ART. VIII.-THE MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF MEN IN A SOCIAL STATE.

THE saying, 'one man soweth and another reapeth,' has been applicable to the condition of mankind in all ages, and will doubtless continue to be so to the end of time. It is too true in a sense which we cannot but lament, and, if it were possible, would gladly put an end to,-when we see a large part of every community toiling on from day to day, and from year to year, without any adequate compensation; while the fruits of their industry are enjoyed by others, who seem as if they were born not to minister, but to be ministered unto, and to live in the possession of luxuries provided for them by the ill-requited labour of those around them.

But this principle, which appears so little agreeable in some of its aspects, is nevertheless intimately connected with the social nature of man, and with the attributes which more especially constitute his superiority to the brutes. It expresses universally his condition and circumstances as a member of society;-and the more so, in proportion as the relations he sustains to other members of it become more various and extensive, and as the constitution of the society itself partakes of the general improvement of the human mind. It is true in every condition of life (and a most wise and excellent provision it is, contributing to our essential welfare both here and hereafter), that it is scarcely possible for any man to live altogether to himself,-to labour for his own benefit alone,-to sow in such a manner that no other human being shall reap the harvest. It is true, not merely of beneficial labours, but also of the mischievous and abusive employment of our talents. So variously are we connected in this world,—in the relations of domestic life,—as neighbours, friends, companions, and in many other ways, by which our fellowcreatures are more or less interested in the consequences of our conduct, that no one can confine those consequences entirely to his own home, still less to his own person. If they are good, others must share them with him,—if bad, the evil effects of his vice or folly of necessity extend to those around him :—“ we must suffer or rejoice together, for we are every one members one of another."

Nor is this influence limited to our contemporaries :-for there is perhaps no feature of human nature more remarkable and characteristic,-none which more strikingly indicates the superiority of man over the other orders of creation, than the

opportunity afforded to successive generations to enter into the labours of those who are gone before them. Other animals seem in some few instances,-but to a very limited extent,-to profit by their own experience. As they advance to maturity, they seem even to learn by practice a greater degree of skill in the various arts (if we may so call them) by which they ensnare their prey, or construct their habitations. But, as far as we can perceive, this acquired skill is confined to the individual; succeeding generations derive no benefit from the experience, or the improvements, of those who have preceded them each race starts from the same point, and the same, or nearly the same, outward circumstances bring them, in their turn, to the same degree of improvement, such as it is;-but there is no improvement of the species. We have no reason to suppose that the bees of the present time construct their cells, or the birds their nests, in a better, or, in any material respect, a different way, from their progenitors in the first age of the world.

But the condition of man is altogether different. Not only is he able from his own personal experience to derive practical wisdom to an extent vastly greater than is attainable by any other creature, but in addition to this, he profits also by the experience of preceding generations. By the invaluable arts of speech and writing, the acquired knowledge of any individual does not perish with him, or remain during his lifetime his sole exclusive property. It is as a lamp set, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and gives light and guidance to all around. The intelligence that burns within, and the power of observation and reflection with which, in greater or less degrees, every human being is gifted, are sources of information of inestimable value, and without these, it is true that other means of knowledge would be but of little service. But no one is confined altogether to his own unaided stores, or left to explore for himself the hidden path of wisdom. We derive instruction, not only from the direct lessons of parents and of teachers, but from the habits and manners and institutions of the community into which we have been born, affording us the various accommodations of civilized life, and the opportunities of acquiring, with increased facility, various kinds of knowledge and improvement, and the means of qualifying ourselves for social usefulness.

Independently of all direct instruction, it is obvious that the mere circumstance of having been born in a land occupied by a Christian and civilized people, is an advantage of unspeakable value, which we possess over the members of a savage tribe; and the successive discoveries, improvements and useful arts, which our fathers from age to age have introduced, as society has VOL. VI. No. 26.-New Series.

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gradually advanced from small and rude beginnings into its present state, form an accumulated treasure, far more important and beneficial to us than any other inheritance we have derived from them. The improvements of former times are not lost with the individuals who originated them, but are more firmly established and completely ascertained by fresh inquiries and repeated experience. They furnish as it were a new point of departure, from which the successors of former improvers can set forth in quest of additional and still more valuable acquisitions, insomuch that there is perhaps no point hitherto attained by the industry or perseverance or genius of man, of which we are entitled to say with confidence that the efforts of future ages will not cast it completely into the shade. The various arts and inventions by which one ingenious man after another has added to the comforts of life, and enabled us to make the most of the means which nature or Providence have placed within our reach, are a continually renewed and inexhaustible source of wealth and of happiness, (so far as happiness depends on outward circumstances,) for every age and every race of men, as long as the world shall endure. These men have laboured, and we and all mankind have entered into their labours. They have sown, but not they only have reaped. We ourselves, and every succeeding race, who have hence derived comforts and enjoyments, information and improvement, not to be obtained before, are still gathering in the rich and copious harvest.

