mately connected with it. It was necessary to state, as far as could be done philosophically, the origin of the evils that have long acted as scourges to mankind: if they are instituted, appointed, or even directed by God, Mr. Malthus has some ground on which to rest his arguments; but if man is FREE in his moral conduct, he is accountable for the consequences.

IN the foregoing remarks I have endeavoured to prove that the checks to population, which Mr. Malthus thinks have been as constant as any of the laws of nature, are not necessary to the government of the world; that they arise out of circumstances that are perfectly optional, and are most experienced under a bad system of government, and least under a good one, and consequently may in a great measure be driven from the world. Were war, famine, and pestilence, natural evils, provision would be made in the economy of nature to excite them, and their approach might be foreseen and calculated like the return of the seasons; a certain number of victims would fall in a given space of time, and no more; they would be to a nation what superabundant fruit is to a tree: but we are well assured that these evils may desolate

a land; we know of no check to their fury but human means, means that would have prevented their approach. Misery has ever been the consequence and the scourge of ignorance and depravity, knowledge its corrective; virtue and knowledge repair the breach made by vice and misery, but vice and misery cannot be applied to improve the effects produced by virtue and knowledge: hence, therefore, if virtue and knowledge are applicable to man, vice and misery can have no natural place in our economy. Very few persons have such an opinion of the Deity as to suppose that he would endow with life without providing the means of its support, yet this is the idea Mr. Malthus holds out: I need not say such an idea banishes the Deity from the world,---it cannot be, that the works of God are so imperfect, or his government so weak,---he has made laws which cannot be fulfilled, he has given promises he cannot verify. Morality ceases to have a name under such a government as Mr. M. describes: but, happily for mankind, vice and misery exist not as the sovereigns to which we are legitimately subject; they are the consequence of our ignorance, and can never be appealed to as friends. We can never say we want more vice and misery to ren

der our condition better, but, on Mr. Malthus's theory, this is a very common want. Vice and misery are punishments, and punishment implies transgression; there is no authority in them; they sanction laws, but they are not laws themselves.

In the view I take of the subject, the life of man is secure, his happiness well guarded by obeying the laws Mr. Malthus would teach us to break. A wise and benevolent Creator has his eyes constantly upon us: has he appointed our years to be threescore and ten, they were intended for the business of life, and ought to be filled up in the service of mankind; not to be wasted in ennui, not to be dragged on thro their latter half in perpetual fear of death, paralizing every action, and casting a gloom over scenes that ought to inspire joy. The business of life should go promptly on to its close; it is cowardice to shrink back when we have proceeded only half way, and seem afraid to meet fresh duties; it is our business to be always employed, that when the finger of death shall point towards us, we may have no duty unperformed. A hireling has his stated employment for the day, he may feel weary in the execution, but until he has fulfilled his obligation a respite from labour

is a crime. Infancy and youth are spent in acquiring knowledge, which experience matures: as knowledge is never lost, so it ought never to be unemployed; the bulk of mankind want instruction, and it ought to be the pleasure as it is the duty of those whose life is not necessarily occupied in their own affairs, to furnish them with the means. Life is a gift, the value of which is not generally appreciated; the accumulation of property, which ought to be only a secondary consideration, is made the first, and greatly tends to divide life between care and disgust; hence arise many evils which Mr. M. charges on Providence. But it may be said, should the mind be cultivated, it would be equivalent to passing a sentence of extinction on a family, and would prove an evil rather than a good.

It will be seen by the preceding chapters, that many circumstances and events of life have an influence on the propagation of the species. If a sober, steady, persevering effort to cultivate the understanding has an influence on the body, that influence is only in excess, it only threatens extinction, when it is connected with much anxiety and care: a cultivated mind is commonly eager to obtain distinction; schemes are