as we find
them : and judging according to that expe
rience, we may affirm without hesitation, that
any ordinance which might establish universal
plenty, would establish also universal indo
lence, and not only arrest civilization in its
progress, but force it to retrograde, if it had
once advanced. There is reason to believe
that this effect has in some peculiar circum
stances actually taken place j when a few
tribes having left their parent and overpeopled
* See Chapter iii p. 52, &<•.
168 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
country, and found an unexpected plenty in
some new abode, have lived upon that plenty
till they have lost the arts of their ancestors,
and left their posterity to work out anew, by
the slow method of invention, the means of
supplying" wants or providing1 comfort.* How
soon rude inventions are lost, when the neces
sity which first struck them out is removed,
may be learnt from the example of the South
Sea islanders, some of whom are now in greater
distress from the precarious supply of iron upon
which they depend, than before the visits of
Europeans they had experienced from the total
want of it. Be this, however, as it may, it is
certain that the effect of plenty on savage
nations is indolence and extravagance, till the
supply that brought the evil is exhausted, and
activity returns with the necessity for its ex
ertion.
* All travellers have observed in North America proofs of
evident deterioration, in the traces and remains of useful arts
which have been long utterly unknown in that country. The
best account of these is now to be found in Humboldt's
Researches.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. l69
All mankind, as far as we know, agree in
the same propensities by nature, and owe their
infinite varieties only to the circumstances of
society. We have no right, therefore, to assume
that the consequences of plenty would be dif
ferent in America and in Europe ; or that, if
the necessity which has produced all the multi
plied inventions and ornaments of civilized
life, were once removed, the faculty to suggest
them would be fostered, or the industry to per-
feet them survive. But who would be so
visionary as to affirm, that the comfort of
society might be benefited by a system which
excluded all the useful and ingenious arts j or
the general good of mankind promoted by the
extinction of all the liberal professions, the
absence of all science and literature ? Inde
pendence would be dearly purchased at the
expense of refinement and cultivation ; and
universal plenty would afford a poor compen
sation for the gross ignorance into which man-
kind would be plunged.
For human labour, after all, is not sown
170 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
upon the sand ; it returns an abundant recom
pense even to the most wearisome and reluct
ant exertions. The quick multiplication of
the species enables the arts to be carried on,
and all the labourers in them to be supported,
with a far less proportion of real evil, and a
much greater share of advantage, than any
hypothetical change of system could promise.
That multiplication affords a numerous body of
labourers, ready to exchange for support the
exertion of their industry. The abundance of
labourers leads to the division of labour ; which
is generally known to multiply two or three
hundred fold the productive powers of man.
By such a division it happens that one person
employed in agriculture can feed four or five
others; which enables those others to clothe,
and not only to clothe, but to instruct and de
fend him in return, and to provide his humble
cottage, and to cheer his laborious life with
conveniences and comforts, which raise his
situation infinitely above any benefits that
could be expected to result from a different
system. It is not without the assistance and
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 171
co-operation of many thousands that the very
meanest person in a civilized country is pro
vided, even according to what we falsely imagine
the easy and simple manner in which he is com
monly accommodated. He who first made this
remark, had no hypothesis to serve or argument
to support, when he added, that " the accommo
dation of an European prince does not always
so much exceed that of an industrious and
frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the
latter exceeds that of an African king, the ab
solute master of the lives and liberties of ten
thousand naked savages."*
It appears, therefore, that the exertion of the
human faculties is a result necessarily following
the relative proportion which the increase of
the species bears to that of food ; and that, as
far as we see, no other ordinance would have
been effectual. The law of nature has not
provided, certainly, that a gratuitous feast
should be spread for every individual at his en
trance into the world, at which he may partake
* Smith's Wealth of Nations, b. i. c. 8.
172 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
himself, and introduce whatever guests he
pleases, without a return on his own part : he
must pay for his own subsistence, and that of
his family, by his labour, in some shape or
other, according to the situation he fills. This
is no ex post facto law ; it does not take him
by surprise, it is publicly engraven in the consti
tution of things ; therefore he accommodates
his mind from his youth up, to comply with the
terms prescribed : the object is ever present
before him, and determines all his views.
Neither is the law partial ; it is obligatory
some way or other upon all ; neither is it a
law enforced by punishment alone and offering
no reward : the industry of one assists others,
and is assisted by them in return ; and univer
sal welfare (such welfare at least as is consistent
with an imperfect state) is the consequence of
universal labour.
II. The first beneficial, effect of the laws of
population being thus the production of in
dustry, the second is the quick and ready
communication and interchange of the acqui-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 173
sitions of that industry among- the various inha
bitants of the globe.
An objector will ask, why is such inter
change necessary ? what advantage is gained
by the provision, that one country should be
peopled only by the overflowings of another ?
Why was not the whole intended population
of the world, i. e. as many as could be easily
maintained, placed at once upon its surface,
with a power only of reproducing the same
number ? He, however, must be a bold theo
rist who would prefer this operation, so unlike
the usual plan of the Creator's works, to the
existing law, by which, according to the course
of gradual multiplication, as many as can be
fed, are regularly and quickly produced. The
Creator might certainly have called into sudden
existence, a thousand millions, the estimated
number of the inhabitants of the world now,*
together with the maintenance they required,
with the same ease that he created a single
* Wallace on the Numbers of Mankind, p, 10.
17* COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
pair : but how little would such a plan have
harmonized with the wisdom discoverable in
the wonderful economy of nature ; with that
prospective contrivance which we now admire in
the organization of the universe, as far as our
researches can scrutinize ? Waving, however,
these objections, it cannot be for a moment
doubted, that the effect of any law which con
fined the human race to the spot in which they
were born, would be a greater deterioration of
mankind in point of civilization. None, it may
be said, would be in want : but none would be
better provided than the meanest now. Neces
sity, having never existed, would never have
led to all those gradual improvements of which
it has in every age been the parent, and by
which it has raised, as was largely shown, the
character and situation of man.
It is evident, that a constant communication
of the inhabitants of different parts of the globe,
transfers the arts and improvements which each
have attained, with a degree of celerity to which
their gradual discovery bears no sort of proper-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 17-5
tion. This communication is preserved by the
ordinance of multiplication ; by which the world
was originally stocked with inhabitants, and by
which it is kept almost uniformly full, through
the continual migrations from over-peopled coun
tries. These migrators* carry with them the
language, the arts, and the improvements of
their parent country. If every distinct portion
of the globe had been assigned its stock of
cultivators, each tribe, thus permanently settled,
must have discovered by their own light their
own arts, sciences, and inventions. But this
perpetual obstacle to improvement is thrown
down by the ordinance which has led to the
frequent migrations of which history is so full ;
and the bands or parties separated at various
* This has been the case in all the regular migrations, as
in those from Egypt to Asia, from Asia to Greece, from
Greece to the different shores of the Mediterranean, and in
the later settlements from European countries in unpeopled
regions. This is the regular course of things, and must not
be confounded with the invasions of the Roman Empire, or
the subsequent inundations of Europe from Arabia and
Tartary, which were expeditions of conquest, not of colon
ization.
17 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
periods from countries overstocked and civilized,
have carried civilization with them, disturbed,
perhaps, and checked in its growth by the
strong- hand of necessity which tore the settlers
from their native soil ; but often well adapted to
a change of climate, and different mode of cul
ture ; and striking its roots deeper, and spread
ing its branches more widely, than if confined
to its original spot, or natural country.*
Let us consult the only guide we can trust,
experience ; and look to the countries which
have enjoyed least of that intercourse for which
nature has established a general provision : to
* In Sicily alone, for instance, first some Iberians settled,
and gave the name Trinacria ; then a band of Trojans, after
the destruction of their native city : next a body of Siculi
from Italy, gave the appellation which has been ever since
retained- Some Phoenicians settled on the coast and in the
neighbouring islands. Of the Greeks, the Chalcidians
built Egesta, Naxus, Catana, and other cities ; the Mega-
reans, Megara, and Selinus ; the Rhodians, Gela. Herod.
1. 6, in init. Time. 1. 6, s. 2, &c. Must not all these have
brought a greater accession of arts, than could have been
expected to be indigenous ? See also the full account of tbe
Grecian colonies and migrations, Mitford. chap. v. s. 2.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 177
America, for instance, at its discovery, by
Columbus ; to many parts of Africa and Asia ;
to China, and the islands of the Pacific. These
are the countries to which we resort for exam
ples of a savage stage, or of a retrograde, or
at best a stationary condition of civilization :
and these are likewise examples of people who
have long remained fixed in the same spot,
with little or no interchange of communication.
Some of these countries, when first discovered,
had no knowledge at all of any arts, except
those absolutely necessary for their preserva
tion : many were totally ignorant of the use of
letters ; others had recourse to the most insuf
ficient and cumbrous methods of supplying
their place. Any cultivation of the mind,
moral, religious, or literary, is here to be found
in its lowest possible degree.
Still farther, it appears, that absence of in
tercourse is able to perpetuate barbarism in
the centre of cultivation. Which of the Grecian
states has left us no relic of its literature, and
was confessedly most behindhand in all the arts
VOL. II. N
178 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
of civilized life ? We turn at once to the com
munity whose lawgiver prohibited the admission
of strangers at home, and the intercourse of his
own citizens abroad.* The natives of Sparta
never attained any degree of mental improve
ment, till they left the artificial constitution
under which they were born, and were brought
into the natural situation of the rest of man
kind by colonization.
If we prefer the positive to the negative
argument, we may look on the other side for
those countries which have advanced quickest
and farthest in the road of mental and civil
improvement. Opportunity of communication
in all ages has facilitated this progress to such
a degree, that a gradual scale of civilization
would pretty exactly serve to indicate the mea
sure of foreign intercourse.
He is no consistent philosopher, who would
take away the pillars by which civilization is
* Plutarch, Vit. Lye. p. 121.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1?9
visibly supported, and argue, that civilization
would stand as securely without them. Nor is
it necessary to prove again that the existing
law of population is the principal of these pil
lars : or that the necessity it occasions is at the
bottom of all intercourse, whether for the pur
poses of colonization or commerce. Without
that necessity men would not be very likely to
cross seas or traverse deserts, however easily
reconciled to it, when placed under its influ
ence.
In truth, those who would prefer an ordi
nance of mere reproduction^ must create the
world itself anew, as well as its inhabitants.
Every district must realize the dreams of the
golden age, and produce in itself all things
requisite to the prosperity of mankind. Cin
chona, the sugar-cane, and the potatoe, must
be indigenous in Europe j the useful metals
must abound in America and Africa. This ar
gument is not confined to the great divisions of
the globe, but is equally applicable to every
separate district : all of which must possess
180 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
within themselves the materials necessary for
every useful art, and bring- their own inhabit
ants to equal perfection in the practice of it,
or they would gain little on the whole by an
ordinance which prevented communication.
According- to the existing dispensation, there is
a division of labour among the inhabitants
of the globe as well as among the inhabitants
of a city or kingdom, which is equally bene
ficial on the larger and on the smaller scale.
The fact is, that, when we form the first idea
of a scheme from which the stimulus of neces
sity should be removed, we are apt to paint to
our imagination a society restricted from far
ther increase, protected from more numerous
tribes, yet placed in the midst of surrounding
civilization ; like the republic of Marino as de
scribed by Addison, in the neighbourhood of
the populous Italian states, receiving the works
of art and of manufacturing industry they might
require, in return for the redundant produce of
the flocks and herds which it was their simple
and innocent concern to tend : enjoying, in
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION*. 181
short, at once, the advantages of a golden and
an iron age. But in forming a consistent hy
pothesis we must of course suppose the whole
world peopled, as far as it was peopled at all,
in the same manner, and advancing in the same
way to the rudiments of art and science, with
out the collision of foreign intercourse or the
assistance of foreign wealth. And if such an
hypothesis were applied to practice, and fol
lowed to its consequences in particular detail,
the plain statement would contain the proof of
the wisdom of a provision which is calculated
to unite mankind into one great family, so as
to render partial improvement universally bene
ficial, and to make individual genius the com
mon property of the whole race.
We shall appreciate more justly the benefits
continually diffusing by these means, if we
contemplate the state of the world at the pre
sent point of time ; and consider how, in every
part of it, the quick progress of population is
spreading civilization. We may look first to
northern Asia : where Russia has been for
182 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
many years extending her supernumerary sub
jects over the rude and pastoral nations which
belong- to that immense empire. These com
paratively civilized people, together with the
settlers which have been transported from the
over-peopled districts of Germany, are intro
ducing habits of industry, and communicating
the advantage of their experience in the arts.
From the moment when an industrious race has
established itself in the neighbourhood of a
rude and indolent people, the improvement of
their condition is inevitable. They have no
other chance of competition. For, the addi
tion of people, and their superior views of com
fort increasing the demand for the necessaries
of life enhance also their marketable value to
a price which only industry can pay. The
natives, therefore, either unite with the foreign
race by intermarriage and assimilation, becom
ing an useful and industrious people ; or they
retire from habits with which they can neither
cope nor imitate, and, through the increasing
difficulty of rearing a family, gradually disap
pear. The barbarism of Asiatic Russia has felt
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 183
this influence ; and civilized habits have, dur
ing the last fifty years, been spreading- with
rapid strides. Siberia, which was formerly a
wilderness utterly unknown, and in population
far behind even the almost desert tracts of
North America, is now a flourishing colony,
its imported inhabitants greatly exceeding the
natives in number. And the case is generally
the same throughout the settlements, where
that degree of civilization is already attained,
which the rigour of the climate, the difficulty
of transporting produce, and the little oppor
tunity of commercial intercourse allow.
The immense and populous kingdoms of
southern Asia do not appear to require the
assistance of foreign supernumeraries. Being
subject to regular governments and division of
ranks ; supported by agriculture, and advanced
in the arts ; they should be enumerated amongst
those who have long possessed the improve
ments which a full population introduces. But
there are various degrees of civilization : and
the influence and prejudices of Paganism have
184 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
sunk Asia far below the level to which her lux
uriant soil and climate might enable her to rise.
The commercial industry of the crowded Eu
ropean kingdoms has penetrated hither also ;
and has transferred a part of their population,
small indeed in comparative number, but of
inestimable value in respect of their attainments.
The light thus introduced has already benefited
some portion of these vast empires ; which, by
their ignorance of the principles of law and free
dom, afford a striking example of the slow
progress improvement makes in any region
which has little collision with others.
Africa, from the nature of its soil and its
want of internal communication, though it may
have its turn in the gradual diffusion of know
ledge, must always remain the least populous,
and consequently the least improved, of the
great divisions of the globe. But Africa, too,
is profiting from the fulness of other countries,
and from the spirit of enterprise which is the
effect of increasing population. Even there
settlements are forming for the express purpose
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 185
of meliorating the habits of the people, and
communicating- to them a share of the ad
vantages which other nations have already at
tained.
The destiny of America is more fortunate,
and the prospect it presents is a valuable illus
tration of the uses of that active principle which
conveys civilization universally. This vast con
tinent, which on its first discovery was, for
the most part, wandered over by thin and
scattered tribes, is now inhabited by a culti
vated and increasing people ; and has received
by inheritance those treasures of improvement
which the nations of Europe have been through
many centuries painfully acquiring. The case
was similar with the colonists from ancient
Greece, many of whose settlements, within a
period comparatively trifling1, rivalled the mo
ther country, not only in extent of territory,
but in arts and opulence. But the recent and
living example of America is peculiarly calcu
lated to place before us the reality of the ad-
186 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
vantages effected by colonization.* The neces
sity of legal restraints in countries that emerge
by their own efforts from barbarism, is learnt
by experience of mischief; by colonists it is
already known : and the forms of law most
compatible with the essentials of liberty, have
been discovered. The principles of govern
ment are understood, and the benefits of sub
ordination acknowledged. Literature is not
obliged to force its way from its first elements,
but has an advanced point to set out from.
The subject requires no more than to glance,
in passing, at these beneficial effects of the
overflow of Europe ; for it will not surely be
denied, that such an increase in the number of
the civilized inhabitants of the globe is justly
termed a beneficial consequence resulting from
a full population. And it must not be forgotten,
* " The colony of a civilized nation which takes posses
sion either of a waste country, or -of one so thinly inhabited
that the natives easily give place to the new settlers, ad
vances more rapidly to wealth and greatness than any other
human society." Wealth of Nations, b. iv. ch. vii.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 187
that not only the moral acquirements, but the
natural productions in which one country has
the advantage over another, are spread through
out the world by this interchange of its great
families. * " The inhabitants of western Eu
rope have deposited in America whatever vege
table treasures they have been receiving for
two thousand years by their communications
with the Greeks and Romans ; by the irruption
of the hordes of central Asia, by the conquest of
the Arabs, by the Crusades, and the navigation
of the Portuguese. All these productions,
augmented by those of America, pass farther
still to the islands of the South Sea and New
Holland. A colony collects in a small spot
every thing most valuable, which wandering
man has discovered over the whole system
of the globe."t
* " The potatoe, indigenous in South America, has become
common in New Zealand, in Japan, in Java, in Boutan, and
Bengal, where potatoes are considered more useful than the
bread-fruit tree introduced at Madras. Their cultivation
extends from the extremity of Africa to Labrador, Iceland,
and Lapland." Humboldt.
t Humboldt, vol. ii. p. 500.
188 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
Lastly, it remains to be observed, that the
important purpose effected by this provision in
disseminating the blessings of Revelation, must
have been prominent in the view of the Creator.
Were there no stimulus to intercourse between
different countries, any revelation must either
have been as partial as that made to the
Jews, or it must have been displayed sepa
rately to every district of the globe. But,
through the influence of the principle we are
considering, civilization becomes the instru
ment of diffusing Christianity : how active
and how powerful an instrument, is abundantly
testified by the unexampled exertions which
are employed, at the present moment, to trans
late the Scriptures into every known language,
and to distribute them in the remotest quarters
of the world. Whoever contemplates this fact,
must either be blind to the advantages of such
distribution, or must acknowledge the wisdom
of a dispensation, by means of which a Reve
lation made in one age ' and country, is, in
effect, made to all ages and all nations. For,
if we analyze those means, we find that it
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 189
is the activity of full population in England
which has carried the arts that minister to
human comfort to unrivalled perfection ; that
the industry of the same population employed
in the transmission of those arts has found
access to the rudest and most distant coun
tries ; and that the fulness of every avenue
to wealth at home is the foundation of that
readiness to emigrate and colonize, which leads
to the establishment of Christianity together
with civilization.
This transference of arts and population
leads me to remark, as one of the most ad
mirable beauties of the system, its easy adapta
tion to the various circumstances in which
mankind may be placed by the fortune of their
birth. What is the fact? Population, which,
in the American states doubles itself within
twenty-five years, in the old countries of Eu
rope is not supposed to double in less than five
hundred years.* Here is a difference so enor-
* This calculation of Smith's does not agree with the quick
progress of population in these kingdoms during the last cen-
190 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
mous, that we might believe at first sight that
it could only be effected by the interposition
of rude and violent checks to the increase, in
the shape of famine or epidemic disease. The
plan, however, of a wise Creator is of gentler
operation. It does not require that the popu
lation should be reduced by depriving of ex-
istence those who have been once brought into
the world ; but it provides by a natural check,
that the existing number shall never far exceed
the actual demand of the country itself for la
bourers, t Redundance is prevented, not re-
tury. But it may be a just average for Europe taken toge
ther ; and it does not really affect the argument, whether the
difference is ten or twenty-fold. The fact mentioned by Mr.
Malthus is more than sufficient for the purpose : " In New
Jersey the proportion of births to deaths, on an average of
seven years, ending 1743, was 300 to 100. In France and
England the highest average proportion cannot be reckoned
at more than 120 to 100." Vol. ii. p. 67.
-}- A perversion of the real state of the fact as to this point
is too common. The French pamphlet I before alluded to is
mainly directed against an imaginary position which the
author attributes to Mr. Malthus, viz. the necessity of misery
to correct the evils of the principle of population. However
we may pity the faculties which could fall into such an error,
it certainly shows a just view of Divine Providence to be in-
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1Q1
medied j and prevented by the simple effect of
that division of property, which obliges every
man, before he brings a family into the world,
to see the means of providing- for it within his
reach ; and thus gradually, as the inhabitants
of a country advance nearer and nearer to the
limits of their attainable support, protracts the
average period of marriage much beyond the
dignant at this supposed injury to his attributes. It appears
undeniably from the calculation in the preceding chapter,
that if the population of any country were to proceed un
checked, even for a short period, it would so far surpass the
power of the land to produce subsistence, that nothing but
the death of a part could allow any to survive. But it does
not proceed, and is not intended to proceed, in this manner,
except where the productive country is as unlimited as the
power to increase the number of consumers. If prudential
restraint, i. e. the preventive check, is disregarded, who can
doubt that famine, war, or epidemics will arise? just as
bankruptcy will come upon a man who takes no care of his
fortune ; or disease will follow the neglect of prudential rules
for the management of the constitution. But it is not neces
sary that the prudential check should be violated ; neither,
therefore, is it necessary that famine and pestilence should
carry olf a redundant population.
Mr. Malthus, with great candour, has omitted some para
graphs in his late edition, which had before created a wrong
impression in the minds of many readers.
192 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
time which unchecked nature would dictate.
It is true, that if the inclinations were indulged
with as little restraint and consideration in old
countries, as in the empty wastes of America,
some melancholy corrective, as famine, pesti
lence, or the sword, must soon ensue, and
bring- things to a level. But man, being-
moderated by reason, as well as impelled by
passion, has the means within his power of
keeping clear of any such desperate condition.
Where a space appears, in which the principle
of population may act unlimitedly, the natural
desire is also the law of reason. But under
the different appearance which most European
countries present, rational prudence interferes
as a check to the natural desire, and, by
setting before every individual his own best
interests, actually, though perhaps unconsciously,
determines the rate in which population shall
proceed.
In all this there is no violence, no cruelty,
nothing contrary to the nature of man, as a
reasonable and accountable being. If his lot is
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 193
cast in a country where no opening- appears,
by filling which he may gratify the natural
wish of planting a family around him ; this
wish, however natural, yields at once, and
almost without a struggle, to the circumstances
which impede its gratification. The mind, di
verted from one object, turns, without pain or
convulsion, to another : it seeks for amusement
in the endless varieties of pursuit which civi
lized life affords, and devotes the attention
which, in another case, would have been paid
to a family, to the interests of dignified ambition
or literature. In those ages of refinement
which oppose obstacles in the way of marriage,
many, like Epaminondas, have left a posterity
behind them in the victories they have achieved,
not indeed over their fellow men, but over
the difficulties of natural and moral science ;
victories which might never have been gained,
but for the circumstances which diverted their
attention from the common concerns of ordinary
life. This applies to educated minds. In the
inferior ranks, a man sees his prospect fairly
placed before him. If he chooses, as it is
VOL. II. O
194* COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
usually better he should, in preference to
ease and freedom from care, the comforts
of domestic enjoyment and affectionate inter
course, he knows that he must pay for those
comforts in his labour.* And thus his labour
has a perpetual stimulus, and a daily reward.
Without labour nature gives nothing any
where. A man born into a country already
fuily occupied is possessed of many advantages ;
but those advantages certainly demand from
him in return, severe and constant exertion,
if he claims to himself the peculiar privilege of
a young society — that of having a family in
early life, together with the comforts attending
a state of advanced civilization.
* Among the other uncandid remarks of which Mr. Mal-
thus has been the object, he has been accused as the enemy
of marriage. But what rule will the objector venture to sub
stitute for that which he has laid down ? " The only plain
and intelligible measure with regard to marriage is the
having a fair prospect of being able to maintain a family."
Or again, " The lowest prospect with which a man can be
justified in marrying seems to be the power, when in health,
of earning such wages, as, at the average price of corn, will
maintain the average number of living children to a mar
riage." Appendix, 1. ii. p. 537.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 1Q5
But on the other hand, is a country unex
pectedly discovered in which there is abund
ance of unappropriated land, affording a fair
prospect of support and improvement of their
condition to new adventurers ? There are
many prepared to embrace the prospect, and
dissatisfied with the reward their labour can
attain at home, to transfer their exertions and
affections to an adopted land. And there is
already, in human nature, an inherent prin
ciple, which, now freed from prudential re
straints, in a short period will people the
vacant space with intelligent existence, with
millions of beings possessed of all the im
provable faculties which distinguish mankind,
and heirs to all the hopes which religion opens
to our view.
Thus, when population has answered its
purpose, and it becomes expedient that it
should be checked for a while, the foreseen diffi
culty of procuring support retards it, silently,
but effectually. And if the expedience lies
the other ,kway, there is a natural power at
196 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
hand by which the advantage attained by civi
lization in one country is quickly communicated
to another.
It appears, then, that the principle of popula
tion, prescribed by the Deity as an instrument
for peopling the world with a successive stock
of intelligent inhabitants, and keeping it in
that state which was most agreeable to his
plan in its formation, not only fills but civilizes
the globe, and contains in itself a provision for
diffusing the beneficial effects which it origi
nally generates. To trace the power of such a
principle, and to discover, on inquiry, that an
object so extensive as the replenishment and
civilization of the globe is accomplished by
the silent operation of a single natural law,
empowers us to pronounce that the designs of
the Creator are carried into execution with in
finite wisdom. Neither should it be forgotten,
that the law itself, by which these ends are
attained, is neither harsh nor coercive, but
forms an important part of our earthly happi
ness : it is not written in characters of severity,
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 197
but promulgated by the gentle voice of per
suasion. The first fruit of that instinctive
principle which terminates in the results we
have deduced and contemplated, is the passion
of love ; which, among the most rational and
improved part of mankind, refines, chastens,
and animates the soul ; encourages the noblest
exertions, and inspires the sublimest senti
ments. Even in lower stages of civilization,
love has been found to cherish feelings ele
vated far above the general standard, to
soften the severity of pastoral habits, and
disarm the ferocity of the conqueror. Among
the rude and uneducated classes, the principle
of which I have traced the effects, is both the
source and the pledge of domestic union :
and by the " charities of father, son, and
brother," which it introduces, affords a volun
tary support to the imbecility of the weaker
sex, and to the helpless condition of infancy
and childhood. To enlarge, however, upon
this head, would be to encroach on a subject
more properly belonging to that part of this
work which treats of the goodness of the1 Civ-
198 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
ator. I shall accordingly conclude the present
chapter, by a concise recapitulation of the
general argument.
It appeared then, first, to be the design of
the Creator to people the world with rational
and improvable beings, placed there, it should
seem, in a state preparatory to some higher
sphere of existence, into which they might
hereafter be removed. With this view, he im
planted in the first progenitors of the species a
passion transmitted by them to their descend
ants ; which in the outset prompts the finest
feelings of the mind, and leads to that close
union of interests and pursuits, by which the
domestic comfort and harmony of the human
race is most effectually promoted. The opera
tion of this principle, filling the world with
competitors for support, enforces labour and
encourages industry, by the advantages it gives
to the industrious and laborious at the expense
of the indolent and extravagant. The ultimate
effect of it is, to foster those arts and improve
ments which most dignify the character and
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. 199
refine the mind of man ; and lastly, to place
mankind in that situation which best enables
them to improve their natural faculties, and at
the same time best exercises, and most clearly
displays, their virtues.
The collateral benefits derived from the same
principles were shown to be the promotion
of universal comfort, by ensuring the most
effective disposition of labour and skill : and the
diffusion of the civilization thus attained, by a
gradual and steady progress, throughout the
various regions of the habitable globe.
Such is the view of the omniscience and
comprehensive wisdom of the Creator, deducible
from the facts respecting population, and its
tendency to a quicker increase than the supply
of food can keep pace with, which have been
first explained to the present generation, and
added to the stock of physical truths unfolded
by modern inquiry.* The particular effects
* The tinal cause of such an universal law, viz. to stimu
late energy and industry, lias been succinctly hinted by the
200 COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF THE
of the multiplication of the species, which the
object Mr. Malthus had in view obliged him
to illustrate and enlarge upon, are so un
prepossessing, that many persons have forcibly
shut their eyes against the completeness of
the induction, and the extent of the evidence
by which the force of the principle is in
disputably proved. Others, unable to with
stand conviction, have been inclined to class
this among the " boisterous doubts and sturdy
objections, wherewith, in philosophy, as well
as in divinity, the unhappiness of our know
ledge too nearly acquaints us."t They have
considered it as an anomaly in the system
of divine administration ; a provision for en
tailing upon mankind much laborious poverty,
expositor of the principle, in his excellent chapter upon
moral restraint. Had it made part of his subject to trace
its moral as far as its physical effects, I imagine there would
have been as little room left for subsequent observations in
one branch of the argument as the other.
t Sir Thomas Brown, Religio IVfedici. " More of these,"
continues the excellent author, " no man has known than
myself ; which I confess I conquered, not in a martial postuiv,
but on my knees.
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION. "201
and some painful indigence. The antidote,
however, is commonly found to grow within
reach of the poison. The instinctive prin
ciple by which every country in the world
is replenished with inhabitants as fast as its
fertility allows, when more generally under
stood, and more fully reflected upon, will be
appealed to as a proof, that as our knowledge
and researches extend, they discover to us, in
the moral as well as in the natural world, new
proofs of most comprehensive wisdom in the
Creator. It is, in fact, the mighty engine,
which, operating constantly and uniformly,
keeps our world in that state which is most
agreeable to the design of the creation, and
renders mankind the spontaneous instrument
of their Maker, in filling and civilizing the ha
bitable globe. We may not, perhaps, be able to
discover all the bearings, or follow all the conse
quences of a principle which is undoubtedly the
primary, though secret agent, in producing all
the boundless varieties of the human condition.
It ought, however, to satisfy us, if, as our in
quiries penetrate farther into the general laws
202 COLLATERAL EFFECTS, &C.
of the animate and inanimate creation, we
clearly discover a wonderful subserviency of
appointed means to the accomplishment of some
uniform design : affording, even where the
design is but partially understood, such testi
mony of wisdom in the means, as obliges us to
rely in humble acquiescence upon the Supreme
Disposer of both.
PART III.
