What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue; we ſpontaneouſly reply.
For what purpoſe were the paſſions implanted? That man by ſtruggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to the brutes; whiſpers Experience.
Conſequently the perfection of our nature and capability of happineſs, muſt be eſtimated by the degree of reaſon, virtue, and knowledge, that diſtinguiſh the individual, and direct the laws which bind ſociety: and that from the exerciſe of reaſon, knowledge and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively.
The rights and duties of man thus ſimplified, it ſeems almoſt impertinent to attempt to illuſtrate truths that appear ſo incontrovertible; yet ſuch deeply rooted prejudices have clouded reaſon, and ſuch ſpurious qualities have aſſumed the name of virtues, that it is neceſſary to purſue the courſe of reaſon as it has been perplexed and involved in error, by various adventitious circumſtances, comparing the ſimple axiom with caſual deviations.
Men, in general, ſeem to employ their reaſon to juſtify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they cannot trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind muſt be ſtrong that reſolutely forms its own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which makes many men ſhrink from the taſk, or only do it by halves. Yet the imperfect concluſions thus drawn, are frequently very plauſible, becauſe they are built on partial experience, on juſt, though narrow, views.
