Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/242

 there would be room in Ireland alone to bury all the dead bodies up to the day of judgment, which professes to be written 'to assist a worthy divine, writing against some scepticks, who would have baffled our belief in the resurrection, by saying that the whole globe of the earth could not furnish matter enough for all the bodies that must rise at the last day.'

Sir Robert Southwell also had views of his own about the Deluge, and he sent them to his friend for consideration; but Sir William professed to be unwilling to meddle with such dangerous matters, notwithstanding his wish to oblige, for even his friendship with Southwell could be limited, though it required Noah's flood to do it. 'I thank you for your theory of the Deluge,' he cautiously replied, 'but do candidly say that I do know not what to say on that point, but take it to be a Scripture mystery, which to explain is to destroy;' so he confined his attention to tracing the economic effects of that event on remote ages. Southwell appears to have revenged himself by declining to enter on the topics suggested. 'I am angry,' Sir William writes to him, 'you did not speak a word neither of Reason nor of Ridicule upon the paper for the Multiplication of Mankind; as if that desideratum were frivolous; which I take to be equal to all the projects which have been these many years for the advantage of the world. Pray send it back, with an affidavit on the back of it, that you have not shewn it to any fortunate fop nor taken any Copy of it.'

Sir Robert Southwell was at length persuaded to present his objections to Sir William's scheme. In Sir William's answer is to be found all that remains of his opinions on the subject. 'I reply in these following positions, viz.: 1. It is for the glory of God and the advancement of mankind that the world should be fully and speedily peopled, and that objections against the same may be deferred till a thousand years hence.2. That the more people there are in any country the greater is the value of each of them.3. There is no need of careing how to provide for children, as long as there be three acres of