Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 301- 



other Animals, whofe oeconomy is more artificial than that of Man, 

 his being very fimple, and much refembling that of cattle and horfes. 

 After he had acquired Intellect, Reafon would, in fome meafure, 

 fupply the place of Inftindl : And there remains nothing now of 

 Inftindl among us, except what appears in our infants, before they 

 have got the ufe of Reafon, fuch as their applying to the brcaft of 

 the mother for nourifhment. By the ufe of Intellect, and the Arts 

 and Sciences invented by us, we have formed a fyftem of life al- 

 together different from the natural ; for the perfection of which we 

 believe Intelligence alone is fufiicient. But this was not the opinion 

 of the wifer Antients, who thought that human reafon alone could 

 not properly conduct human life, without the counfcl and affiftance 

 of Superior Powers : And this has been fo much the general fenfe 

 of mankind, that, in all ages, and in all nations, fome methods have 

 been pradifed to obtain that favour and affiftance. There has, there- 

 fore, always been religion in the world, grounded upon this perfua- 

 fion, that Man, with all his fuperior faculties, has not wifdom fuffi- 

 cient to make himfelf happy : But, as men, the more they dege- 

 nerate, grow the vainer, they come at laft to believe, that, without 

 Divine affiftance, by their own wifdom merely, they may be hap- 

 py ; and in fuch a degenerate ftate, even a philofopher * may arife, 



who 



* Mr David Hume has been fo kind as to give his countrymen this information, 

 making it a part of the valuable legacy he has left the public in his pofthuinous 

 works. See his Dialogues upon Natural Religion, p. 243. where he fays, in fo ma- 

 ny words, That the profperous and happy times of all nations are thofe in which the 

 religious fpirit is never regarded or heard of. And for the truth of this he appeals 

 to hiftory, ami the evidence of fadls. It is true, that he puts this affertion into the 

 mouth of Philo, the Sceptic in the Dialogue. But that it was really his own opi- 

 nion, I think is very plain from the whole tenor of his writings ; and, if it were o- 

 therwife, I ftiould believe him to be intent tonally the greateft enemy of his country. 

 If this opinion be right, the whole policy of the modern nations of Europe muft be 

 wrong; and, particularly, our legiflaturc muft be very much miftaken, who have 



thought 