ON THE GOODNESS OF THE CREATOR.
PART TIL
ON THE GOODNESS OF THE CREATOR.
CHAPTER I.
Proofs of a benevolent Design in the Creator,
from the Constitution of Mankind.
IT is sublimely declared in the Christian Scrip
tures, that " God is Love." In truth, to figure
to ourselves under any other character a Being
of infinite wisdom to conceive, and power to
execute his designs, would appal the imagina
tion of his dependent creatures. Neither can
we find, in reasoning a priori, and from the
nature of things, any foundation for believing
that the misery rather than the happiness of
those dependent creatures can be desired or
devised by a Being who cannot possibly be
actuated by any of the motives from which we
know that injustice proceeds, as ignorance,
selfishness, or partiality ; and who can have
206 ON THE GOODNESS
entertained, so far as we are able to discover,
no other object in creating man, except the in
tention of finally communicating- a larger propor
tion of happiness than misery. These are the
principles from which is deduced the necessity
of justice and benevolence in the Creator.
Arguments of this nature will have more or
less effect, according to the constitution of the
mind to which they are presented. At the same
time it must be conceded, that the works of God
generally considered, form the best criterion
of his intentions ; and that, however indisputable
the eternal truths may be which render good
ness inseparable from power and wisdom, there
will still remain a reasonable inquiry, how far
the actual appearance of the world justifies this
conclusion. And, in point of fact, many, as was
before observed, have denied the moral attributes
of God, who have deduced his physical attributes
from the works of the creation. It is sufficient
to instance Lord Bolingbroke, who has declared,
that a self-existent Being, the first cause of all
things, infinitely powerful and infinitely wise, is
OF THE CREATOR. 207
the God of natural theology ; but he sees no
ground for the assertion, that God is just, and
good, and righteous, and holy, as well as power
ful and wise : an assertion which he evidently
thinks inconsistent with the admission of evil.*
He will not allow, with some of the ancient
theists, that love was the first principle of
things, and that it determined God to bring his
creatures into existence. He argues, that it
cannot be said of the moral attributes which
we ascribe to the Supreme Being, that they
appear, like his wisdom, in his works ; nay,
he says, " it cannot be disputed, and all sides
agree, that many of the phenomena are repug
nant to our ideas of justice and goodness." I
have selected the terms of the more modern
sceptic : but his is, in fact, the same objection
* Phil. Works, v. 315, &c. See also Leland, vol. i. 387,
&c. Gibbon transfers the remark even to the Hebrew Scrip
tures : " The moral attributes of Jehovah may not easily be
reconciled to the standard of human virtue ; his metaphysical
qualities are darkly expressed ; but each page of the Pen
tateuch and of the Prophets is an evidence of his power."
History, ch. 50.
208 ON THE GOODNESS
which has been urged ever since the days of
Epicurus, who alleged that the existence of evil,
whether natural or moral, must either disprove
the omnipotence, or prove the malevolence, of
the Deity.*
Lord Bolingbroke does not fail in severity
against those divines who have ventured to
assert that God made man only to be happy.
Such an assertion, indeed, it is sufficiently
evident, cannot be maintained. But it has
been made with more attention to the rules of
induction than the contrary conclusion of Lord
Bolingbroke. It is at least founded on a com
prehensive view of the general laws observed
* " Deus aut vult tollere mala, et non potest ; aut potest
et non vult : aut neque vult neque potest ; aut et vult et
potest. Si vult et non potest, imbecillis est, quod in Deum
non redit: si potest et non vult, invidus, quod aeque alienum
a Deo. Si neque vult neque potest, et invidus et imbecillis
est, idoque neque Deus. Si vult et potest, quod solum
Deo convenit ; unde ergo sunt mala ?" Lactant. de Ira Dei,
cap. 13. Lactantius's answer is on the principle of King-,
in his Origin of Evil, that God could have removed the evil,
but, in so doing, would have removed more goocHhan evil.
OF THE CREATOR. 209
in the constitution of the world, though with
too much neglect of the exceptions : whereas
Lord Bolingbroke requires us to deduce our
conclusion respecting the character of the Deity,
in defiance of all just argument, not from those
general laws, but from the exceptions themselves.
It will be necessary, first, to touch very
briefly upon the arguments by which it has
been shown, beyond the possibility of contra
diction, that the general laws of our system
evince that regard for the happiness of mankind
which we call goodness in the Deity : and I shall
then inquire, at more length, how far the excep
tions to which objectors refer, may be accounted
for without militating against this conclusion.
Government, whether divine or human, pro
poses to itself some special object ; keeps some
plan in view, in conformity to which those sub
ject to its influence must move ; points out
some actions to be done, and others to be
shunned. Now, human governments employ
the agency of terror, and enforce obedience by
VOL. ii. r
210 ON THE GOODNESS
punishment alone. They order, they forbid,
they deter, they chastise. Rewards, for reasons
which have been often assigned, they neither
propose nor confer ; and the only return which
can be expected from the most studious obser
vance of their laws, is immunity from their
penal sanctions. Had the Ruler of the world
prescribed to himself the same course, human
life would have proved a very unenviable pos
session. That he might have done so, that he
would have done so, if he had not willed by pre
ference, and, to a certain degree, the earthly
happiness of mankind, is no less evident, than
that he has really contrived the system on which
the world is governed with benevolence in view.
I. Mankind are endowed, as their business
on earth requires, with two sets of faculties,
corporeal and intellectual : and it has been al
ready shown to be a reasonable assumption,
that their right exertion , of these faculties was
the object proposed in their creation. With
this constitution, it obviously appears that two
modes of government might be applicable to
OF THE CREATOR. ^J 1
man ; and that, to perform the part assigned
him, he might either have been stimulated by
unmixed and unrecompensed pain, or induced
and rewarded by gratification. It were possible,
doubtless, that the satisfaction of hunger and
the other appetites, should, at best, only have
proved the alleviation of suffering ; that mental
exertion and social intercourse should be ac
companied by no delight ; that reciprocal af
fection and the domestic charities should be
prescribed to us as barren duties, but rewarded
by no return of pleasure. It were possible
that uneasiness should not only be the spring
of all our actions, as has been asserted with too
little limitation, but that no enjoyment should
be consequent upon the exertions to which we
were so prompted.
This, I say, might have been the law of na
ture. But, on the contrary, even in those
cases where a desire to escape from present
pain, that is, where uneasiness, positively felt,
determines our will in regard to our actions ;
it is ordained by the general constitution of
p 2
ON THE GOODNESS
the world that the means by which we attain
our object, are accompanied with gratification.
Human life is itself supported, from the cradle
to the grave, through the medium of gratifica
tion. The species is continued by the influ
ence of a passion which enlivens existence and
sweetens exertion. We are not goaded by
pain to labour, without a recompense of plea
sure ; we are not tormented into a course of
action conformable to the divine plan of go
vernment, but allured to obey it, by the pros
pect of some attainable satisfaction. The de
sire of distinction, the hope of bettering our
condition, the love of ease, are the universal
motives to exertion, because it is understood
that pleasure accompanies the attainment of
ease and distinction. Uneasy sensations, in
deed, properly so called, although they are the
appointed admonitions against danger, are very
seldom the immediate stimulants of action :
but whether employed as stimulants or ad
monitions, it is uniformly provided that some
reward should attend the energies exerted in
obedience to them. And that these rewards
OF THE CREATOR. 213
are the gratuitous gift of benevolence on the
part of the Supreme Contriver, must remain
an incontrovertible proposition, till it be shown
on the other side that the government of the
world could not be carried on without them :
or that all mankind might not have been forced
into habitual action by the sting of positive pain,
as well as a West Indian slave, if they had been
subject to the control of a ruler equally indif
ferent towards their happiness.
II. That the happiness of man was consulted
by his Creator, appears no less evidently from
the constitution of our intellectual faculties,
than from our bodily sensations. The nature
of those faculties, and the improvement which
they are capable of receiving from exercise,
show that it was the intention of the Creator to
bring the powers of the mind into action by
which the advantage of mankind collectively is
no less promoted, than the rank of individuals
is exalted in the scale of beings. It is contrived
accordingly that the situation allotted to mankind
renders the exertion of their mental powers
ON THE GOODNESS
necessary ; and the chain of circumstances, as
has been seen already, is so linked together, as
to produce that exertion, invariably and univer
sally, to a greater or less degree, in all states of
civilization. It commonly happens, however,
that this exertion is not made for the sake of any
pleasure immediately resulting from it ; the
intellectual faculties are not improved, nor the
imagination cultivated, for the purpose of ob
taining the gratification which a well-cultivated
imagination and a vigorous mind confer : but
any such pleasure is rather the result than the
object of mental exertion ; which is originally
undergone with the intent of supporting or
bettering our condition in society, or from the
necessity of keeping up to that standard which a
state of general cultivation has raised. The
pleasures, therefore, which reward a mind whose
powers are cultivated, and energies habitually
employed, may be as properly styled gratuitous
as those which we receive through the medium
of the external senses. They are the inci
dental consequence of a labour undertaken for
other purposes than those of obtaining1 a return
OF THE CKEATOlt. ^15
of pleasure ; and which would be undertaken
equally, the circumstances of the world re
maining the same, even if no such return at
tended it.
That the pleasures, however, thus gratuit
ously bestowed, are not inconsiderable, will
be universally acknowledged. Though they
are moderate in degree, they are frequent in
occurrence : and alike exempt from all the evil
of excess, and clear from any deduction of
pain. They impart a charm to the common
concerns and business of life, which, without
them would be necessary, but tedious and dull.
For, it is not only true, that, as the moderate
exercise of the body is agreeable to a person
in health, so to a mind habitually active, its
own exertions are pleasurable ; but it is also a
result of the pleasure annexed by our consti.
tution to the exercise of the imagination, that
there is scarcely an object in art or nature,
which may not, either in itself, or through re
presentation and description, excite a pleasing
idea to a well-cultivated mind.
216 ON THE GOODNESS
If the origin of these gratifications is con
sidered, it becomes evident that they are not
fortuitous, but interwoven with our constitu
tion, by the primary design of Providence. The
fact, with respect to the pleasures here alluded
to, viz. those dependent upon literature and the
improvement of taste, stands confessedly thus :
that to a mind invigorated by exercise, and re
fined by cultivation, a new class of pleasures
is introduced, and an avenue is opened to in
tellectual gratification, of which there is no
limit except the boundaries of nature herself,
in all her infinite varieties. Then, farther, if
we inquire into the mode through which these
pleasures are received, it will appear that the
images which are delightful to a person of im
proved taste, aiford that delight from some
pleasing emotion which they are calculated to
raise ; either by an agreeable interest, suggested
by the object itself, or by renewing, through the
medium of the imagination, some former interest
or satisfaction, which it is now agreeable to
recal. It is not, therefore, the object itself,
whether seen in nature or represented by those
OF THE CREATOR. 217
who describe or copy nature ; but the ideas
which that object is able to excite, which gratify
the mind ; and which are raised in us by a
regular and secret association, discernible in its
effect, but often escaping- our notice in its mode
of operation.
But although the association, as it thus ap
pears, is the immediate, it cannot be the ultimate
cause of the pleasure. The association pleases
by exciting emotion ; but in the emotion itself
the pleasure originally resides. " The ideas
suggested by the scenery of spring, are ideas
productive of emotions of cheerfulness, of glad
ness, and of tenderness. The images suggested
by the prospect of ruins, are images belonging to
pity, to melancholy, and to admiration. The
ideas, in the same manner awakened by the
view of the sea in a storm, are ideas of power,
of majesty, and of terror."* We must, however,
go one step farther, in order to inquire why
these emotions are pleasing. And this can only
be referred to the original constitution of our
* Alison on Taste, i. p. 75, oct. ed.
218 ON THE GOODNESS
nature, which is so framed as to be gratified by
the trains of feeling thus awakened, and thus
constantly arising in every intelligent mind.
It is necessary to insist upon this, because,
since it has been received, apparently with much
justice, that the pleasures of taste are derived
from our own associations, it might perhaps be
forgotten, that the pleasures are not altogether
of our own formation. The power of being so
pleased is, in fact, as much the Creator's gift, as
the gratification arising from a sweet flavour,
a beautiful colour, or an harmonious sound.
The sweetness of sugar would be wasted, if the
palate were not naturally gratified by that
taste ; and harmony is lost upon a diseased or
imperfect ear. So would the pleasures of asso
ciation, or in other words, the pleasures be
longing to an improved understanding, cease
altogether, if the mind were not naturally sus
ceptible of pleasure arising from its own emo
tions. That it is thus susceptible, affords a
strong additional proof of the benevolence of
the Creator ; who in the same manner that he
OF THE CHEATOK. 21 Q
has rendered the means of our preservation
agreeable, has also bestowed a reward upon
those exertions of the mind which were rendered
necessary by a separate branch of the dispensa
tion relating to mankind.
This rapid outline of the plan upon which
our bodily and mental faculties are constituted,
is sufficient to show that the design of God, in
creating man, is carried into execution generally
by the medium of pleasure instead of the opera
tion of pain ; and that he has superadded grati
fications to the exertion of all our faculties,
without which his counsels might be fulfilled as
completely, but less happily for mankind. I
deem it superfluous to enlarge upon a subject
which so many excellent writers have occupied,
and upon which so much has been already
shown, that it is evidently the concern of the
opponents of divine goodness to argue by
opposite proofs, that the happiness of man was
not the object of the Creator. It is as unneces
sary in moral as in philosophical inquiries to
labour farther in proving points which have
220 ON THE GOODNESS
been proved already. More truth would be
elicited, and much pains spared, if each reasoner
set out where his predecessor in the same subject
had concluded ; or only thought himself obliged
to demonstrate anew points that had been
hitherto imperfectly explained.
The example, however, of Bolingbroke, which
I before adduced, affords an instance, amongst
others, of arguments raised against the general
conclusion, from the numerous exceptions which
confessedly militate against it ; and which, in
the opinion of some, prove the object of the
Creator not to have been benevolent, or accord
ing to others, frustrate his benevolent con
trivance. Let it be allowed, they say, that there
is a visible provision for the happiness of man ;
that sources of gratification are opened, such as
cannot be resolved into mere utility, and evi
dencing a desire upon the part of the Creator
corresponding to what might have been antece
dently expected, that man should be happy. But
in a Being of infinite power, why is this provision
frustrated ? Why do we actually find so great a
OF THE CREATOR. 221
proportion of natural evil, in the shape of pain
and privation ; and of moral confusion, from the
existence of vice, the consequences of which are
destructive to happiness, and entail misery on
the good as well as on the wicked ? " If we
behold any thing- irregular in the works of man,
if any machine answer not the purpose it was
made for — if we find something in it repugnant
to itself or others, we attribute that to the im
potence, ignorance, or malice of the workman,
but since these qualities have no place in God,
how come they to have place in his works ?"*
This objection embraces an inquiry which has
been often pursued : neither indeed can it be
expected, from the limited nature of our faculties
and our want of a comprehensive knowledge of
the divine counsels, that it ever should receive
so complete an answer as to set at rest the curio
sity of man upon a subject at once so perplexed
and so interesting. But as the difficulty it
involves is both more important and more obvious
than any other within the range of theology ; and
* King's Origin of Evil, p. 72.
222 ON THE GOODNESS, &C.
as there are various courses of argument by
which it may be met ; additional inquirers may
be still usefully employed, in considering the dis
orders of the natural and moral world, the degree
in which they exist, and the probable design of
the Creator in permitting their existence.
CHAPTER II.
T7i>? present Existence of Mankind considered
as a State of moral Trial.
ON our entrance upon this subject, it is necessary
to premise what has sometimes been kept out of
sight by the visible and prominent disorders of
man's moral state, namely, that there are still
proofs of an evident determination in favour of
virtue in the world. This determination is
shown by the tendency of virtue to promote
happiness, to gain superiority, to acquire the
love and approbation of mankind ; while vice,
on the other hand, is not only punished as
detrimental to society, but excites general ab
horrence, as it were from some innate principle,
however in many instances perverted. The
fact, at all events, whether ascribed to innate
THIS WORLD A STATE
sentiment, or to the spontaneous influence of
reason, or to the universal effects of virtue
upon society, is undeniable, that, in spite of
the extent and prevalence of evil, it is the
uniform tendency of mankind to favour, love,
and admire virtue ; and that this being- part
of the constitution of thing-s, or necessarily
arising- out of it, amounts to a declaration
from " Him who is supreme in nature, which
side he is of, and which part he takes ; a
declaration clearly in favour of virtue and
ag-ainst vice." *
But supposing it allowed, that mankind, by
the exertion of some of their inherent faculties,
usually discern, and even choose by preference,
where their passions do not interfere, a course
of conduct conformable to the g-eneral rules of
moral virtue ; a fact which, in this low view
of it, will hardly be denied ; the question, it is
* Butler, Analogy, chap. iii. to which I refer, as having
indisputably established the tact alluded to. See also some
remarks to the same purpose in Search's Light of Nature,
vol. v. p. 307.
OF MORAL TRIAL. 225
still said, does not so much concern the degree
as the existence, of moral evil— an evil which
has hitherto kept the world in a state of per
petual disturbance, which deforms universally,
though unequally, the human mind and cha
racter in every individual, and overwhelms
a large proportion in unrepented sin ; which
exposes them to present misery and detestation,
and, as we are expressly told by Revelation,
to the severest punishment in a life to come.*
This question is not completely answered by
alleging that free will is man's most valuable
quality ; that his abuse of this power has intro
duced the disorders of the moral world ; and that
man, therefore, himself the delinquent, cannot
reasonably arraign the divine goodness for his
* The Scripture history of the fall of our first parents, and
its consequences, however satisfactorily it accounts to
Christians for the present state of man, cannot be expected
to silence sceptics ; because the argument of the objector
goes farther back, and inquires why they were permitted, or
created liable to fall. This is the objection of Bolingbroke,
when he complains of the severity with which God punished
our first parents for a fault which he foreknew they would
commit, when he abandoned their free will to the temptation
of committing it.
VOL. II. Q
THIS WORLD A STATE
own bad use of his distinguishing- property. *
Surely when we reflect upon the past history of
the world, when we contemplate its present ap
pearance, and when at the same time we turn
our thoughts to that future state of existence
which forms the best hope and consolation of
the good ; our reason must forcibly suggest to
us, that, as far as our views can embrace the
question, it would appear infinitely better for
mankind if they had possessed no opportunity
of making a bad election, or had been deter
mined invincibly in favour of a good one, than
that they should be exposed to the hazards of
a contest where all are endangered, and so
many are sure to fall irrecoverably. f
* This is the scope of King's argument in his famous
Origin of Evil. " If we can show that more evils necessarily
arise from withdrawing or restraining the use of free-will,
than from permitting the abuse of it, it must be evident that
God is obliged to sutler either these or greater evils. And
since the least of these necessary evils is chosen, even infinite
goodness could not possibly do better." Sect. v. subs. 1.
f It is a principal inquiry of Bayle, in his well-known
discussion of this subject, why God, foreseeing that a
creature would sin, if left to its own free conduct, did not
determine it to that which was good, as he does continually
OF MORAL TRIAL. 227
Whoever endeavours to prove that mankind,
in being- left liable to error, are placed in the
most desirable state, lies under the disad
vantage of arguing against the general appre
hension and conviction which must result from
a survey of the world. That general convic
tion asserts, that the being free and liable, and
consequently likely, without constant diligence
and painful struggles, to choose evil, is not only
the greatest drawback on individual, but on
universal happiness ; that it leads to the
heaviest misfortunes and the most poignant
anguish to which life is exposed : of which the
chief alleviation is the hope of becoming at
length victorious in such a difficult trial, of being
relieved from intercourse with guilty free agents,
and of enjoying the delightful tranquillity of a
repose from the disturbing power of passion.*
determine the souls of the blest in paradise. The best answer,
probably, which that objection can meet with is given by
Law in his notes on King, vol. iv. p. 112, chap. v. sect 5,
subs. 2. But it is more calculated to silence, than to satisfy
objections.
* The passage in Cicero to this purpose is very striking :
" O felicem ilium dietn, cum ad illud divinum animorum
Q 2
THIS WORLD A STATE
It is a position wholly untenable, that ac
cording to our view of the subject, the degree
of moral evil must necessarily have been as
great as it is, unless an absolute restraint had
been laid upon the will of man. Without
entering into metaphysical discussions, it may
be safely assumed, that the will is determined
by the greater apparent good ; and that, when
it makes a bad election in defiance of reason
and judgment, the dismission of some present
uneasiness, or the possession of some present
gratification, is the greatest apparent good at
the time being. Had, then, their real interest,
upon a full view of their present and future
condition, been placed before all mankind with
a clear distinctness which we can certainly
conceive, because we have examples of it on
record ; free-will, though exposed to less chance
of error, would not have been annihilated ; and
yet it would have been as morally impossible
for man to choose evil in opposition to good,
as we imagine it to be for the glorified inheritors
concilium coetumque proficiscar, et cum ex hac turba et
colluvione discetlam !" De Senectute.
OF MORAL TRIAL. ^29
of a future state; as it proved to be for Jesus
Christ, during his adoption of human nature
with its temptations and infirmities ; or, to go
no farther, as it appears to be for good men
when they approach the termination of their
course, after a long perseverance in the habit
and practice of virtue. If any one denies that
this might have been, to our rational apprehen
sions, a better state, such a one must be led
by force of consequence to deny that it would
have been happier for mankind, if our first
parents, and all their subsequent posterity, had
withstood the temptation to which they were
exposed, and remained with the liability to err,
but without the error. Yet the description
which might have suited the state of man, if
he had never fallen into moral evil, represents
a brighter scene than the face of the world,
such as we now live in, can realize. " Then
there would have been no desertion on God's
part, because no apostasy on man's : no clouds
in his mind, no tempest in his breast, no tears,
nor cause for any ; but a continual calm and
serenity of soul, enjoying all the innocent de-
230 THIS WORLD A STATE
lights that God and nature could afford, and
all this for ever. The whole world had been
but a higher heaven and a lower ; earth had
been but heaven a little allayed ; and Adam
had been as an angel incarnate, and God all in
all : and all this to be enjoyed eternally, with
out diminution, without period. O how great
a happiness may we conceive the state of up
right man to be ; which nothing can resemble,
nothing exceed ; unless it be the happiness
and bliss to which fallen man shall be re
stored !"*
The fact, I conceive, must be admitted, not
withstanding all the ingenious arguments which
some very excellent persons have adduced to
prove the contrary, that mankind is not, at
present, in the best possible, or intelligibly
conceivable state ; and it must be equally con
ceded, that the Deity did not intend he should
be.f The infinite wisdom of God supposes
* Hopkins's Doctrine of the two Covenants, p. 1.
•f This is allowed by King, Origin of Evil. " Moral evils
cannot be excused by necessity, as the natural ones, and
OF MORAL TRIAL. 231
an infallible prescience of all future events ;
and must have clearly seen, that a being-, liable
to vice and temptation in the degree to which
man was liable, would inevitably fall into it :
we cannot, therefore, either argue otherwise
concerning such error, than as happening with
his permission ; or concerning such liability,
than as forming a part of his general scheme in
the creation of man.* That general scheme, as
is evident to reason as well as declared by reve
lation, was to place man in a state of probation.
How we came to be placed in it, is a question
more profound than our faculties can pre
tend to fathom. " Whether it be not beyond
those faculties not only to find out, but even
to understand, the whole account of this ; or
those of imperfection, are. It is plaiu that created nature
implies imperfection iu the very terms of its being created ;
either, therefore, nothing at all must be created, or some
thing imperfect. But the evils incident to free agents are
permitted by God voluntarily, since neither the nature of
things nor the good of the universe require the permission of
them ; i. e. the world would have been as well without them."
* Epicurus's dilemma (Bayle, article Marcionites ; King,
p. 400) is to this purpose, and has bom already quoted.
Chap. i.
232 THIS WOULD A STATE
though we should be supposed capable of un
derstanding it, yet whether it would be of
service or prejudice to us to be informed of
it ; it is impossible to say." * Thus much is
certain; that those who have adventured upon
so deep a speculation, have left little encou
ragement for others to follow them on a sub
ject of so great difficulty. Some reasonersf
endeavour to account for the imperfection of
man, as if it were necessary to preserve the con
nexion between the higher and inferior orders
of created beings, or imagine J that God having
created, out of pure benevolence, as many im
material beings of the noblest kind as were
suited to the order and convenience of his
system, added others of the mixed and imperfect
nature which belongs to the inhabitants of our
world, since even such imperfect beings were
better than none at all.
It is not to be supposed that this view of the
* Butler's Analogy, p. 107.
-j- Soame Jenyns' Inquiry into the Origin of Evil.
1 Law on King's Origin of Evil, p. 393.
OF MORAL TRIAL. 233
subject can satisfy or silence those who are
inclined to argue it.* In reply it may be un
answerably urged, that, of three orders of
beings, it does not appear what advantage the
first and third receive from the imperfection of
the second ; or that indeed they might not
equally exist if the second had never been, or
should cease to be. Neither can it be main
tained, that a world, imperfect both in its own
organization, and in that of the creatures its
inhabitants, formed a necessary part in the
system of a Being whose omnipotence to pre
vent is as unlimited as his wisdom to foresee.
The conclusion to which Baylet brings his
free inquiry into the permission of moral evil
is, that " these are unsearchable depths, in
which reason is swallowed up, and only faith
can support us." This seems to convey an
insinuation, that the phenomena are not only
above our reason, but contrary to it : and the
inevitable consequence of such a conclusion is,
4 See Johnson's Review of Jenyns.
•\ Article, Marcionites.
234 THIS WORLD A STATE
that we are referred to our faith for support,
with the pillar which should support us,
shaken ; if it is at the same time pretended,
that the difficulty in hand is irreconcilable with
our natural notions of justice. Premising-,
therefore, that all endeavours to understand an
extended scheme, such as that to which the
creation of man appears to belong-, must be
defective, whilst only that part of it is revealed
to us in which we are immediately concerned :
it may still be inquired, whether it is any dero
gation from the divine perfections of justice
and goodness, of which the proofs are derived
from other sources, to suppose that God has
placed mankind in a state, as preparatory to
another, in which all being liable to error and
guilt, some were sure to prove, finally and
without repentance, erring and guilty, and ob
noxious to all the fatal consequences of such
delinquency.
It is undeniable, that certain imperfections
must belong to every created being. Omni
potence itself cannot create a being absolutely
OF MORAL TRIAL. 235
perfect ; since a being- absolutely perfect must
necessarily be self-existent. But there are
various degrees of imperfection ; various de
grees of frailty in the agent, and of temptation
from external objects : all this was to be deter
mined by the will of the Creator alone ; nor
can we conceive any thing- to control or inter
fere with his view as to what best coincided
with his design for the human race.
In the Scripture, to which alone we can
appeal with confidence, the creation of man is
represented as a voluntary measure on God's
part, to which we can only suppose him deter
mined by the exercise of his attributes, justice
and goodness. The account there given, though
accommodated to human expression, is decla
rative of the intention of the Creator ; who
says, " Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness" (i. e. endued with the distinctive
faculty of reason); " and let them have domi
nion" over the earth.
Here, and throughout the history, God
C23G THIS WOULD A STATE
appears to resolve, independently of all restraint
or necessity,* to create a world fit for the re
ception of the human race, to make them the
sovereign or principal inhabitants of it, and
at the same time to place them on their pro
bation ; their happiness being- dependent on
their obedience to prescribed commands, and
their disobedience being threatened with punish
ment.
The stress of the question, therefore, lies
here : why the Deity, if his purpose was really
benevolent, did not at once create man capable
* This is said in opposition to the language of King, be
fore cited, who speaks of " God being obliged to suffer" these
or greater evils ;" and of Jenyns, who argues to the same
purpose ; " It is not at all difficult to conceive, that in every
possible method of ordering, disposing, and framing the
universal system of things, such numberless inconveniences
might necessarily arise, that all that infinite wisdom could
do, was to make choice of that method which was attended
with the least and fewest ; and this not proceeding from any
defect of power in the Creator, but from that imperfection
which is inherent in the nature of all created things." The
real extent of the necessary imperfection has been already
.stated.
OF MORAL TRIAL. 237
of enjoying- a state of perfect purity and holi
ness, and incapable of corrupting or forfeiting
it. Now, although it is not pretended that we
can see into all the reasons by which the Deity
was swayed to create man a peccable being ;
yet there are not wanting many considerations
which may serve, if not to satisfy our curiosity,
at least to remove any scruples which might
be raised on this ground, against the conclusions
of natural religion with respect to the divine
attributes.
Without denying, on the one hand, that a
being free from all temptation, and unspotted
by any stain of guilt, might be created, and,
if created, would be an object of the highest
love and admiration ; yet, on the other hand,
it must be conceded, that the virtue of such a
being would be altogether different in kind
from the virtue of one who has successfully re
sisted the temptations and overcome the diffi
culties to which a good man is exposed on earth,
and who has so far contributed to form his own
238 THIS WORLD A STATE
character, his own moral excellence.* The one
would have received, the other has acquired.
The one would have succeeded by inheritance
to the possession, which the other has attained
by victory.
* I greatly respect the piety and humility of those Chris
tians who will think that this passage represents the future
condition of man as depending too much on his own deserts.
Theirs is the safe side. Nothing is so indispensable, in all
practical discourses and exhortations, as to insist on the
weakness of man's endeavours, as his natural propensity is
to magnify his deserts and trust to his own powers. But
while the Scripture every where assures us, that no man's
merit can entitle him to heaven, it likewise leaves us to un
derstand, that "the gift of God, eternal life, through Jesus
Christ," is not an unconditional gift, any more than Paradise
to Adam. So is it no less certain from St. Paul, that fallen
man cannot, without the aid of divine grace, form his own
character to good : but it equally appears from the same
source, that he must contribute to form it ; and that the indi
viduality of personal character remains, notwithstanding the
" inward renewal" required of the Christian ; as their pecu
liar style and habits of thinking remained to the inspired
writers, supported, but not superseded, by inspiration.
Those who do not find in Scripture this life represented as a
state of probation, or the dispensation of the Gospel as a
system of rewards and punishments, certainly read it with
different eyes from mine.
