which the sweetest accents of the Psalmist, and the sublimest strains of the prophet resound the goodness of their God-the image under which the Saviour of the world presents himself to the reverence and affection of those whom he redeemed by His blood. Yet is the pastoral state only the second stage in the progress of human society; while it softens the soul to tenderness, and raises it to contemplation, from the natural tendencies of the human mind to excess, its tenderness wanders into polygamy, and its contemplation degenerates into idolatry. That nightly survey of the heavens in which the system of the universe seems marching in majestic procession before him, irresistibly leads the mind of man to the inquiry into its causes. But he sees that system in its multitudes and not in its unity. He imagines causes without discerning a cause. To the resplendent orbs that gleam as they pass before his eyes, he naturally ascribes intelligence as he observes their apparent motion. He deems them selfcreated; each instinct with a separate soul. He soon discovers that his existence upon earth, and the constitution of the earth itself, is indissolubly dependent upon the sun, and that as he rules the day, the moon and stars rule the night. His observation presents to him effects only upon the earth, and causes only in the skies. From observation proceeding to conjecture, from the influence which he sees and feels, he infers other influences which he cannot discern. He fancies a Deity in every star.-He believes that these inhabitants of the skies are the arbiters of his destinies upon earth; his understanding sinks into the grave of superstitious terror, and he worships the whole host of heaven. By a progression alike founded on his physical organization, combined with his existing condition, his physical wants-satiated with unremitting plenty, his mind absorbed in meditation, and his heart softened into tenderness his affections upon earth, like his contemplation of the heavens, diverge into multitude instead of concentrating in unity. His love becomes intense without becoming delicate. It is sexual and not individual. Rival interests and conflicting passions are planted in the bosom of his family, and they produce a harvest of discord, strife and wretchedness. is it in this respect alone that the tillage of the ground has a tendency to exalt and to purify the affections of the heart. It is here that the foundations of civil society and of rational religious worship are laid. It is in this condition of human society that the relations between the sexes attain their highest perfection. Woman, to the hunter, is a slave-to the shepherd she is a possession,-to the husbandman she is the partner and companion of life. It has been observed that the pastoral condition predisposes to polygamy, an institution in itself of the most anti-social character and consequences. By the tillage of the ground, and its indispensable concomitant, a fixed and permanent habitation, the usefulness and the power of the female is immensely enlarged. The cares of the household become the proper sphere of the woman. Domestic economy engraves its laws upon the tables of experience. The dwellinghouse forms the compass of existence to the family. To the comfort and peace of life in this condition there can be only one wife to the husband; only one mother to the children. That law of nature so invariable in its effects, so unattainable to human research in its causes, by which the sexes are produced in numbers so nearly equal, is the first indication of the will of heaven, that their association through life should be in pairs. Nor need any other proof be adduced of the imperfection of the pastoral condition of society, than its tendency to counteract and violate this dispensation of Providence this law of nature in the organization of man. In this unity of habitation, and this unity of conjugal association, may also be found fruitful sources of that unity of religious worship, which, having been forsaken in the wanderings of the pastoral state, returns in all its majestic simplicity to animate the devotion of the husband man. The husbandman has less time and disposition for idleness than the hunter-less for meditation and repose than the shepherd; but excepting in the regions of the torrid zone, the changes of the seasons bring to the life of the husbandman a succession of alternate labors upon the field and within the dwelling. Unceasing labor is not suitable to the nature or condition of man. Hours of relaxation and repose are necessary to relieve the labors of every day. Intervals of entire days are not less congenial to his wants, and this was doubtless the primitive reason for the institution of the Sabbath as a day of rest. The time of relaxation from bodily labor, is to the husbandman a time for the useful occupation of the mind. The moments which release him from his connection with earth, are those which remind him of his relations with Heaven; reposing from the toils of time, he has leisure to brighten and strengthen the links of his connection with eternity. It is doubtful whether the unassisted mind of