74 
Of the Original Source of Wealth , 
[March, 
30th. “ And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to 
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every 
green herb for meat; and it was so.*' 
Chapter 3d, Verse 17th. “ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened 
unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded tliee, 
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it ; cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shall 
thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” 
18th. “ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat 
the herb of the field.” 
19th. “ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground.” 
Chapter 9th, Verse 1st. “ And God blessed Noah, and his Sons, and said unto 
them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” 
3d. “ Every moving thing, that liveth, shall be meat for you, even as the green 
herb have I given you all things.” 
In the foregoing passages from holy writ, the circumstances of man on earth, 
with respect to what forms the basis of all wealth, are clearly described. 
His dependence on food is pointed out. 
The nature and properties of that which constitutes his food, are distinctly shewn. 
The original gift of a parent stock, whence all future supplies were to spring, the 
dependence of man for these future supplies, on the influence of that principle of 
fructification and increase, wherewith God imbued all vegetable and animal products, 
these are all fully displayed. 
From these passages, we further learn, how man, like that whereon it was or- 
dained that he should subsist, was destined to be fruitful, and to multiply ; and 
again, how the earth was cursed for his sake, and made the matrix whence not only 
food was to be wrung ; but from which noxious products and weeds were to spring: 
man being thus doomed to sorrow, and to eat in the sweat of his face, then and for 
ever. 
Man, therefore, stimulated to a constant increase of numbers, and predestined to 
obtain, with pain, and labour, only so much, of that which constitutes the basis of 
all wealth, as serves to his immediate subsistence, must, in all ordinary circum- 
stances be found busied in securing and increasing a supply of these joint products 
of the living principle and of labour : a store of these must constitute his original 
productive stock ; and the periodical reproduction and increase, which proceed! 
from the unchecked progress of such living germs as yield him food, must form his 
original revenue, or income. * 
If the food of this season had not bp#»n j , 
which has passed ; and if like air or , ? de P end ™t on that of the season 
tainable bv the inflnpm> P * e * water > the nutriment of man had been ob- 
tainable by the influence of causes of which the mndo 
and over which man’s endeavours could have ‘ V f ° Perat, ° n was ° bscure ; 
a l* • • . ^ n&vc exorcised no controul • it is evident 
that his increasing numbers must have denended f« r the; ° ntr ° Ul ’ ll 18 e ™ T 
sistence, not on their own exertions W P * . °J increasing means of sub- 
and further, that the storing of prolcUve^t k f ’ 
riodical reproduction and Increase Twl^ °h — — *• P* 
social arrangements turn, would have been u„; I t C “' CUmStanCeS ’ a “ 
Although it has been long admitted that “ “ 7 
the earth’s surface ; and although it is^ot ° rig . inal wealth is the produce of 
would direct attention, most particularly tn th" mtentl ° n to * amsa y this truth ; I 
perfectly passive during the whole period f ^ CirCUmstance of thesoil itself being 
ment, and increase in those products wV germmatl0n ’ and subsequent develope- 
i ich constitute the basis of our wealth ; and 