OF MORAL TRIAL. 239
If, indeed, that were the highest character
of virtue, which consists in the perpetual con-
templation and love of supreme excellence, an
idea which was erroneously entertained by some
of the ancient philosophers, and has been bor
rowed from them by the modern Quietists, there
would be less occasion for a situation of so great
difficulty and danger ; though, even according to
their system, it was no inconsiderable triumph
to abstract the mind from the objects with which
it is surrounded, and fix it to the contemplation
of unseen and ideal perfection. But as this
speculative disposition of the mind towards what
is abstractedly good, is found by experience to be
consistent with much that is vicious in practice ;
and as real practical virtue, such as we are con
cerned with in this life, does in fact consist in an
habitual subjection of the mind to the conclu
sions of reason, where revelation has not been
made, and where it has, to the commands issued
by the Creator of the world to direct his people ;
it is evident that this habitual subjection of the
will must be acquired, like other habits, by re
peated acts ; and to its formation must be pre-
240 THIS WORLD A STATE
supposed, of course, frequent opportunities of
executing- those acts, or the contrary. How far
the nature of the heavenly rewards may require
a mind previously disciplined, and how far such
an established disposition as is here meant,
may be even absolutely necessary to fit mankind
for the enjoyment of a future state, we are not
precisely informed ; but that such is the actual
case, is rendered very credible by intimations which
may be gathered from Scripture, as well as by
numerous analogies which the economy of the
present life affords.
Whatever is the explanation of the fact, it
certainly appears from the positive assurance
and clear examples with which we meet in
Scripture, that trial, severe trial, is absolutely
requisite to purify and establish the human
character. The characters which the Apostle
enumerates to the Hebrews as distinguished
beyond others by the divine favour, are almost
all of persons whose faith was testified by some
great present sacrifice risked in confidence of
future recompense. Tt wnni/i not seem to bo
OF MORAL TRIAL. 241
sufficient, that the mind should be ready to
make the sacrifice ; that the inclination should
be pious, the confidence entire ; i. e. the good
disposition alone does not seem sufficient : but
the action in proof of that disposition is really
performed, the sacrifice is actually made, the
suffering1 positively undergone : as by those
who " stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
" the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the
" sword ; or were tortured, not accepting deli-
" verance, that they might obtain a better re-
" surrection."* In all these cases, I argue, the
being actually exposed to situations of the great
est difficulty appears essential to the " obtaining
" a good report through faith."
Let us look more minutely to the process
pursued with regard to the particular instance
of Abraham. The blessing destined for him
was equally important and peculiar. An indi
vidual family was to be selected, from whose
stock the birth of the Redeemer of mankind
* Hebrews xi.
VOL. II. R
242 THIS WORLD A STATE
should take place. A particular people was to
be chosen, which should become depositaries
of the fact of the creation, and inheritors of
the knowledge and worship of the Creator, as
well as of his favour and protection, accompa
nied with great temporal blessings and prospe
rity. These two signal advantages, in their
nature necessarily peculiar, centered in Abra
ham.
However, they were not ultimately made
over to him till his fitness to receive them had
been proved and exhibited by several remark
able instances of obedience. His first call was
attended with a command to " leave his coun-
" try and his kindred, and his father's house."*
This call he immediately obeyed ; and it is
justly remarked as a proof of his faith, that
when he was summoned into a country which
he should afterwards receive as his inheritance,
"he went out, not knowing whither." t When
the covenant made with him upon this evidence
of faith was subsequently renewed, a fresh
* Gen. xii. -[ Hebrews xi. 8.
OF MORAL TRIAL. C<M-S
proof was demanded of him, and was followed
by the institution of the rite of circumcision.
The ultimate ratification of the covenant was
preceded by a temptation as much severer than
any to which any other mortal can be exposed,
as the benefits were singular which were about
to be conferried : requiring- him to sacrifice, by
his own hand, his only son, that son through
whom all the promised blessings were to be
derived. The object of this command is suf
ficiently declared, when it is said in the open
ing of the narration, that " God tempted (i. e.
" tried) Abraham." And it was not till his
fidelity had been displayed in this remarkable
manner, that the final assurance was given :
" Because thou hast done this thing, and hast
" not withheld thy son, thine only son, in
" blessing I will bless thee, &c. ; and in thy
" seed shall all the nations of the earth be
" blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice."*
Now, that Abraham's faith was really equal to
temptation, was of course known to the Al-
* Gen. xxii. 16.
244 THIS WORLD A STATE
mighty before he brought it to trial. Yet he
was tempted notwithstanding ; as if the actual
proof and exhibition of character were a neces
sary part of the divine counsels, and a step
which must be passed in the way to final
reward.
This conclusion to which we are led by the
case of Abraham is strongly corroborated by
the history of Job. It is still more worthy of
notice, that we find it confirmed in the exam
ple of Christ himself in his human character ;
who did not enter upon his ministry till he had
proved himself in actual trial superior to the
temptations which the minister of evil was per
mitted to place in his way ; as he does, accord
ing to their respective situations, in the way
of every individual who passes through the
world.
The necessity of trial to render a nature con
stituted like that of man acceptable to God,
and finally rewardable, seems decisively esta
blished by these instances, as well as by many
OF MORAL TRIAL. 24v3
other intimations which may be collected from
Scripture to the same effect.* Who indeed can
deny that such a discipline and exhibition of cha
racter may be a preparation requisite to some
ulterior purpose in man's final destination ?t If
the being surrounded with so much evil increases
the difficulty of his situation, it must be allowed
that i he characters of those who overcome these
difficulties are exalted in proportion . Natural and
moral evil are closely connected tog-ether in their
consequences as well as in their origin. The weak
ness of our bodily constitutions, and the many dis
orders to which they are liable, are both attended
" " Blessed is the mau that endnre.th temptation ; for,
" when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which
" the Lord lias promised to them that love him.'' James i.
12. " Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison,
" that ye may be. tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
" days : be thou faithful untu death, and I icill give tJiee a
" croitii of life." Revel, ii. 10. So also, ch. iii. 10, we
find " the hour of temptation" spoken of, " which shall come
" upon all the world, to try them that are upon the
" earth." To the same purpose is the declaration, xxi. 7,
" He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Compare vii.
14; iii. 11, 12;xi. 26.
-{- See Macknight on the Epist. Essay vii. s. 4.
246 THIS WORLD A STATE
with temptations of their own, and give to
foreign temptations additional power. Evil ex
amples surround us on every side, and the
inclination to transgress which actuates us
within, is constantly deriving fresh force from
external impulse. On the other hand, we both
feel, and are confidently assured, that there is
a power bestowed upon us equal to the existing
danger, and by which it may be overcome, and
the character of virtue triumphant, though far
from perfect, finally established. Now, it
would oppose all our natural convictions, to
deny that virtue, thus proved victorious, is of
a different nature, and more properly the subject
of reward, than untried innocence, which has
never been exposed to danger.
This being admitted, it will scarcely be
thought a question within the limit of our fa
culties, whether the degree of moral evil which
exists is that precise degree which would alone
be adequate to the intended purpose, or whe
ther the Deity might not have restrained the
bad passions of the human race within stricter
OF MORAL TRIAL.
bounds, and still have made life a state of pro
bation. When the thousand different turns
and relations of things on which every action
depends, and the nice points of discrimination
by which every character is shaded and marked
out, are taken into the account, he will not be
deemed wise who shall venture to assert that
the proposed object could have been accom
plished by a less sacrifice of good, or a smaller
proportion of evil.
It is true, that when we survey the violence,
the injustice, the rapacity, which have at all
times prevailed in the world, and consider the
malignity of some of the human passions, and
the vehemence of others, we are sometimes
inclined to indulge such a suspicion.* But, on
the other hand, we ought to bear in mind,
* Johnson, in his masterly review of Soame Jenyns's
Inquiry, has veutured to affirm, " Whether evil can be wholly
separated from good, or not, it is plain that they may be
mixed in various degrees ; and, as far as human eyes cau
judge, the degree of evil might have been less, without any
impediment to the good.'1
248 THIS WORLD A STATE
that these very vices give occasion to the exer
cise of the opposite virtues ; that, if there were
less violence, less provocation, less injury,
there would also be less room for meekness
and forgiveness, less opening- for those passive
virtues, the excellence of which is proportioned
to their rarity ; which are rare because they
are difficult, and difficult because they find the
strongest opposition from man's inward nature,
and least applause from the surrounding world.
Trial, in fact, is supposed, in the first formation
of the abstract idea of all the virtues. Where
is fortitude, without opposition ? What is pru
dence, but a right course among difficulties?
Patience is the daughter of affliction. Justice
is most brightly exhibited amidst that compli
cation of affairs, in which the business of the
world involves mankind. We cannot possibly
affirm whether the lustre would have been
equal, if the labour had been less ; or what
degree of attrition could be spared, without
detriment to the effect. Perhaps, however, it
may assist us in a subject which no thinking
person will affirm to be within the grasp of our
OF MORAL TRIAL.
understandings, to compare it with a case in
which we have some assistance from past ex
perience
For instance, would it not have been natural
to believe, that the persecutions which the con
verts to Christianity underwent during- the
three first centuries, were a needless trial of
their sincerity and constancy ? God, it might
be argued, knew their hearts and saw their
faith. Attachment to an earthly ruler can only
be shown by open risk ; but the Searcher of
hearts does not require the same actual displays
of fidelity, since he knows beforehand who will
and who will not abide the fiery ordeal. To
what purpose then did he suffer such refine
ments of cruelty to be exercised on one side
and undergone on the other, as might appear
to the contemporaries a plausible proof that he
did not approve or support the cause ?* Such
* 'Ot erriek'teorepoi KCLI Kurd iroaov avfjuraOflv
wveidtTov iroXv \eyov~ei,' TTOV 6 Oedf (ivrttJv, KOI ri a'vrovc
wvtiaeuv r} OprjaKeta, >; cat irpo r»)c e'avriii' etXovro
Knscb. tie Martyribus Lugduueiisibus, Hist. v. c. 1.
250 THIS WORLD A STATE
reasoning-, 1 can imagine, might have occurred
in the days of Decius or Dioclesian. But to
us, now, there appears an evident and intelli
gible design in the permission of those very
martyrdoms. The zeal with which they were
incurred, and the constancy with which they
were endured, form the strongest links in that
chain of arguments by which the certainty of
the facts on which the Christian revelation
rests, is supported. Had the trial been con
fined to a few individuals, they might have
been denounced as enthusiasts ; had it been
less severe, their perseverance might have been
termed obstinacy ; had it been less universal
or enduring, they might have been supposed
mistaken, and in any of these cases, the most
convincing evidence we at present enjoy of the
truth of Christianity would be taken away :
for, strong as the internal testimony assuredly
is, it is more open to dispute, and comes less
home to all understandings. All this, however,
would not appear to the eye-witnesses of the
martyrdoms : nor does it always appear to us
who are familiar with the evils resulting from
OF MORAL TRIAL. £51
human depravity, why that corruption is allowed
to disturb the calm of the moral world, and
deform the beauty of virtue.
II. It may possibly be argued, that it was
inconsistent with divine justice to place intel
ligent beings, without any consent of their own,
in a situation of such hazard : in which there
was a moral certainty undoubtedly foreseen,
that liability to err would end in transgression ;
that wickedness would ultimately prevail in
the world to a great extent : that many would
plunge themselves into final ruin, from whose
fall, too, the heaviest dangers and temptations
must necessarily ensue to the whole race of
mankind.
This objection, if valid, renders it inconsistent
with the justice of God to create any being
with the power of acting well or ill, and to
make him accountable for his use of such
power. Therefore, it would oppose an insu
perable bar to the creation of man in his pre
sent preparatory state, or in any state at all
252 THIS WORLD A STATE
similar to the present. For it is evident, ven
if we were not told so, that the rewards and
punishments awaiting mankind in a state of
existence where their faculties will be alto
gether renewed and changed, and their mode
and place of existence inconceivably different,
could not possibly be comprehended by the
human understanding, as it is now constituted ;
and therefore could not be more clearly pre
sented to it. Neither could the circumstances
of the risk, even if intelligible, be possibly pro
posed to man at his entrance into life, or at any
period of it that we can assign, so as to enable
him to act according to a regular contract,
rather than according to a positive command.
Therefore we are at once driven to the regions
of fancy ; the Deity might have created other
imaginable natures ; but it was not conform
able to his goodness to create such a being as
man, and to render him responsible.
This obliges us to inquire whether there is
no fallacy in the reasoning which leads to such
an absolute conclusion. If we trace to their
OF MORAL TRIAL. 253
origin the notions of justice on which it is
founded, they appear to spring- from the ac
knowledged impossibility of one man's deciding
with respect to a fellow-creature, by what
motive he may, under any given circumstance,
be most forcibly swayed, and to which of oppo
site interests he may be inclined to yield. In
addition to this undeniable objection against
any individual, unauthorized, placing another
in a situation of hazard, it is also impossible
that human faculties should so appreciate the
dangers of such a risk, varying in nature and
degree with every different temper and cir
cumstance, as to apportion the reward in any
tolerable exactness. The conclusion, therefore,
must be admitted, as far as regards the dealings
of man with his fellow-men.
It cannot however, on due consideration, be
pretended that the analogy is just, which ap
plies this mode of argument to any dispensa
tion of the Deity. For, in the first place, he is
able, though creatures of limited faculties are
unable, to comprehend in one view all the cir-
THIS WORLD A STATE
cumstances of the risk and of the reward, and
to make the latter so heavy in the scale, as to
overpay, to an infinite extent, the dangers in
curred. And next, he is able to judge in
tuitively and infallibly of the motives by which
every individual would suffer himself to be de
termined : and to know of a certainty before
hand, whether, if the difficulties of the course
to be pursued and the penalties of failure, were
proposed to the understanding-, the reward
must appear so to preponderate as to preclude
all hesitation, and sway every man's choice in
vincibly. Now, that the reward is of such a
nature, religion teaches us to believe ; and not
revealed only, but natural religion, that ge
nuine natural religion which points to another
world to correct the inequalities of this. For,
to be placed in the enjoyment of every plea
surable faculty, and at the same time to be re
moved from the possibility of any pain and
suffering, any drawback to our happiness from
fear or danger ; would be a state of very en
viable and desirable existence, even if it were
only awarded us here for a limited time, and
OF MORAL TRIAL. 255
with our present imperfections. But to pos
sess such perfect enjoyment with our faculties
enlarged, and improved, and purified, and ac
companied at the same time with a conscious
certainty of its illimitable duration, holds out a
prospect which may be truly affirmed to pass
man's understanding. We surely may con
ceive it known to an omniscient God, that, if
this prospect were actually or could possibly
be made intelligible to the human race, all
would instantly and joyfully embrace it, not
withstanding the difficulties that might oppose
the attainment, and the dreadful evils awaiting
a failure, of which a view no less clear and
distinct is of course supposed to be given.
But, if it could be known with certainty what
the choice would be, if the liberty of choosing
were actually presented to mankind, the case
becomes virtually, though not formally, the
same, as if the alternative of accepting or re
fusing existence were absolutely proposed. The
objection, as was before allowed, applies con
clusively to man, who can never be positively
assured what alternative will appear preferable,
256 THIS WORLD A STATK
what motive strongest, to the mind of another :
but no analogous argument can hold with respect
to the Deity, who comprehends in one view the
motives which would actuate the decision of
man in every possible contingency. His attri
butes continue unimpeached, as long as his
dealings with his creatures conform to the eternal
principles of justice : we cannot without pre
sumption require that he should submit his
actions to its forms, to the definite contracts
which the frailty, as well as the equality, of
mankind obliges them to sign and seal. And on
the principle upon which this argument is raised,
no objection can be consistently made against
the Deity's thus acting from his foreknowledge.
For, if it is urged on one side against the justice
of God, that he exposed mankind to a moral
danger, into which he foresaw they would fall,
and bring consequent ruin upon themselves ; it
must be admitted on the other side, that he
might place them in a situation which he foresaw
they would choose, if left to the free exercise of
their will.
OF MORAL TRIAL. 257
It is every way probable, from our experience
of man's nature, that undismayed by the lament
able consequences of failure, he would actually
make the choice here supposed, and place him
self voluntarily in the same responsible situation
in which, as things are constituted, God has
placed him, if the great and unbounded prospect
such as we conceive heaven to offer, were laid
before him. Granting it for a moment to be
possible, that the punishments and rewards of
the eternal world should be proposed to his
view and understanding, with all the contingent
circumstances of the risk ; there is every reason
to believe that he would be swayed by hope
rather than deterred4 by danger, even if the
reward and punishment are supposed equal in
degree. And if God had no other attribute
than justice, it were sufficient to believe them
equal; but as he is also benevolent towards
mankind, it is probable that the reward of
virtue is so vastly superior in proportion to the
punishment of vice, dreadful as we believe the
latter to be, as would irresistibly incline the will
VOL. II. S
258 THIS WORLD A STATE
to embrace the offer of existence, under the
terms proposed.
If, then, the Deity must have foreseen by his
prescience the certainty of that election, as
clearly as he foresaw that numbers of the human
race would ultimately incur the evils to which
their state of hazard exposes them, there is an
end to all objection against the justice of God,
and the question is shifted to his goodness.
But no argument against the goodness of God
can be maintained from the circumstances of
danger in which mankind are placed, unless it
were clearly proved that the present situation of
the human race is ultimately productive of more
misery than happiness. If the sum of happiness
produced to mankind collectively be greater than
the sum of misery, then it was benevolent in the
Deity to give them existence, though attended
with danger to all, and with ultimate misery to
some. To have placed' man in a situation which
he himself would have chosen, though the sum
total of risk was more than commensurate with
OF MORAL TRIAL. 259
the sum total of gain, would have been just, but
not benevolent ; but to call into existence a
larger proportion of happiness than misery, is at
once benevolent and just.
Now although we cannot hold the scales
which can balance so immense an account, it
is contrary to every probability that happiness
would not be found to preponderate, if we
could : for those who assert the opposite argu
ment are bound to point out some motive which
could induce an omnipotent Being to create a
world for any other purpose than that of pro
ducing a preponderating sum of final happiness,
when he has in all the parts of that creation
given evidence, by a vast plurality of instances,
that he desired the physical happiness of man, at
the same time that he required his moral obedi
ence : in other words, that benevolence was
a constituent part of his divine perfections, as
well as power and justice. And that this
evidence is actually given by the general appear
ance of the world, must be considered as a fact
which has been already shown by numerous
260 THIS WORLD A STATE, &C.
writers beyond possibility of refutation, or even
of denial.
These considerations, I think, furnish a suffi
cient answer to those objectors who insinuate
that it cannot be reconciled to our notions of
justice or goodness in the Creator, that he has
placed sentient and intelligent beings, without
any consent of their own, in a state of such
awful responsibility.
In these circumstances, therefore, the first
parents of mankind were placed ; subject to
command, and responsible to their Maker ;
with power over the impulse of the will suffi
cient to enable them to obey, but not so irre
sistibly determined to good, as to render it im
possible for them to swerve into disobedience.
CHAPTER III.
On the Goodness of God, displayed in the
Christian Dispensation.
IT is an employment not unsuitable to the
human faculties, and, we may trust, not dis
pleasing to their divine Author, to follow the
clue of reason through the intricate paths into
which the moral state of mankind leads us ;
and, as far as we are enabled by that feeble help,
to assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to man.
But any such inquiry cannot fail to terminate
in a feeling of just gratitude, that we, who have
fallen within reach of light from the Gospel,
are not left to such an uncertain road through
perplexity and error ; but possess a stronger
evidence than any arguments could furnish,
that benevolence was actually preponderant
262 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
in the mind of the Creator in determining
the situation of mankind. This evidence is
derived from the dispensation unfolded in the
Gospel. I will not appeal to the disposition
which it authoritatively declares, but to that
which it practically testifies. Whatever doubts
the permission of evil might excite, whatever
clouds it might appear to cast over the plan
of God's moral government, are dispersed by
the view which the Scriptures present of the
mission and sacrifice of Christ : a pledge in
controvertible, that love and goodwill towards
man did preside at the creation. When the
freedom of the human will had led to trans
gression, and the penal causes of that trans
gression had placed mankind in a very difficult
and laborious condition ; when the principle
of holiness had been corrupted, and human
nature despoiled of its primitive integrity and
perfection ; when the admission of sin had
been followed by its increase, and the natural
ability to resist it, lost j here, where it might
appear for a moment doubtful whether bene
volence had been the object of the Deity in
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 263
creating man, and if so, whether it had not
been defeated, the Christian* revelation steps
in to confirm our confidence, and restore us
to a just view of the divine attributes. It
acquaints us with a part of God's providential
government, which exalts, in the highest degree,
our sense of his goodness, and immediately
meets the difficulty arising from the temptations
to which mankind are exposed. A scheme
is there unfolded to us, mercifully devised to
meliorate man's condition, and obviate the
fatal effects of sin, by which, when the event
had proved that the human race were unequal
to their trials, the evil consequences of their
first transgression were, to a certain degree,
averted, and it was appointed that repentance
should be accepted instead of innocence, and
final punishment be awarded only to the im
penitent and obdurate offender.
It appears, therefore, that the Creator, whilst
he foresaw* that liability to sin would be fol-
* It may be thought that I overlook an objection, in which
"ome Christians as well as sceptics coincide, who deny the
264 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
lowed by its commission, provided at the same
time a remedy for the evil thus impending over
his fair creation. This he did, first, by ap
pointing a vicarious atonement for sins repented
of, and for those imperfections which the ad
mission of moral evil has introduced, even into
man's best obedience ; and, secondly, by the
regular dispensation of such gracious assistance
as should correct and support the weakness of
mankind, and enable them to fulfil those com
mands which, as the descendants of guilty
parents, and the heirs of a sinful nature, they
would otherwise be disqualified from obeying.
That this power is bestowed, and, co-operating
with their own moral faculties, enables the
sincere disciples of Christ to perform the obedi-
freedom of the human will, or argue, that to permit and to
decree are the same thing with absolute power. But after the
repeated examinations which this difficult subject has under
gone, the idea seems gradually to be prevailing more and
more, that it is tvithin the power of the Almighty to create
•A free agent : and the parallogisms of Edwards, the latest
theological champion of necessity, are beginning to be seen
and acknowledged. A discussion of the scriptural authorities
involved in this subject would run to a length rather suited to
a treatise on divinity than to the pivsrul note.
IN TIIK CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. £65
ence required of them, is distinctly declared
in Scripture, and evidently seen in the conduct
of those who listen to its dictates.*
* The existence of this power, and its dispensation in
various degrees, according to the exigencies and merits of the
individual, is perfectly intelligible. That a superior influence
should assist the mind of man, is no more extraordinary than
that the power of motion should be communicated to him,
a power evidently derived from nothing on earth, and only
referable to the Supreme Mind, or Creator: nor is the mode
of its operation more inexplicable, than the operation of
external objects upon our minds in the excitement of ideas ;
or than the communication to the limbs of the determination
of the will.
For example : the relinquishment of a present desire, in
conformity with the command of a superior, and for the sake
of a distant object, requires a double mental exertion of
considerable difficulty : viz. to overcome the present inclina
tion, and for that purpose to bring the future object nearer.
Now, it is evident that the human mind, while viewing any
immediate object of attainment, may be endued with a greater
or less degree of power both to see that object in a just light,
and to advance into closer view the future object, whether of
hope or fear. That these are not of any fixed dimensions,
but vary in their importance according to the medium through
which the mind surveys them, is manifest from the different
degree of relative importance they assume, before or after
attainment. Crimes are pigmies before commission; they
become giants afterwards. Motives which are trivial while
the judgment is overbalanced by desire, become of paramount
206 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
To those, therefore, who receive the mys
teries declared in the Gospel, as a disclosure
of the counsels of God relating- to mankind, as
far as it concerns mankind that they should be
influence when it is restored to its equilibrium. Our first
parents, who were bold under the pressure of temptation, hid
their faces when they had become conscious of disobedience.
It is in that wavering' state of the judgment which precedes
the determination of the will, that the divine influence may
be presumed to act, in assisting the mind to reduce conflicting
objects to their just size, to appreciate rightly the forbidden
object, and to approximate the distant recompense. This
requires an exertion of intellect, which it is easy to suppose
roan may be enabled to make with more or less success,
according to the power bestowed upon him. For instance :
our ablest metaphysicians are of opinion, that man cannot,
with his present intellectual faculties, embrace two objects at
the same time, or reason without the intervention of words ;
but we can easily imagine this possible to higher intellectual
faculties, or that the faculties of man might be so enlarged as
to enable him to reason upon any object without the representa
tive sign, or to compare two objects at once, without requiring
the aid of memory. In the same manner, let it be supposed
that he cannot, naturally, so forego things present, or so
clearly apprehend things future, as to obey the latter rather
than the former. But such a power may be bestowed upon
him by the same Being who gave him mind. And it may be
bestowed upon him in greater or less degree, in the way of
reward for the right exercise of the power he does possess
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION.
disclosed, is opened a most consistent scheme
of moral government, in which the union of
justice and goodness in the divine nature is
consummated. They learn as certain, what
reason before showed them to be probable,
that this earthly state of existence is prepara
tory to a superior state for which they are des
tined after its close : God having chosen, for
reasons which he does not reveal, that man
kind should display their characters in a pre
vious state before they reached their final
destination, and should attain the enjoyment
of a future and more glorious existence by
labour, exertion, and obedience. But, if this
life is preparatory, and if that preparation is to
consist in the trial of virtue, vice becomes the
touchstone by which virtue is proved, and the
possibility of falling is necessary to show the
strength of those who stand. In the very no-
naturally. And consequently, as a punishment for the wrong
exercise of that power, it may be diminished, withdrawn in
various degrees, or totally denied.
There is nothing in this supposition unintelligible, nothing,
as it appears to me, inconsistent with Scripture or with
philosophy.
2G8 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
tion of a state of trial, evil must be included.
If there were no moral evil, i. e. no temptation
to vice and wickedness in the world, the world
would certainly be infinitely happier, but it
would no longer be a situation of moral trial.
Or if, while evil still existed, man had been
irresistibly determined to choose the good, a
case which, as was before allowed, it is very
possible to conceive ; the moral character
would have remained undisciplined, untried,
and unimproved ; moral liberty being essential
to a system of which moral trial is the object,
and retributive justice the consummation.
God, however, confessedly foresaw, not only
that the possibility of erring would lead into
actual error, but that the moral evil thus let
into the system, would diffuse an universal
moral weakness, would introduce a general im
perfection, and, in addition to the large account
of total failures, cause many partial falls, which
might, in the course of years, be repented of
and recovered. To reconcile, therefore, his
own holiness with his plan for the probation of
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION.
mankind, instead of human weakness, he ac
cepts the perfection of Christ. This does not
alter the nature of life, as a state of trial, but
by the opportunity of repentance thus allowed
it renders the trial less perilous. At the same
time that the various scenes and changes ex
perienced in the world, are well adapted to
prove the character and discipline the mind, a
merciful and wise provision diminishes the ex
tent of the risk, and lightens the difficulty to
which man is subjected by those temptations.
He is at best frail and imperfect, and, it might
seem, unworthy of a superior state ; instead,
then, of that frailty and imperfection, God
declares his acceptance of Christ's perfect
righteousness, as having by his voluntary sacri
fice redeemed mankind from the consequences
of their guilt, and opened to them a way of
eternal happiness. How far retrospective this
benefit may be towards those who lived ante
cedently to the death of Christ, or how far it
may improve the condition of those who have
not yet received the mercies and obligations of
the Gospel, we can only conjecture by analogy
270 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
from the goodness shown in the whole dispen
sation. The true believer, however, is not only
set free from the consequences of those frailties
of which he is conscious, and with which the
existence of moral evil has stained every cha
racter j but the relation to the divine Being,
which the Gospel opens to his view, proposes
to him purer and higher duties than any with
which natural reason could have acquainted
him, and exalts the nature of his virtues in pro
portion to the brighter lustre of the object to
wards which they are directed.
With respect to the atonement, should it be
further demanded, why, if not the occasional
admission of guilt, but the irreclaimable cha
racter of wickedness were destined to final
punishment : why, under this, which is declared
to be the real purpose of the Deity, he could
not have pardoned sin, upon the repentance of
the offender, without requiring an atonement
incomprehensible to us in its nature and effi
cacy: the answer has been repeatedly given,
and, we might believe, satisfactorily given by
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 271
various excellent writers, in just and profound
reflections on the nature of sin, and of the
divine perfections. The question, indeed,
seems to assume that goodness, or benevolence,
is the single attribute of the Deity. But bene
volence, even in man, forms an amiable, but
not a perfect character. To complete the di
vine perfections, justice and holiness must bo
indispensably and inseparably united to bene
volence : and justice, it would appear, required
the vicarious atonement which goodness de
vised ; and which opens to those who, having
erred, repent of their errors, and reform them,
a way to the indulgence of that Being whose
purity would revolt from the presence of unex-
piated guilt.
To show that this idea of the necessity of
vicarious atonement is analogous to many cir
cumstances which the course of human life,
and conduct, and opinion, presents to our
view, would be only to detail again arguments
which have been repeatedly urged with all the
force of which they are capable.* Repentance,
* Of late writers, see particularly Arcbb. Magee, Disc. I.
272 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
I would briefly observe, may fit a person for
the acceptance of reward, but cannot, in itself,
deserve reward ; it cannot expiate an offence,
though it may render the offender worthy of
expiation ; it may excite compassion, but it
cannot efface a crime. This holds true in all
our intercourse with one another, and in the
common concerns of man with man. Though
we excuse one who has injured us, on his re
gret and contrition, our forgiveness of his of
fence does not restore him to the place he held
in our esteem, when innocent. The commis
sion of a flagrant crime we never entirely par
don. The reformation of the criminal does
not expiate his guilt in the eyes of society ;
his modest deportment and evident contrition
may engage our pity, and incline us towards
lenity and favour ; but, in spite of this feeling,
his offence has raised a kind of barrier between
him and the rank from which he fell, and he is
still viewed as a person to whom a stain is
attached, which it is impossible to efface, either
from his character or our recollection. If this
is the effect of a crime once committed, upon the
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION,
opinion of man, in the case of the Supreme Being-
it will appear a necessary consequence of the
excellence of his nature and perfections. With
man, the lapse of time and succession of events
weakens, if it does not obliterate, the memory
of the past ; but to the view of God the past is
ever present ; and the guilt once contracted re
mains in his sight uneffaced, and in all its ori
ginal heinousness.
