inhabitant no comfort, but what the peafant has in his cottage.

That love of variety and change, to which none of our kind are strangers, might be a leffon to us, where our expectations are ill grounded, where they must neceffarily be difappointed; for if no man ever yet lived, who could fay of any of the pleasures of fenfe On this I repofe myself-it quite anfwers my hopes from it-my wishes rove not beyond it: if none could ever affirm this, it is moft evident, that we in vain fearch after permanent delight from any of the objects, with which we are now converfant that the only difference between the fatisfactions we purfue, and those we quit, is, that we are already tired of the one, and fhall foon be of the other.

Hear the language of him, who had tried the extent of every fenfual pleasure, and must have found the uncloying, had any fuch exifted" I faid in my heart, Go to "now, I will prove thee with mirth. I "gave myfelf to wine, I made me great "works, I builded me houfes, I planted "me vineyards, I made me gardens, I "planted trees in them of all kinds of "fruit. I made me pools of water, I "amaffed gold and filver, I had poffeffions, "above all that were in Jerufalem before "me. I tried what love, what mufic, "what all the delights of the fons of men "could effect: whatfoever mine eyes de" fired I kept not from them, I with-held "not my heart from any joy. Then I "looked on all my works, on all my purfaits, and behold! all was vanity and "vexation of spirit."

Tully mentions Xerxes as having propofed a reward to the man, who could make known to him fome new pleasure. The monarch of the Eaft, it seems, met with nothing within the bounds of his mighty empire, that could fix his inclinations. The moit voluptuous people on earth had difcovered no delight, that their fovereign could acknowledge otherwife than fuperficial. Happy! had it been a leffon to their prince, or could it be one to us, where our good fhould be fought-what purfuits were likely to bring us bleffings certain to improve, as well as endure.

143. On Pleasure.

SECT. II.

A third difadvantage enfuing to us from our attachment to the delights, which appetite and fancy purvey, is, that it indifpoles us for ufeful inquiries, for every

endeavour worthy of our nature, and suit◄ ing the relations, in which we are placed.

The difappointment, which the Perfian Emperor met with in all his fchemes of the voluptuous kind, did not put him on applying to thofe of a different one. Experience fhewed him his folly, but could not teach him wifdom-It could not, when it had convinced him of the vanity of his purfuits, induce him to relinquish them.

We find a Solomon, indeed, difcovering his error, acknowledging that he had erred, and bearing teftimony to religion and virtue as alone productive of true happiness; but where are we to look for another among the votaries to fenfuality, thus affected, thus changed?

As fome have obferved of courts, that fuch, who live in them, are always uneafy there, yet always unwilling to retreat; the very fame holds true of the licentious practice, which they too generally countenance: fully convinced of its vanity and folly, we continue to our laft moments attached to it

averfe from altering the conduct, which we cannot but difapprove. Our faculties are, indeed, fo conftituted, that our capacity for many enjoyments extends not beyond fuch a period in our being: if we will not quit them, they will us-will depart, whatever our eagerness may be for their continuance. But let us not deceive ourselves: when they are gone as to their sense, they are not as to their power. He who says to his youth, eat, drink, and be merry-who thinks of nothing else at that feafon, will hanker after delicacies, when he has neither teeth to chew, nor palate to distinguish them; will want the cup, which he cannot lift; and feek for mirth, when he will thereby become the object of it. The habit operates, when none of the inducements for our contracting it remain; and when the days of pleasure are past, those of wisdom and virtue are not the nearer. Our difpofitions do not decay with our ftrength. The prudence, which should attend grey hairs, doth not neceffarily come to us with them. The young rake is a lafcivious obscene wretch, when he owes his warmth to his flannel; delights in the filthy tale, when his hearers are almoft poisoned by the breath, with which he utters it; and when least able to offend in act, he does it in defire.

That the humour for fighting or racing, or whatever inclination governed us in this world, accompanies us to the other, is not an entire fiction of the poet, but, affuredly, K 3

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has thus much truth in it, that whatever humour we indulge, it accompanies us to the clofe of life. There is a time, when our manners are pliant, when the counfels of the fober operate upon us as fuccefsfully, as the infinuations of the corrupt; but when that time is paffed, our customs are, daily, working themselves into our conftitution, and want not many years to become fcarce diftinguishable from it. God, I am perfuaded, has formed us all with fuch apprehenfions of what is right, as, if a proper care were taken to preferve and improve them, would have the happiest influence upon our practice; but when the feafon for extending this care to them has been neglected, they are in most of us greatly impaired, and in fome appear almoft wholly loft.

Let the understanding remain uninformed, 'till half the age of man is paft, and what improvement is the best then likely to make? how irkfoine would it feem to be put upon any? It is with our will the very fame; turned for half or three parts of our life to floth and wantonnefs, to riot and excefs, any correction of it, any alteration to the purfuits becoming us, may feem quite hopelefs. While we are devoting ourselves to pleasure, we are weakening every principle, whereby virtue can engage us, we are extinguifhing within us all fenfe of true defert-fubduing confcience-divefting ourfelves of fhame-corrupting our natural notions of good and evil; and fo indifpofing ourfelves for confideration, that our conftant endeavour will be to decline it. Thus when our follies are a burden to us, their correction feems a greater; and we try what ease may be found by varying, rather than feek any from quitting, them.