In such cases, however, though it is obvious that we derive the most important benefit from the labours of others, yet it is only in a secondary and modified sense that we can be said to owe them any obligation for it, because they had no view to our benefit in the labours by which, as it turns out, they most effectually promoted it. The inventors of paper, of printing, of the steam-engine, though they have become eventually extensive benefactors to mankind, were influenced probably by no such motive, but merely by a regard to their own personal advantage and emolument. They worked for themselves, and perhaps for those immediately around and connected with them, who were naturally dependent on them, or in whose welfare they took a peculiar interest, but they had no view to, as they had in fact no adequate conception of, the prodigious and almost unbounded service they were at the same time rendering to mankind at large, and to all succeeding generations.

For the benefits we derive, and shall always continue to derive, from such arts and inventions as these, there can be no question that an abundant gratitude is due; not however to these our fellow-creatures, but to that all-wise Disposer who has

put a spirit in man, and who has so wonderfully connected us together in the various relations of social life, that we cannot in ordinary circumstances seek the promotion of our own interest, (I mean by honest and lawful means) without at the same time contributing to the general welfare of mankind. Nay even where men intended not good but evil, or at least sought only for their own selfish ends, regardless of the mischief they might at the same time be preparing for others, yet a wise Providence has overruled it for good. They meant not so, neither did their heart think so, nevertheless they have been made the instruments of a higher wisdom, working blindly but surely for the promotion of better purposes than they intended. They sowed to the flesh, and will of the flesh reap corruption; but out of this same corruption God has brought forth a produce of great and lasting good to his creatures. If we are thus enabled frequently to perceive that the folly, the wickedness, or the weakness of man is made to work out the righteousness of God, still more clearly and satisfactorily do we trace the course of his Providence, which hath in such wise ordered the present constitution of human affairs, that the useful labours of our predecessors rarely die with them, but serve as the foundation of still more important and desirable improvements, and prepare a store of the most truly valuable wealth for the use of a remote posterity. And here we see displayed for the most part, not the wisdom of man, but the wisdom of God.

In other cases, however, and those in a moral point of view of much greater interest and importance, we enter into the labours of those who have worked, not immediately for their own personal advantage, but with a direct view to our benefit, or to the general welfare of mankind. Guided by enlarged and enlightened views, and actuated by a pure and comprehensive benevolence, they have exerted themselves expressly and immediately for the good of others, through the love which they bore them, or the ties of natural relationship and affection. In such cases, a double gratitude is due ;-first, to these our human benefactors, and afterwards to Him who has so constituted the relations of human life, and adapted them to the natural dispositions of our breasts, that in most instances they foster, encourage, and strengthen the most desirable affections, which have a tendency to withdraw our thoughts from merely selfish objects and pursuits, to refine and purify our spirits, and at length, by the moral discipline of this world, to prepare our souls for a heavenly state.

These benefits, which mankind may render to each other, when acting under the influence of an enlightened and Christian

benevolence, animated by an earnest desire to consider, not his own merely, but every man another's welfare, are also much more extensive in the field of their operations, in the number, variety, and importance of their objects. The cases in which self-interest is the leading motive which impels men to engage in labours which are, however, conducive to the general welfare, are for the most part merely such as minister, in the first instance at least, to our external wants,―tending to promote the easy, cheap, and abundant supply of the various articles of consumption, which are necessary for our subsistence, or are provided in great variety, in a civilized and prosperous country, to contribute to our accommodation and comfort. And no one can doubt that these things, altogether independent of any moral benefit, are of very great practical value. They contribute, in a very essential degree, to our present ease and happiness; and, where the disposition exists to avail ourselves of the opportunities thus supplied, they facilitate to a very great extent our efforts to fulfil the main and ultimate purpose of our being.

These advantages are certainly distributed among the different members of society, as it is now constituted, in very various and unequal shares;-but no one can have paid to the subject the attention it requires and deserves, who fails to perceive that the humblest and least favoured inhabitant of a civilized and cultivated, and by consequence a comparatively prosperous and opulent country, derive the most valuable advantages from the land they live in, provided only that they are not wanting to themselves. As for the idle, the thoughtless, the improvident, or the intemperate, they must always be ill-off, let the condition of society, or their external circumstances in other respects, be what they may;-and we do not see why we ought to wish that it should ever be otherwise. But with respect to the outward comforts and supplies adapted to our physical wants, the well-known remark of Dr. Adam Smith is perfectly well-founded, and is even more clearly true at the present time than it was when he made it, "that the accommodation of a European prince does not so much exceed" (in its real value,-that is, in its fitness to contribute to his substantial comfort and enjoyment) "that of an industrious and frugal peasant,--as this latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages."

But these advantages, remarkable and striking as they are, constitute but a small portion of the privileges we enjoy as members of a community in which the institutions of civilized life have been cultivated and improved. Knowledge is here extensively diffused,-not merely that which relates to our present