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be confeffed, is of a piece with the reft of that hopeful philofophy, which having patched man up out of the four elements, attributes his being to chance, and derives all his actions from an unin telligible declination of atoms. And for thefe glo rious discoveries the poet is beyond measure tranfported in the praises of his hero, as if he must needs be fomething more than man, only for an endeavour to prove, that man is in nothing fuperior to beafts. In this school was Mr. Hobbes inftructed to speak after the fame manner, if he did not rather draw his knowledge from an obfervation of his own temper; for he fomewhere unluc kily lays down this as a rule, That from the fimi⚫litudes of thoughts and paffions of one man to the thoughts and paffions of another, whofoever ⚫ looks into himself, and confiders what he doth when he thinks, hopes, fears, &c. and upon ⚫ what grounds; he fhall thereby read and know ⚫ what are the thoughts and paffions of all other

men, upon the like occafions.' Now we will allow Mr. Hobbes to know beft how he was inclined: But, in earnest, I fhould be heartily out of conceit with myself, if I thought myself of this unamiable. temper, as he affirms, and fhould have as little kindness for my felf as for any body in the world. Hitherto I always imagined, that kind and benevolent propenfions were the original growth of the heart of man, and, however checked and overtop. ped by counter inclinations that have fince fprung up within us, have ftill fome force in the worst of tempers, and a confiderable influence on the best. And, methinks, it is a fair step towards the proof of this, that the most beneficent of all beings is He who hath an abfolute fulnefs of perfection in himfelf, who gave exiftence to the universe, and fo cannot be fuppofed to want that which he communicated, without diminishing from the plenitude of his own power and happiness. The philofophers

before

N° 588% before mentioned have indeed done all that in them lay to invalidate this argument; for placing the gods in a state of the most elevated bleffedness, they defcribe them as selfish as we poor miferable mortals can be, and shut them out from all concern for mankind, upon the fcore of their having no need of us. But if he that fitteth in the heavens wants not us, we stand in continual need of him; and furely, next to the furvey of the immenfe treafures of his own mind, the most exalted pleasure he receives is from beholding millions of creatures lately drawn out of the gulph of non-existence, rejoicing in the various degrees of being and happiness imparted to them. And as this is the true, the glorious character of the Deity, fo in forming a reafonable creature he would not, if poffible, fuffer his image to pafs out of his hands unadorned with a refemblance of himself in this moft lovely part of his nature. For what complacency could a mind; whofe love is as unbounded as his knowledge, have in a work fo unlike himfelf? a creature that fhould be capable of knowing and converfing with a vaft circle of objects, and love none but himself? What proportion would there be between the headand the heart of fuch a creature, its affections, and its understanding? Or could a fociety of fuch creatures, with no other bottom but felf-love on which to maintain a commerce, ever flourish? Reason, it is certain, would oblige every man to pursue the general happinefs, as the means to procure and establish his own; and yet, if befides this confideration, there were not a natural inftinct, prompting men to defire the welfare and fatisfaction of others, felf-love, in defiance of the admonitions of reafon, would quickly run all things into a ftate of war and confufion. As nearly interested as the foul is in the fate of the body, our provident Creator faw it neceffary, by the conftant returns of hunger and thirft, thofe important appetites,

to

to put it in mind of its charge; knowing that if we should eat and drink no oftner than cold abftracted fpeculation fhould put us upon thefe exercifes, and then leave it to reafon to prefcribe the quantity, we fhould foon refine ourselves out of this bodily life. And indeed, it is obvious to remark, that we follow nothing heartily, unless carried to it by inclinations which anticipate our reafon, and, like a bias, draw the mind ftrongly towards it. In order, therefore, to eftablish a perpetual intercourfe of benefits amongst mankind, their Maker would not fail to give them this generous prepoffeffion of benevolence, if, as I have faid, it were poffible; and from whence can we go about to argue its impoffibility? Is it inconfiftent with felf-love? Are their motions contrary? No more than the diurnal rotation of the earth is oppofed to its annual; or its motion round its own centre, which might be improved as an illuftration of felf-love, to that which whirls it about the common centre of the world, anfwering to univerfal benevolence, Is the force of felf-love abated, or its interest prejudiced by benevolence? So far from it, that benevolence, though a diftinct principle, is extremely ferviceable to felf-love, and then doth most service when it is leaft defigned.

