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man with that aid. The metals, and also coal, the main instrument by which in this country they are reduced to a beneficial state, might be pointedly noticed in conjunction with the present subject, had not these mineral substances been already brought forward, and amply treated in a sufficiently analogous connection.

The degree of limitation within which it has seemed good to the Deity to circumscribe his bounty, when providing certain species of ani mals and other productions or contents of the earth as particularly important for the relief of human necessities, powerfully supports our ar gument. The number of the kinds of animals and of plants, to which this description belongs, is not exuberantly copious. In an imaginary world prepared for beings assumed to be exempted from moral trials, or to be contemplated by infinite foreknowledge as stedfast in obedi ence, exuberance might have been anticipated as a probable characteristic. But, in our own world, the number, though sufficient for its purposes, is comprised in a narrow compass. How large a por tion, for example, of the sustenance of man consists of milk, under different forms of employ

ing it! From the temperate zones, and from the habitable parts of the colder regions, take away the cow and what remains to be substituted? The very inferior aid of the sheep and the goat. Take them away; and nearly every thing, or every thing, is gone. From torrid climates, take away the camel; and you leave them equally at a loss as to a prime article of nutriment. Then with respect to the speedy conveyance of man from place to place, and the commodious transportation of his burthens. From one clime, remove the horse; from another the camel and the dromedary; from another the lama; from another the elephant: and in what state, as to' these points, do you leave the inhabitants? Then, with regard to clothing. From tropical lands, withdraw cotton; from countries exterior to the ecliptic, subduct hemp and flax and where are the general materials for garments? According to a kindred analogy, though there is one species of earth, generally to be found, which, when spontaneously hardened into stone, may be burned into a fit ingredient for mortar; there is one species only. Again, were the oak nonexistent; how would Britain construct the hulls

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of her navies? Remove the fir and the kindred larch; and how would she supply the hulls with masts? Again, were iron absent, labour, and art, and science would be paralysed by the total want of tools and implements; and the business of the manufactory, and the enterprises of commerce would be at an end. In all these instances, and in others which might be adduced, the supply granted to man by his Creator is not a mere prison allowance, scantily sustaining life, and barely meeting the demands of ordinary necessi ties. Neither is it the luxuriant profusion natural, if so we may presume to speak, to the hand of perfect yet unoffended beneficence. It is a supply bearing the character of a grant to sinners from a God of mercy and of wisdom: a supply by mercy made so ample, as not only to relieve wants, but to superadd moderate comforts and enjoyments; by wisdom so limited, as to render man sensible how important is the blessing, and how unworthy is the being on whom it is bestowed.

CHAP. VII.

ON CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE STRUCTURE AND THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN FRAME.

FORGET for a few moments the special condition of man; and imagine yourself listening to information conveyed to you, in what mode or by what agency is immaterial, concerning the inhabitants of a planet in the unseen regions of space. Suppose yourself to be told, that they were created holy; that they speedily fell from obedience; that God, amidst his just indignation against the offending race, had been pleased to think upon mercy; and that their bodily conformation, while apparently it would not be suited to the circumstances of their present abode, had they remained innocent, bears the stamp of singular accordance both with the nature of their original state, an ith the purposes of their continued exist

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pond with that description; can you devise any so opposite as your own?

Consider the human frame, naked against the elements, instantly susceptible of every external impression; relatively weak, unarmed; during infancy totally helpless; helpless again in old age; occupying a long period in its progress of growth to its destined size and strength; ungifted with swiftness to escape the wild beast of the forest; incapable, when overtaken, of resisting him; requiring daily supplies of food, and of beverage, not merely that sense may not be ungratified, not merely that vigour may not decline, but that closely impending destruction may be delayed. For what state does such a frame appear characteristically fitted? For what state does it appear to have been originally designed? For a state of innocence and security; for a paradisiacal state; for a state in which all elements were genial, all external impressions innoxious; a state in which relative strength,was unimportant, arms were needless; in which to be helpless was not to be insecure; in which the wild beast of the forest did not exist, or existed without hostility to man; a state in which food

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