Chap.XV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 191 



CHAP. XV. 



From the Hijlory of Ant'ient and Modern Times ^ Man appears to be 

 going on in the recovery ft om his Fallen State. — Inquiry into the 

 Origin of Evil. — Evil either Natural or Moral. — Natural Evil 

 already confidertd. — Moral Evil belongs to the IntelleBual Na- 

 ture-^the confeqtience of Our Fall. — Our recovery only to be made 

 in Civil Society: — There ive arc governed by Opinion, — and there- 

 fore are liable to error, and, its conjequence, mifery. — Two Sources of 

 Moral Evil: — ift, Indulgence in pleafures of Sen/e; — theje increaf 

 edby the Ctvilifed Life; — Difeafes the confequence of that indulgence: 

 — 2d, The Errors of the Intellel with refpeB to the Beautiful in 

 Sentiments and AElions : — Thecon/equences ofthefe — Ambition, JVarSy 

 Conquefls, and the Defolation of the Earth by great Empires, — the 

 love oj Money, — Vanity in Drefs, Equipage, tifc. 



THUS, I think, I have Hiovvn, that man, by his Fall, loft the ufe 

 of intellect, retaining only the capacity of it : But this capaci- 

 ty he cannot exert, except by the intercourfe with his fellow crea- 

 tures, which civil fociety gives him ; and by civil fociety I have 

 fhown that he not only acquires the ufe of intelled, but brings it to 

 a very confiderable degree of perfedion. This we know with the 

 greatell certainty, from what is preferved to us of the learning of 

 antient nations, particularly of the Egyptians and Greeks: And even 

 in modern times 1 have fhown that we have acquired a great deal 

 ot knowledge of this our earth, and of the feveral nations inhabiting 



it; 



