the inimitable description of Hooker, who, after having been "considering of food, as of a benefit, which "GOD of his bounteous goodness has provided for all

things living," exclaims of that law of "Almighty "Providence," of which this forms so essential a part, "of her no less can be acknowledged, than that her "seat is the bosom of GoD, her voice the harmony of "the world; all things therein do her homage, the very least as feeling her care-the greatest as not "exempted from her power."

(22) The extreme desirableness of such a law of nature, thus governing, without the intervention of unnatural or cruel expedients, the measure of human increase, so as to proportion the number of mankind to their means of subsistence, is, in itself, no mean argument in favour of its existence; it would, indeed, be a strange and solitary instance in the economy of nature, if a visible improvement could be suggested in her most essential operations. But a law of human increase, which should multiply the species rapidly, where such multiplication would be obviously advantageous, regulating that increase through all the intermediate gradations of society, so as to reconcile it to the interests and necessities of mankind, and causing it to pause at that point, where further numbers would cease to be a benefit, or could not be sustained,-and that this law should operate by such means as would administer to the virtue and happiness of the human race,-would be that improvement on what is now deemed to be the principle of population. A priori, therefore, the presumption is, that the better principle will, on examination, be found to be the true one. We are, moreover, strongly warranted in presuming the existence of some such law. Some of the happiest and most successful

efforts of moral philosophy in modern times have been those which have demonstrated the existence, and exemplified the wisdom and contrivance, of the Deity, especially in the structure and functions of animated existences, by shewing that similar purposes have been effected by corresponding contrivances in what are called mechanical inventions'. I need not give instances; they pervade the whole of animated nature. Thus the great national machine, for such I suppose I may denominate the steam-engine, has that within itself, which though influenced by the same impetus, moderates and controls the velocity of its movements: this important instrument, almost inert and quiescent at first, gradually expanding, and thereby increasing its counteracting power, as the general motion becomes accelerated, checks its velocity, and contracts again as that abates, so as to equalize and regulate the motions of the whole; the significant name of this is, I believe, "the governor." A similar power, infinitely more necessary to control the movements of human population, I contend, exists in nature; and to prove that it so exists and operates, is the purport of the present work.

(23) The desirableness of such a law, or regulation, in nature, when I have mentioned it as having deduced it from existing and unerring facts, I have never once heard doubted; its existence, constantly: and this, simply, because I could not then render a philosophical reason for what I had already discovered to be a physical truth. It appeared mysterious, and was consequently to be disbelieved, however true. This I mention to warn the reader against a similar delusion. How, I would ask, should this law be otherwise than inexplicable in its nature and operation, when every thing

'Paley's Natural Theology, passim.

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connected with the subject is enveloped in impenetrable mystery? No great stickler for miracles, Rousseau, has observed, that "in the generation of animate "and organized bodies the human mind is lost, as in an abyss." Reproduction through all the innumerable tribes of animal, and even vegetable, existence, is, in every single instance, a miracle, to which nothing but the continuous evidence of our senses could reconcile our belief; one, indeed, which learning, and imagination, and experience, have long attempted to penetrate and expound; but which, after all, the most recondite professor comprehends as imperfectly as the untutored peasant. The various laws to which this principle conforms, in effecting its purpose, necessarily partake of the occult character of their origin; and it is only in the result that their multiform operation becomes manifest: then is it that all the infinite variety, whether of time, place, or mode-all the seeming disconnexion and confusion involved in the complicated process of unceasing renovation, are seen resolving themselves into that harmonious system, all whose parts are mutually dependent, and the minutest essential to the great and everlasting purpose of the whole. The miracle of creation is thus unceasingly repeated, and, connecting itself with that of Providence, with an additional train of infinitely minute and complicated calculations, extending from the ubiquital centre to the boundless circumference of the universe, man beholds this "mighty world of wonders" refreshed and replenished with that life, happiness, and beauty, with which it was first invested; and yet, "wandering oft with brute unconscious gaze," he affects to reject and ridicule miracles!

(24) Let not, however, the preceding observations be misunderstood; the incomprehensibility of the principle of reproduction is not appealed to for the purpose of sheltering the theory enunciated in this treatise, nor the proofs by which it will be substantiated, from the most rigid examination. All the facts which nature presents are but familiarised miracles; and if the system I announce, proved as it will be, add another to the number, it is not therefore to be rejected. Meantime it must be confessed, that the system I hope to replace seems "pre-eminently clear" from all possible objections on this ground: I am not aware that it has attempted to enlarge the boundaries of natural philosophy, or added one discovery to physical science, or fatigued itself with any laborious calculations founded on known facts; it has, therefore, escaped all objections, and avoided all examinations, on those grounds. It has, however, amply avenged itself upon moral science, with many of whose doctrines and duties it has made unsparing havoc. But to revert to the mysteriousness of the principle about to be advanced, if that be made the ground of its rejection, further consideration will convince us that the objection lies with tenfold weight against that to which it is opposed, which would have us to believe that the complicated operations of an all-wise Providence are so calculated as to spread misery, if not frustrated by the interference of human beings; that the universal scheme is, after all, imperfect, either in intelligence or benevolence. This, were it true, would appear, in the book of nature and of Providence, a miracle indeed,—a miracle of malignity. In a word, both systems appeal to the same principle, that of reproduction; a principle incomprehensible in itself, and plainly the work of Supreme Wisdom: the

difference is this, the one represents this principle as a blind and unbending law, naturally operating alike, whether for good or evil, under all circumstances, and in every stage of society; which ridicules the interference of the Deity, when it is hardly consistent with a belief in Him to conceive that he would not interfere; and which is therefore perfectly palatable to atheism, or to that version of atheism whose god is asleep, or afar off, regardless of the creatures he has made the other maintains that the law of increase is naturally and necessarily regulated by the circumstances of that race of beings which it exists only to perpetuate, and consequently perpetuates in numbers and proportions most conducive to their happiness and welfare. It therefore recognises the perpetual presence of the Deity, either in his immediate and unceasing providence; or, what perhaps still more highly exalts our ideas of his infinite perfections, in that unerring prescience, which, joined to his power and goodness, has anticipated from everlasting all the contingencies of human existence; and, by an uninterrupted series of secondary causes which runs through time, and connects it with eternity, has adequately provided for them: thus is it that the Prince of Poets represents the omnipotent Father, grasping in his almighty hand that golden chain, bright with benevolence and mercy, by which he sustains from the heights of eternity his universal offspring.

(25) That these theories cannot co-exist as separate truths, or, that a system cannot be made up of parts of both, needs hardly to be observed. They are utterly irreconcileable in their nature and in their effects. "Between existence and non-existence," says Bishop Taylor, "there is an infinite distance." Between these principles there is that distance. Nor in