Those writers, among whom some of consi
derable learning and piety might be enu
merated, who have held that repentance and
reformation are in themselves a necessary res
toration to the divine favour, have been misled,
by the abundant evidences of the benevolence
of God, to transfer that inclination towards the
happiness of his creatures which is uniformly
displayed in things indifferent, to circumstances
in which it could not be consulted without a
violation of the other attributes, which are
equally essential to the character of an all-per
fect Being. In things morally indifferent, and
bearing no connexion with the character of
VOL. n. T
274 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
man as a moral agent, it is decisively proved
that the Deity has shown an exclusive regard
to the happiness of the human race. But in
the different effects of different sorts of moral
conduct upon the well-being of individuals,
and of mankind at large, he has taken occasion
to display his justice too ; and has given us
reason to conclude, by an analogy drawn from
the present to a future dispensation, that the
punishment incurred by guilt is not necessarily
averted by repentance. This appears, not only
in the instances already mentioned, of the loss
of character and reputation, which might be
referred to the fallible judgment of man ; but
in the consequences which follow vice, by the
natural constitution of things, and are, there
fore, to be argued upon as actual testimonies
of the divine counsels. And these conse
quences, we find, usually continue, long after
the moral character which caused them has
been changed ; and the loss of fortune and
health is not repaired by repentance of that ill
conduct which originally forfeited them.
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 275
The analogy, therefore, which we can derive
from the course of things here, gives us no rea
son to imagine that God either has, or would
have, forgiven the violation of his moral laws,
by any departure from the holiness which
belongs to his perfections. " Some other in
tercession, some other sacrifice, some other
atonement, it appears, must be made for sin,
beyond what man himself is capable of making,
before the purity of the divine justice can be
reconciled to his manifold offences. The doc
trines of Revelation coincide then, in every
respect, with the original anticipations of na
ture,"* when they assure us, that God in
appointing an atonement as an instrumental
mean for the general restoration of repentant
and reformed transgressors to his favour, has
satisfied his holiness at the same time that he
has consulted his benevolence : and wherever
this revelation of his counsels has been hitherto
explained, he has also given the strongest dis
couragement to vice, by declaring its repug-
* Smith's Moral Sentiments, three first editions, p. 206.
T 2
276 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
nance to his nature ; and the highest induce
ment to virtue, by showing- the perfect purity,
either inherent or imputed, which his presence
demands.
This view of the situation of man, and of the
attributes of the Creator, which the Christian
revelation unfolds, is complete and consistent ;
and, while it accounts for all the pheenomena
of our state, contains but two points that are
beyond our reason, and none that are contrary
to it. It is above our reason, why we should
be subjected to so much hazard ; it is also above
our reason, how the sacrifice of Christ should
expiate human transgressions. But it is not,
therefore, contrary to reason, that God should
have chosen to create a being1 who should form
and display his character in a probationary
state, before he was admitted to the scene of
his ulterior destination : or that he should mer
cifully have appointed a mean, by which, con
sistently with his own justice, the risk incurred
by that being should be diminished. Admit
this ; and the moral world, which is sometimes
IN TIIK CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 277
treated as a scene of confusion, in which an
unequal contest between reason and passion,
between duty and transgression, is constantly
carried on, will appear a comprehensive plan
of harmony and intelligible design.
For reasons of which we are confessedly ig
norant, God placed us in a state, not of ultimate
perfection, but of preparatory probation. To
the formation and developement of human cha
racter, which was the object of this probation,
the existence of moral evil, and the possibility
of falling into it, became necessary. The de
gree of criminality in which some part of the
human race is consequently involved, places
the whole race in a situation of so much diffi
culty, that a total escape from the general con
tagion is rendered impossible. It follows,
therefore, that where the inducements to offend
were so powerful, if no provisional remedy had
been applied to cases of inferior or repentant
offenders, the system might have appeared so
far defective, as to be irreconcileable with the
belief of the goodness of God, which we derive
278 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
from other sources, though not contrary to the
rules of strict justice. Revelation, however,
sets aside this difficulty ; and acquaints us,
that the appointment of this provisional remedy
was coeval with the foundation of the system
itself; and that the disorders consequent upon
the introduction of moral evil, have been all
along- accompanied and palliated by a vicarious
atonement, which reconciles the forgiveness of
man to the perfection of the divine attributes,
and renders the final happiness of those whose
moral character has ultimately borne the test re
quired of them, no less consistent with the justice,
than it is agreeable to the benevolence of God.
Against this uniform and comprehensive
scheme nothing can be advanced, except the
presumptuous inquiry, why we were not cre
ated heirs to an immortality of gratuitous hap
piness. This would doubtless have been an
act of pure benevolence, highly preferable, as
far as we can imagine, to the majority of man
kind : but surely it is not pretended that man
can justly claim such an existence from his
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 279
Creator. It would be equally reasonable to
arraign the goodness of God, that we are not
born possessed of all the strength of manhood,
without the delay and dangers of a tedious
infancy : or that our intellectual faculties are
not bestowed upon us perfect, instead of re
quiring so long a course of industrious culture.
It is remarkable indeed, that the arguments
which arraign the divine goodness with the
difficulties which embarrass virtue on earth,
go in direct contradiction to all that we see
around us of the divine oeconomy. According
to that plan, nothing, if I may so speak, is
done immediately : all is brought about by the
instrumentality of means. The world is not
peopled by immediate creation. The food by
which mankind are supported, is produced by
a series of laborious exertions, which constitute
no small share of their employment. The hu
man mind itself is possessed of no stores by na
ture, but acquires whatever it has the capacity
of acquiring, by pains and cultivation. All
these dispensations are akin to the discipline
280 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
which the human character undergoes, in its
progress through the world. Why is not man
created in perfect vigour, and able to per
form without the waste of a tedious interval,
the purposes to which he is destined ? Why
does his strength require to be continually re
cruited ? Why is he not gifted from his birth,
or by inspiration, with the knowledge requisite
to his condition? Why do so many actually
leave the world, without having ever attained
any considerable degree of that knowledge?
These are questions, which, when we venture
to inquire respecting divine ordinances, we
might ask with the same justice, as when we
ask why the human character is formed for a
future state by previous discipline in this.
Again : should it be alleged, that if the
object of man's residence on earth is to form
and prove the character, in preparation for
another state, this world, so full of confusion
and wickedness, is ill adapted to serve for such
a preparation j the objection must be refuted
by an appeal to our own practical experience,
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 281
in a case remarkably similar. For who would
not believe, previous to experience, that the
same argument was applicable to the early
stages of the earthly existence of mankind ?
In this outset of life, the helplessness of in
fancy is succeeded by the perverse wayward
ness of childhood ; childhood is succeeded by
the headstrong passions and follies of youth ;
and the process of education exhibits a conti
nual conflict of indolence against exertion, of
licentiousness against discipline, and extrava
gance against reason. Yet in the midst of this
apparent lawlessness and confusion, the cha
racter is formed, and the individual is matured,
and enters upon the duties of a more advanced
period of his existence ; which he discharges
well or ill, and with good or bad consequences
to himself, according to the use he has made
of his early life and education. To this order
of things the whole of man's preparatory state
bears a striking analogy. He is prone to error ;
he is assaulted by temptation ; he is hindered
by his own weakness, and impeded by obsta
cles thrown in his way by others j he is urged
282 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD
and agitated by contrary passions, conflicting
wishes, fears and desires. And it is in this
tumultuous scene that the moral character
expands, and is decided to good or evil ; and
ultimately takes its place among the innumer
able gradations which form the connecting
chain between the best and the worst of the
human race.
In fact, the very viciousness of the world
renders it a state of virtuous discipline, in the
degree it is, to good men ; and so highly exalts
the dignity of those who subject their rebellious
nature to the guidance of reason or superior
obligation, and look beyond the business or
concerns of the present state towards that final
destination, of which this world is only the
entrance. For, in proportion as the dross is
impure, the metal is refined ; and if the admis
sion of evil into the system sinks a vast mul
titude to a very low state of degradation, it
raises the character of virtue to an elevation,
which a state affording no temptation or oppor
tunity of failure could never have attained. A
IN THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 283
being, before whom the views of his real in
terest had been always so clearly displayed,
as to render it morally impossible that he should
swerve from them, would not appear so fit a
subject of reward, as one conscious of his free
agency, sensible of opposite desires, swayed
by alternate interests, with passion to impel
and reason to direct him. A man thus strug
gling- against the vicious habits with which he
is surrounded, is worthier of celestial specta
tors, than the great admiration of former ages,
the man struggling against misfortunes. It is
a sufficient justification of the phenomena of the
moral world, that the established system of
things exhibits such spectacles, and raises
man to so sublime a height, superior to the
suggestions of the depraved part of his nature,
and to the tyranny of bad example. And it
must not be omitted, in conclusion, that the
obvious effect of such a state as Revelation
represents the life of man to be, is to introduce,
in the person who acts up to the faith and pre
cepts of Revelation, that sort of connexion
between man and his Creator, of dependance
284 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, &C.
and obedience on the side of man, and of re
gard and assistance on the part of God, which
we conceive will be renewed and perfected in
the life to come.
285
CHAPTER IV.
On the Existence of natural Evils, and those of
civil Life.
IF we turn from the moral to the natural state
of man, we find on that side also a body of
evil, which is seized upon as a strong- hold by
the opponents of the goodness of the Deity.
The extent, indeed, of these evils is differently
estimated, according-, it would seem, to the
natural temperament of the person who con
templates them. While Dr. Paley, whose
writings bear strong testimony to his sanguine
and cheerful mind, maintains that they hold
no proportion to the mass of human enjoyment;*
* Paley's Nat. Theol. p. 499. " It is a happy world, after
all. The air, the earth, the water, teem with delighted
286 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
another eye sees through another medium, and
at once the picture is reversed. " There is no
day nor hour," it is said, " in which, in some
regions of the many-peopled globe, thousands
of men, and millions of animals, are not tor
tured to the utmost extent that organized life
will afford. Let us turn our attention to our
own species. Let us survey the poor ; op
pressed, hungry, naked, denied all the grati
fications of life, and all that nourishes the
mind. Let us view man, writhing under the
pangs of disease, or the fiercer tortures that
are stored up for him by his brethren."* A
less prejudiced writer expresses his belief,
" that even among those whose state is beheld
with envy, there are many who, if at the end
of their course, they were put to their option,
whether, without any respect to a future state,
they would repeat all the pleasures they have
had in life, upon condition to go over again
existence. In a spring noon, or a summer evening, on
whichever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings
crowd upon my view."
* Godwin, p. 455.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 287
also also all the same disappointments, the same
vexations, and unkind treatment from the
world, the same secret pangs and tedious hours,
the same labours of body and mind, the same
pains and sicknesses ; would be far from ac
cepting them at that price."* Dr. Johnson
has even declared, that the evils of life pre
ponderate in so great a degree, as to render
the subject incomprehensible to human facul-
ties.f
* Wollaston, Relig. of Nature delin. p. 390. His argu
ments are well turned aside by Balguy, Div. Benev. asserted
p. 3. Cicero makes Cato affirm the same of himself: "Si
quis deus inihi largiatur, ut ex hac aetate repuerascam, et in
cunis vagiam, valde recusem : nee vero velim, quasi decurso
spatio, a calce ad carceres revocari." Seneca argues, " hanc
vitam, si scientibus daretur, neminem accepturum." These
observations may be true, but do not prove the point. What
ever pleasures we may have enjoyed in our past lives, we
expect little from their repetition, which would want the zest
of novelty and variety. I do not think it fair to allege the
unwillingness of mankind to part with life, as a proof of the
actual value of it; because this may as often arise from the
fear of dying, as the delight of living. Law, however, Hut-
cheson, Balguy, and Paley, all use that argument as satis
factory.
-j- Review of Soame Jenyns.
288 ON TILE EXISTENCE OF
The difficulty, however, great as these au
thors represent it, lies not so much in the evils
themselves, as in their partial distribution. In
this point of view, the natural no less than the
moral appearance of the world is unaccount
able, unless taken in connexion with another.
The existence of any partial evil, which can
neither be avoided by prudence nor mitigated
by virtue, is inconsistent with the perfect good
ness we attribute to the Deity, under the notion
of this world being- a final state. In that case
it ought either to be made up to the sufferer
by compensation, which we do not always find ;
or to be apportioned exactly to the degree of
vice, which is equally irreconcileable with ex
perience.
The usual answer to this objection, drawn
from the course of general laws, rendering
" partial evil universal good," does not suf
ficiently obviate the difficulty to which it is
applied. For why, it may be asked, should
the Deity have appointed such general laws as
must confine him to imperfection ? General
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 28'J
laws are necessary to the moral government of
the world, in connexion with a future state,
because moral government could not consist
with free agency, under the plan of peculiar in
terposition. But if a future state is already,
by the supposition, removed from the argu
ment, there ceases to be any objection to a
particular providence ; or rather, it is the only
mode by which the world can be impartially
governed.
Neither is it satisfactory to say of these
evils, that they are only evils of imperfection.
It is true, that " no anatomist ever discovered
a system of organization calculated to produce
pain and disease ; or, in explaining the parts
of the human body, ever said, This is to irri
tate, this to inflame."* But it is equally true,
that no inquiry has ever yet shown to common
reason, why the natural state of man is bettered
by being subject to disorder and pain, or why
such imperfections are necessary to the exist-
* Paley's Theol. p. 502.
VOL. II. ii
290 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
ence of our system, or to the happiness of any
other. We are reduced to the alternative of
referring- all to our ignorance, or to the more
reasonable method of turning our view from
the present spectacle of labour and suffering,
to its distant and moral effect upon the mind
and conduct. Then only, when this light is shed
upon the system, are we enabled to contemplate
it with satisfaction and complacency.
No errors are more repulsive to honest in
quirers, than a tendency to admit too little, or
an attempt to prove too much. If we espouse
the favourite propositions of Dr. Paley, and
allow, without limitation, the conclusion which
he £draws, that God wished the happiness of
mankind in creating the world ;* an opponent
may fairly allege the irreconcileableness of
such a wish with existing appearances, and
we may find the goodness of the Deity sup
ported at the expense of his wisdom. It is as
* The basis of his argument in his Moral Philosophy and
Natural Theology-
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 201
impossible to account for natural as for moral
evil, without considering this state as a state
of discipline and preparation. Arguments
without this basis may perplex, but will never
convince the understanding, The more mo
derate proposition, that the Deity wished the
happiness of mankind in this world, as far as
it might contribute to their final happiness in
another, is a proposition confirmed by the in
numerable benevolent provisions by which the
goodness of the Deity is maintained, and at
the same time is consistent with the many in
stances of pain, privation, and sorrow, which
abound on every side.
The machinery of human life is complicated
and intricate. The course of things, ordained
by its divine Governor, is sustained by the ope
ration of naturally implanted inclinations, as
the desire of enjoyment, the love of ease, and
the hope of distinction. The part which these
inclinations perform has been declared already.
But, that springs so powerful, when once
•
set in motion, may do no more than is required,
u 2
292 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
not overthrow the farther and more important
destination of man, a counter-movement be
comes necessary to regulate their aberrations
and restrain the inequalities of their action :
and the natural evils at present under consi
deration, the abruption of hopes by the sepa
ration of friends, the destruction of promised
pleasures by the interference of sickness and
suffering, and the various loads which age and
infirmity lay on nature, perform this purpose,
and keep things in order. Such pains, anxie
ties, and privations, as are incident to the
human race collectively, are evidently the
means which the Deity has appointed to de
tach mankind from the pleasures, and occupa
tions, and concerns which relate to this world
only, and are ill fitted to prepare their minds
for that superior state of which this is the
forerunner : and even strong as the corrective
undeniably appears, experience shows us that
it is not more severe than the nature of the case
requires. Nothing to a theoretical inquirer
would appear more disproportionate than the
punishments with which, in well-civilized com-
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS.
inunities, offences against private property and
the public peace are visited ; yet all the dis
grace and misery which is heaped upon the
head of convicted guilt, is unable to overcome,
or do more than to restrain, the stream of cri
minality. So, if we merely saw the pain and
wretchedness, which is not the consequence of
intemperate courses or guilty luxury alone, but
to which all men are liable, and which for the
most part they actually suffer in the course of
their lives, we might naturally suppose that
the measure exceeded the occasion. But if we
turn our eyes upon the world, we soon perceive
that all this discipline is scarcely sufficient to
make men look beyond the present day and the
present state of things : that the pleasures of life
are earnestly sought, notwithstanding the dis
appointment with which the search is often re-
paid : and that immediate enjoyment is the main
spring of most persons' conduct, notwithstanding
the accidents to which it is exposed, and the
acknowledged shortness of its duration.
I. To apply these remarks to an evil which
294 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
is inherent in the system, and must be neces
sarily inherent in any system, that was not in
tended to be final, and therefore perfect : no
inevitable evil strikes a deeper blow against
human happiness, than the separation of friends
by death. But in a religious point of view,
the advantageous consequences resulting from
this dispensation, are a matter of daily expe
rience. It is an evil useful in its apprehension,
its approach, and its consummation. A con
viction of the precarious tenure by which hu
man attachments are held together, cannot
perhaps be truly said to moderate their violence ;
it is more consonant to observation to allow that
such a conviction increases their tenderness,
whilst it diminishes their transport. But it
preserves in minds imbued with that piety which
it is the nature of tender attachments to cherish,
a constant dependence upon the superior Power,
to whose favour the valued possession is owing,
and on whose counsels its continuance depends.
Thus far the apprehension of death is salutary.
And when it actually arrives, the mind is not
only alienated from the surrounding scene, and
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS, 295
disposed by the pressure of immediate sorrow to
place its happiness on a more permanent
foundation ; but the survivors are admonished
of their own mortality in a way so powerfully
impressive, that no causes have been found to
contribute in a nearly equal degree to effect
that difficult change of conduct, which it is
often impossible not to desire, but vain to ex
pect, while the course of prosperity is smooth
and even. Considered with reference to this
world only, the separation of friends, whose
innocent enjoyments depend on one another, is
simply and gratuitously evil ; but considered
with reference to a future state of existence,
no part of our preparation is more salutary or
effectual.
II. The other evil generally affecting and
pervading our system, is pain. Now pain, to
a certain extent, is the instrument of our pre
servation ; an agency by which it is probable
that more good is attained with less violence
or disorganization to the system at large, than
any other plan would have afforded. As, how-
290 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
ever, it is justly argued, that the Deity had the
happiness of the human species in view, be
cause he made the desire of pleasure their ex
citing1 object more commonly than the dread
of pain ; so it must be allowed, that if he had
placed us here in the best possible state, he
would have made pleasure rather than pain the
instrument of our preservation. Neither can
it be denied, that more pain is mixed up in the
system, than can be justly referred to this salu
tary precaution ; inasmuch as many disorders
are incident to the human frame, against which
no precaution is able to guard. Here, as in
our former case, we account for the dispensa
tion, when we see it in a moral view. Long
and painful illnesses are among the means by
which a continued sense of imperfection and
dependence is preserved, as a necessary check
upon the freedom of our choice and actions ;
by which an attachment to this world is weak
ened, and habits of piety are sometimes ge
nerated and sometimes confirmed. A person
cannot have seen much of the world, without
recollecting instances of strong moral impres-
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 297
sions, and lasting alterations of character, which
may be referred to this original. The house of
mourning and the bed of sickness is at once
the theatre and the school of virtue. The
virtue, too, which is there displayed and learnt
is of a different species from that which is de
manded and exhibited in the active scenes
of life : and as it is not compensated by
the same reward, and cannot be excited by
the same hope of human approbation or ap
plause, it becomes necessary that there should
be a provision for its exercise, if it is determined
that man should be placed in a state of trial.
Those sublime and difficult virtues which
consist in suffering, though they seldom fail of
admiration when observed and known, are in
their nature silent and unobtrusive ; and so far
are purer and of a less dubious source than
those social virtues of which man is both
the object and the judge, and often the re-
warder.
Whilst in these considerations we find a rea
son, which can no where else be satisfactorily
298 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
supplied, for the existence of positive evils at
all in the creation of a Being of perfect good
ness ; it must not be forgotten, that, even in
the most afflictive visitations, the benevolence
of the Deity does not leave itself without wit
ness. I allude to those alleviations of illness,
and consolatory mitigations of suffering and
even of death, which have been acutely ob
served and stated by many excellent writers.*
If the natural world, examined as a system
perfect in itself, must perplex the reasoner and
disappoint the philosopher ; still it is far from
displaying the chaotic confusion which some
writers have delighted in describing. Like
the face of the country in spring, it shows
some desolate spots among many promises of
vegetation ; and contains within itself the seeds
of perfection active and growing, which a less
fickle season will mature.
* See in particular Paley, Theol. p. 498. It adds consi
derably to the force as well as to the interest of what he
there observes concerning the alleviations of pain, that the
chapter was actually written during the intermissions of an
acute disorder, as appears from Meadley's Memoirs.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 299
In addition to these natural evils, hitherto
considered, and to which the whole species are
equally liable, there remain others, as poverty,
dependence, servitude, which it has been usual
to designate generally as the evils of civil life.
They consist of two classes — those which in
opulent states of society press heaviest upon
the inferior stations; Jind those which in rude
and unsettled countries press more uniformly
upon the whole population. Of the former
class, it would be uncandid to argue that they
arise from arbitrary and human distinctions ;
since it has been affirmed already that these
distinctions spring up inevitably from the nature
of man, and that the poverty and inferiority
complained of as consequent upon them, has
its origin in a principle interwoven with the
human constitution, and invariably tending to
the same result. These evils, then, must be
allowed their real force, and we must acquiesce
in a belief which is warranted by many proofs,
that they are the consequence of such general
laws as are more beneficial to the world at
large, that is, contribute more to the happiness
300 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
and improvement of man collectively, than
more partial enactments could have been con
trived to do, consistently with the general de
sign of the Deity, which must always be kept
in view, respecting- the inhabitants of our globe.
Thus, though it may be objected, that poverty
or subordination of classes are not necessary,
like the positive evils of pain or death, to our
trial or moral amendment ; yet are they bene
ficial in another point of view, as being the
essential consequence of that system of things
which best contributes to man's improvement
on the whole. Many proofs comprehensible
to us why this supposition seems to agree with
the actual fact, have been already adduced in
treating of the wisdom of the Deity.
The inquiry principally connected with the
present consideration of his goodness, relates
to the extent of the evils now alluded to, and
of their mitigations. And into this inquiry I
am more particularly bound to enter, from the
line of argument I embraced throughout the
former Book. The first view of that principle
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 301
of population, the effects of which branch out
so widely, appears to many, as was before
remarked, like an anomaly in the system of
divine administration ; a provision for entailing
upon mankind ' much laborious poverty, and
some painful indigence. But in a system not
pretending- to be final or perfect, evil must be
expected ; it is sufficient for the wisdom of the
Deity that the evil is overbalanced by ad
vantage upon the whole ; and it is sufficient for
his goodness, that it is limited in extent, and
moderate in degree. From a prosecution of the
subject I think it will appear in fact, that the
extent of the evils of civil life is much more
circumscribed, and that their alleviations are
much more effectual, than a partial survey
might incline us to imagine.
I. It must have been already evident that I
am far from espousing the opinion that happi
ness is diminished by civilization, or from de
nying that it is the general tendency of educa
tion to increase both its quantity and its purity.
Nor have I any doubt, that, upon the whole,
302 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
the happiest, as well as the most perfect hu
man beings, are to be found among- the best
educated men in the most civilized society.
Their capacity of happiness is larger, being- in
creased by all their powers of intellectual en
joyment; and the nature of that happiness is
purer, because it depends upon objects least
liable to change, and least injured by the ad
mixture of alloy. But the capability, is not
the possession, of enjoyment. And could the
individual who is the best educated in the
most refined community be discovered and
pointed out, it need not be said how infinitely
the chances are against that being the happiest
man, to whom the most multiplied sources of
happiness are open.
From what cause it arises that the actual
enjoyment of happiness is much more equally
distributed, than the power of attaining it
would at first sight appear to authorize, will
be obvious to all who have pursued what has
been emphatically called " the proper study
of mankind/' This study acquaints us, that
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 303
affluence, and civil distinctions, the desire of
which is so natural as to be the chief source of
human industry and prosperity, are contingent
circumstances no more necessary to happiness
than they are essential to virtue. The vulgar,
indeed, imagine, and with some reason, when
they are so earnestly sought, that these are the
very constituents of happiness ; but the philo
sopher knows that they contribute little to
wards it ; and the possessor often feels too
sensibly that they cannot confer it. That
elastic adaptation of the mind to its permanent
situation, which we call the power of habit,
equalizes the apparent inequalities of fortune ;
and blunts the edge of imagined hardships
whilst it depreciates the value of what we are
used to consider luxurious indulgences. Those
who commiserate the condition of the in
dustrious poor, are for the most part person?,
who, born in a different sphere, and accus
tomed to a different manner of living, have
learnt to consider the superfluities of their
station no less important to human nature ge-
304 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
nerally, than use has rendered them to their
own enjoyment.* They proceed, too, upon an
assumed uniformity of dispositions and tastes,
which observation immediately confutes : and
which, if it did exist, must give a death-blow
to the business of the world. It would be
scarcely more unreasonable for the members
of one profession to pity those devoted to ano
ther, than to suppose that the degrees of satis
faction of which life admits, were confined to
the well educated or affluent. Every one per
ceives that the sedentary pursuits of literature
* " To estimate the real situation and feelings of another,
we must divest our minds, if possible, of every idea they have
imbibed; and undertake the still more difficult task of in
fusing into them the ideas of the person, of whose situation
we pretend to judge. For, happiness or misery in this world
seems to depend chiefly upon the relative proportion of what
is usually called good or evil, which befals us, compared
with what we have been in the habit of partaking. A poor
chimney-sweeper will eat, drink, and be merry, will feel the
excess of joy and happiness, in situations where a man of deli
cacy and refinement would die of horror, vexation, and dis
gust." VVeyland's Observations on Mr. Whitbread's " Poor
Bill," p. 23.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 305
and learned occupations, in which one man
places his pride and pleasure, would be un
satisfactory to another, though born in an
equal station, and gifted with equal talents,
but employing them on other objects. Yet
there is not a greater difference, in external
appearance, between the comforts of the pea
sant and the affluent, than between the accom
modation of the studious recluse, and of those
who follow the profession of arms. Habit,
which reconciles the soldier to his tent and the
sailor to his deck, reconciles the peasant to his
cabin.* The want of those superfluities which
are supplied by affluence, is as little distress
ing to the poor, as the mere possession of them
can be satisfactory to the rich ; and a probable
assurance that the necessaries of life will not
be wanting, is the only thing which can be
* " Nihil miserum est, quod non in naturam cousuetudo
perdux.it." Seneca ad Helv. " Paulatim enim voluptati-s
sunt, quae necessitate cseperunt." He exemplifies this in a
niiimirr much to the present purpose from the customs of the
Germans.
VOL. II. x
306 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
justly considered an indispensable condition of
comfortable existence.
This force of habit is spontaneously recog
nised by the common feelings of mankind.
Even a beggar is the object of their occasional
relief, but seldom of their habitual commisera
tion. No one doubts that he has satisfactions
of his own ; that his lot is made easy, perhaps
endeared to him by custom ; and that cheerful
ness may dwell under tattered garments and a
squalid mien. The object of our pity is not
the common soldier, but Belisarius reduced to
beggary ; the man who begins to labour to
wards the close of a life of ease ; or who is
fallen into indigence, after having been pam
pered by superabundance. This man we visit
with kindness and compassion, even though
his fall is probably the punishment of impru
dence, and he is still provided conveniences
which would be superfluous to one who had
been born and educated in an humbler station.
But it is not with his condition, but with his
change of condition, that we sympathize.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 30?
There is, indeed, a description of the inferior
ranks, which, if it were just, would forbid any
man to sit easy under the advantage of fortune
and education. It speaks of the " peasant or
artisan, as rising- early to his labour, and
leaving- off every night weary and exhausted.
He never repines, but when he witnesses lux
uries he cannot partake, and that sensation is
transient : and he knows no diseases but those
which rise from perpetual labour. The range
of his ideas is scanty ; and the general train of
his sensations comes as near as the nature of
human existence will admit, to the region of
indifference. This man is in a certain sense
happy. He is happier than a stone." *
If this were an impartial description of the
labouring ranks among the civilized states of
Europe, human life would cease to be what we
profess that it is, a state of discipline. But it
is the description of a variety, not of a genus.
It may be possible, no doubt, among our native
peasantry to meet with those who have scarcely
* Political Justice, p. 444, vol. ii.
N 'J
ON THE EXISTENCE OF
extended tlicir ideas beyond the field they have
cultivated or the spot where they were born.
But as poverty is a thing- separate from indigence,
so is this sort of stupidity from poverty. It is
not its general character, but either the result of
individual ill fortune, or neglected opportunities.
Among the inferior ranks, there is no want of
intelligence upon the subject with which they
have to do ; no indifference about affairs within
the range of their observation and interest. In
conversation with their equals they show a
mind active, though uninformed, generally in
tent upon some subject of common concern,
and often less trifling than that of a station far
above them. Whether or not it can be true of
a negro slave, that " he slides through life with
something of the contemptible insensibility of
an oyster,"* need not be here inquired ; it
certainly is not true of the inhabitants of any
country where Christianity is preached and
understood. Other religions, encouraging the
ignorance by which they flourish, contract the
human mind : but it is the peculiar nature of
* Godwin, p. 446, vol. ii.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 309
Christianity, to awaken energy, to inform and
to enlighten ; to raise, in short, the standard of
human intellect. It effects this not only by
the advantages of public worship and in
struction, which is in itself a species of educa
tion ; but by turning the mind towards its own
operations, and teaching it to reflect, to com
pare, to combine, and to reason. The man who
has attained just views upon a few important
subjects, is elevated considerably above dull in
difference : and that this is the case in general
with the labouring classes in a Christian country,
may be doubted by the philosopher, but is
familiarly known by those who have entered
into the habits and feelings of the poor.