man is capable of conceiving the idea of unity, as essential to that of the Supreme Creator. We know that it was expressly revealed to the first parent of our species, nor has it been found to exist in any portion of the earth where the traces of that revelation have been lost. But the unity of the Divine Being, his omnipotence, his omnipresence, the attributes of his moral government of the universe, and the chain between the deeds of the present and the retribution of the future state of being-all the elements of religion pure and undefiled in the heart of man, are more congenial to the condition of the husbandman than to those either of the shepherd or the hunter. It is not by this intended to affirm, that unity of object, either for divine worship or for the conjugal union, necessarily results from the agricultural condition of society-the history of mankind would triumphantly refute such a theory; but only that this condition is more favorable to that result, and more naturally leads to it than those which preceded. Of all the animal creation upon earth, man is the only being always stimulated by the desire of bettering his condition. This impulse operates upon him not less as a member of society than as an individual. In each of the stages of society, man is capable of enjoying all the felicities, incident to its preceding state. Associated as shepherds, a nation may still have among them numbers of individuals who still resort to the forest as hunters. In a people of husbandmen, there may still be found multitudes of shepherds. But at this third state of society, the hunting condition is reserved only as a pastime to the wealthy, and that of the shepherd sinks into the drudgery of servitude. The fourth stage of society, may perhaps better be considered as a necessary appendage to the third, than as by itself a separate and distinct condition. The congregation of men in cities, which forms the basis of civilized life, naturally follows from their assemblage as husbandmen. By the tillage of the ground, the wants and the powers of men multiply in progression scarcely less rapid than his numbers. By the tillage of the ground every individual produces the means of subsistence in quantities more than sufficient for his wants. The family united under one roof constitutes a community. The distribution of labor dictated by the vicissitudes of the seasons and by the adaptation of the two sexes to different kinds of toils insensibly leads to its division. The construction of the dwelling place and the fabrication of raiment become exclusive occupations to some individuals of the family, while the others amply suffice to cultivate the soil, for the supply of the whole family. The mechanical arts originate. Iron, the most abundant and the most useful of metals, is detected in the bowels of the earth, and becomes the most powerful of instruments in the hand of man. Other metals are disclosed in succession, and are found adaptable to various uses. The principle of dividing labor spreads from individuals to families. The wants of one, are the superfluities of another. They are mutually exchanged in barter. From barter the transition is natural and easy to traffic. The trade of merchandize becomes itself a distinct profession. From the exchanges between neighbor and neighbor, traffic strikes its roots, and spreads out its branches from region to region. The means of transportation are supplied by the facilities of water communications. On the margin of a river, the village thickens to a town: on the borders of the ocean the hamlet swells into a city. This review of the condition of man in the several stages of his progress to civilization, has been taken with reference only to the principle of society. No regard therefore has been had to the operation or effect of government upon it. Let me now be indulged in some inquiries with regard to the influence of Society upon these several conditions of human existence. It was observed at the threshold of this discourse, that man was by nature a social being. His happiness upon earth depends in an eminent degree upon communion with others of his kind. The foundation of all human society is in the union of the sexes. This, however, is one of the peculiar characteristics of man. It is in the permanency of the conjugal union and of parental affection, that the foundations of society are laid. In the hunting condition, the conjugal bonds are not necessarily either permanent or exclusive. Chastity is not considered as a virtue obligatory upon either sex. The affections of husband and wife are neither ardent, nor jealous, nor durable. The condition of the woman is degraded and despised. The dependence of the child upon the parent is equally feeble. All are frequently pinched by want, to a degree which swallows up all social feeling in the selfish cravings of physical nature. When the parent of the savage falls into the infirmities of old age, instead of ministering to his wants, or relieving his helplessness, he puts him to death. Stunted thus at its birth, the natural and domestic society of the savage can never shoot forth other than puny and