Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/243

 and for every head, which I call sufficient peopling.4. To say that other nations may use the same expedient as well as wee, is an objection to all proposals for the good of mankind. I like your having shewn the paper to Mr. Pepys, for he is no fopp, tho' fortunate.' The first of these positions is quaintly elucidated in another letter. 'To honor God,' he says, 'is really (and not in specious words only) to acknowledge his power, Wisdome, etc. Wee cannot say that the whole earth and the fixed stars too were made for the use of man; but till we see the earth peopled (as perhaps three-fourths is not) we may doubt it; and not knowing to what other use it was designed, may stumble into the error of its having been made by chance, and not by the designe of an Infinite Wisdome—I should rather say of the greatest Wisdome—wherefore the sooner the stumbling block is removed the better. I add that hee who shall give the reason and use of what lyes in the 8,000 miles space between the two poles of the earth, and of the use of the fixed stars to man, shall honor God more than by singing the "Te Deum" every day.2nd, I say that, as in great cittyes and cohabitations of men, arts and sciences are better cultivated than in deserts, so I say that if there were as many men on earth as it could bear, the works and wonders of God's Providence would be the sooner discovered, and God the sooner honoured really and heartily.3rd, I say that Gods first and greatest command to man and beast was to increase and multiply, and to replenish the earth. Why therefore should this duty be put off? ... I should add to my last head: it being probable that the world will not be destroyed, nor the day of Judgement come, till the whole earth be peopled. If we pray that God would hasten the number of his elect, and if the Blisse of the Blessed cannot be perfect till the soul and Body are united, then we must wish the speedy peopling of the world.'

While insisting on the advantages of an increased population, Petty had, however, not failed to grasp the fact that, in order that an increase of population may not be injurious, there must be a corresponding increase in the efficiency of labour and in wealth. The internal prosperity of the country