If, then, it be undeniably true, that com
parative happiness cannot be weighed or mea
sured according to any definite rule, we must
judge of it by the index of the countenance
and the expression of the tongue. A reference
to this test gives us a very different result re
specting the equality of enjoyment, from that
produced by a survey of external circuni-
310 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
stances.* The countenances of the labouring-
poor are not depressed by care j their language
is not that of repining- or discontent. In their
daily intercourse with each other there is as
much cheerfulness, in their occasional con
viviality as much mirth, as can be found among
their richer neighbours. The man of refined
taste may find fault with this mirth, and call it
turbulent and noisy : but so will a circle of
polished Frenchmen appear to a well-bred
Englishman ; and so to a Turk will that
English circle which the Frenchman considers
dull and phlegmatic. A party of rustic la
bourers, taking their customary meal under
the shelter of a tree, may seem an object of
wretchedness to those who make their own feel
ings the only standard of comparison ; but will
be less pitied by those who have compared the
hilarity which accompanies their meal, and the
activity , which succeeds it, with the ennui,
* " Aspice quanto major sit pars pauperutn, quos nihilo
notabis tristiores solicitioresque divitibus ; imo ncscio an eo
laetiores sint quo auirnus eoruin in pauciora distringitur."
Sen. ad Helv.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 311
formality, and lassitude which so frequently
attend the banquets of the rich and great. As
to luxurious living", few can fail to know by
their own experience how entirely such a taste
is formed by habit, and how habit blunts the
sensibility to such gratifications. It might be
truly affirmed, that the peasant has usually
more actual enjoyment from the satisfaction of
his hunger by the most frugal fare, with an ap
petite sharpened by air and labour, than those
receive whose table is regularly spread with
sumptuous variety. There are, indeed, evi
dent proofs of this : for we deem it a proof of
great sensuality, if the rich man reckons the
appeasing his appetite among his serious plea
sures, which the poor man seldom fails to do :
and the occasional gratification which he en
joys from a meal more elaborate than his usual
fare, is a clear accession of gain to his advan
tage. He may not perhaps think this. He
sees the value which is commonly set upon
the luxuries of life, and can only conceive it
founded in reality; and what he has tasted
of them have come to him recommended by the
312 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
adventitious charm of novelty. The truth is
only known to those who have studied in theory,
and observed in practice, the effect of these
things upon the mind. It often indeed hap
pens, that the rich for the sake of recovering
health or avoiding pain, confine themselves to
as little variety, and live as sparingly, as the
poorest peasant ; and this, after having been
bred to different habits, and without the same
incentives to appetite. Yet how little do these
persons seem to lose of the enjoyment of life !
and how little should we sympathize with their
lamentations over a vegetable meal, and com
pulsory abstinence from wine ! Here is surely
a general conviction that we must look to other
sources for the presence as well as the priva
tion of happiness.
What has been here argued more particularly
with respect to the sustenance of man, may be
extended to all his ordinary relaxations. Habit
is the equalizer of them all. The poet did not
consult his own imagination, but human nature,
when he complained that sleep is not to be
purchased by the canopies of state, or sounds
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 313
of sweetest melody. The ship-boy's hammock,
the peasant's hut, the mechanic's truckle-bed,
disgusting as different habits render them to
the rich and luxurious, receive their owners as
comfortably, and send them forth as much re
freshed, as the best furnished apartment and
the softest down.
It is not, therefore, so just a subject of com
plaint as it has been often thought, and may at
first appear to be, that, in the most civilized
state of Europe, " vast numbers of their inha
bitants are deprived of almost every accom
modation, that can render life tolerable or
secure/'* It is not a subject of complaint, if
these accommodations contribute no more than
experience shows they do contribute to the
happiness of the habitual possessor. The
power of habit mitigates such privations : and
such privations only are the peculiar evil of
poverty. Pain presses upon the poor man only
in common with his richer superiors, or rather
•" Pol. Just. p. \v. vol. i.
314 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
it might be said, if it were not unnecessary to
push the argument too far, that pain presses
upon him less severely, from the hardiness of
his frame, and his exemption from the scourges
of luxury.
II. Is it, then, to be concluded, that hap
piness is altogether imaginary, or uniformly
equal ? By no means : but the essentials of
it have not been hitherto brought into view.
They do not consist of the gifts of fortune. By
the common principles of our nature, one of the
first of these is occupation. Provided only
that it be tolerably agreeable to the physical
or mental powers, occupation is happiness.
Nothing, indeed, is more usually heard than
complaints of the fatigue of labour, and weari-
someness of business ; but if a comparison
could be instituted between the satisfaction of
a man who rises with a certain portion of busi
ness to be performed, and of him who looks
forward to no definite and fixed employment
of the day, it would be clearly understood how
favourable to happiness is a regular occupation.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 315
Nor is this assertion inconsistent with that love
of ease and relaxation, which is the great in
centive to industry. Relaxation is certainly
advantageous, and probably even necessary, to
the bodily and mental powers. Every age has
found it so : the ancients sought it in their
games and spectacles : the warlike exertions of
savages are followed by feasts and carousals :
the man of business and the man of literature
alike indulge in their season of rest ; the pea
sant and the artisan relax on the sabbath, and
at the season of their occasional festivals. But
relaxation is not enjoyed by the habitually
idle. Ease is their labour, want of occupation
their fatigue ; a fatigue far more oppressive,
and less susceptible of alleviation, than any
which the necessities of the poor can impose
upon them.*
So Cotta, in Cic. de Nat. Deor. argues against Epicurus,
" Nihil cessatione melius existimantem. At ipsi tamen pueri,
etiam cum cessent, excrcitatione aliqua ludicra delectautur."
And Plutarch, on the same ground : Vevtof; eon, TO evOvpeiv
TOI/C fit) iro\\u TrpaWocrac. Contr. Epic. A remarkable
confirmation of this may be drawn from the early life of the
Italian pod, Alli.ii, whose account of the misery he cxperi-
316
ON THE EXISTENCE OF
The truth of this and of the preceding- obser
vations is evident from the various inventions
by which the ingenuity of man contrives to
divert the hours of idleness, and to find a point
for the mind to fix upon. The chief allurement
to gaming- seems to be the hold it takes on
the attention ; and the persons most addicted
to it are undeniably those who seek a refuge
from ennui, and an employment of vacant time.*
The more rational amusement of field sports
affords a mixed satisfaction, arising, in part,
from the animating glow of health which is
produced by active exercise and air ; but re
ceiving its completion from the energy with
which the mind is inspired, intent upon the
pursuit of its object. If bodily labour were, in
enced from listlessness would be incredible it' it did not pro
ceed from himself.
* Robertson, A mer. ii. 213. "These same causes which
so often prompt persons in civilized life, who are at their ease,
to have recourse to this pastime, render it the delight of the
savage. The former are independent of labour, the latter do
not feel the necessity of it; and as both are unemployed,
they run with transport to whatever is interesting enough to
stir and to agitate their minds." See to the same purpose,
l»aley,Mor. Phil. vol. i. p. 32.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 317
itself, an evil, or a pain without compensation,
it would not be thus voluntarily undertaken.
We hear, however, frequent complaints of
the severity and constant recurrence of manual
exertion. But the irksome routine of seden
tary business, from which a very small portion
of mankind is exempted, calls forth complaints
as loud, and probably as reasonable. That
both are founded on a miscalculation of the
nature of happiness, appears from the disap
pointment which commonly accompanies a
change of life : a circumstance to which most
persons look forward, when pressed with tem
porary burdens : but which is never attended
with the expected satisfaction, unless the acti
vity of the mind finds new resources for itself,
in occupations no less busy and constant than
it had pursued before.
The poorer ranks of society, therefore, are
not deprived of happiness because they are
condemned to labour, unless that labour is op
pressive to their bodily strength and faculties.
318 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
That this is not the case may be ascertained,
not only from what we know of human strength,
and its gradual adaptation to the burden im
posed upon it, but from what we see of the
recreations of the poor, which are, in favour
able seasons and climates, invariably athletic
and active. In those countries of Europe
which enjoy a dry atmosphere and mild tem
perature, the peasant's evening is regularly
concluded with dancing. The exercises are
all athletic with which the labouring poor of
our own country divert the close of the day,
and relax from its serious fatigues.
To these general views of the effect of labour
upon happiness, manufactures, at first sight,
appear to afford a solitary exception. The
mechanical exercise of the manufacturer bears
no comparison with the manual labour of the
peasant, whose horizon is expanded, and whose
employments are various ; while the manu
facturer breathes an air which custom may
render tolerable, but nothing can render salu
tary ; and his gregarious mode of living is too
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 319
often productive of dissoluteness and vice. We
find, however, by experience, that the exten
sion of manufacturing industry is not necessarily
followed by injury, either to the mind or the
bodily frame. Care and attention on the part
of the employer, in well-regulated concerns,
diffuse the comforts of improved manufactures,
without the drawback of individual distress.*
* There are manufactories which, by the care and judg
ment of their superintendents, have become even schools of
moral discipline : nor is there any existing reason why they
should not commonly exhibit such an appearance, if the ex
cellent practice of which the success has been experimentally
proved were general. As to the unhealthiness of manufac
tories, Dr. Jarrold's observations are of importance, because
they are the result of local experience. He speaks of the
cotton-works in the neighbourhood of Stockport. " As
children are admitted to work at the age of eight or ten
years, it might be expected that the injurious influence of
their occupation would, at that tender age, be most apparent ;
on this account I have attended much to them, and I do not
scruple to declare, that children so employed are as healthy
as those of the poor brought up in great towns usually are,
and more so than such as are apprenticed to tailors, shoe
makers, or basket-makers: it is true, their countenances are
pale and delicate ; so are all children kept within doors :
their clothes, covered with cotton, give them a forlorn ap-
320 ON THE EXISTENCE OF
Happily, too, in proportion as the division of
labour has narrowed the circle of the mind's
activity, it has diminished the necessity of
labourers in crowded rooms by the introduction
of machinery.
It must by no means be supposed, though it
is frequently affirmed, that the walls which
confine the manufacturer, are the limits to the
expansion of his mind, which runs the same
dull round to which his hands are habituated.
Let it be considered, how few are the avoca
tions of life, either among- the educated or
illiterate classes, in which the mere prosecution
of their daily employments furnishes any ma
terial improvement to the intellect. This is
left to the hours of recreation or leisure. In
pearance, but their health is not injured by their work.
What has been said of children applies with equal force to
adults." Dissertations on Man, p. 60. It has been even
asserted, that out of near 3000 children employed in the mills
at Lanark, then in the occupation of Mr. Dale, " during a
period of twelve years, from 1785 to 1797, only fourteen died,
and not one became the object of judicial punishment."
" Society for the Poor Reports," vol. ii.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 3121
point of fact, the manufacturer derives a supe
riority over the peasant, from his constant
intercourse with society, and the collision of
various minds to which he has been accustomed
from his youth. And as for the mechanic,
whose labour does not confine him to a single
spot, whose work demands the frequent re
sources of his ingenuity, and who is constantly
interested in the pursuit of some new employ
ment or operation, none of the evils of ma
nufactures must be considered as applying to
him ; his active mind might be an object of
envy to many who profit by, and reward his
toil ; and is often found of a superior rate, as
to quickness of talent and reasoning powers.
III. Next in importance, as a constituent of
happiness, is health. It is, perhaps, less es
sential than occupation ; because we may often
observe much tranquillity exist in a very uncer
tain state of health, but never without an en
gagement of the mind. Health, however, is
not only requisite to the proper enjoyment of
circumstances the most favourable to happiness,
VOL. II. Y
ON THE EXISTENCE OF
but it gives enjoyment to circumstances the
most common, or the least promising. It was
justly remarked by a profound observer of hu
man nature, that " little can be added to the
happiness of a man who is in health, out of
debt, and has a clear conscience : yet this,"
he continues, " is the state of the greater part
of mankind/'* There is, in fact, a pleasure
attached to the mere feeling of existence, when
enlivened by the activity, and nerved by the
vigour of health.
Whatever be the value of these feelings,
which, indeed, less than any other, derive
their importance from custom or comparison ;
they are at least in an equal proportion dis
pensed to the labouring part of the community.
The diseases of the poor are few and simple,
compared with those of the rich and luxurious.
Indeed, so favourable are regular hours, and
meals, and exercise, to health, that their good
effect counteracts the tendency of the most un-
* Smith, Theory of Mor. Sent. vol. i.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 323
\vholesomo avocations. You may converse
with persons who have passed their lives from
an early age, among founderies and forges,
whose health has been never interrupted by
the furnaces and sudden transitions to which
they have been so long exposed, which have
had no other effect than to harden their features
and encrust their limbs.* It is common, also,
to find persons who, even in our variable and
humid climate, have lived in the open air, and
encamped from place to place under tents ; and
to learn that their mode of life has not only
been favourable to generation, as Smith observes
of poverty in general, f but even to the rearing
large families of healthy children.
* " In the Mexican mines, from five to six thousand per
sons are employed in the amalgamation of the minerals, or
the preparatory labour. A great number of these individuals
pass their lives in walking barefooted over heaps of brazed
metals, moistened and mixed with muriate of soda, sulphate
of iron, and oxid of mercury, by the contact of the atmo
spheric air and the solar rays. It is a remarkable pheno
menon to see these men enjoy the most perfect health" Humb.
i. 127.
f Wealth of Nations, vol. i.
Y 2
324- ON THE EXISTENCE OF
This must be ascribed to the facility with
which the human constitution adapts itself to
the habits and circumstances under which it is
placed ; a facility which we must suppose de
signed, because it peculiarly belongs to that
one of created beings, to whose welfare such a
property is requisite. Even those climates
which prove fatal to adult strangers, are seldom
unsalutary to native constitutions, or to children
transplanted into them at an early age. The
climate of Norway, and the rude cabin of a
Norway peasant, would not readily be con
ceived favourable to health or longevity. Yet
the average duration of life is considerably
longer in that country than in any of the more
civilized and genial parts of Europe ;* and
affords a sufficient proof, that those conveni
ences are little necessary to health, of which
the poor of all countries are in a great measure
* The same observation may be extended to Iceland.
" A comparison of facts would probably prove, that the
longevity of the Icelanders rather exceeds than falls short of
the average obtained from the continental nations of Europe."
Sir G. Mackenzie, p. 416.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS. 325
deprived. A change from the comforts and
luxurious indulgences possessed by the rich,
would probably be accompanied with disease,
and certainly with wretchedness. The con
sciousness of this has made it appear, that the
situations which want those comforts, are posi
tively, not relatively, evil. But " when Pro
vidence divided the earth among a few lordly
masters, it neither forgot nor abandoned those
who seemed to have been left out in the par
tition. In what constitutes the real happiness
of human life, these last are in no respect
inferior to those who would seem so much
above them. In ease of body and peace of
mind, the different ranks of life are nearly
upon a level." *
* Smith's Mor. Sent. p. 4, 1. 1. We are assured by
Humbohlt, that " the mortality among the miners of
Mexico is not much greater than what is observed among
the other classes. We may be easily convinced of this by
examining the bills of mortality in the different parishes."
Vol. i. 124.
" Avant que le Christianisme cut aboli en Europe la ser
vitude civile, on regardoit les travaux des mines comme si
pi'iiibles, qu'on croyoit qu'ils nc pouvoient etrc fails <|iu- p ai
des esclaves ou par des criminels. Mais on s^-ait qu'au-
ON THE EXISTENCE OF
It appears from the preceding remarks, that
for those evils to which the division of ranks,
and tendency to increase among mankind, ex
pose the inferior classes of society, a mitigation
is provided by the nature of happiness itself, which
is more independent of those advantages to
which they are strangers, than might be ima
gined upon a cursory observation. It is inde
pendent of luxurious superfluities, because
those superfluities which luxury renders ha
bitual, habit renders unimportant. It is not
diminished by laborious occupation, because
occupation is one of the necessary ingredients
to happiness, which every one either invents
for himself, or regrets the want of: and it is
only from the turn of mind acquired by educa
tion or custom, that one occupation differs
materially from another. Health, too, which
in itself affords a certain portion of enjoyment,
and is indispensably necessary to the enjoyment
of any situation, is bestowed in at least an equal
degree upon the rich and poor.
jourd' hui les homines qui y sont employes, viveut heureux."
Montesquieu, 1. 15, (>8.
NATURAL AND CIVIL EVILS.
It is, therefore, an additional testimony to
the goodness of the Deity, that where the
scheme which his wisdom devised for the fur
therance of his plans in exercising- and im
proving- the faculties of mankind, might inter
fere with individual happiness, he has contrived
such mitigations of the inconvenience, as not
only to diminish its force, but almost to render
its existence questionable.
328 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
CHAPTER V.
On the Capabilities of Improvement in the State
of advanced Civilization.
IT may be plausibly argued, that speculations
on the nature of happiness, however satisfac
tory in the closet, are often decisively contra
dicted by the realities of life ; and that the
appearance of our own society, which meets
every eye, is a standing argument against my
conclusions. It furnishes us with an example
of great public prosperity ; of all the mecha
nical improvements and refinements of art,
which the combination of skill and capital, and
an industrious population, can produce : yet
what is the result ? Indigence and pauperism ;
and in the very heart of opulence, and industry,
and intelligence, considerably more than a
IN AUVANCKD CIVILIZATION. 32(J
tenth part of the population relieved by public
charity.*
It is very soothing- to our indolence and self-
satisfaction, to charge upon the constitution of
the world, that is, upon the ordinances of the
Deity, the various evils of poverty and igno
rance which confront us on every side. But it
* I have stated the tact much as it appears on the face of
the returns. But it is liable to great misapprehension with
those who do not remember, that by the system of poor laws,
inadequate wages are made up to labourers with large fami
lies by the parish ; they derive, therefore, no more than a
fourth, fifth, or sixth part of their support from this source :
and that in most cases only in severe seasons, dear years, or
during temporary loss of work. This circumstance requires
the more observation, because it appears ou the face of one
of Mr. Colquhoun's abstracts, that among the unproductive
labourers in Great Britain and Ireland, whose exertions do
uot create any new property, are to be classed 1,548,400
paupers. Now, a large proportion of those here denominated
paupers and unproductive, are iu fact the most hard working
members of the community. Those relieved in work-houses
may be reckoned really as unproductive, and amounted, in
1803, to 83,462. Mr. Colquhouu himself, in a subsequent
calculation, considers the paupers as gaining two fifths of
their support. Compare pages 109 and 1">1.
330 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
would be more reasonable as well as more
decorous, to inquire in the first place, how far
such evils arise necessarily from the law of na
ture, and how far, on the other hand, they
admit of easy mitigation, and only need that
care and attention which the Christian religion
enjoins every man to bestow upon his neigh
bour. When a South American Indian is
seized with an infectious disorder, he is shut
up in a solitary hovel, and abandoned to his
fate. In our improved state of society, the
sufferer under a similar calamity experiences
the benefit of skill and care, and is probably
recovered. But we must not be Europeans in
our treatment of bodily maladies, and treat the
minds and morals of our fellow creatures with
barbarian indifference. The Author of our
existence, when he did not exempt us from the
civil or physical disorders of an imperfect state,
ordained also that each should have their alle
viations ; without which mankind would live
miserably or perish prematurely. Those alle
viations, indeed, are not definitely pointed out
or prescribed. Neither was it possible they
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 331
should be ; inasmuch as they depend on cir
cumstances varying1 at every point of civiliza
tion, varying in every climate and country,
and even in the same country according to its
progress towards opulence. The human race,
whose faculties are infinitely improved by a
state of advanced civilization, is bound to em
ploy them in discovering- and applying the
remedies of those evils which peculiarly belong
to each condition of society. It is a part of the
system by which the Deity acts universally, to
render man a free and spontaneous, but not a
necessary instrument of his own welfare.
Pater ipse colemli
Haud tacilem esse viam voluit, primusque per artem
Movit agros, curis acuens mortalia cortla :
Nee torgere gravi passus sua regtia veteroo.
This is as true of the moral as of the natural
world. Neither soil can dispense with culti
vation, although both are so constituted as to
be capable of excellent produce. Let that only
be undertaken, which in our advanced stage
of civilization is within the reach of practicable
accomplishment, and the pvncral ^tatc of so-
332 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
ciety, like the country it cultivates, would on
every side be full of " beauty to the eye and
music to the ear."
I. The fundamental cause of the greatest
evils of the poor is ignorance. Ignorance, how
ever, is not only the mere incapacity to write
or read ; experience often teaches us, that these
acquirements, however desirable, are by no
means indispensable ; and that though they are
wanting, there may be much intellect, a quick
sense of the ways and means of individual ad
vantage, and an accurate knowledge of moral
good and evil. The ignorance arising from the
want of intercourse with minds superior to
their own, possessed of wider information, and
having therefore different views of interest and
duty ; this, together with the scantiness of
religious knowledge, is the ignorance which
most generally and most hurtfully besets the
lower classes.
It cannot be argued, that either of these
sorts of ignorance is unavoidable. They \\cic
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 333
not, even in former days ; but in our own, the
improvements so happily introduced into edu
cation, have brought the first rudiments of
learning- within reach of the poorest rank. And
they have done more : for it is one of the prin
cipal advantages of the Madras system, that it
sharpens the faculties and exercises the minds
of those subject to it so successfully, as to
render them, comparatively, different beings
from the scholar of a former age. So that the
drilled and practised soldier does not show a
greater change from the slovenly and awkward
follower of the plough, than the child thus
educated from the tenant of some remote
hamlet or neglected waste, which population has
found out, but none of its advantages have
reached.
An indefinite capability of improvement opens
before us, when the human mind is thus put in
motion. But, that the soil may give all its
produce, the skill of the agriculturist must be
superadded to the labour of the peasant. A
right direction, as well as a stimulus, must be
334' CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
applied to the mind, by the superintendence
and occasional intercourse of the superior ranks.
Where this intercourse is not wanting1, to ob
viate any mischief which the system of compe
tition might introduce, and counteract wrong
impressions; when the good seed of religion is
sown upon the soil prepared by education, to
remind the growing generation that the object
of the care bestowed upon them is not to raise
them above their allotted condition, but to fit
them for performing more adequately their
duties both to God and man ; then we have a
prospect of general improvement, not chime
rical and visionary, but approved by judgment
and realized by experience.
It is now unnecessary to combat the idea,
that these privileges of civilization, if granted
universally, would throw down the ladder by
which the eminence was reached, and paralyze
the industry which is required to maintain it.
Few will any longer venture to assert that igno
rance makes a necessary ingredient in industry,
or that stupidity is essential to subordination.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 335
Which will be the best servant or the best sub
ject ? He who returns unwillingly, or at best
mechanically, like the patient animal he drives,
to his daily routine of employment ; or he who
has learnt in his youth, that the object of his
life is the performance of appointed duties, and
who, in his man's estate, keeps constantly in
view his responsibility for their right perform
ance ? He who sees no farther than the neces
sities of his station and his daily stipend ; or he
whose mind " of larger discourse," more capable
" to look before and after," brings a principle
to his work higher than that of immediate
interest, and makes his habitual employment an
exercise of practical religion ?
We have now reached that stage in the pro
gress of improvement, where, with a few ex
ceptions, the culture requisite to implant these
principles and extend these views, is generally
and amply provided. Elementary schools either
are, or may be, universal. Children do not
leave them, till they are both initiated and prac
tised in the primary duties of religion ; nor, if
336 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
all parties discharge their office, till they have
been made intimately acquainted with the im
portant purpose of their lives. In the Bible,
which they may both possess and read, they have
a perpetual and infallible instructor. Public
and private prayer, to which they have been habi
tuated at school, public and private instruction
from their minister, which their awakened facul
ties enable them to comprehend, supply them
with the knowledge of their duty and the power
of performing- it. The bounty of their Creator,
and the love of their Redeemer, in placing- an
immortal existence within their reach, are dis
closed to their view, as a solace and a guide in
the troubles and difficulties of their progress
through life.
Now, let any one consider how much is thus
removed from the pressure of laborious poverty ;
and what a step it is towards human happi
ness, to have an object of infinite price in con
tinual prospect, and to feel the inward con
sciousness of a constant advance towards it.*
* " A man who is in earnest in his endeavours after the
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 337
If labour is heavy, or distress severe, ho\v
greatly is the load lightened by the conviction
that man is not the sport of chance, or acci
dental circumstances, or human enactments,
but the work of a wise and benevolent Creator,
and the object of his paternal care I In short,
what a cloud of ignorance is dispersed, what
a mine of information is opened, wherever the
great principles of Christianity are understood :
as comprehending our duty both personal and
relative, to God and to our neighbour !
But in this country, if these are not practi
cally learnt, the imputation must not be cast
upon the Deity, nor even upon the state. Ex
cepting where population has outgrown the ori
ginal establishment, and a fresh legislative
provision is demanded, ignorance must origi
nate in the omission of a positive duty, either
happiness of a future state, has, in this respect, an advantage
over all the world. For he has constantly before his eyes an
object of supreme importance, productive of perpetual en
gagement and activity, and of which the pursuit (which can
be said of no other) lasts to the conclusion of his life." Paley's
IMor. Phil. i. 13.
VOL. II. Z
338 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
on the part of him who neglects to teach, or
of him who refuses to learn. The Bible, the
power of reading it, of hearing comments on
it, (I speak collectively,) are within every one's
reach : and where these advantages are attain
able, shall the goodness of God be impeached ?
He has performed his part towards man, and
it is for man to see that he performs liis part in
return to his Creator.
Ignorance, therefore, is not the inevitable lot
of the majority of our community ; and with
ignorance a host of evils disappear. Of all ob
stacles to improvement, ignorance is the most
formidable, because the only true secret of
assisting the poor is to make them agents in
bettering their own condition, and to supply
them, not with a temporary stimulus, but with
a permanent energy. As fast as the standard
of intelligence is raised, the poor become more
and more able to co-operate in any plan pro
posed for their advantage, more likely to listen
to any reasonable suggestion, more able to
understand, and therefore more willing to pur-
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 339
sue it. Hence it follows, that when gross igno
rance is once removed, and right principles
are introduced, a great advantage has been
already gained against squalid poverty. Many
avenues to an improved condition are opened
to one whose faculties are enlarged and exer
cised j he sees his own interest more clearly,
he pursues it more steadily, he does not study
immediate gratification at the expense of bitter
and late repentance, or mortgage the labour of
his future life without an adequate return. In
digence, therefore, will rarely be found in com
pany with good education.
II. In the case, however, of its unavoidable
occurrence, a remedy is already provided by
the state. The poor laws possess this advan
tage among many objections, that we are not
haunted with the idea of unalleviated dis
tresses : if nature is worn down with age or
sickness, if labour yields no support, and family
assistance fails, the indigent member of society
has at least a shelter to which he may retire,
and either take refuge from the pelting of the
z2
340 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
storm, or be enabled to weather it by temporary
assistance.
This provision, like other human institutions,
contains a mixture of good and evil. Unques
tionably, local charity, well directed, might
supply small and particular districts much more
comfortably and much less expensively than
the operation of any laws ; but much good
sense, and leisure, and benevolence, are requi
site to perform this business in an impartial
manner. Many may be expected to doubt
whether irremediable poverty, and the help
lessness of sickness, infancy, and old age, can
ever be safely left, in a large and fully peopled
community, to the care of that spontaneous
charity on which they must devolve in the ab
sence of all legislative provision. In the mean
time it is some satisfaction to reflect that an
infant family, deserted by profligate parents,
or left orphans by the visitation of God, are not
abandoned as if human life was of no value ;
and that the disabled or decrepit labourer has
a sure resource, and is not condemned to elicit
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 341
casual sustenance from door to door. But the
system, though professing1 to remedy the evils
of human nature, would be in fact more inno
cent if human nature were more perfect ; so
that none should receive its aid except the ob
jects really deserving such interference, nor
any depend upon its support except in failure of
all other resources. The injury does not fall
upon the contributor to the rates, as is commonly
supposed, who, if he did not pay these, would
pay much more in the enhanced price of every
article from the augmented wages of labour :
the principal mischief is done to the moral
character of the receiver, who is extravagant, in
confidence of a sure support : or, if he is not
positively taught improvidence, at least does not
learn prudence.
The Friendly Societies, which include nearly
a million of labouring members of our own
community, in some measure diminish the evils
resulting from the system of poor laws : and
the eagerness with which they have been incor
porated, is an evidence that the lower classes
342 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
are not unwilling to avail themselves of any
intelligible plan for the improvement of their
condition, or to fortify themselves against the
uncertainties of life by forethought and fruga
lity. But friendly societies, though good, are
not the best possible provision; because they
assist only old age and personal sickness ;
whereas a labourer, through the afflictions of
his family or temporary loss of employ, may
be seriously distressed without positive illness :
and the evil at last requires a cure, which
seasonable relief might have prevented from
existing. *
* " In considering the innocent causes of indigence, it will
be seen that the irremediable cases, requiring constant and
permanent support, are few in number, compared with those
useful labourers broken down for the moment, but who, by the
judicious application of well-timed props, might be restored to
society, and their industry rendered again productive." Colq.
p. 112. Much has been done in this way in many large
towns by associations on the principle of the "Stranger's
Friend Society " in London, by assisting the poor with tem
porary loans or gifts ; which shows the benefit that might be
expected from a plan enabling them to lend or give to them
selves.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 34-3
The present state of our civilization has sug
gested a more unexceptionable plan for the
melioration of the condition of the poor ; which
it is the more necessary to point out, because
it shows that the peculiar evils and their ap
propriate remedies lie near together, in every
stage of society. An advanced state of public
opulence does not seem at first sight the most
desirable air for a poor man to breathe. Of
necessity, its population is dense, and the reward
of labour scanty ; and every road to preferment
so choaked with rival adventurers, that he has
little prospect of surpassing or even overtaking
them in the race. But, on the other hand, the
same circumstances of society afford opportuni
ties, which no other can, of deriving the greatest
possible advantage from every farthing which
labour can obtain. The demand for capital,
occasioned by universal industry, the ease of
communication, the general intelligence to fore
see, and public credit to ensure every profitable
opportunity, are a set-off, if a proper use were
made of them, against the evils of low wages
and contending labourers. An American peasant
344 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
with four shilling's a day is not richer, if comfort
is riches, than an English peasant with two, and
has little other superiority than the questionable
one of being- more independent of his em
ployer.
