The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

SERMONS.1^7"be content to do : They breathe the air of libertyand would foonerchoofe to go to the fartheft partsof the world than ftarve themfelves, or juft keep intheir lives by a fcrimp and poor fubfiftence, whilftall the profit of their labour accrued to greedy landlords,who feed richly, and live at eafe ; they wouldnot fubmit to make brick without ftraw. In fa£t,by the beft computations that have yet been made,the rent of the corn-fields, over all England, is notmore than two-ninthis of their produce. In Norfolk,the rich fields, under a modern let, are rented atI OS. or a little more ; and even fo high a rent is notcommon, for moft of the land is much lower ; and,furely, if los. is the rent of good land in England,40s. 30s. or even 20s. an acre, is too high a rent for-ordinary land here.-2. That the rent of land is too high, appears, becaufea great number of families have been forced toleave the bufinefs of farming. They had been educatedin that bufinefs, and accuftom.ed to it fromtheir youth ; they had a flrong defire to continue init, and had, or knew no other way to earn theirbread j and yet, by the high rent exacted from them,they have been obliged to leave it. Some of them,perhaps, are able to maintain themfelves for a littletime \ but moft of them are firft ftripped of any littlething they had, and thenunmercifully driven awayto ihift for themfelves. One cannot walk in theftreets of a city without feeing them, and bemoan-,ing their lamentable condition. Many of them areunable to work, or are not employed ; and, havingbeen all their lives unaccuftomed to it, they are a-ihamed, and had rather ftarve than beg. They are,in fa£t, more miferable than thofe who, from theirchildhood, have begged from door to door :" Theirvifage is blacker than a coal 5 they are not known inthe ftreets ; their fkin cleaveth to their bones ; it withereth,it is become like a ftick ; they are flain with