sickly branches to form the society of neighborhood, or the general communion of the tribe. The relations of the hunter with his neighbor are few, and have little fascination; those with his tribe can be neither numerous nor complicated. The principle of society, therefore, must always remain weak and inefficient in the hunting condition, and that condition itself must, from that cause alone, for ever remain the least of all adapted to the promotion of human happiness. The principle of society is much more powerful and influential in the pastoral state. The flocks and herds of tame animals furnishing steady means of subsistence for increasing multitudes, the association of shepherds is far more numerous than that of hunters ever can be. Woman is no longer doomed to the degradation of servile labor, and to the neglect of indifference; but she becomes a precious property to be purchased. Chastity is imposed upon her as a duty, rather than inculcated as a virtue-as a duty exclusively applicable to the sex, and in no It is in the wise binding upon man. pastoral state that originates hat odious discrimination between the sexes, which supposes one of them to have been created merely for the pleasure of the other. Restriction, seclusion, ignorance, incompetency to any exertion of useful industry, consequently mark the destiny of the female, whose adherence to the duties enjoined upon her is secured, not by the gentle ties of moral principle, but by bolts and bars-by the Mohamedan code-in fine, by all the detestable engines that despotism can devise; which prescribes a law of unnatural reserve to the woman, while it gluts the sensuality of the man, and peoples the harem with wives of a day, and widows of a year, to the pallid and satiated wantonness of a single man. The principle of society is here poisoned at the fountain. Clashing interests, rival passions, envy, jealousy and hatred, are planted in the bosom of every family. The affections of the husband for his wives, dispersed among a variety of women, lose all the charm of sentiment. Marriage is but a pander to the senses of the man, and the minister of servitude to the woman. The children of the same father are born and bred the natural enemies of each other; and as parricide is among the virtues of the hunter, incest and fraternal murder are the natural growth of that polygamy which originates in the pastoral stage of human existence. It is then in the tillage of the ground, in the permanent appropriation of the soil, in the fixed and immovable habitation, and the exclusiveness of the marriage bond, confining one to one for life, that the genuine foundation of human society is laid. This alone can deserve the name of marriage, and from this root spring all the comforts and all the virtuous enjoyments of which human life is susceptible. Its first and immediate overruling influence is upon the condition of the female sex. Formed by the Author of nature in a mould more delicate and refined, made for sufferance rather than for action, in every form of human society woman must live in a state of dependence upon man. In the hunting and pastoral states, this dependence is absolute and unqualified. Woman is the only domestic animal of the savage: she is but the first of domestic animals to the shepherd. As the wife, the only wife, of the husbandman, she recovers her dignity by the exercise of her appropriate powers. The dependence is no longer exclusive, but becomes reciprocal; no longer the slave or the plaything of her husband, she becomes the companion and partner of his life. Mistress of an undivided household, possessor of the undivided heart of its owner, her own bosom is exempted from the racking torture of unceasing rivalry and jealousy. The affections of both parties, concentrated upon one object, are purified and refined. The love of each forms the happiness of the other; mutual confidence springs from a mutual reciprocation of kind offices. The children of the family are all children of the same parents. She is the common mother of them all. She has over them all the authority, she has for them all the affection, of a parent; and they are all bound to her in filial reverence and submission. In this condition alone can woman enjoy the blessing of liberty; in this condition alone can she share with her husband the exercise of the prerogative of reason. "That love intense which sensual joy survives, Founded on duty and the nuptial vow, Which with its partner in affection strives, Beams in the eye and gladdens on the brow: By this institution, the foundations of society are laid in domestic harmony and peace; the brothers and sisters of a family, are neither enemies, strangers, nor rivals to each other. The lines of separation are distinctly drawn, between the conjugal and kindred affections. The principle of society radiates from the centre to the circumference. Families are separated from the rest of mankind by the distinctive ties of blood; they are connected with other families by the conjunctive links of marriage. The laws of inheritance to which the tillage of the earth gives rise, the intercourse of vicinage, which