Chap. XIV. ANTIENT JMET API! VSI CS. 225 



fires very earneftly to be free ; — If, I fay, joined to the other good 

 things I have enumerated, which \yq have enjoyed in this life, we 

 can leave it in the way I have mentioned, then we may be faid 

 to have enjoyed the Suimnum Borium^ and to have been as happy as 

 man can be in this ftate of trial and pilgrimage. 



And here I iinifh my obfer^^ations upon the natural ftate of man, 

 compared with his civilifed life. And, I think, I have fhown very 

 clearly, that with refped: to the body, its health, ftrength, fize, and 

 longevity, the natural ftate is very much preferable to the civilifed : 

 But, as to the mind, I think, I have proved, that the civilifed life is 

 far preferable, as it is the parent of all thofe arts and fciences, by 

 which our minds are cultivated and brought nearer to that ftate from 

 which we are fallen. And there is one great advantage of the civi- 

 lifed life, which I have not yet mentioned, that it gives us the op- 

 portunity of pradifmg the political virtues of Prudence, Juftice, 

 Temperance, and Fortitude, much more than the natural life can do; 

 fo that it is truly a life of trial and probation, by which we may not 

 only cultivate our minds by arts and fciences, but improve our 

 morals and our fenfe of what is beautiful and praife-worthy, not In 

 fpeculation only but in adion, and fo prepare ourfelves for the life to 

 come. I fay alio, that it is the happieft life, if it be governed by re- 

 ligion and philofophy. It is true, that if it be not fo governed, it 

 is the fource of much mifery: Yet even in fuch a ftate fome few 

 may make themfelves happy by the means of religion, learning, 

 and philofophy, and, at the fame time, prepare themfelves for being 

 ftill happier in their future ftate. 



I will add only one thing more upon the fubjecl of the compari- 

 fon of man in his natural ftate with man in the civilifed life; and It 

 is this: Man in his natural ftate is a mere animal, differing only 

 from other animals oq this earth, In this refpe6t, that he has the rj- 



VoL. V. F f pacity 



