Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/65

Riches, human Eſtabliſhments appear at the firſt Glance like ſo many Caſtles built upon Quick-ſands; it is only by taking a nearer Survey of them, and by removing the Duſt and the Sand that ſurround and diſguiſe the Edifice, we can perceive the unſhakeable Baſis upon which it ſtands, and learn to reſpect its Foundations. Now, without applying ourſelves ſeriouſly to the Study of Man, his natural Faculties and their ſucceſſive Developments, it is impoſſible we ſhould ever be able to make theſe Diſtinctions, and to ſeparate, in the actual Conſtitution of Things, the Operations of the Divine Will from the pretended Improvements of Human Art. The political and moral Reflections, to which the important Queſtion I examine gives room, are therefore uſeful in all Shapes; and the hypothetical Hiſtory of Governments is, in regard to Man, an inſtructive Leſſon in every reſpect. By conſidering what we ſhould