suitable to their respective beings. So neither can that reciprocal attraction in the minds of men be accounted for by any other cause. It is not the result of education, law, or fashion; but is a principle originally ingrafted in the very first formation of the soul by the Author of our nature.

And as the attractive power in bodies is the most universal principle which produceth innumerable effects, and is a key to explain the various phenomena of nature; so the corresponding social appetite in human souls is the great spring and source of moral actions. This it is that inclines each individual to an intercourse with his species, and models every one to that behaviour which best suits with the common well-being. Hence that sympathy in our nature whereby we feel the pains and joys of our fellow-creatures. Hence that prevalent love in parents towards their children, which is neither founded on the merit of the object, nor yet on self-interest. It is this that makes us inquisitive concerning the affairs of distant nations which can have no influence on our own. It is this that extends our care to future generations, and excites us to acts of beneficence towards those who are not yet in being, and consequently from whom we can expect no recompence. In a word, hence arises that diffusive sense of Humanity so unaccountable to the selfish man who is untouched with it, and is, indeed, a sort of monster or anomalous production.

These thoughts do naturally suggest the following particulars. First, That as social inclinations are absolutely necessary to the well-being of the world, it is the duty and interest of each individual to cherish and improve them to the benefit of mankind; the duty, because it is agreeable to the intention of the Author of our being, who aims at the common good of his creatures, and as an indication of his will, hath implanted the seeds of mutual benevolence in our souls; the interest, because the good of the whole is inseparable from that of the parts; in promoting therefore the common good, every one doth at the same time promote his own private interest. Another observation I shall draw from the premises is, That it makes a signal proof of the divinity of the christian religion, that the main duty which it inculcates above all others is charity. Different maxims and precepts have distinguished the different sects of philosophy and religion: our Lord's peculiar precept is, 'Love thy neighbour as thyself. By this

shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.'

I will not say that what is a most shining proof of our religion is not often a reproach to its professors; but this I think very plain, that, whether we regard the analogy of nature, as it appears in the mutual attraction or gravitations of the mundane system, in the general frame and constitution of the human soul, or lastly, in the ends and aptnesses which are discoverable in all parts of the visible and intellectual world, we shall not doubt but the precept which is the characteristic of our religion came from the Author of nature. Some of our modern Free-thinkers would indeed insinuate the christian morals to be defective, because (say they) there is no mention made in the gospel of the virtue of friendship 25. These sagacious men (if I may be allowed the use of that vulgar saying) 'cannot see the wood for trees.' That a religion whereof the main drift is to inspire its professors with the most noble and disinterested spirit of love, charity, and beneficence to all mankind, or, in other words, with a friendship to every individual man, should be taxed with the want of that very virtue, is surely a glaring evidence of the blindness and prejudice of its adversaries.

25 See Shaftesbury's Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour, Pt. II. sect. 3.

AN ESSAY

TOWARDS

PREVENTING THE RUIN OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Avaritia fidem, probitatem, cæterasque artes bonas subvertit: pro his superbiam, crudelitatem, Deos negligere, omnia venalia habere, edocuit.-SALLUST.

li qui largitionem magistratus adepti sunt, dederunt operam ut ita potestatem gererent, ut illam lacunam rei familiaris explerent.-CICERO.

Omnes aut de honoribus suis, aut de præmiis pecuniæ, aut de persequendis inimicis agebant.-CAESAR.

AN ESSAY, &c.1

WHETHER the prosperity that preceded, or the calamities that succeed the South Sea project have most contributed to our undoing is not so clear a point as it is that we are actually undone, and lost to all sense of our true interest. Nothing less than this could render it pardonable to have recourse to those old-fashioned trite maxims concerning Religion, Industry, Frugality, and Public Spirit, which are now forgotten, but, if revived and put in practice, may not only prevent our final ruin, but also render us a more happy and flourishing people than ever.

Religion hath in former days been cherished and reverenced by wise patriots and lawgivers, as knowing it to be impossible that a nation should thrive and flourish without virtue, or that virtue should subsist without conscience, or conscience without religion: insomuch that an atheist or infidel was looked on with abhorrence, and treated as an enemy to his country. But, in these wiser times, a cold indifference for the national religion, and indeed for all matters of faith and Divine worship, is thought good sense. It is even become fashionable to decry religion2; and that little talent of ridicule is applied to such wrong purposes that a good Christian can hardly keep himself in countenance.

Liberty is the greatest human blessing that a virtuous man can possess, and is very consistent with the duties of a good subject

1 This Essay was first published anonymously by Berkeley in 1721, in London, soon after his return from Italy, and amidst the social prostration which followed the failure of the South Sea Scheme, in September, 1720. It was reproduced in his Miscellany, in 1752. The reader may compare it with its author's later tracts on the social problems of his time-the Querist, Discourse to Magistrates, Word to the Wise, and Maxims-in which, with characteristic fervour, he proclaims the simple, if utopian lesson, that social weal is secured by the

virtue, especially honest industry, of the individuals who compose society.

The grossness and extravagance which marked the reigns of George I and II, as compared with the superior refinement and wit of the preceding reign, have been often remarked, as well as the loss of grace and simplicity. This struck Berkeley with dismay, on his return from the Continent after an absence of several years.

So Butler, in the Introduction to his Analogy, fifteen years afterwards.