 immediately form an Idea of the original Beauty and Stateliness of the Structure. Even so, in our present feeble and fractured State, a discerning Eye may discover many Traces and Fragments of MAN'S MAGNIFICENT RUIN, Thoughts that wing Infinity; Apprehensions that reach through Eternity; a Fancy that creates; an Imagination that contains a Universe; Wishes that a World hath not wherewithal to gratify; and Desires that know neither Ending nor Bound.
These, however, are but the faint Glimmerings of his once glorious Illumination; All his primitive Faculties are now lapsed and darkened; He is become enslaved to his natural Subjects; The World is wrested out of his Hands; he comes as an Alien into it, and may literally be called
a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth.
All other Animals are gifted with a clear Knowledge and instant Discernment of whatever concerns them. Man's utmost Wisdom, on the contrary, is the bare Result of
comparing
and
inferring,
a mere
Enquirer
called
Reason,
a
Substitute
in the want of
Knowledge,
a
Groper
in the want of
Light,
he must
doubt
before he
reasons,
and
examine
before he
decides.
Thus ignorant, feeble, deeply depraved, and the least sufficient, of all Creatures, in a state of Independence, Man is impelled to derive Succour, Strength, and even Wisdom from Society. When he turns a pitying Ear and helping Hand to the Distressed, he is entitled, in his Turn, to be heared and assisted. He is interested in Others, Others are interested in him. His Affections grow more diffused, his Powers more complicated; and, in any Society or System of such mutual Benevolence, Each would enjoy the Strength, Virtue, and Efficacy of the Whole.
You have Sir, said
Harry,
here drawn an exceeding sweet Picture of Society, and you know I'm but a Fool and a Novice in such Matters. But, if any other Man breathing, had given me such a Description, I should, from all my little Reading, have withstood him to the Face. Look through all the States and Associations that ever were upon Earth; throughout the Republics of
Greece, Italy, Asia
Minor, and Others, the most renowned for Urbanity and Virtue, and yet, what do you find them, save so many Bands of public Robbers and Murderers, confederated for the Destruction of the rest of Mankind? what Desolations, what Bloodshed, what Carnage from the Beginning! what a Delight in Horrors! what a Propensity in All to inflict Misery upon Others! the Malignity of the Fiends can, I think, pierce no deeper
