Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/102

ence between Man and Beaſt: ſome Philoſophers have even advanced, that there is a greater Difference between ſome Men and ſome others, than between ſome Men and ſome Beaſts; it is not therefore ſo much the Underſtanding that conſtitutes, among Animals, the ſpecifical Diſtinction of Man, as his Quality of a free Agent. Nature ſpeaks to all Animals, and Beaſts obey her Voice. Man feels the ſame Impreſſion, but he at the ſame time perceives that he is free to reſiſt or to acquieſce; and it is in the Conſciouſneſs of this Liberty, that the Spirituality of his Soul chiefly appears: for Natural Philoſophy explains, in ſome meaſure, the Mechaniſm of the Senſes and the Formation of Ideas; but in the Power of willing, or rather of chuſing, and in the Conſciouſneſs of this Power, nothing can be diſcovered but Acts, that are purely ſpiritual, and cannot be accounted for by the Laws of Mechanics.