Reflections Concerning Innate Moral Principles

1752. We have an immediate and intuitive knowledge of our own existence and from thence results the greatest certainty we are capable of: shall we not have the same knowledge, the same certainty, that compassion is not an accidental affection, but an original and constituent part of our Being? and as we perceive that we derive our existence from some other than ourselves, shall we not also perceive that we derive our compassion wholly from our nature? Due to the age and scarcity of the original we reproduced, some pages may be spotty, faded or difficult to read. Written in French and translated into Old English on the facing page.