we cannot help being amazed at the vaſt Diſproportion obſervable between theſe Things, and deplore the Blindneſs of Man, which, to feed his fooliſh Pride and I don't know what vain Self-Admiration, makes him eagerly court and purſue all the Miſeries he is capable of feeling, and which beneficent Nature had taken Care to keep at a Diſtance from him.
Civilized Man is a miſchievous Being; a lamentable and conſtant Experience renders the Proof of it unneceſſary; Man, however, is naturally good; I think I have demonſtrated it; what then could have depraved him to ſuch a Degree, unleſs the Changes that have happened in his Conſtitution, his Improvements, and the Lights he has acquired. Let us cry up Human Society as much as we pleaſe, it will not be the leſs true that it neceſſarily engages Men to hate each in proportion as their Intereſts claſh; to do each other apparent Services, and in fact heap upon each other every imaginable Miſchief. What are we to think of a Commerce, in which the Intereſt of every Individual dictates to him Maxims diametrically oppoſite to thoſe which the Intereſt of the Community recommends to the Body of Society; a
