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of melody . " Countless millions of human beings are hereby brought into existence , Y . N . thinks to be miserable , but more justly I . $ rust it may be said , to partake of the bounties of Providence here , and to be trained up , by a course of moral dis-i cipline begun in time and completed ia eternity , " to glorify God and enjoy him for ever . " This law o £ the divine government , then , by which population increases in a greater proportion than the means of subsistence , producing no doubt many partial evils , effects most extensive and general good . On a large scale comprehending the whole of this habitable globe , it is a law which evinces both the wisdom and goodness of the common Parent of mankind , by being favourable to the production of a greater sum of human happiness . Yet to Y . N . " it appears with so dreadful an aspect , that he says the statement of it is horrible . "
Considering the misery which he supposes to be our lot after arriving at a certain age , he . must surely view the following statement of his , as a great blessing to the children who thus meet with an early grave , however much it may be regretted by their
parents . " It is calculated that not less than one fourth part of the human species perish , before they become moral agents , before four years of age . " Granting this , there is good reason to conclude , that their sum of enjoyment exceeds their painful sensations , during their short scene of mortal existence ; the balan . ee
therefore in respect of happiness is in their favour . That some of them , ( not t € mam / " comparatively ) €€ perish by diseases brought on by want , " may be admitted as a melancholy tact * without its disproving the position just stated . I now proceed with YVN . to consider the condition of those who
arrive at the period of youth and manhood . In his view , both the single and the married must necessarily he miserable : the former because they are single and have no " help meet for them j" the latter , because the parties
are often ill-sorted , or have great anxieties respecting their children , or their connexion is embittered by disease or dissolved by death . Alas 2 for poor mortals , let them do as they will * their condition must be sad indeed .
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Be it known however to m * readen' r that the present writer is a feWo ^ S n the wrong si&V& ' it isVuStitiJfy tyhJfli ^ . Mff y <* ^ tF ^ * 3 uK himself ) hfc cbuld tell . . thau he has hot experienced that overwhebn ing misery , which is the unavoida ble t
lot it seems , of all those wfib' ixkt doomed to pass singly throu gh life ' s % varied scenes . As to the generality off those who are in the same pitiabl e j situation with myself , I do not perceive such very gloomy and despond-. ing countenances , as indicate
theirbeing weary of existence . With , respect to married persons also , as far as my observatibn reaches , theit cup of life has mingled ingredients of bitter and sweet , with so great a proportion of the hatter however , as to make it upon the whole tcferablv
palatable . * Another objection la the present constitution of things , is the appointment of the separation of the parties , if happily coupled , bv * the unsparing hana of death : " Disease and death come ; " says Y . 'N . u and the survivor is doomed to wear out a
wretched life in aggravated solitude . " Instances of this kind are no doubt to be met with , which cannot but excite the sympathy of every one who has a heart to " feel . " AsY . ' N . looks around him and draws his inferences from
* The present writer has fn the course of his life , known a considerable number of married persons in different ranks , chiefly in the middle and lower classes of society . The result of his observations ii fclris , that m a' few instctnees matrimony prodwees somewhat like a heaven upoi ea ^ th . " Hfaw blest the sacred tie that binds , Tn union sweet according minds . How swift the heav ' nly course they run , Whose hearts , whose faith , whose bop * are one !" Airs . Barbtmld ,
This on the other tend ia balanced bj the union' of parties so ill-sorted , that « I > r . Watts Saya , in bis celebrated \ w * on " Few Happy Matches , " " *• **" may heav ' nly consorts spring From V old lutes with ne ' er a string , Or . ^ besides the bass . " The great * 49 M £ marriages are , I bclieve neitto * j ** . nor the other ^ nejtlicr characten ^ * any great degree of felicity or of nj *^ but ia which , as mi ^ ht be fW *™ £ rf un inRtitution of the beaevolcnt Fare » , mankind , AVz / t > T /^^ prepdn&r ***'
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582 jUr . Howe in Answer to FT iST . ' s Ohjection lotht DMnfr &bverrtment .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1816, page 582, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2457/page/18/
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