C 26 ] 



fo overftocked with people, that it would have 

 been impoflible for them to fubfift in it ; 

 and the animals, &c. which were given by 

 God for the food of man and of each other, 

 would have been nearly, if not quite extinft : 

 for we know, that many of the wild animals 

 require vaft uninhabited plains, forefts, and 

 mountains, to breed, feed, and bring up their 

 young. But Providence has ordered things 

 otherwife, by putting enmity between man and 

 man, and between nation and nation, in or- 

 der to prevent the over-great increafe of the 

 human kind, which mufl: confequently have 

 greatly lefTeried, if not entirely extirpated, 

 many of the animal fpecies, before the ftill 

 increafmg number of men had proved their own 

 4eftru6lion, which finally muft have been the 

 cafe : but it is reafonable to believe, that Pro- 

 vidence equally regards the prefervation of all 

 the animals, &c. that are created. 



Wife ftates, that have fuperftitious and ig- 

 norant fubjeds, are often under a neceffity of 

 making fuch laws' as confifl: little with rea- 



fon. 



