•388 tHB 600BNE39 OF THE BEITY. 



is the commandincr circumstance, which in general fixei^ 

 each man's place in civil life, along with every thmg which 

 appertains to its distmctions. It may be the result of a 

 beneficial rule, that the fortunes or honours of the father 

 devolve upon the son ; and, as it should seem, of a still more 

 necessary rule, that the low or laborious condition of the 

 parent be communicated to his family ; but with respect to 

 the successor himself, it is the drawing of a ticket in a lot- 

 tery. Inequalities, therefore, of foitune, at least the great- 

 est part of them, viz. those which attend us from our birth, 

 and depend upon our birth, may be left, as they are left, to 

 chance, without any just cause for questioning the regency 

 of a Supreme Disposer of events. 



But not only the donation, when by the necessity of the 

 case they must be gifts, but even the acquirabiliUj of civil 

 advantages, ought perhaps, in a considerable degree, to lie 

 at the mercy of chance. Some would have all the virtuous 

 rich, or, at least, removed from the evils of poverty, with- 

 out perceiving, I suppose, the consequence, that all the poor 

 must be wicked. And how such a society could be kept 

 in subjection to government has not been shown ; for the 

 poor, that is, they who seek their subsistence by constant 

 manual labour, must still form the mass of the community ; 

 otherwise the necessary labour of life could not be carried 

 on ; the work would not be done, which the wants of man- 

 kind in a state of civilization, and still more in a state of 

 refinement require to lie done. 



It appears to be also true, that the exigencies of social 

 life call not only for an original diversity o^ external circnxa- 

 stances, but for a mixture of different faculties, tastes, and 

 tempers. Activity and contemplation, restlessness and qui- 

 et, courage and timidity, ambition and contentedness, not 

 to say even indolence and dulness, are all wanted in the 

 world, all conduce to the well going on of human affairs, 

 just as the rudder, the sails, and the ballast of a ship, all 

 perform their part in the navigation. Now since these 

 characters require for their foundation, different orisfinal 

 talents, different dispositions, perhaps also different bodily 

 constitutions ; and since, likewise, it is apparently expedi- 

 ent, that they be promiscuously scattered amongst the di^ 

 ferent classes of society, can the distribution of talents, dis- 

 positions, and the constitutions upon which they depend, bs 

 better made than by chance ? 



The opposites of apparent chance, are constancy and 

 sensible interposition ; every degree of secret direction be- 



