What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue we spontaneously reply.įor what purpose were the passions im|planted? That man by struggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to the brutes whispers Experience.Ĭonsequently the perfection of our nature and capability of happiness, must be estimated by the degree of reason, virtue, and know|ledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws which bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively. In what does man's pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear as that a half is less than the whole in Reason. To clear my way, I must be al|lowed to ask some plain questions, and the answers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reasoning is built though, when entangled with various mo|tives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or conduct of men. IN the present state of society it appears ne|cessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED.
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