The security of capital in this country, the
ease with which it is turned to the best use,
the quick and ready communication of labour
and the produce of labour throughout the
whole kingdom, afford inestimable facilities
to what ought to be the first consideration of
public and private men, the improvement of
the state of the mass of the community. I do
not mean to insinuate that this subject has
been neglected in Great Britain. The emi
nence which our country has reached by her
charities is no less remarkable than that to
which she has been raised by the superiority
of her arms and opulence. But something
still remains to be done. The poor man re
quires to be taught prudence, by seeing its ad
vantage clearly before him. There are fe\v
situations in which the labouring classes might
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 34-O
not save, in the season of their strength, a pro
vision for the season of infirmity : but as things
are, there are still fewer, where they can place
out their savings at all, or, if at all, with secu
rity.* A great commercial establishment can
not stop its machinery to receive weekly shil
lings from a hundred or a thousand individuals.
If it could, or would, the melancholy instabi
lity of country banks, often built upon no other
foundation than the credulity of the neighbour
hood, is a powerful objection to their becoming,
without an especial guarantee, the depositaries
of petty savings. No bankruptcy among these
establishments takes place, which does not heap
ruin on the heads of hundreds of the most de
serving members of the community : those who
by laborious industry and long self-denial have
laid up their twenty, or fifty, or hundred pounds,
as a support to a future family or their own de
clining years ; and now find themselves by a
* I have allowed these pages to stand as they were first
published ; though no longer applicable to their original pur
pose, they may not be \\ithoul interest in showing the difler-
i IKT cllccU'd e\cn in a tew jcars.
CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
sudden blow deprived of the hard earned pro
duce of a life of labour. Neither does the evil
stop with the immediate sufferers. The burst
ing of a single dam inundates a widely-extended
level. Is this the fruit of frugality? Why
should we hoard up, that others may squan
der our savings ? This reasoning is too obvi
ous, not to be unanswerable in the view of
youth, and irresistible when backed by incli
nation.
The difficulty admits of easy remedy, though
it is really the greatest of which our labouring
poor can complain. If some of the more in
telligent inhabitants of a district, or the prin
cipal landholders of a county, would bestow
their attention upon this subject, as they have
with great advantage upon Insurance Societies
and other general interests, they would de
serve the gratitude of the age, and receive the
most satisfactory applause, the improvement of
public welfare. In a small district, or a single
village, an individual might effect something,
by vesting a certain sum in the hands of trus-
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 347
tees as a security to his poorer neighbours ;
and by devoting a few hours in every week or
month to receiving their small savings, he
might render them most effectual service, with
out the least risk to himself, by allowing the
4 per cent, for their little capital. But the
system, to be useful, ought to be general ; and,
if general, could not be well managed without
the regularity of habits of business and skill
in the employment of capital. The establish
ment of county banks, with such security as
should be satisfactory to the superintendents of
the scheme, would be both desirable, and easily
practicable ; and might soon be made so far
advantageous as at least to defray the expenses
of management, since the customer would have
just reason to be satisfied, if he could obtain
without risk even 4 per cent, for his money.
The security of the capital is of much more
consequence than the rate of interest ; and its
insecurity, according to any mode already
within reach of the poor of employing their
savings, is one great reason why so little is at
present saved.
348 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
It is a benevolent appointment of Providence,
that judicious charity is twice blessed, and re
dounds to the advantage of the giver, sometimes
not to his moral only, but temporal advantage.
If a system of this kind should ever be univer
sally established, its promoters will find the poor-
rates diminished, which now oppress landed
property so heavily, not only by the amount of
the sum thus annually saved from dissipation,
but by all the habits which the constant custom
of frugality and thoughtfulness would generate ;
and parish support will only be what it ought to
be, the resource of irremediable misfortune, of
orphan infancy or friendless age. Such a system
seems alone to be wanting, in order to render
this country the happiest as well as the most
intelligent of the world ; it would form a
natural union with the general education now
diffused among the poor ; it derives an evident
facility from the state of public debt ; and is
peculiarly demanded by the sudden variations
of prices which our present condition seems
likely to entail upon us, as well as to correct
the improvident habits which the existence of
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION*. 3 1<9
a poor-law has introduced among- our pea
santry.
It certainly cannot be pretended that these
and similar advantages of an opulent state,
spring up spontaneously, like the produce of
the golden age : intelligence must be exerted
to descry, and philanthropy to direct them.
But it might form a serious objection against
the divine goodness, if it were supposed that
the condition of the majority of the community
must always be deteriorated, as the commu
nity itself advanced in opulence. That this
highest point of civilization is still capable of
such a measure of general happiness, as be
longs to an imperfect and preparatory state, is
all that I undertake to prove. Should any one
think the universal establishment or application
of such beneficial plans impracticable, it will
be easy to show that the impossibility does not
lie in the nature of things. There can be no
harm in building an Utopia on a Christian
foundation. There is positive good, when the
question regards the benevolence of the Crea-
350 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
tor j who, when he placed within the reach of
man the means of general happiness, Christian
doctrines, Christian precepts, and Christian
intelligence, justly demands on man's part
that he should stretch out his hand to obtain
them.
In reducing the plan to detail, we will sup
pose, for convenience sake, a parish of 1000
souls ; which is larger than the average of coun
try parishes in England, and smaller than that
of towns. The principle is universal ; the prac
tical detail admits of considerable enlargement
or contraction. The first thing necessary to
the general welfare, is the education of the
growing population. The number within the
age of education may be roughly stated at
one fourth of the whole.* Of these 250,
50 may be supposed in a situation above the
* The average result of the census of 1820, showed for every
100 individuals
Under 7 years, ... 20
Between 7 and 15, . . 20
- 15 and 20, . . 10
Above 20, ... 50
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 351
parochial school, for which 200 remain after
that deduction. According to the Madras sys
tem, one person can effectually superintend the
education Lof more than 100 children of all
ages. One school, divided into two apart
ments, one master, and one mistress, will suffice
to conduct the education, each having under
their care 100 of their own sex. The annual
expense, after the building of the school-room,
will be covered by ^JOO, or at most £\25 ; be
ing no more than two shillings or two shillings
and sixpence a head on the whole community of
1000 individuals.
I consider the clergyman of the parish as
the natural and legal superintendent of the
establishment ; and his presence for two hours
in the week, after the machine is once in ope
ration, will suffice to preserve a check on the
immediate directors, and to fill that depart
ment which requires superior intelligence or
authority ; * and to interweave with all the in-
* I would not appear to expect of ray clerical brethren
more than is required of them by their ordination vow : the
352 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
formation acquired by the children, the most
valuable of all information, a sense of their
situation in life, and its practical duties of sub
ordination, content, and industry.
The advantages of little savings, the import
ance which the smallest sums acquire by accu
mulation, may be not only inculcated, but
practically taught, by a trifling weekly contri
bution, either to be employed at the end of the
religious education of the poor, and the visitation of the
sick hereafter alluded to, are among their prescribed duties.
I am still more certain that I do not demand from them more
than is readily bestowed by the majority of our parochial
clergy. They have indeed an awful and responsible situa
tion, when it is considered how much both of the temporal
and eternal interest of their flock depends upon the faithful
and complete discharge of their ministerial duties. But
they have their reward. Much is said of the increasing
zeal of sectaries ; and it may be necessary for us to keep a
prudent guard against possible as well as evident dangers.
But the parochial clergy are drawing round themselves, and
the excellent establishment to which they belong, a rampart
stronger than exclusive privileges or state protection ; they
are fortifying themselves in the hearts of the people, who
are never insensible to what is contributed towards thrir best
and dearest interests by the attention of a laborious and con
scientious minister.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 353
year in clothing or in Bibles, or any other
desirable object.* If the child saves pence,
the man will save shilling's, supposing- only
that the same pains are taken to make him
understand the advantages of so doing, and tho
same facilities placed in his way. In a parish
of 1000 souls, it is not too much to assume that
some individual may have sufficient leisure,
philanthropy, and general acquaintance with
business, to be the banker of his poorer neigh
bours ; a guarantee being given that the de
posits should be laid out in real or government
securities. It is proved by experience in
Edinburgh, that on the opening of such a
concern, one hour in the week will in general
be sufficient for a single person to receive and
* 1 have been often astonished at hearing these penny con
tributions objected to, as coming eventually from the pa
rish rates. Granting the fact, which is certainly too rare
to be made a sweeping assertion ; suppose the family to re
ceive their whole support, or 12s. a week from the parish ;
what evil can arise from the deduction of a hundred and
forty-jttnrtlt part of that sum for any permanent object, at
all equal to the advantage derived from the habit of fore
thought and self-denial ?
VOL. II. A A
354 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
pay the money, and to enter the transactions
in the books : the expense is so trifling-, that
it would be repaid, even if the concern were
on a very small scale, by the fractions of in
terest.*
These simple improvements do not seem to
me to presuppose either a degree of under
standing in the poor, or of humanity in the
rich, which it is unreasonable to require. But
it may be argued, look at the weekly wages of
the peasant or manufacturer, look at the pit
tance which the density of population compels
him to accept as the meed of continued exer
tion ; and then answer, what can be reserved
from immediate and daily wants for the sup
port of future infirmity ?
The nature of happiness requires thus much :
the prospect of a competency in the situation
to which every individual is born. I ask no
* See "A short Account of the Edinburgh Savings Bank ;'
or an abstract of it in the Ed. Rev. vol. xxv.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 355
one to be satisfied with a lower rate of welfare
than this : but I assert, that on a general view
of the chances of life, this prospect is within
the reach of every individual, even on the pre
sent average rate of wages, if he had the pru
dence to look forward and save, and the
facility of securing his savings. As things are
now, indeed, the common practice is, for the
young labourer or mechanic to marry as soon
as he begins to work for himself, without a
farthing beforehand, with weekly employment
perhaps for the summer, but no certainty of
the same constant occupation in winter, with
wages only sufficient for a very small family,
and consequently without resource in case of
illness or occasional difficulty, except in casual
charity or parish pay. The immediate feeling
on his mind is, that his wages will support a
wife as well as himself ; and if he had not that
demand upon them, they would all disappear
before the end of the week : he has neither the
idea nor the means of saving any portion of
them. But since he claims the advantage
peculiar to an infant society, early marriage,
A A 'J
356 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
while he is living- in fact in an old and fully
peopled community, the consequence is, severe
poverty for the rest of his life.
It cannot be said, however, that this impro
vidence is a necessary evil, therefore its con
sequences are not necessary. Supposing the
prudential system only so far established, that
the average period of marriage should be
twenty-five, it might be easily within the
power of the lowest classes to secure a provi
sional support for their family more inde
pendent than the parish allowance, and more
regular than the operation of private charity.
The wages of husbandry, including the ad
ditions of harvest-time, may be averaged at
12*. per week, from the age of eighteen. Half
that sum is amply sufficient for the support of
a single man. This would leave an overplus
of 6s. per week for seven years : but, to avoid
any appearance of overstating the fact, and to
allow for lost time, we will only take 4s. or
£10 per ann. which if regularly laid up, would,
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 357
with interest, make £80 by the age of twenty-
five. Allow the mechanic to work for himself
at twenty-one, his higher rate of ' wages will
enable him to save 10*. weekly, or £21 per-
ann. The careful application of this surplus
will also make him worth the same sum at
twenty-five.*
Allow this to be the period of marriage,
which is much earlier than the average period
of those who are brought up to the learned
professions. It is probable, that by similar
habits the wife may contribute such a share of
capital as will supply the cottage with its
humble furniture. At all events, they live
without difficulty, even if without farther
saving, for four or five years ; the interest of
former savings paying the rent, and thus re-
* The exertions which the lower classes make, when they
see the benelit clearly before them, would surprise the mere
calculator of the money which passes through their hands.
See Mr. Whitbread's speech on the Poor Laws, and the case
of Joseph Austin (Reports on the Poor, vol. iii.), with many
others which occur in that collection.
358 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
moving the necessity of those extraordinary
exertions, which in the way of taskwork some
times undermine the constitutions of the indus
trious poor. If the family increase after this
time, difficulties will increase. This is the
period of a labourer's life which it is hardest to
encounter, from his thirtieth to his fortieth
year : it is the inclement season, which he
ought to expect and to which he should look
forward. Before that period, he has only
occasion to be frugal : after it, his children will
begin to support themselves : but at present,
an infant family will prevent the wife from con
tributing much towards the weekly outgoings :
and the children themselves can gain nothing
towards them. Former savings, therefore, the
harvest of the productive season, must now be
drawn upon : but they were laid up for this
very purpose, and we can afford it. Let 5s. a
week be taken from the four dead months of
the year ; those who are conversant with the
labourer's cottage, will know that 5*. in addi
tion to his usual wages will place him in com
parative opulence j and suppose this draft to
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 359
be continued during1 ten years, the capital has only
lost £40. From that time the children contribute
their share ; the family ceases to be a growing-
burden ; and there remains a stock towards setting
forward the children in life, or to supply some
of the numerous wants of increasing years.
Were these habits general, how little com
parative distress would the appearance of soci
ety exhibit ! Marriage, by being a short time
delayed, would be more prudent and happier ;
population would more equally adapt itself to
the demand for labour ; labour, therefore,
would be paid in more exact proportion to the
real value of money ; fewer would be neces
sarily idle ; and that great embitterer of do-
mestic life, irremediable poverty, or indigence,
would be seldom known. Only those dis
tresses would meet our view, which are the
common lot of all ranks and conditions ; and
there are many, no doubt, which neither pru
dence can prevent nor fortune cure. Neither
education nor frugality can make our earthly
state again a paradise : the angel still guards
360 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
the frontiers of Eden, and shuts its entrance
against the descendants of the first trans
gressors. But the unavoidable evils of life have
been already considered : and how much miti
gation they admit in a civilized state, may be
not only demonstrated, but seen and felt : in
deed, in our country, much more attention has
been paid to the means of alleviation than of
prevention.
The silent and unseen griefs of penury and
desertion belong almost exclusively to large
and crowded cities.* In a parish of the size
we have contemplated, the minister will be
well acquainted with the situation of all its
inhabitants, either by personal inspection, or
by means of a committee of his active neigh-
* If societies like those established at Bath, Bristol, Oxford,
and elsewhere, for inquiring into the case of all travellers,
vagrants, paupers, aud beggars, and relieving real distress,
were general in large towns, they would alleviate much
misery, and restrain much vice, by rendering mendicity an
unprofitable trade. At present the good is partial ; and the
.stream is only diverted into another channel, \\lierever its
usual course is stopped.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 361
hours, who can afford a portion of their time to
this most useful species of charity. In pro
portion as the size of the parish increases, the
chance will increase of finding1 such assistance ;
and committees thus associated will be able to
relieve the severest suffering's of indigence even
in those populous manufacturing- towns which
certainly were not foreseen, when the division
of our country into parishes took place.
Shall I be asked, whether I look forward in
earnest to any such melioration of society, or
that it should generally present this aspect to
the observer ? I can only answer, that there
is nothing in the nature of things to make it
impossible j there is wealth enough, and in
telligence enough ; the difficulty arises not
from the inability, but the unwillingness of
mankind. We have no right to reject an ob
vious remedy, and then complain that the dis
ease is incurable. Let every one in his station
do his duty, and there will be little room for
murmuring against the condition of the human
race. This i> all, I repeat, with which the
362 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
vindicator of the divine goodness is concerned :
the right performance of these duties is the
trial of man's virtue ; and if they are faithfully
performed, public welfare is his immediate re
ward.* There are at this moment many dis
tricts which furnish examples of the practica
bility of such improvement ; where a large
majority of the population display in their con
duct the excellence of the religion they pro
fess ; where the rising generation is so edu
cated as to be useful in their respective stations ;
where regular contributions provide Bibles and
clothing, and other articles of use and comfort;
where the elder members of the society are
* The late Mr. Whitbread, in a speech which will confer
lasting honour upon his memory, gave a public declaration
of what might be effected even by the means at present in
operation: " I have had the good fortune, with the assist
ance of able hands, to produce, by the operation of the poor
laws alone, in the parish where I reside, a situation of things
than which none can be presented more agreeable ; where
there is not one wretched being, nor one well-founded cause
of complaint ; and where the workhouse exhibits regularity,
industry, economy, cleanliness, and health, testified by the
countenances of all who inhabit it."
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 303
associated for the purpose of visiting1 the sick,
instructing- the ignorant, comforting- the afflicted,
and reporting cases of distress.* If there are
any such parishes now, there is no reason why
there should not be more ; nay, there is no
necessary obstacle to their becoming universal.
The prevalence of religious knowledge, educa
tion, and frugality, does not defeat its own
object, or tend, like indeterminate or indis
creet charities, to encourage a redundant popu
lation. t
* See Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition
of the Poor, passim. Among these every charitable person
may find useful hints to direct his own benevolence. It has
now, perhaps, become desirable to republish in a single
volume, a collection of those plans which have best stood the
test of experience.
-f- Upon the whole, there is satisfaction in reflecting, that
more has been done towards permanently bettering the con
dition of Ihe lower classes, within the last twenty years, than
in the whole preceding century ; and Mr. Whitbread's pleas
ing anticipation is not altogether visionary : " In the adop
tion of the system of education, I foresee an enlightened
peasantry, frugal, industrious, sober, orderly, and contented,
because they are acquainted with the true value of frugality,
sobriety, industry, and order ; crimes diminishing, because
the enlightened understanding abhors crime; the practice
3(Ji CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
There are mistakes on this head, which
demand correction. It has been urged, that
our improved knowledge on the subject of
population is unfavourable to charity ; and
even inconsistent with Christianity which en
joins it. This may be an easy shelter to the
selfish and extravagant, who lull their con
sciences with the belief, that, in spending
sumptuously instead of giving prudently, they
are practising political economy. But the
most rigorous precept of Scripture might be
followed in the most literal exactness, without
any danger of injuring the community or any
violation of general rules : " Turn not your
face from any poor man ;" but inquire into the
circumstances of his distress, and point out to
of Christianity prevailing, because the mass of your popu
lation can read, comprehend and feel its divine origin, and
the beauty of the doctrines which it inculcates ; your king
dom safe from the insult of the enemy, because every man
knows the worth of that which he is called upon to defend.
In the provision for the security of the savings of the poor, I
see encouragement to frugality, security to property, and the
large mass of the people connected with the state, and indis-
solubly bound to its preservation." Speech, &c. p. 95.
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 365
him the mode in which the prudent regulations
of society have directed that it should be relieved.
The subdivision of labour, which is peculiar to a
large and intelligent community is applicable to
charity, as well as to literature and the arts, and
renders it very possible to bestow attention on
the wants and distresses of every individual.*
There is something in this mutual dependence
and connexion of the different members of
society on one another, which is both pleasing in
contemplation, and eminently suited to the
situation of mankind as the children of one
common parent, and the heirs of one common
immortality. A state of civilization, which
supposes opulence, competency, and poverty,
in all their various degrees, is far more suitable,
when thus improved, to the purposes of man's
being, than any condition of uniform equality
could become, even if we depart from experience
4 This may be seen reduced to practice in the operations
of the Bath, Oxford, or Bristol Mendicant Societies.
366 CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT
in framing- it, and indulge the imagination with
an ideal picture. That there should be room
for the exercise of benevolence, a disposition of
the mind, which, in fact, contains within itself
many virtues, was undoubtedly in the contem
plation of the Creator. The contrast of con
dition which arises from the unequal distribution
of wealth, is well fitted to excite this ; and a
crowd of Christian graces follow in its train :
the humility which visits the cottager, encourages
his industry or cheers his distress ; the denial of
selfish gratification, for the purpose of raising
laborious poverty ; the prudence which with
holds relief from the clamorous, to give it,
though at the expense of time and trouble, to
unobtrusive merit ; the reciprocal emotions of
gratitude and goodwill ; and " all the charities"
of neighbour, friend, and patron, have their
origin in the just exercise of benevolence.
When man is in a more perfect state, he will
stand in no need of these opportunities, which
are, in effect, trials : but no preparatory dis
pensation could be more consistent with the
IN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION. 3G7
divine goodness, than that which makes the
general well-being of the members of society
depend upon their right performance of their
respective duties.
308
CHAPTER VI.
On the Evils of an uncivilized State.
THE circumstances of those countries which
have either never reached a state of tolerable
civilization, or having reached it, have fallen
back to the different degrees of rudeness in
which we find them now, remain still to be
examined. But first, it is right to observe,
that the nature of these evils is widely different
from the case of partial poverty, arising from
the inequality of ranks. That has appeared
to be, in a great measure, the certain result of
general improvement. On the other hand, the
evils of barbarous countries are the offspring of
no such necessity, but of moral degradation :
they militate against the apparent design of
Providence, since it has been largely shown
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE.
that the natural instincts and reason of man
kind tend to their union, improvement, and
civilization. In as far, therefore, as they ori
ginate in a departure from those principles of
reason of which the Deity has left no man
naturally destitute, they are not chargeable
upon God, but upon man.
But it will be argued, that these wide and
extensive deviations from the divine plan must
have come within the prescience of the Deity ;
and it would have been more consonant with
the character of his goodness to have prevented
them by the original constitution of things.
Here it is just and reasonable to answer, that
such an objection, in order to be valid, ought
to proceed upon a knowledge far more com
plete than we possess, either from conjecture
or revelation, of the extent and nature of the
divine counsels ; and in particular with respect
to the prescribed duration of the world, and
the continuance of this inferior and preparatory
state. A chain of mountains, of which the
height is immense, when seen within the con-
VOL. II. B B
370 ON THE EVILS OF
fined horizon which our visual powers can
embrace, makes but a trifling inequality upon
the surface of the whole globe. So the evils
of barbarism, which seem a formidable aggre
gate when brought together, and drawn up in
array against the divine goodness, would
probably appear of trivial weight and force,
when viewed as part of the comprehensive
scheme of Providence ; and especially if the
number actually suffering under them could
be ascertained, and the sum of evil divided
by the series of ages to which it belongs.
By the principle which regulates population,
civilization, throughout the universe, is con
stantly tending to an equilibrium. But the
radiation both takes place slowly, having a vast
space and a dense medium to pass through ;
and is subject to a diminution of force from the
obstacles by which it is opposed ; such as
barren soils, and the climate of extreme lati
tudes : difficulties inherent in the nature of the
system, and only to have been prevented by a
constitution altogether unlike ours. Under
AX UNCIVILIZED STATE. 3?!
these circumstances it was to be expected,
that, notwithstanding- the tendency to universal
refinement, refinement would never be uni
versal, though it might be much more equally
diffused than at present, but would always ex
hibit an appearance like that we see, of very
different stages and degrees. This is a part of
the moral and natural evil confessedly existing
in the world. The question with which we are
now concerned is, how far the evils inseparably
attendant upon rude states of society can de
tract from the evidence derived from other
sources, and attesting the divine benevolence?
And to this question a satisfactory reply will
be given, if it can be shown, both that the
number of the individual tribes bears no pro
portion to the whole, and that there are con
siderable mitigations of the actual discomfort
of that inferior state ; or also, lastly, that there
is a tendency in the laws which regulate the
world to diminish the number, and meliorate
the condition, of the less improved commu
nities.
B B ^
372 ON THE EVILS OF
I. The people whose unsettled mode of life
and rude government, and general want of in
tellectual culture, include them in the present
inquiry, are the native Indians of North and
South America, the inhabitants of some part of
Africa, of Australasia and Polynesia, and the
numerous tribes which extend along the north
of Asia, from the Euxine to the North Pacific
Ocean.* Now, in the first place, it is a material
remark, that we must not estimate the number
of persons living in a barbarous state by the
surface over which they are spread. It is the
nature of that very barbarism to lessen the
number of those who suffer under it, in exact
proportion to its degree. The hunting state is
more rude than the pastoral ; and it furnishes
* I would be understood to speak generally, as taking a
general line of argument. No doubt, tribes might be found
in Europe and Asia, existing on the confines, and far from
the seat, of regular government, which might strictly be
added to this number : especially in parts of Persia, Turkey,
and Arabia. But it would be tedious to specify each par
ticular variety of rudeness; and Ihe arguments, if just, are
of universal application.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE.
support to a smaller comparative population.
The pastoral state, again, is far less conducive
to civilization than the agricultural ; and from
its very nature, a comparatively small number
of inhabitants is spread over a vast extent of
ground.
The hunting tribes in North America are so
few and so widely scattered, that they cannot
properly be said to occupy the country of
which they are natives. Now and then a tra
veller, after penetrating for many days a vast
extent of forest, encounters an Indian tent,
containing a single family of five or six indivi
duals. In the journey of discovery undertaken
by order of the American government, under
Captains Lewis and Clarke, during the whole
course of a route extending from the east to
the western coast, from the mouth of the Mis
souri to that of the Columbia, the largest native
tribe with which the party met consisted of
five hundred souls, though traversing countries
till then undisturbed, and probably never be
fore trodden by the foot of civilized man. The
374 ON THE EVILS OF
Esquimaux, unattached to any particular spot,
wander over an immense tract of inhospitable
wilds, though their numbers, if collected,
scarcely people two or three villages.* The
hunters of the southern regions are not more
numerous. Forster, who is by no means in
clined to reduce the numbers which he esti
mates, reckons the Pesserais, who inhabit
Terra del Fuego, the lowest of mankind : but
" though their country is little inferior in size
to one moiety of Ireland, hardly two thousand
inhabitants are found in this great extent of
lands."t The Kamchadals, Koriaks, Ostiaks,
and other tribes spread along the vast shore of
the Arctic Ocean, depend for subsistence al
most entirely upon fish, of which the sea and
rivers furnish a plentiful supply during the
summer, and the redundance of that season is
dried and laid up for a winter store. Here the
degree of population falls so low, that the Rus
sian government of Irkutsk has only three
persons on every square geographical mile.t
* Heriot's Canada, 21.
7 Observations, p. 317. J Tooke's Russia, i. 525.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 375
Perhaps it may be safely stated, that the people
who derive their subsistence from the chase
alone throughout the globe, do not exceed, do
not even equal, the number of the inhabitants
of Scotland. Necessity presses them within
these scanty limits. The uncertainty of the
supply, whether of fish or of the wild animals
of the forest ; the difficulty of obtaining, the
impossibility of increasing it j together with
the waste attending their expeditions ; all for
bid their multiplication, as strongly as they
prevent their civilization, and confine to a very
small portion, perhaps to a four or five hun
dredth part of the whole, the evils belonging
to that lowest state of the human race, which
is necessarily consequent upon the general law
of increase. It might be added, also, as con
curring in the same effect, that the rigours of
extreme latitudes, and the hardships of savage
life, have been observed by numerous travel
lers,* either to restrain the attention from the
* Forster, of the Esquimaux, Greenlanclers, New 7ea-
lauders, and 1'cs.scrais, 315 ; Bruce, of the Shaiigalla na
tions ; La Vaillant, of (ho Hottentots.
376 ON THE EVILS OF
sexual passion, or to diminish the prolific
power.
II. Very far removed from these, but still
in a state which admits of only a low degree of
improvement, compared with a settled mode of
living- and regular government, are the pastoral
nations of northern Asia ; the Calmuk, the
Mongol, and Mandshur tribes, and the nume
rous smaller branches which, among various
shades of difference, agree in the generic cha
racter of refusing agriculture, and despising a
stationary abode. What has been stated of
the hunting nations, is in a great measure also
applicable to these ; their occupation, and the
nature of their subsistence, though it does not
render less strong the principle of population,
which keeps their number fully up to the level
of their support, yet reduces that level so low,
that the population is not only thinly scattered,
but in its total number very inconsiderable.
Gibbon has observed, that the inhabitants of
the vast peninsula of Arabia might be outnum
bered by the subjects of a fertile and industri-
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 377
ous province. And the whole of the inhabitants
of Asiatic Russia, comprehending- the principal
of the Nomadic nations, whose number, by
the inquiries and registers of the Empress Ca
therine, was ascertained with tolerable exact
ness, does not exceed five millions ; * so that
a population amounting1 to little more than one
fourth of that of the British isles, is spread
along- a hundred and seventy degrees of longi
tude.
The laws which regulate this low population
are permanent. No art or labour on the part
of a pastoral nation can increase their cattle
faster than a certain ratio, or to a number be
yond what can be supported by their average
pasture. The ratio of increase is steadily fixed
by nature. The pasture is limited by the ex
tent of land over which the tribe can range ;
by the degree of security with which they can
lay up a winter provision, or, lastly, by the
nature of the climate, and the proportion of
* S«-r 1'iiikcrton, ii. 48, with liis authorities.
378 ON THE EVILS OF
winter provision it requires. The accounts of
pastoral people exemplify to us all these several
circumstances. Some wander from district to
district, till they are checked in their migra
tions by the incursions or vicinity of more
powerful neighbours : with others, a great part
of the summer labour consists in stacking fo
rage for a severer season : while others again
expose their cattle to the inclemency of the
winter, and trust to their finding a scanty pro
vision among the leaves and brushwood. *
These difficulties and hardships, added to the
epidemic diseases which occasionally appear
among the cattle, and are the most formidable
evils to pastoral nations, reduce the average
increase of the herds and flocks so low as to
make it impossible for a large population to find
subsistence.
