An inquiry concerning virtue, or merit

by Anthony Ashley Cooper

Excerpt from An Inquiry Concerning Virtue of Merit Religious, we still ask, What are his morals? But if we hear at first, that he has honest2 moral princi ples, and is a man of natural justice and good temper3, we seldom think of the other question, Whether he be religious or devout?

130 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1699

About the author

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury was an English politician, philosopher and writer.

He was born at Exeter House in London, the son of the future Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Earl of Shaftesbury and his wife Lady Dorothy Manners, daughter of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland. At the age of three he was made over to the formal guardianship of his grandfather Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. John Locke, as medical attendant to the Ashley household, was entrusted with the supervision of his education.