tent: he was taught the knowledge of every thing in nature, but himself. His Ambition went afterwards as far as his Learning; and having endeavour'd to know all, he grew desirous to conquer all. But he had little or no method in his Conquests, and abundance of irregularity in his Life; for want of knowing what he ow'd to the publick, to private men, and to himself.
No men whatsoever can take too effectual a care to be just, for they have naturally too strong a bias the contrary way. Justice is the foundation and the fence of all Society; without it we should still be Savages and Vagabonds; and our impetuosity would soon reduce us to our primitive confusion, out of which we are happily extricated. Yet instead of chearfully acknowledging the benefit, we find some reluctance in submitting to that happy subjection it keeps us in, and still long after that fatal Liberty which would prove the unhappiness of our Lives.
When the Scripture tells us that the Just are few, it means not, in my opinion, that no men are inclin'd to good Works: but it seems to intimate, how little they are inclin'd to act as they should, out of a principle of Justice. And indeed, were men's good actions examin'd, they would most of them be found to have their source from the consideration of some other Virtues. Good Nature, Friendship, and Benevolence, are the ordinary springs from whence they flow: Charity relieves our neighbours wants, Liberality bestows, and Generosity obliges: Justice, which ought to partake in all, is laid aside as burdensome; and necessity alone gives it a share in our actions. Nature endeavours to find a kind of Self-complacency in those first Virtues, where we act upon pleasing motives: but in this she finds a secret violence, where another's right extorts from us what we owe, and