III. But in agriculture the case is widely
different. The increase of corn varies, accord
ing to the climate and the culture, from ten to
* See the account of the Choriziens, a rich tribe of the
Burattes, in the Dccouvertes Russes, liv. vi. 109.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE.
sixty, or even a hundred fold. To the in
crease of population, therefore, that may be
supported by agriculture, there would appear
to be no limit except the extent of ground :
and as long1 as land remained to be brought
into cultivation, it would seem impossible for
men to increase in so great a proportion as their
subsistence. It might accordingly at first be
imagined, that if a people could only be in
duced to change their pastoral for agricultural
habits, a very rude and a very large population
might exist together. Against this, however,
there is a barrier which cannot be overstepped.
We may suppose the land to be so fertile, as
to return, with very moderate cultivation, more
subsistence than the family of the cultivator
requires. But the cultivator will not give
away his superfluity.* He will either indulge
* A striking illustration of this case may be found in the
fertile island of Java. Rice is the principal food of the in
habitants, of which a labourer can earn in ordinary circum-
st.mo-s from four to five kalis a day ; and a kfiii being equi
valent to one pound and a quarter avoirdupois, is reckoned
a suih'cient allowance for an adult in those regions. The
consequence is, that the soil of st vcn eighths of the island is
380 ON THE EVILS OF
his indolence, and relax his exertions till the
supply only equals his annual wants ; or he
will turn his own attention to other pursuits,
and employ the hands which require subsist
ence in labour — at which point the distinction
of ranks and all its concomitant advantages
beg-in — or he will stimulate the invention of the
hungry claimant of his superfluous produce, to
make him a compensation by some useful ma
nufacture. In either of the latter cases we see
the first germ of improvement : and in those
few countries where there is a smaller actual
population than the climate and soil could sup
port with ease, it should be the grand object
of more civilized nations to take advantage of
the favourable moment, not by multiplying
labourers, which will multiply of their own
either entirely neglected or badly cultivated, and the whole
of the nation is supported by the produce of the remaining
eighth. "When nature does much for a country, its inha
bitants are sometimes contented to do little, and, satisfied
with its common gifts, neglect to improve them into the means
of dignity or comfort. The peasantry of Java, easily pro
curing the necessaries of life, seldom aim at improvement
of their condition." Raffles' Java, vol. i. p. 109.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 381
accord, at least as soon as they can be fed ;
but by assisting the struggles of nature to
emancipate herself from a low and servile con
dition, and furnishing stimulants to the first
weak efforts of industry. Unless this assist
ance is given, or industry is by some means or
other encouraged, there may exist one genera
tion of these redundant labourers, but there
will be no more ; they will neither have in
ducement nor ability to marry, and propagate
a race for which there is no demand. It has
been remarked by various travellers, that they
have no where witnessed more distress and
poverty, than where provisions were so cheap
that a plentiful subsistence might be obtained at
the rate of a penny a day.*
Population, therefore, and civilization have
a relative effect upon each other. Where agri
culture, either from want of industrious ex
ample, or from peculiar soil and climate, or
from accidental discouragements and inveterate
* Turner, of the frontiers of Boolan; Morier, Travels in
Persia, &c, ; Pallas, of Siberia.
382 ON THE EVILS OF
habits, has never been introduced so as to fur
nish the principal support, as among all the
pastoral and hunting nations, the population,
that is, the number of persons labouring under
the evils of a rude state, must be inconsiderable,
when compared with the inhabitants of the
globe of which they form a part ; and again,
to take the converse of the proposition, wher
ever the population is considerable enough to
be of weight in the scale, the comforts and
civilization of agricultural life and fixed habi
tations must exist, not according to arbitrary or
contingent circumstances, but according to the
necessity of things. From these causes is de
rived and accounted for the remarkable fact,
that European Russia yields a population of
four hundred and five, Asiatic Russia, of only
eleven, persons to a square mile.* And yet
European Russia holds a very subordinate
place, when compared in populousness with
the other kingdoms of Europe, which have
been longer in a state of improved civilization.
* Tooke, vol. i. p. 525.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 383
Of the nations which have depended for sub
sistence on the culture of the earth, the inha
bitants of Polynesia and those parts of western
and southern Africa which have been chiefly
visited by Europeans, are lowest in the rank
of improvement. Here too we are liable to
be much deceived in our idea of number.* The
inhabitants of the islands, which on their first
discovery were estimated at a million, have
been since ascertained not to exceed three hun
dred thousand, even including- the vast coun
tries of New Holland and New Zealand, equal
ling- in extent the whole of Europe. With respect
to the population of Africa there is more uncer
tainty. It is known, however, to be thinly
peopled, in those parts especially which, from a
concurrence of moral causes, have hitherto re
mained barbarous and rude.f For the interior of
* The first discoverers were notoriously so. Cook esti
mated the Otaheitans at 100 000 ; the Protestant missiona
ries, at 49,000; Capt. Wilson, 16,000; Mr. Turnbull, 5,000.
However, there is no doubt that the population has actually
declined.
-}- " The population of Africa cannot exceed 30, or even
20 millions." Piukertou. Of the extensive kingdom of
384 ON THE EVILS OF
Africa must be excluded from this part of the
subject. Their civilization has reached a consi
derable extent ; commerce is established ; a general
distinction of ranks is acknowledged ; the inhabi
tants are collected together in towns and villages;
and that system of things exists, and appears to
have long existed, which admits of moral im
provement and constitutes moral probation.*
IV. After explaining the natural laws which
affix these impassable limits to the number who
lead a life admitting a low degree of intellectual
attainment, it must be next observed, that the
mode of life itself is not without its compensa
tions. Independence, and freedom from all
restraint of action, are a compensation. To know
no settled home ; to fix the tent or the yourt
where the cattle can find temporary subsistence,
and to remove or leave it when the district is
depastured, excites no idea but that of wretched-
Dar Fur, Browne says, " It seems to me, from various con
siderations, that the number of souls within the empire cannot
much exceed 200,000." Browne's Travels, 284.
* Browne, Horneman, Park, and Jackson, concur in this
account.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 385
edness to the European, who has learnt by his
own habits, and those of his ancestors, to attach
a value to his home, however mean ; and whose
heart, from whatever distance, fondly turns to
the place of his nativity or his education. The
Tartar, on the contrary, can utter no severer
sentence against his enemy, than that he may
be condemned to reside in one place, and to be
nourished with the top of a weed. And for a
still ruder race, even the pastoral life is too
careful and stationary. It was a proverbial im
precation in use among" the hunting" nations on
the confines of Siberia, that their enemy might
be obliged to live like a Tartar, and have the
folly of troubling himself with the charge of
cattle.*
* Robertson's America, ii. '236. Ferguson oil Civ. So
ciety, from Abulgaze's Genealogy, Hist, of Hie Tartars.
" It seems universally true with regard to a people habituated
to the sweets of unbounded liberty, that they are not easily
tempted to resign the roving pleasures of that free condition,
fur the quiet, ease, security, or even luxuries of regular
society. This observation may be justly applied to the true
Bedouin. The Hottentot or Cherokee is not louder of his
native woods, than the wandering Arab of his sandy domain.
VOL. II. C C
386 ON THE EVILS OF
Nothing, indeed, can prove more evidently
the charms which a wandering life, with its
mixed occupations of pasturage and the chase,
and a perpetually shifting scene, presenting
objects to occupy, and novelty to amuse the
mind, possesses to those who have followed it
from their infancy, than the difficulty with
which those tribes can be brought to learn the
practice, and seek the certain, but uninterest
ing returns of agriculture. Large districts, in
many parts of the north of Asia, are well suited
As his wants are few, for he knows only those of nature, so
his desires are confined ; for lie either subdues or afiects to
disclaim those he cannot gratify." Wood on Homer, p. 150.
" The rude tribes which have been described, are not envious
of that civilization of which we are so proud. We may wonder
at their ignorance and prejudice; but we must recollect that
men are formed by habit, and that all their sufferings and
enjoyments are comparative. How often do we see them
rejoicing under hardships and bondage, and repining at their
lot when courted by liberty and fortune ! The feelings we
receive from living in one state of society, disqualify us from
judging of those of another; but he who has travelled over
the greatest space will be most struck with the equal dispen
sation of happiness and misery ; and his value for knowledge
will not be decreased by observing that those are not always
the most happy who possess it." Malcolm, Persia, ii. 619.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 387
to produce various sorts of grain. The climate
and soil, for instance, in the neighbourhood of
the sea of Baikal, yield to few parts of Europe
in fertility ; and some of the poorer classes have
here, as in other parts, united agriculture to
pasturage.* But it affords them a feeble re
source. They will not be at the pains to apply
the necessary labour, and are too much attached
to their nomadic habits to leave them for any
length of time. The example of the foreign
settlers, and even the advantages offered by the
Russian government, have as yet effected so
little change, that the scientific travellers to
whom we owe the account of this terra incognita
never fail to mention any district with evident
surprise, where tillage has been pursued with
tolerable success. ^
Nor is there any want of enjoyment among
these people. The chase itself is an enjoyment.
Of this we have examples even in Europe.
The Tyrolese, we know, in particular, were so
* I Jell's Travels. J)ecuuv. Kusscs, b. iii.
f Dec. Uiisst's, b. iii. ]>. :2!),S.
C C ^
388
TFIE EVILS OF
addicted to it, that the tyrannical penalty of
perpetual slavery could not deter them from
hunting the chamois, not for its value, which
was extremely trifling, but for the occupation it
afforded. The Asiatic tribes have a similar
passion ; but they possess a greater variety of
game, and hunt it with no impediment except
the tributary payment of a part of the furs.
Even European travellers can speak without
disgust of a country, where, as in the vast
territory of Mongolia, there is not a single fixed
habitation to be seen ; where " all the people,
even the prince and high priest, live constantly
in tents, and remove with their cattle from place
to place as conveniency requires."*
Some satisfaction may be derived from the
description of a very inferior people, even of
some of the hunting nations. The Greenlanders
have habitations adapted to each season. In
* Bell's Travels, i. 275. He continues ; " Satisfied with
necessaries, without aiming at superfluities, they pursue the
most ancient and simple manner ot life ; which I must con
fess I think very pleasant in such a mild and dry climate."
AN UNCIVILIZED STATK. 38(J
the winter they occupy warm and commodious
houses, built of stone and covered with a
roof of wood. The summer they pass in neat
and convenient tents, regularly built of poles
and covered with skins. All their contrivances
are proofs of their skill and ingenuity, and
their enjoyment of the lowest degree of con-
veniencies.* These stand certainly at the head
of the class. But the whole race, with the
exception of a few tribes at the very extremities
of the globe, whether wandering in tents or
collected in villages, strongly exemplify that
active principle of the human mind, which
searches for its peculiar satisfaction under all
the various circumstances in which it can be
placed j and is seldom disappointed. Custom
renders the North American savages indifferent
to the extremes of heat and cold, endows them
with indefatigable activity in all their pursuits,
and enables them, by the sagacity which it
confers upon the senses, to meet the hazards
to which their life exposes them. When they
are stationary, and the business of the day is
* Forster's Observations, p. 311.
390 'ON THE EVILS OF
over, " the entire village sup together at the
same time. The prelude to it is a dance of an
hour ; the dancers chanting singly their own
exploits, and jointly those of their ancestors."*
That these and similar habits should afford a
gratification indispensably valuable to those who
have been habituated to them, cannot be con
sidered wonderful, when even Europeans have
been found who have preferred such inde
pendence to the restraints of civilized life.
The Baron de Casteins, it is well known, hav
ing been an officer in a regiment reduced in
Canada, joined the savages, whose manners
he loved, and whose language he had acquired.
He was made grand chief of the nation of the
Albinaquis, and amassed, from presents and
other sources, a fortune of an hundred thou
sand crowns, which he expended in purchasing
the manufactures of Europe. Though courted
by the governors of New France and New
England, he preferred the wilds of Acadia.f
* Ashe of the Shawanese, on the banks of the Ohio, iii. 70.
t Heriot, from Voyage de la Houtan.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 391
The reverse has more frequently taken place,
when it has been attempted to educate savages
in a state of civilization. The experiment has
been tried with the Hottentots, whom we might
reasonably expect to be disgusted with their
domestic misery, both by the East India Com
pany and by individuals : but they have never
been persuaded to buy comfort at the expense
of independence, which has endeared to them
the coarse manner of life to which they have
been accustomed. Within a few years too, we
have had an example of an intelligent chief
of a tribe in North America, who conformed
for a time to European habits, and lived in the
best society in England;* but with no other
wish or intention, than to carry back to his
countrymen those advantages of civilization by
which he judged they might be most usefully
improved.
What, then, is the result of this evidence?
* \Vell remembered under the name of Norton ; and leader
of the Indian Allies who assisted in repelling the invasion of
lYuada in 1812.
392 OX THE EVILS OF
Not that all situations, natural and moral, are
equal ; not that there is no distinction in the
degree of happiness between rude and civilized
man ; but, that no situations in which mankind
can be placed, are without a peculiar compen
sation and satisfaction. It has even been re
marked, that the poorer the country is in which
a native has lived, the more wretched his habi
tual manner of life, the more insupportable the
loss of it has appeared ;* probably because its
gratifications, being- few, have become on that
account more dear and indispensable. But,
however we may pity a taste enslaved to habits
inconsistent with the improvement of the best
faculties of the human species, we must at
least allow that such an existence is not pain
ful to the possessor ; nay, that it has enjoy
ments of its own. No one, I suppose, has
* Millar, Origin of Ranks, p. 143. " The savage, still
less than the citizen, can be made to quit that manner of life
in which he is trained; he loves that freedom of mind which
will not be bound to any task, and which owns no superior :
and, however tempted to mix with polished nations, and to
better his fortune, the first moment of liberty brings him to
his \\oods again." Ferguson, part ii. s. 2.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 303
ever been so long habituated to positive pain, as
to regret its loss, or solicit its return, or com
plain of the ease which he has acquired by the
relaxation of some tormenting disorder.
V. It is an inevitable consequence of the
connexion between the bodily and mental facul
ties, that climate should affect the character of
the human species. Neither could Montes
quieu's untenable theory have been supported
by so many appeals to fact, unless it had pos
sessed some foundation in the general, though
by no means insuperable tendency of climate
to maintain peculiar habits and dispositions.
The natives of tropical countries, and of those
which I have been just now mentioning, are
perhaps, taken in the mass, in about the same
degree of civilization ; but, from the difference
of climate, their occupations, as well as their
recreation and pastimes, must be altogether
different. The compensations, therefore, of
their rude state are equally different ; but pe
culiarly suited to the climate, and the dispo
sition it generates. That activity which ren-
394 ON THE EVILS OF
ders occupation amusement to the native of
more temperate regions, is unknown, and
would probably be destructive, near the line.
There, inactivity is enjoyment : and, accord
ingly, to the countries of which we are speak
ing, the abundance of the necessaries of life,
and the ease with which they are commonly
produced, afford a compensation for the loss of
those advantages which more civilized nations
enjoy.
How much interest and admiration the first
accounts of the South Sea islanders excited,
will be long remembered. The ease enjoyed
in a country where three or four fruit-trees
furnished a provision sufficient for the con
sumption of a grown person during eight
months, and the consequent plenty which ap
peared to abound, astonished those who had
been accustomed to the labour of less bounti
ful and genial climates. The exertion that
was required to lodge, to subsist, or clothe a
family, seemed to be mere amusement to those
who had experienced the fatigue, but could not
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 395
appreciate the use and value, of closer and
more rig-id occupation. Longer acquaintance
has shown, that ease and idleness engender
vices, more baneful in their effects to happi
ness than the opposite evils of civilized life :
but still the free use of the corporeal powers,
the unrestrained liberty of action, the absence
of all care respecting the support of a family,
must be admitted as a set-off against the
cruelties of frequent hostility, and the want of
refined gratifications. These advantages of an
indulgent climate are evident by comparison ;
for the natives who possess them, though with
no other superiority or nearer approach to ci
vilization, have obtained, in a much higher de
gree, the conveniences of life than the savages
in the neighbourhood of Cape Horn, or their
brethren in the less favoured islands of the
Pacific.
These, however, are at the very bottom of
the scale. Forced, probably, from their native
continent by the overflow of population, or
driven by stress of weather, they originally
396 ON THE EVILS OF
depended upon the natural abundance of their
adopted country, till all remembrance of former
arts was lost among them ; and when a new
generation began in its turn to be pressed
by the difficulties arising from multiplication,
every thing was to be learnt anew and effected
by invention, without any of the advantages
resulting from communication with more im
proved people. The African Negroes, there
fore, as in advantages, so in acquisitions, are
one step above them. It may be thought also,
that circumnavigators, to whom we owe the
descriptions of the inhabitants of Polynesia,
may be deceived into a report too favourable
for truth, by the luxury of fresh provisions,
and the pleasing associations with the sight of
land. But even long residents in Africa have
been struck with the happiness of the Negroes
of the western coast, and their perfect enjoy
ment of life, resulting from ease, carelessness,
and security. The indispensable articles of
life are reduced to a very narrow compass ; the
heat of the climate, which renders clothing an
tncumbranct arid lodging a matter of indiffer-
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 397
ence, enables the Negro to exist on his native
soil " in the most agreeable apathy, without
either the fear of want, the chagrin of priva
tion, the cares of ambition, or the arbour of
desire."* Twenty days' labour in the year is
sufficient for the cultivation of all the articles
of subsistence he requires ; his existence,
therefore, is almost a gratuitous gift of na
ture : his wants are supplied without severe
exertion, his desires are gratified without re
straint ; and, with a few solicitudes or apprehen
sions, his life glides on in a sort of tranquil
calm.-)-
* Golberry, vol. ii. p. 303. Corry on the Windward
Coast, chap. 6. Lest the reports collected by the benevolent
authors of the abolition of the slave-trade (see Clarkson, &c.)
should be considered as somewhat exaggerated, I have se
lected, by choice, two authors who countenance that execra
ble traffic, as Golberry in France and Corry in England, that
the account derived from them of the happiness of the
Africans in their native country, may not be overcharged.
-j- So Mr. Jackson of Morocco: "Living on simple food,
chiefly of the farinaceous kind, their appetites are few,
their wants are easily satisfied, and their resourses many."
P. 151.
398 ON THE EVILS OF
In northern climates, the natives, if not cm-
ployed in those active exercises to which I
alluded as forming- their amusement as well as
their occupation, must be confined in narrow
apartments, where the want of circulating- air
would be as unsalutary as the inactivity of the
body. In the southern latitudes, shelter from
the sun's rays is alone required. Under the
shade, therefore, of a tree, or the roof of the
palaver-house which belongs to every principal
villag-e, and which the air is freely allowed to
penetrate, the Negroes form an assembly at
sunrise; and as they are ranged in a circle
consisting of thirty or forty of all ages, pass
the time in conversation. Their subjects are in
exhaustible ; and the amusement thus furnished
is so attractive, that they separate with great
reluctance, sometimes passing the entire day in
talking, smoking, and diversion.* The evenings
are devoted to dancing : for, after the setting of
* " Even towards evening I often observed these coteries
in the same place, and conducted with the same gaiety and
spirit: the conversation being as animated as if it had just
begun." Golberry. Cook observes the same of the Friendly
Islanders; Third Voyage, vol. i.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 399
the sun, every village resounds with song's and
music ; and " I have often," says Mr. Corry,
" listened to them with attention and pleasure,
during- the tranquil evenings of the dry season."*
Persons, whose judgment is swayed by no
hypothesis, and who have had long opportuni
ties of observing the habits of a people, cannot
easily be mistaken as to the mere fact, whether
life is miserable or comfortable. And this
careless disposition, so different from what we
are accustomed to witness, may be accounted
for by considering, that in most European coun
tries the climate introduces a thousand wants ;
the varieties of season must be counteracted
by a variety of expedients; desire is always
athirst for some new conveniency, and fur
nishes, by the very uneasiness it occasions, a
stimulus to the industry by which arts and
sciences, and all the embellishments of huma
nity, are improved. But in these tropical
countries, the indulgence of the climate at the
same time diminishes the number of wants
* P. 153.
400 ON THE EVILS OK
and render indispensable gratifications of easy
acquirement.* The consequence is, that among
civilized nations the inclinations are under a
constant restraint, either moral or physical.
The restraint, no doubt, is useful, and conduces
to render the European what he is, the most
improved of the human race. But it is also
usually unpalatable, and sometimes burden
some. The easy life, therefore, and the se
curity as to the future resulting- from it, which
the African and other nations in similar cir
cumstances enjoy, must be acknowledged as a
mitigation of the evils to which in their turn
they are subject, and a compensation for the in
ferior rank they hold in the great aggregate of
human society.
* " According to the ideas of the common people hi South
America, all that is necessary to h.ippiness, is bananas, salted
fish, a hammock, and a guitar. The hope of gain is a weak
stimulus, under a zone where beneficent nature provides to
man a thousand means of procuring an easy and peaceful
subsistence." Humboldt, vol. iii. p. 92.
" During the whole time that I resided in Africa, and in
all the countries which I visited, I never saw a single poor
beggar." Golberry.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 401
The indifference with which all these nations
regard their actual situation, and the slight exer
tions which any of them are disposed to make
for the purpose of bettering their condition,
must surely be considered as a proof that the
positive pressure of misery is not severe. *
No accounts affirm, that they are indifferent to
pain, so as not to step aside when it may be
avoided ; or that, when urged by hunger, they
refuse to appease it. The exertion by which
a better habitation, a more sufficient clothing,
more cleanly, nutritious, or palatable food
* " The miserable and forlorn condition of the poor Pes-
serais appeared dreadful to us, who were accustomed to the
conveniencies of a civilized life ; but habit, together with in
dolence and stupidity, render these hardships supportable,
and they have hardly an idea that their situation can be im
proved." Forster, 313. " Such is the disposition of the
Indians, that if their indifference to temporal things did not
extend itself also to the eternal, they might be said to equal the
happiness of the golden age. They show so little concern for
the enjoyments of life, as nearly approaches to a total contempt
of them." Ulloa, i. 420. This accords with the description
given by Giraldus of the Irish in the twelfth century: Solum
olio dediti, sol u in desidiaj dati, summas reputant delicias la-
bore carcre ; summas repulant divitias libcrtatu gaudere."
VOL.11. DD
402 ON THE EVILS OF
might be obtained, is only one step beyond
the natural instinct that prompts these sponta
neous actions ; and the unwillingness to use
that exertion must be admitted as evidence
that the evils in question do not press upon the
mind, so as to produce actual unhappiness.
For it is to be remembered, that in the same
state of savage life, evils that do press, lead to
action, and to a sort of foresight the very
reverse of the general character. There is an
instance of this nature in the cruel kindness of
the American women, who are said to feel so
sensibly the miseries to which their sex is ex
posed under the dominion of barbarous hus
bands, as to destroy their female children in
their infancy, in " order to deliver them from
that intolerable bondage to which they know
they are doomed." *
Since all evil depends upon consciousness,
and suffering which is not felt, is unintelligi
ble ; some authors have made the insensibility
of an uncivilized people as to their condition,
* Robertson's America, ii. I0(i.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 4-03
the ground of an argument for the equality of
all conditions. But I would by no means ap
pear to go that length. There is a great dif
ference between actual misery, and a low ca
pacity for happiness : there is a great differ
ence between a rnind satisfied with few enjoy
ments, and one alive and awakened to every
species of refined gratification. As the native
of an unenlightened country may act up to the
moral views he enjoys, and yet be very defi
cient in morality ; so may the native of an un
civilized country possess a portion of enjoy
ment which will yet admit of much improve
ment, both in degree and in purity. The con
siderations, therefore, which have been urged,
though sufficient to vindicate the divine good
ness in these points, can never interfere with
the expediency, nay, I may add, the positive
duty of meliorating the condition and inform
ing the understanding of these rude children of
nature. That they are in a state of general
inferiority; that their reasoning powers lie dor
mant ; that the nature of their gratifications
being of a lower order, their capacity of hap-
D J) 'J
40 1- ON THE EVILS OF
piness is diminished in proportion ; as it can
never be denied, so it will always supply a
reason for communicating to them the benefits
of superior civilization.
It has been already stated as probable, that
the thin and scattered tribes who have no other
subsistence than the produce of the chase, to
gether with the savage inhabitants of Polyne
sia, that is, the lowest species of the human
race, do not exceed in number two or three
millions in the whole. The wretchedness of
this barbarism, besides its being, from the
apathy it superinduces, less appalling in exist
ence than in recital, cannot be allowed to have
much weight in the scale, when compared with
that immense community of which it forms so
trifling a part. If to these are added the na
tions of Africa and northern Asia, who enjoy
few, comparatively, of those advantages, moral
and intellectual, which collisions of interest
and opinion confer upon a state of civilization,
the number will fairly be estimated at about
twenty millions ; but cannot exceed, according
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 405
to some calculations a fortieth, according to
others a fiftieth, of the inhabitants of the
globe. And it was sufficiently shown, that the
inconsiderable relation which this part bears
to the whole does not depend upon accidental
circumstances, but upon inviolable laws ; which
must be deemed an express provision for cor
recting- the evils which there is a tendency in
the general system to produce. It will scarcely
be pretended, that so slight a flaw could de
tract from the merits of a system, upon which
the improvement of the faculties of the whole
human race is hinged. But even if this could
be pretended, the divine benevolence has vindi
cated itself by contriving that each peculiar evil
should be accompanied by its peculiar compensa
tion. The independence or indolence of a sa
vage or semi-barbarous state, though feeble
extenuations with respect to the improvement
or perfection of the species, are of great import
ance with regard to the actual state of the indi
vidual ; inasmuch as positive pain and suffering
arc more immediate and pressing evils than
40(5 ON THE EVILS OF
moral or mental deficiency. A dispensation of
the Governor of the universe may, in his future
counsels, correct the one ; but any future dis
pensation, though it may compensate, can never
alleviate the other.
VI. But the point of principal consequence,
and in which the wisdom and goodness of the
Deity are equally concerned, is this : that the
same source from which the evil itself pro
ceeds, also produces its remedy. A rude com
munity, which a concurrence of circumstances
may have precluded from agricultural resources,
pushes itself to some inclement corner of the
habitable world, and continues its existence
without increasing its numbers. Another peo
ple, more fortunate in the moral and natural
causes which contribute to civilize the world,
extend their growing population beyond the
crowded limits of their own kingdom, and, with
their population, convey the stock of improve
ment which has accumulated in a long period
of years. The manner in which this effect
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 4-07
takes place, and the beneficial changes which
it is every where continually operating, have
been shown under a former head.
Europe is now the centre, from which the
rays of civilization are diverging in every direc
tion ; and there is no region of the world in
which its influence is not annually diminishing
both the degree and the quantity of evil arising
from the absence of cultivation. It has indeed
been sometimes suggested as probable, that
each quarter of the globe may be destined
to take its turn in civilization ; that Asia, hav
ing reached its acme first, has gradually de
clined, and yielded its precedence to Europe ;
that Europe may already see a future rival in
the increasing importance of America; and that
the comparative facility of intercourse from that
continent may at some distant period give to
Africa an opportunity, which cannot be at pre
sent foreseen, of asserting its superiority over
nations whom it has hitherto known chiefly as
oppressors. But this is neither a very pleasing
theory, nor very agreeable to philosophical ex-
4-08 ON THE EVILS OF
perience. For, although it is true, that civil
ization was earliest attained in Asia, there may
be reasonable doubts whether that civilization
was ever higher in degree, than Asia, con
sidered generally, enjoys at present. And
although single kingdoms are subject to de
cline and fall, and their maturity itself some
times contains the seeds of their dissolution ;
yet there is no reason, from past history, to
apprehend that civilization, founded on agri
culture and sustained by Christianity, can ever
be so far depreciated by internal corruption,
or annihilated by external enemies, as to lose
all weight in the scale, however it may sink in
relative importance by the preponderance of
other nations. For, since a country does not
diminish its own lustre by diffusing light to
others, but, on the contrary, obtains a recipro
cal advantage from such communication, it is
more natural, and more consonant to experi
ence, to indulge the hope that some future,
however distant sera, will find the whole world
in a comparatively equal state of civilization.*
* Stewart's Phil. chap. iv. s. 8.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 409
Iii the mean time, whilst it is distinctly
acknowledged that the classes into whose con
dition an inquiry has been made, have the
lowest opportunities of exercising1 their reason
and virtue ; and that it is the evil of a system,
from which evil confessedly is not excluded,
to produce some classes with these low oppor
tunities ; we should still err on the other side
by conceiving that their situation is inconsistent
with the purposes of man's creation. Wher
ever there is a perception of right and wrong,
there is a capacity of probation, more or less
imperfect. But as, in every country, the ge
neral principles of justice and humanity are to
be traced, however obscured by error ; there
is a sort of moral probation going on in every
condition to which the human race can be ex
posed.* The prospect indeed of hardships and
* " There is no situation in which a rational being is
placed, from that of the best instructed Christian down to
the condition of the rudest barbarian, which affords not
room for moral agency ; for the acquisition, exercise, and
display of voluntary qualities good and bad. Health and
sickness, enjoyment and suffering, riches and poverty, know-
410 ON THE EVILS OF
difficulties endured by uncivilized communities,
is often enlivened by the unexpected appear
ance of some moral beauty, for which we could
scarcely look in so inclement a situation. One
of the early visitants of the South Sea islands
could riot refrain, he says, from repeatedly
wishing that our civilized Europeans might add
to their many advantages, " the same innocence
ledge and ignorance, power and subjection, liberty and
bondage, civilization and barbarity, have all their offices and
duties, all serve for the formation of character ; for, when
we speak of a state of trial, it must be remembered, that
characters are not only tried, or proved, or detected, but
that they are generated also, and formed by circumstances.
The best dispositions may subsist under the most depressed,
the most afflictive fortunes. A West Indian slave, who,
with his wrongs, retains his benevolence, I for my part look
upon as amongst the foremost of human characters for the
rewards of virtue. The kind master of such a slave, that is,
he who in the exercise of an inordinate authority, postpones,
in any degree, his own interest to his slave's comfort, is
likewise a meritorious character; but still he is inferior to his
slave. All, however, which I contend for is, that these
destinies, opposite as they may be in every other view, are
both trials, and equally such. The observation may be ap
plied to every other condition; to the whole range of tlie
scale, not excepting even its lowest extremity." Paley's Nat.
