if we go back to every preceding generation, we shall find the same complaints respecting the deterioration of the times : but we shall never arrive at that time, when the people confessed themselves to be in that exalted state in which our imaginations place them. Certainly, if ever there was a time and a place that might be specified as that happy sera when there was no occa- sion for complaint, it was the state of the Jews in the days of Solomon : for, in respect of peace and prosperity, there never was a nation to be compared with the Jews at that time. Yet, behold, it was at that time, and under those circumstances, that the reproof was given : " Say not thou, What is the cause that the former times were better than these?" Hence, then, we see what is the inquiry which Solomon discourages : it is that which has no just foundation, and which is the oflTspring of spleen and discontent.]
These distinctions being duly adverted to, we are prepared to see, II. Why the making of it is unwise —
I will assign two reasons : it is unwise, because,
1. It is erroneous in its origin —
[It is not true that former times, on a large and extended scale, were better than these. Improvements may have been made in some respects, and matters may have been deterio- rated in others ; or particular persons and places may be in less favourable circumstances now than formerly : but times have been much alike in all ages. There is in every situation a mixture of good and evil. To every man this is a chequered scene. There are no people loaded with unqualified good ; nor are there any oppressed with unmitigated evil. But men know of former times only by report, and by very partial report too: whereas, existing circumstances they know by actual experience ; and they are more observant of one evil, than of a hundred blessings.
In relation to our own times and country, the very reverse of what is here assumed is true. Never did the nation stand higher amidst the nations than at this day ^. Never was civil liberty held more sacred, or better regulated for the good of the comnmnity. Never did religion flourish in a greater extent. Never was there such a combination of all ranks and orders of men to diffiise religion and happiness over the face of the earth. Never were the wants and necessities of human nature provided for in such a variety of forms. There is not a trouble to which humanity is exposed, but societies are formed to pre- vent or to alleviate its pressure. Never were the blessings of education so widely diffused. In a word, such is the increase
b In 1822.