call into exiſtence a creature above the brutes[1], who could think and improve himſelf, why ſhould that ineſtimable gift, for a gift it was, if man was ſo created as to have a capacity to riſe above the ſtate in which ſenſation produced brutal eaſe, be called, in direct terms, a curſe? A curſe it might be reckoned, if all our exiſtence was bounded by our continuance in this world; for why ſhould the gracious fountain of life give us paſſions, and the power of reflecting, only to imbitter our days and inſpire us with miſtaken notions of dignity? Why ſhould he lead us from love of ourſelves to the ſublime emotions which the diſcovery of his wiſdom and goodneſs excites, if theſe feelings were not ſet in motion to improve our nature, of which they make a part[2], and render us capable of enjoying a more godlike portion of happineſs? Firmly perſuaded that no evil exiſts in the world that God did not deſign to take place, I build my belief on the perfection of God.
Rouſſeau exerts himſelf to prove that all was right originally: a crowd of authors that all is now right: and I, that all will be right.
- ↑ Contrary to the opinion of anatomiſts, who argue by analogy from the formation of the teeth, ſtomach, and inteſtines, Rouſſeau will not allow a man to be a carnivorous animal. And, carried away from nature by a love of ſyſtem, he diſputes whether man be a gregarious animal, though the long and helpleſs ſtate of infancy ſeems to point him out as particularly impelled to pair.
- ↑ What would you ſay to a mechanic whom you had deſired to make a watch to point out the hour of the day, if, to ſhew his ingenuity, he added wheels to make it a repeater, &c. that perplexed the ſimple mechaniſm; ſhould he urge, to excuſe himſelf—had you not touched a certain ſpring, you would have known nothing of the matter, and that he ſhould have amuſed himſelf by making an experiment without doing you any harm: would you not retort fairly upon him, by inſiſting that if he had not added thoſe needleſs wheels and ſprings, the accident could not have happened?
