Influence, I muſt now proceed to ſhew its Origin and trace its Progreſs, in the ſucceſſive Developments of the human Mind. After having ſhewed, that Perfectibility, the ſocial Virtues, and the other Faculties, which natural Man had received in Potentia, could never be developed of themſelves, that for that Purpoſe there was a Neceſſity for the fortuitous Concurrence of ſeveral foreign Cauſes, which might never happen, and without which he muſt have eternally remained in his primitive Condition; I muſt proceed to conſider and bring together the different Accidents which may have perfected the human Underſtanding by debaſing the Species, render a Being wicked by rendering him ſociable, and from ſo remote a Term bring Man at laſt and the World to the Point in which we now ſee them.
I muſt own that, as the Events I am about to deſcribe might have happened
