The  denunciation,  "  By  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat
bread,"  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  curse,  but  as  a  law  of  bene-
volence. The  necessity  for  exertion,  though  it  falls  on  the
human  race  in  a  more  onerous  measure  than  on  most  other  ani-
mated beings,  is  yet  tempered  with  mercy,  and  freighted  with
richer  blessings.  This  necessity  has  impelled  man  to  cultivate
and  improve  his  powers,  whereby  he  does  not  merely  exist  in
a  stationary  condition,  but  has  attained  to  a  supremacy  over
creation,  and  has  risen  higher  in  intellect  than  in  station ;  en-
larging his  abundance,  securing  his  health,  and  administering
to  his  enjoyments.  It  is  not  only  the  preceptor  of  the  intellect,
but  the  guardian  of  the  morals  of  the  human  race.  "  As  the
wise  God,"  says  Lord  Hale,  '^  hath  put  all  things  in  motion  and
action,  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  elementary  natures,  the  meteors,
the  animals ;  so  it  is  his  wisdom  to  preserve  man  also  in  that
bodily  as  well  as  mental  motion,  and  by  a  kind  of  necessity
drive  him  from  sloth  and  idleness :  if  he  will  live,  he  must  eat ;


70       THE  SOURCE  OF  THE  PRODUCTS  OF  INDUSTRY^

and  if  he  will  eat,  he  must  labour."*  The  dennnciatioii,  too,  if
it  were  a  curse,  contains  in  it  also  a  promise,  "  shalt  thoa  eat ; -'
a  promise  which  has  been  fulfilled  in  all  ages  and  countries,
and  whence  we  confidently  trust  that  it  will  be  fulfilled  to  the
end  of  time.  This  promise  ought  to  cheer  the  labourer^  in
the  endurance  of  his  toil,  &om  the  consoling  prospect  which
it  holds  out,  that  he  will  never  be  abandoned  by  his  Maker.