Theol. 528.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 'til
of heart and genuine simplicity of manners,
the same spirit of benevolence," that he found
among- their rude inhabitants.* He mentions
also having seen mothers punishing obstinacy
and disobedience, and, though extremely fond
of their children, doing violence to their feel
ings, that the children might not acquire habits
of ingratitude, obstinacy, or immorality. A
later resident, whose intercourse with the na
tives gave him every opportunity of judging,
observes that their patriarchal mode of life, in
which the younger and inferior part always
surround the chief, as the father of one large
family, is calculated much to refine and im
prove their mental faculties, and polish their
language and behaviour.| In these islands,
the want of regular government is the grand
existing evil. Among other barbarous tribes,
a different disposition supplies the place of law.
When the Spanish fathers in Mexico explained
to some of the natives, who adhered to their
own habits, the security which prevailed in the
* Forster, p. 349, 351.
t Narrative of four Years' Residence at Tongataboo.
ON THE EVILS OF
Christian missions, where an Indian alcalde
administered justice, the chief replied, " This
order of thing's may be necessary for you. We
do not steal, and seldom disagree : what use
have we, then, for an alcalde amongst us?"*
We are told also by Golberry, that in Africa
there is commonly " very little disorder, so
that the small number of offences produces a
sort of habitual tranquillity."!
Traits of character not less interesting are to
be found among the shepherds of Asia. Po-
* Humboldt, vol. ii. 303. " In their intercourse with
strangers the Shoshonees are frank and communicative, in
their dealings perfectly fair ; nor have we had, during our
stay with them, any reason to suspect that the display of our
new and valuable wealth has tempted them to a single act of
dishonesty. While they have generally shared with us the
little they possess, they have always abstained from begging
any from us." Lewis and Clarke's Travels.
f Vol. ii. p. 305, " Charlevoix has observed, that the
nations among whom he travelled in North America, never
mentioned acts of generosity or kindness, under the notion
of duty ; they acted from affection as they acted from appe
tite, without regard to its consequences. \Vhen they had
done a kindness, they had gratified a desire." Ferguson,
p. 11. s. '2.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 413
verty, we are assured, is in no disgrace among
them. When a family is unfortunate, the
richer members of the tribe unite to set them
up again with cattle, as far as three separate
times ; if their ill fate still pursues them, they
become labourers, but no one ever upbraids
them with their humiliation, and they are
clothed and fed as well as those whom they
serve.* Their attention to the rites of hospi
tality is proverbial, and indisputably proves
their acquaintance with the first principles of
morals. Of the Kalmucks in particular, it is
related, that, though of a warm and sanguine
temperament, they live more peaceably among
themselves than would be expected of a people
in such an independent state. They seldom
come to blows, even at their drinking parties,
and their quarrels are very rarely bloody.
Though their anger is tinged with ferocity,
murder is little known among them. In this
respect it seems, that their religion, idolatrous
* Decouv. Russes, of the Barattes, vi. 124.
4-14 ON THE EVILS OF
as it is, has been able to modify their natural
temper.*
To come nearer home : the surveys of some
counties in Ireland bring* us acquainted with a
people scarcely more cultivated, and equally
susceptible of the virtues belonging to their
condition. " In more minutely examining the
situation of this abandoned peasantry, \ve have
an opportunity of seeing far into human nature,
and behold the natives happy, and abundantly
* Gmelio, Dec. Russes, iii. 233, &c. In physical advan
tages no country has a lower place than Iceland. " Yet here,"
says Sir G. Mackenzie, " the moral and religious habits of
the people at large may be spoken of in terms of the highest
commendation. In his domestic capacity, the Icelander per
forms all the duties which his situation requires, or renders
possible ; and while by the severe labour of his hands he
obtains a provision of food for his children, it is not less his
care to convey to their minds the inheritance of knowledge
and virtue. In his intercourse with those aronnd him, his
character displays the stamp of honour and integrity. His
religious duties are performed with cheerfulness and punctu
ality ; and this even among the numerous obstacles which are
presented by the nature of the country and climate under
which he lives." P. 332.
AN UNCIVILIZED STATE. 11/5
possessed of those qualities which endear man
kind to each other. In acts of friendship to
their neighbours, they are rarely deficient : their
generous hospitality to strangers is proverbial :
for educating their children they are particu
larly anxious, and a close attention to religion
is universally prevalent ; and though their idea
of it may be strongly tinctured with super
stition, it only argues that their minds have
been totally neglected ; as they show a great
wish and anxiety for instruction even in re
ligious concerns." * Another inquirer assures
us, that " the heart of the poorest cotter is no
stranger to generous feelings ; his jug of milk,
and plate of potatoes, are charitably offered
alike to the errand-boy, and to the mendicant
who appears before his door : in short, charity
throughout the whole island supplies the place
of poor laws." |
These instances make it sufficiently clear,
* Mr. Tighe's Survey of the County of Kilkenny,
•f Sir Richard Hoare's general remarks, at the close of his
Tour in Ireland. 1806.
416 ON THE EVILS, £c.
that no argument can be raised against the
goodness of the Deity, as if he had placed a
portion of mankind in situations inconsistent
with the object of their creation. It certainly
could not be held just, that a man should be
the subject either of punishment or reward,
where his condition afforded him no opportu
nities of virtue. But it appears, that although
the degrees of light diffused throughout the
world are various, there is no where total dark
ness ; and that although civilization, as ori
ginally proved, is the climate most favourable
to virtue, there is no state where the seeds of
morality are not planted, or refuse to thrive.
Before, therefore, any derogation can be made
on this score, from the evidence by which the
divine goodness is supported, it must be main
tained, that the Deity is either unable or un
willing to make compensation or allowance, in
his future disposal of mankind, for whatever
moral deficiencies arise from that general scheme,
by which he has seen it best upon the whole to
regulate the world.
417
CONCLUSION.
IN the first volume of this work I endeavoured
to show, that the evidence in favour of the ex
istence of an independent, eternal, and omni
potent Creator, is such as to demand the assent
of mankind.
In the considerations, which followed, of the
attributes belonging to the Creator, 1 attempted
to point out a remarkable proof of the wisdom
with which the Creator has organized our world,
and directed its various parts in subservience to
his general designs. I also examined the ob
jections which have most commonly been urged
against the goodness of the Deity ; and have
proved, I imagine, at least thus much : that
neither the existence, nor the extent, of natural
and moral evil, can interfere with that belief
VOL. n. E E
418 CONCLUSION.
of the benevolence of the Creator, which the
preponderating- tendency of his works inclines
us to entertain.
It only remains to consider the practical
conclusions resulting from what has been
proved ; without which the judicious person
who proposed the subject, rightly foresaw that
any enquiry into the existence and attributes of
the Deity would be a needless and unprofitable
speculation.
Is, then, the existence of a Being- endued
with these attributes, and enabling- us to dis
cover the relation we bear towards him by the
reasoning- powers of which he has made us par
takers, a mere matter of philosophical disquisi
tion, a speculative fact, which we are as much
at liberty to neglect or examine, to allow or
reject, as the Newtonian theory of the tides, or
law of gravitation ? Far otherwise. It cannot
be plausibly maintained, that no relative duty
on our part arises as a consequence from what
is the certain conclusion of these inquiries j viz.
CONCLUSION. <
that we derive our being from an eternal Crea
tor, infinitely powerful, wise, and just ; who has
placed us here in a state preparatory to a future
and higher sphere of existence. Since our rea
son declares to us his existence, his power, his
wisdom, and his goodness, he has a title to
our adoration, our veneration, our submission,
and tur love.
I. Against this deduction I can suppose it
may be urged, that, although we may acknow
ledge such a Being as the Creator of the world,
yet, if he demanded the worship or obedience of
mankind, he would declare his existence, and
display his power, by such regular and frequent
interference, as should never permit his crea
tures to lose sight of their Creator. Why is the
claim of the Deity upon our faith and reverence
left to be discovered by a slow process of uncer
tain effect, which a clearer manifestation of our
relation towards him would have undeniably
secured.
This question may be partly met^ by appealing
i: i. I
420 CONCLUSION.
to the Christian revelation. Natural theology,
however, requires another answer : neither is
the Christian revelation hitherto made universal ;
and numerous generations passed away before it
was made at all. * Let us consider the question
on other grounds.
Undoubtedly the Deity, had he seen fit,
might have devised modes of declaring himself,
unknown to us at present. But it is easier for
us to conceive the possibility of this, than to
explain the precise manner which should have
been consistent with his views respecting man
kind. Interferences so regular or sensible, as
constantly to enforce the dependence of man
upon his Creator, must take place, it is obvious,
either in the natural or the moral world. But
* With regard to this subject, Paley's remark is important :
" The dispensation of Christianity may already be universal.
That part of mankind which never heard of Christ's name,
may nevertheless be redeemed, that is, be placed in a better
condition, with respect to their future state, by his interven
tion ; may be the objects of his benignity and intercession, as
well as of the propitiatory virtue of his passion." Nat. Theol.
530.
CONCLUSION. 421
in the natural world, the Creator, with his
power and wisdom, is already conspicuously
displayed. We perceive it in harmony ; would
we see it in disorder ? We feel it in mercy ;
would we dread it in destruction ? For what,
except perpetual habit, and consequent uncon
cern, could prevent our acknowledging- divine
omnipotence, not merely, " as the poor Indian/'
in the winds and storms, but in every object
which the natural world presents ? Any visible
interposition of the Creator's power, be it re
membered, must be either regular or partial ; if it
is partial, it disturbs, it overturns the established
constitution of things ; if it is regular, its
effect is lost by frequency, and identified with
what by general consent is termed the order of
nature. This effect might be anticipated before
hand ; and it is exemplified in the history of the
Jews.
It will be confessed, I imagine, that these
difficulties do not admit of obvious solution,
and we shall be referred to the moral world, as
422 CONCLUSION.
a proper theatre for the constant superintend
ence of God. For instance, by the present
dispensation of affairs, we daily see those gifts
of fortune which are thought most valuable,
and which indisputably afford the most pro
bable means of enjoyment, bestowed on those
who deserve them little, and employ them
worse ; we see offered gratuitously to men of
careless or vicious dispositions a more flattering
prospect of worldly prosperity, than industry
can secure to the most laborious, or goodness
to the most virtuous of men. To correct this
injustice of fortune, why does not Providence
interpose ? why does not God display his om
niscience by rewarding conspicuous merit, and
visiting notorious vice by immediate chastise
ment ? Suppose it granted, that, upon a wide
and general view of things, it appears to be the
natural effect of virtue to exalt, and of vice to
depress the individual character in the estima
tion of society ; and that the Supreme Disposer
has thus afforded to a careful observer an evi
dence of his aversion to vice, and preference of
CONCLUSION.
virtue ; * yet why does lie suffer so many ex
ceptions to arise, that the part he takes is not
immediately discernible ? why not visibly inter
fere, to obviate those contradictions of his
general plan which embarrass and perplex man
kind ?
Now, it is plain that this imaginary scheme
would not be so far complete, as to be reconcile-
able even with human notions of strict justice,
unless it extended universally from the highest
to the lowest degrees of vice and virtue. If
otherwise, since we find every different shade of
each among mankind, how slight must the dis
tinction be between the last that is visited, and
the first that is overlooked ! How impossible to
decide, where the rewarding angel shall stop, or
the minister of death begin !
It is perhaps just conceivable, that a few
extreme cases might be punished or rewarded,
* This may be considered as decisively established by
Butler's chapter on the Moral Government of God, Anal,
part i. ch. iii.
424 CONCLUSION.
without a total subversion of the present order
of thing's. But this would establish the exist
ence of God at the expense of the justice which
it was intended to display. For, what justice
would there be in rewarding- the small portion
who had attained the highest rank of virtue, if
the larger number were neglected, who were
left, at different intervals, a short degree be
hind ? Or if notorious vice were suddenly and
visibly followed by disease, or pain, or death ;
the dispensation would be no less imperfect,
unless the degrees of punishment were made
as various as those of guilt.
An immediate distribution, then, of rewards
and punishments, could not be just, if it were
not exact and universal ; but if it were exact
and universal, it would be inconsistent with
the purpose of our existence in this world as a
state of preparation. If you interfere with re
spect to a few, you add injustice to inequality ;
if with respect to all, you raise divine justice
on the ruins of human liberty and accountable
agency, which requires the free exercise of
CONCLUSION. 425
reason ; while the free exercise of reason sup
poses a motive sufficient to sway, but insufficient
to constrain.
It does not need much argument to prove,
that a course of virtuous conduct, preserving-
its even tenour, as the present state of the
world frequently demands, in spite of all
hinderance from temporary obstacles, and con
forming to what is believed to be the will of
God, against pressing motives of immediate
interest, really constitutes a character far supe
rior in meritorious worth to one whose habits
have been formed under a prospect of direct
reward, or disciplined by the fear of immedi
ately impending evil. If the thing required
were merely the performance of a particular
action or set of actions, to bring about a certain
event ; then it is true, that the motive on
which they were done would be a point of
subordinate importance. But if the object is
the trial and formation of moral character, as
in the case of man's probationary state ; then
the liohit, and not the action, becomes the prin-
4*2(3 CONCLUSION.
cipal concern : and under this view of the sub
ject, he will not have looked far, or wisely,
into human nature, who shall conclude that
any advantage would be gained by overturning
what experience shows to be the usual course
of God's moral government, and substituting
immediate retribution.
It is not asserted, that there would be no
room for merit or demerit in human actions, if
the divine superintendence were more sensibly
exercised in this world. No motives exterior
to the being on which they work, can render
an agent absolutely passive. But they make
him approach nearer to it, in proportion as they
render his passions, rather than his reason, the
motive to influence his election. For exam
ple : the object of human legislation being
mainly the prevention of crimes, it becomes
comparatively of little consequence by what
motive men are deterred from committing
them. It is, therefore, the wish of the legis
lator that the punishment should follow the
offence, if possible, not only certainly, but
CONCLUSION. 4i27
speedily and visibly, because it is known to be
then most effectual. Yet still, under the most
arbitrary governments, or best administered
police, it is impossible so strictly to watch the
conduct of individuals as to hinder their being-,
in the proper as well as literal meaning- of the
phrase, free agents : whether they abstain
from crime through fear of the penalty, or com
mit it in the hope of eluding discovery. Reason
has full opportunity to balance the contending
motives, and decide between them. But if the
officer and executioner were immediately pre
sent, the one ready to consign the offender to
the punishment which the other is equally at
hand to inflict, the crime would certainly be
prevented ; but such innocence could not be
termed virtue, or the man a free agent, though
the use of his limbs was not absolutely re
strained. So, if the divine interference de
scended immediately upon good or evil actions,
little room would be left for moral probation.
Under the present constitution of things, the
conclusions of reason, the dictates of con-
428 CONCLUSION.
science, the prospect of future reward, of which
the imperfection of earthly retribution affords
one very ample testimony, propose a rational
motive for the performance of virtue, and the
rejection of illegal gratifications ; and a com
pliance with these motives, in conformity to
the supposed will of God, unites the virtue of
faith to that of morality. But if a course of
virtuous conduct were made the certain road to
temporal prosperity ; or if it were as much the
natural order of things for lightning to strike
the guilty head, as for thunder to follow light
ning, the springs of action would be deranged j
the exercise of faith would be precluded j ser
vile fear alone would deter from vice, and sel
fish expectation become the leading motive to
virtue. Even though there is some truth in
the observation, that all virtue and vice is,
ultimately, a balance of advantages, and that
interest, more or less distant, is at the bottom
of all our determinations ; yet no one can deny,
that reason is more soundly and nobly exer
cised in weighing future against present retri-
CONCLUSION. 429
bution, than if her determination were influ
enced by the fear of immediate evil, or the
certainty of temporal reward.
Should any one object, that the Hebrews,
who are represented as a nation peculiarly
favoured, were placed under the dispensations
of temporal rewards and punishments, the cir
cumstances of their history will explain this
exception. The Hebrews were selected from
the general mass of mankind, for the particular
purpose of preserving- the doctrine of the unity
and the records of the creation, till the wider
promulgation of these and other important
truths by the Messiah. Now, it is very evi
dent, from what we know of the rebellious
spirit of that people, and from the temptations
and examples of idolatry with which they were
surrounded, that the comparatively remote
sanctions of a future state of retribution would
not have sufficed to keep up that allegiance
which the office intrusted to them required ;
since such were the difficulties to which their
faith was exposed, that their allegiance was
430 CONCLUSION.
scarcely maintained even by the immediate
punishment inflicted upon their disobedience ;
and the knowledge of a Creator and moral
Governor was not less preserved by his visita
tions of their offences, than by their observance
of his laws. In proportion as the state of civil
ization is low, and the moral habits are de
praved, both severity and quick execution of
punishment become necessary.* Both may
be observed in the Jewish code ; the latter, in
the extraordinary providence which super
intended them, which avenged heinous wick-
* "The spirit and behaviour of the Israelites in the wilder
ness is a very remarkable instance of the wretched effects of
servitude upon the human soul. They had been slaves to
the Egyptians about 140 years : their spirits were debased,
their judgments weak, their sense of God and religion very
low : their taste so mean and so illiberal, that the plenty of
Egypt weighed more with them than all the divine assurances
and demonstrations, that they should be raised to the noblest
privileges, the highest honours and felicity, as a peculiar
treasure to God, above all people in the world. Therefore
the wisdom of God determined that they should not attempt
to take possession of the promised land, till the generation of
slaves, viz. all above twenty years of age, were dead and
buried." — Taylor's Scheme of Divinity, Ess. ii. 7.
CONCLUSION. 431
edness on some occasions, and, on others,
corrected the remissness of the civil magis
trate:* the former, in the continuation of the
punishment to the posterity of the offender ;
" which the instinctive fondness of parents to
their offspring" would make terrible even to
those who had hardened themselves into an in
sensibility of personal punishment."-|- This
peculiar case, therefore, confirms the distinc
tion I have drawn, between the performance
of a prescribed action, and the exaltation of a
moral character. In the single exception of
the Hebrews, their accomplishment of the ob
ject to which their nation was destined, was of
importance paramount to their attainment of
that higher tone of virtue which results from
the pious exercise of the reasoning powers;
and on this account, their religion was enforced
by those temporal sanctions which were suited
to the degree of mental civilization in that early
age ; and more surely efficacious in stemming
* Deut. xxvii. 16. Prov. \\\. ]
W;trl>urton's Div. Leg. v. 5
, .
CONCLUSION.
the torrent of corruption which flowed on every
side of their narrow territory.*
II. The objections, however, which are
founded on the want of a visible interference
on the part of the Creator, to acquaint mankind
with their duty, would be far more reasonable,
if no records remained of his ever having inter
fered at all. It has been shown that frequent
interpositions would be subversive of man's
highest and most rational probation, and there
fore inconsistent with God's designs respecting
him. But an interposition may be made once,
and among a peculiar people, and in a single
age, without either blunting the feelings of the
bulk of mankind, or destroying the freedom
of their moral energies j nay, it may even
* Mahomet succeeded in impressing the doctrine of a
future life upon a very low degree of civilization. But the
rewards and punishments promised by the Koran, are repre
sented under images well adapted both to the dispositions
and understandings of the people to whom it was addressed.
It presupposes a state of some advancement, to look for re
wards such as " neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor it
" lias entered into the heart of man to conceive.''
CONCLUSION. ],).i
heighten, in a great degree, the perfection and
purity of their moral trial. Such an interpo
sition, recorded by the unexceptionable testi
mony of those who first witnessed it, becomes,
in effect, an interposition to all future ages :
but then it is an interposition addressed to the
reason, and not to the senses of mankind.* It
has been remarked, with no friendly feelings
towards Revelation, that circumstances, origi
nally doubtful, become no more certain at last,
though they have been long remembered : but
the converse of the proposition must be equally
admitted, that what was true two or three thou
sand years ago, loses none of its authenticity
* " The dispensation among the Jews, like a piece of
leaven which leaveneth the whole mass, was intended tor the
benefit of all mankind : as by this means they became ex
amples and instructors, while they remained in their own
country, to all their neighbours ; and when in captivity or
dispersion, as they carried with them the knowledge of God
into the countries where they were dispersed, till the nations
should, by this and other means of improvement, be prepared
to receive the clearer revelation of the true God, and nt'
eternal life, by the Messiah." — Taylor's Scheme of Divinity,
Ess, xxvii.
VOL. II. l I
434 CONCLUSION.
by time. The existence of a superintending
Creator, which was evident to the Jews, when,
on the certainty of that fact, supported, as it
was, by a series of fresh miracles, they esta
blished their civil and religious polity, is ren
dered no less certain to us by the uninterrupted
annals of their history. The miraculous proof
of Jesus's divine commission, which was sensibly
evident to Peter and the other apostolical mar
tyrs, is morally evident to us, and will continue
so till it is disproved that they voluntarily sub
jected themselves to oppression and death, in
belief and attestation of the fact.
In truth, the mode of displaying himself
which the Author of the universe has chosen,
while it is free from the objections which would
attend the placing all mankind under a visible
theocracy, affords an unexceptionable oppor
tunity of probation, adapted to exercise the
highest faculties of a reasonable being. The
divine plan, as far as we are able to trace it,
exhibits a design of giving our faculties this
exertion, and of making belief not a necessary
CONCLUSION.
assent of the mind, but, in a certain sense, a
moral virtue. Throughout the sacred writings
there is a remarkable absence of all endeavour
to avoid, or meet, or satisfy objections. And
that a sceptical mind, determined to reject what
it cannot reduce to a pre-conceived standard of
probability, may find, both in the Jewish and
Christian revelations, things inscrutable to its
limited powers, it would be either inconsiderate
or hypocritical to deny. Free inquirers say,
that they should expect the very contrary. I
should expect the contrary, in an imposture ;
or at least an attempt to obviate such objections :
but if I find them in what indubitable evidence
forces me to receive as revelation, then it be
comes my business to inquire, whether no end
could be proposed or answered by leaving things
as they are.
Suppose, then, that the facts which Reve
lation has declared respecting the creation and
final destination of man were rendered as sen
sibly clear to us as his existence or dissolution,
a principal opportunity of making out their
F F 2
43C CONCLUSION.
probation and displaying their moral faculties
would be taken away from half the civilized
world. From the constitution of things, there
must always be a large proportion of persons
whom want of education or leisure incapacitates
from inquiring into the grounds and evidence
of their faith. The same may be observed of
many in a higher class, whom youth and igno
rance make too careless to doubt, and pleasure
too giddy to inquire. These of necessity must
be instructed in their faith from the conviction
of others : and to act in conformity with the
religious belief they thus adopt, is to them a
sufficient trial. But there is still another class,
not inconsiderable in number, whose rational
desires are satisfied by enjoyment, and whom
refinement of taste, absence of passion, love of
personal character, or the noble resources of
a cultivated understanding, withdraw from all
temptation to irregular indulgences. Their
probation is that of the mind ; which is re
quired to subdue its pride and discard its pre
judices, and with candour and simplicity to
examine Revelation, and hold an impartial
CONCLUSION. 487
balance between moral evidence and specu
lative objections.* For, as to the testimony
on which it is to be received, Revelation has,
from its first promulgation, appealed to human
reason ; and only after that evidence is acknow
ledged, refuses reason as a judge of its con
sistency with the nature and supposed inten
tions- of its Author. In points where human
experience can afford no clue of direction,
there Revelation requires submission to supe
rior wisdom.
For example : the plurality of worlds has
sometimes been employed as an argument
against the truth of Christianity. Philosophy,
it is urged, assures us how inconsiderable a
speck in an immense system is formed by our
globe : how then could it be esteemed so im
portant as to give birth' to the plan of redemp
tion ? how can we imagine that a design so
profound would be limited to so insignificant a
portion of an immeasurable whole ? This ob-
• Srt (Sutler, Anal. |>. ii. rh. \ i
438 CONCLUSION.
jection, and those of a similar nature as to the
partial diffusion of Christianity, presume that
man has a claim upon his Creator not only for
what knowledge concerns his own personal con
duct or interest, but for the development of all
the mysteries of his counsels. This, therefore,
though not the most rational objection to the
Christian revelation, may serve to instance a
very common species of error, which arises
from an assumed notion, that a revelation in
tended for our rule of life would be liable to
no objections at all, but by the clearness of
its evidence would enforce a belief almost as
natural and intuitive, as we feel of our own
existence.
If, however, we admit, that mental obedi
ence is a very important mode of probation ;
and that a moral habit of mind, well regulated
to submission, is as requisite to the reception
of certain truths, as to the observance of cer
tain duties ; then we have not only the antece
dent probability so ably set forth by Butler,
that objections would appear against a scheme
CONCLUSION. 4-39
so partially disclosed to us as that of Revela
tion ; but we also understand, that there seem
wise reasons why God has not thought fit to
give mankind either demonstrative or sensitive
proofs of its truth, but such moral evidence
alone as should constitute a sort of mental pro
bation. To examine the antecedent probabi
lity and the positive evidence which unite to
establish Revelation, is the province of reason :
but when the strength of this various testi
mony appears, as surely it must appear, indis
putable and incontrovertible, all irrelevant or
intrusive inquiry must be regulated, if not sus
pended ; and it becomes the duty of reason,
with more of devout admiration, than of curi
ous research, to submit to that superior wis
dom which is implied in the creation of the
world, and displayed in its intelligible pheno
mena. To reject Revelation unexamined, or
examined cursorily, is contumacy : to admit
into the examination prejudice, or self-con
ceived opinions, is pride. The true and prac
tical morality of the mind consists in avoiding
these errors : a virtue no less probationary, no
440 CONCLUSION.
less difficult perhaps to some men, in whom
error has taken early root, than a correspond
ence of their actions to their belief is found by
others. The evidence of Revelation being
that concerning- which w& are called upon to
decide, is founded on what our experience en
ables us to judge of; namely, on the nature of man,
and on the excellence of the precepts which
are enjoined as the rule of life : the objections,
on the contrary, are founded on what is con
fessedly beyond our experience ; namely, the
counsels of God, their object, and final ex
tent, and the best means of accomplishing
them. Is it not then as inconsistent with rea
son as it is with virtue, to permit a part of the
subject which by the nature of thing-s is un
fathomable to our faculties, to interfere with
our conviction of what we can, and do under
stand ? Can there be any thing venial in a scep
ticism of which religion is the subject, which
would be deemed contemptible in the unim
portant inquiries of philosophy ?
If there is any justice in these observations,
CONCLUSION. 141
the practical question with which I set out is
answered in the affirmative ; and there is a duty
incumbent on mankind from the facts disclosed
by natural religion and confirmed by Revela
tion, which they are responsible for discharg
ing- faithfully. Nor is it usual to find the main
facts respecting the existence or attributes of a
Creator and moral Governor of the world,
soberly and seriously questioned. Trifling ob
jections, however, and petty difficulties, if they
recur to our frequent observation, like drops of
water, supply by their frequency what they
want in actual force, and have a tendency to
undermine the solidity of conclusions which
have even been once most securely built and
firmly rested. The evils of natural and civil
life are of this kind ; and are sufficiently
various and evident to obtrude constantly upon
our view It is for this reason that I have en
deavoured to place them in their real light, by
pointing out the important operations they
effect ; and to reduce them to their just
size, by showing the mitigations which accom
pany them ; though 1 am well aware how much
442 CONCLUSION.
more striking a case might be proposed by a
statement of the instances in which the divine
benevolence is displayed, than by a review of
the exceptions by which it seems to be opposed.
That there are such exceptions, is a part of
that evil which is blended with the whole sys
tem, for reasons thus far discoverable to our
selves, that we see they are connected with
the probationary situation of man.
In this respect every thing is consistent.
There is much excellence in the world, but no
perfection. Human virtue may be carried far,
but it can never proceed beyond the reach of
danger : and it makes no progress at all, with
out encountering difficulties and overcoming
obstacles which stand on every side in the way
of duty. Human happiness, again, has many
pure and permanent sources : but a thousand
circumstances interfere to prevent its being
reckoned upon as certain, or enjoyed as per
fect.* Human knowledge, too, is kept within
* " As God has given some certain knowledge, though
limited to a lew things in comparison ; probably as a taste of
CONCLUSION.
1 !•:*
very narrow limits by the small number of
subjects in which any individual can be pro
foundly versed, and the comparatively few ac
quirements which memory can retain. Yet
we all instinctively aim at happiness ; and the
ultimate imperfection of knowledge and virtue
has never been considered as excusing us from
making that progress in both, of which our fa
culties admit, and our circumstances allow.
It need not then be thought surprising that
the same narrow horizon which limits our view
in all our concernments on earth, should con
fine our prospect when it is directed towards
heaven. If we search for the attributes of the
Creator by the light which the natural world
affords, we see the rays of goodness and justice
emerging from his throne, though their lustre
what intellectual creatures are capable, to excite in us a de
sire and endeavour after a better state : as in the greatest
part of our concernment, he has afforded us only the twilight
of probability here : the sense of this may be a constant
admonition to us to spend the days of this our pilgrimage
with industry and care, in the search and following of the
way which might lead us to a state of greater perfection." —
Locke on Understanding, b. iv. c. 14.
444 CONCLUSION.
is partially obscured by clouds and darkness.
In proceeding from natural religion to Revela
tion, we find enough to assure us of its cer
tainty, but too little to satisfy our curiosity :
we see but a part of the scheme in which we
are included, its final object being enveloped
in mystery. But this imperfection, instead of
giving birth to sceptical murmurs, may be im
proved to a beneficial purpose, if it has its in
tended effect of reminding us, that the state
we are now passing through is initiatory, not
final ; is a trial, a warfare, a pilgrimage ; but
that we must look upward, to an eternal habi
tation, for that unclouded light which may be
one of the purest rewards of constant and victo
rious virtue.
THE END.
LONDON
IBOTSON AND I'.U. Ml.lt, I'HIMERS,
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
PUBLISHED BY
J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY.
I
A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPELS OF
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INTENDED TO ASSIST THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC
INSTRUCTION AND DEVOTION.
Third Edition, 8vo. 9s. bds., or 2 vols. \2rnn. 9s. bds.
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225
SUMNER_
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