arts are cultivated, and hence in the progress of society, of which this activity is the efficient

cause, and in the division of property and the distinction of ranks, which wonderfully increase this activity, and render it indispensable, leisure is afforded to some for the pursuits of science; so that while the productions of the arts which embellish life, and add to its happiness in a degree of which it is not possible that we can, adequately judge, are multiplied, the mind is further expanded, and the faculties strengthened, and the manners softened, and the heart meliorated by philosophy and literature.

There is not, indeed, among the inestimable blessings of civilization, a single good for which man is not indebted, directly or remotely, to this stimulus, and which may not be traced either to the hope of bettering his condition, or the fear of making it worse, or to some habit of mental or corporeal exertion induced by that hope of rising, or that fear of falling, which any structure of society at all resembling the present, must ever supply and ever render vigorous. Put an end to that stimulus, and you put an end at once to all the projects of the head and all the labours of the hand; you not only render advancement impossible, but retrogression inevitable; you reduce the world to a waste, and you exchange the refined and dignified pleasures of society for the wretchedness of the naked savage.

Any change, therefore, with whatever advantages it might otherwise be attended, which should take away this essential stimulus, must be fatal to man's highest happiness.

Moreover, if it be the Creator's design, (and that it is, reason and revelation alike declare,) by the circumstances of the present state to form and to prove our character, to prepare us for future happiness, and to make our own exertions in a great measure the means of securing it, nothing can be conceived better adapted to accomplish this purpose than a state of society so con-> structed as to admit of poverty, dependence and servitude. For while such a constitution of society is admirably calculated to produce and foster the highest excellencies of which our nature is capable, no concomitant evils, however calamitous, can reasonably disturb our minds, because they are only temporary; their existence is limited, ours is without end; they exist for a time, but it is for the sole purpose of making us blessed throughout eternity. In what way some particular combinations of these evils will ultimately contribute to the excellence of our character and the augmentation of our happiness, we do not know; but we know that they will do so, and that they exist for no other purpose. And if this be the truth, if we are really endowed with an improveable nature; if we are placed in circumstances which must necessarily

call forth and invigorate our faculties; if though weak, ignorant, and suffering, in this the com mencement of our career, we be indeed destined to an everlasting progress in knowledge, virtue and happiness; if all the evils to which we are now subject are intended to be, and actually are, the means of securing and promoting that progress; if the present be but the first stage of our great journey; if we shall soon enter on another state; in which all that seems disordered now will then appear harmonious, because designs which are only commenced here, will there be carried on and perfected; in a word, if there be reserved for us an immortality of unmixed, universal, and ever-enduring enjoyment, the benevolence of the Creator, in giving us existence, and placing us in our present circumstances, is not only not questionable, but is perfect and infinite; and to argue that it is questionable on account of the partial and temporary prevalence of these evils, is as rash and foolish as it would be, on observing a complicated piece of machinery, in which were seen numerous wheels, some working in opposite directions, and apparently counteracting the movements of others, to say that the master-spring, by which all is kept in motion, produces nothing but confusion, without attending to the result of the whole,a result, perhaps, simple and beautiful.

Whatever, therefore, be the amount of the

evils which prevail in that part of the system which we at present see, this account of their purpose and operation is sufficient to make the system itself appear, as indeed it is, perfectly harmonious and infinitely good.

Nor can it with the least justice be objected, that even allowing to these evils the purpose which is here assigned, they are greater than is necessary, because if the principle be admitted on which the preceding reasoning is founded, that is all which can be required. He is as ill-instructed in philosophy, as he is in the proper office of human reason, who supposes that, with its present knowledge, it can determine, not only the exact means, but the exact measure and proportion of the means, by which it is fit that the Creator should accomplish the purposes of his creation.

Nor can it be doubted, that both the number and magnitude of the evils of the social state, are in general exceedingly overrated. Often there is no real evil where much is apprehended, and where evil does exist, it is generally accompanied with many mitigations.

Were the accommodations of the affluent umiversal, the evils of the social state would in the general estimation almost cease to exist; for of the condition of the rich no complaint is made, the general conviction being, that their sources of happiness are certain and abundant; but the

question which constantly forces itself on the mind is, Why is the allotment of good so unequal? Why are the rich blessed with every thing that can gratify the sense and refine the mind, and the poor "deprived of almost every accommodation that can render life tolerable or secure?"

The answer is, that in general the allotment of good is not unequal; and that in the few cases in which it is unequal, alleviations are afforded which render the very existence of the evils complained of, at least, questionable. He can have looked into human life but seldom, and never with attention, who has not found the fact often forced upon his observation, that happiness is much more equally distributed than a survey of the external circumstances of society would render probable.

The advantages of the rich over the poor, to which the mind most readily adverts, and which appear at first sight extremely great, are exemption from labor, and superior accommodations.

Exemption from labor is so far from giving the rich any real advantage over the poor, that the want of fixed, regular employment, is one of the very means by which the actual enjoyment of the former is brought down to a level with that of the latter. Occupation is essential to human happiness. The real enjoyment of the man who rises every day with a certain portion