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in those inquiries; and also the notorious fact, that what have in their day been called such have frequently turned out in the end to be nothing else but mischievous delusions.

That it also applies to all argument upon natural religion, or that knowledge of God and his will which can be acquired by the unassisted operation of human reason, or by the progress of mind," seems equally clear. Hence the fanciful and immoral systems which from time to time have been invested with the name and character of religion.

To the same causes may perhaps be ascribed the little service which the progress of metaphysical inquiry seems to have hitherto rendered to the cause of Revelation, or that it can ever be expected to render to that cause, so long as its professors persist in substituting a mass of doubtful conclusions for the certain dictates of revealed truth, instead of explaining and enforcing those dictates where they are plainly applicable to the subject under inquiry.

In opposition to these systems of investigation, an attempt has certainly been made in the course of the following pages to add to the proofs already existing, that (at least in the elements of society, considered either in its "natural or theoretical history," or in its actual progress,) political truth can only be discovered with certainty, and political improvement will, therefore, be most surely promoted, where a clear reference can be made to morals; and that moral truth and improvement depend in like manner upon a reference to Revelation. Thus, within the limited extent to

which the following inquiry reaches, we may aid our political researches by referring to an unerring standard upon many questions, which must otherwise, by their very nature, be for ever suspended in the fluctuating balance of doubt and controversy. Upon the rest we must perhaps be satisfied to remain in that state of uncertainty to which the contingencies of human affairs, in the varieties incident to their progress, have hitherto condemned the most enlightened conclusions of mere human reasoning,

Conclusions to be drawn in favour of the author's hypo-
thesis, and against that of his opponents..

Application of the fundamental propositions

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Of the natural tendency of population in the purely agri-

cultural state, and in the early stages of the commercial

state of society....

Immense quantity of surplus produce in this state of
society renders the pressure of population against food
impossible.....

When best lands are settled, manufacturers gradually rise
up to consume this surplus produce
Before it is consumed a gradually increasing abatement
takes place in the progress of population...

.....

This sufficient to prevent the pressure of population, where
morals and good government obtain a reasonable in-
fluence

Illustrations from the Turkish government.

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from the United States of America....

Application of the fundamental propositions to the states
of society treated in this chapter...

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Illustrations from American writers.

Manufacturing population at length overtakes the supply

of surplus food....

Inferior soils then brought under cultivation, which give a
return of further food more slowly....

But a corresponding abatement takes place in the progress

Means by which this effect is produced..

Illustrations from the proportions of births and deaths in
towns and the country respectively..

ib.

...

ib.

88

.......

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ib.

ib.

View of society in its highest stages best illustrated by a
reference to the commonwealth of Britain....

Illustrations from a reference to the present condition of

society in China..

ib.

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