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ESSAY I.
Vpon the General Calamities of Hu∣man Life.
IN all Accounts of Wise Men, we find every thing esteem'd more or less, ac∣cording as it most Imports to their Inter∣est or Happiness; and so far Humane Life, considering it simply, Quatenus Humane Life, only, is either good or ill in propor∣tion to the advances it makes towards a State of Wretchedness or Felicity. To take a proper Estimate therefore of Hu∣mane Life, it will be necessary to exam∣ine whether there be not in the general, more Loss than Gain, more Pain then Pleasure, and more Evil than Good, at∣tending upon it; which I suppose will be easy to Demonstrate, according to the common Rules of proving any thing of that kind. Look but into the Original of Nature, and you'll find her very Being and Constitution Engrafted with so ma∣ny Solid and Substantial Ills, and has so