But, to descend from reafon to matter of fact; the pity which arifes on fight of perfons in diftrefs, and the fatisfaction of mind, which is the confequence of having removed them into a happier ftate, are instead of a thousand arguments to prove fuch a thing as a difinterested benevolence. Did pity proceed from a reflection we make upon our liableness to the fame ill accidents we fee befal others, it were nothing to the prefent purpofe; but this is affigning an artificial caufe of a natural paffion, and can by no means be admitted as a tolerable account of it, because children, and perfons moft thoughtlefs about their own condition, and incapable

incapable of entering into the profpect of futurity, feel the moft violent touches of compaffion. And then as to that charming delight which immediately follows the giving joy to another, or relievinghis forrow, and is, when the objects are numerous, and the kindness of importance, really inexpreffible, what can this be owing to but a consciousness of a man's having done fomething praife-worthy, and expreffive of a great foul? Whereas, if in all this he only facrificed to vanity and felf-love, as there would be nothing brave in actions that make the most shining appearance, fo nature would not have rewarded them with this divine pleasure; nor could the commendations, which a perfon receives: for benefits done upon felfifh views, be at all more fatisfactory, than when he is applauded for what he doth without defign; becaufe, in both cafes, the ends of felf-love are equally anfwered. The confcience of approving one's felf a benefactor_to-. mankind, is the nobleft recompenfe for being fo; doubtless it is, and the most interested cannot pro-pose any thing fo much to their own advantage; notwithstanding which, the inclination is neverthelefs unfelfifh. The pleasure which attends the gratification of our hunger and thirft, is not the cause of these appetites; they are previous to any fuch profpect; and fo likewife is the defire of doing good; with this difference, that being feated in the intellectual part, this last, though antecedent to reafon, may yet be improved and regulated by it, and, I will add, is no otherwise a virtue than as it is fo.

Thus have I contended for the dignity of that nature I have the honour to partake of, and, after all the evidence produced, think I have a right to conclude, against the motto of this paper, that there is fuch a thing as generofity in the world. Though, if I were under a mistake in this, I fhould fay as Cicero in relation to the immortality.

of:

of the foul, I willingly err, and fhould believe it very much for the intereft of mankind to lie under the fame delufion. For the contrary notion naturally tends to difpirit the mind, and finks it into a meannefs fatal to the god-like zeal of doing good: As, on the other hand, it teaches people to. be ungrateful, by poffeffing them with a perfuafion concerning their benefactors, that they have no regard to them in the benefits they beftow. Now he that banifhes gratitude from among men, by fo doing ftops up the ftream of beneficence. For though in conferring kindneffes, a truly generous man doth not aim at a return, yet he looks to the qualities of the perfon obliged, and as nothing renders a perfon more unworthy of a benefit, than his being without all refentment of it, he will not be extremely forward to oblige fuch

a man.

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No 589. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.

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Perfequitur fcelus ille fuum labefactaque tandem
Itibus innumeris adductaque funibus arbor
OVID. Met. 1. viii. ver. 774.

Corruit

The impious ax he plies; loud ftrokes refound; Till dragg'd with ropes, and fell'd with many a wound,

The loosen'd tree comes rufhing to the ground.

SIR,

AM fo great an admirer of trees, that the spot of ground I have chofen to build a fmall feat upon, in the country, is almost in the midst of a large wood. I was obliged, much againft my will, to cut down feveral' trees, that I might have any fuch thing as a walk in my gardens; bur * then I have taken care to leave the space between

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