becomes more frequent and more intimate, as population crowds within a smaller space, the links of mutual interest, and of reciprocal want and supply between the country and the town, form the ligaments of association which constiute a nation. Civilization is, from the derivation of the term, that condition of the human so ciety, which naturally follows the congregation of men in cities. In the ancient languages, the words used to express the idea which we convey by the term nation, were two. Gens and civitas were the Latin words; the first of which had reference to the origin of the nation in one family, and the second to their common habitation of a city. From the same derivation every individual member of the community was called civis, a citizen, a term which, in the English language, as used in Europe, has been restricted to its primitive and narrow sense of the mere inhabitant of a city, but to which we, in these United States, have restored its Roman dignity, by using it as the designation of a free inhabitant of the Union, possessed of political rights. Civilization, however, is not the mere assemblage of men in cities. It is, as I have endeavored to show, a complicated state of human society, in which one portion of the community are tillers of the ground, and another dwell in cities. The town and the country are indispensable to each other. The mere tillage of the ground produces subsistence, and even superfluity of supply, to the first wants of animal nature. But different regions produce different articles of supply to human wants. One portion of the earth yields corn, another wine, a third oil. Flax is the production of one soil, and cotton of another. The forest not only continues to yield the tribute of its game, but even as it falls before the hand of the husbandman, administers to his wants, by its timber and its fuel. Man cannot live on bread alone. The flocks and herds which constituted the only possessions of the shepherd, are not less necessary to the condition of the husbandman. While the fleece and hide still supply him with raiment, and the cow with milk, the ox not only subserves all the purposes for which he was used by the pastoral man, but becomes his most effective instrument for the tillage of the earth. The tillage of the ground therefore produces a superfluity of one article, and a want of many others. But the excess of one farm is the want of another, and the supply for both must be found in exchange. This can be effected only by transportation, the labor and difficulty of which is proportioned to the distances of the necessary carriage. This distance is divided, by a common place of deposit, to which both parties to the exchange may resort to accomplish the exchange. The borders of a river or of the sea present the most convenient sites for a market, and the market soon becomes a city. I pursue these inquiries no farther than as they are connected with the principle of society. As the city grows in numbers, and the market teems with variety of supply, the twin arts of navigation and of shipbuilding spring to birth. The hunter, in the first stage of society, imagines devices for floating in safety on the bosom of the waters; but his invention extends no farther than as it is prompted by his immediate wants. His canoe, fashioned from the bark of a tree, suffices him for crossing the river, and for enabling him to fish in waters beyond his depth. Here his ingenuity finds its term. But the inhabitant of the city, stimulated by all the wants, and aided by all the energies of civilization, proceeds from art to science, and heaps invention upon discovery, till the plants of the forest, descending upon the ocean, bear the productions of every habitable spot upon the globe to every other. Civilization is thus the last stage of human society, and it consists of a community dwelling in fixed and permanent habitations, and divided into the two great classes, husbandmen and merchants, the first of whom produce, and the last exchange, every article which the labor of man can raise from the bosom or the bowels of the earth, for the support, comfort, or enjoyment of human existence. To these two primary divisions, in the progress of society, numberless others are subsidiary. The mechanic arts, and the division of labor multiply to an indefinite degree the occupations of men. It is the theoretic principle of this stage of society, that all the powers of the body and all the faculties of the mind of every individual, from the cradle to the grave, should be exercised to the utmost extent of which they are capable, in improving the condition of his kind. The duties of man consist in alternate action and meditation, mutually aiding and relieving each other; and both, directed with undeviating aim, to the progressive improvement of himself and his fellow creatures. Heaven has given him in charge, to promote the happiness and well-being of himself, his wife, his children, his kindred, his neighbors, his fellow citizens, his country, and his kind; and the great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community, that this gradation of duties, may be |