Fourthly, The larger our fhare is of outward enjoyments, and the dearer they are to us; fo much the more afflicting our concern will be to leave this fcene of them-fo much the greater terror and torment shall we receive from the apprehenfion, how foon we may be obliged to do it.

Let the man of pleasure colour it the moft agreeably, place it in the fairest point of view, this objection will remain in its full ftrength against him: "You are not mafter "of the continuance of the good, of which you boaft; and can you avoid thinking "of its removal, or bear the thoughts thereof, with any calmness and compoBut what kind of happiness is ich we are in hourly fears of lofing, ch, wach loft, is gone for ever?

If I am only here for a few days, the part I ought to act is, certainly, that of a traveller on his journey, making use, indeed, of fuch conveniences, as the road affords him, but ftill regarding himself as upon his road-never fo incumbring himfelf that he fhall be unwilling to advance, when he knows he muft do it never fo diverting himself at any refting place, that it fhall be painful to him to depart thence.

When we are accustomed to derive all our comforts from fenfe, we come to want the very idea of any other: this momentary part of our existence is the full extent we give to our joys; and we have the mortifying reflection continually before us, that their conclufion is nearer every hour we are here, and may poflibly take place the very next, Thus each acceffion of delight will really be but a new fource of affiction, become an additional motive for complaint of the short space allowed for its enjoyment,

The mind of man is fo difpofed to look forward, to fitted to extend its views, that, as much as it is contracted by fenfuality, it cannot be fixed thereby to the inftant moment: We can never, like the beafts, be fo far engroffed by the fatisfaction before us, but the thoughts will occur, how often may we hope to repeat it-how many dif tant hours it is likely to relieve how much of our duration can it advantage? and the fcanty continuance which our most fanguine hopes can affign it, muft therefore, be in fome degree its abatement-must be an ingredient in our draught fure to embitter the many pleafing ones which compound it, And what a wife part are we then acting, when we are taking the brutes portion for ours, and cannot have all the benefits even of that! cannot remove the inconveniences of reason, when we forego its comforts!

These are some of the many difadvan tages infeparable from pleasure, and from the expectation of which none of its votaries are exempt. We cannot attach ourfelves to any of the delights, which appetite or fancy provides, but we shall be fure to find them quickly pafling-when repeated, cloying-indifpofing us for worthy purfuits-rendering us averfe from quitting the world, and uneafy as often as it occurs to our thoughts, how foon our fummons may be to depart.

§ 144.

§144. On Pleasure.
SECT. III.

Bat what, you'll fay, muit all then commence philofophers? Muft every gay amufement be banished the world? Mult thofe of each fex and of all ages have their looks ever in form, and their manners under the regulation of the feverest wisdom? Has nature given us propenfities only to be refifted? Have we ears to diftinguish harmony, and are we never to delight them with it? Is the food which our palate best relithes, to be therefore denied it? Can odours recreate our brain, beauty please our eye, and the defign of their structure be, that we should exclude all agreeable fenfation from either? Are not natural inclinations nature's commands; are they not its declarations whence we may obtain our good, and its injunctions to feek it thence? Is any thing more evident, than that ferious applications cannot long be fuftained-that we must fink under their weight-that they foon ftupify or distract us? The exercife of our intellectual part is the fatigue of our corporeal, and cannot be carried on, but by allowing us intervals of relaxation and mirth. Deny us pleasure, and you unfit us for business; and deftroy the man, while you thus feek to perfect him.

A full answer might, I fhould think, be given to whatever is here alledged, by enlarging on the following obfervations.

1. Pleasure is only fo far cenfured, as it cofts us more than it is worth-as it brings on a degree of uneasiness, for which it doth not compenfate.

2. It is granted, that we are licensed to take all that pleasure, which there is no reafon for our declining. So much true pleajure, or fo much pleasure, as is not counterbalanced by any inconveniences attending it, is fo much happiness accruing to him who takes it, and a part of that general good, which our Creator defigned

3. As the inclinations, with which mankind were originally formed, were, certainly, very different from thofe, which guilt has fince propagated; many restraints muft, therefore, be neceffary, which would not have been fo, had our primitive rectitude been preserved.

4. Bad education, bad example, increase greatly our natural depravity, before we come to reafon at all upon it; and give the appearance of good to many things, which would be seen in a quite different

light, under a different education and intercourse.

Thefe particulars let it fuffice barely to mention; fince, as it is here admitted, that when there is no reason for our declining any pleafure, there is one for our taking it, I am more especially concerned to fhew, when there is a reason, why pleasure should be declined-what thofe limits are, which ought to be prefcribed to our pleasures, and which when any, in themselves the most innocent, pass, they neceffarily become immoral and culpable. A minute difcuffion of this point is not here propofed: fuch obfervations only will be made upon it, as appear to be of more general ufe, and of greatest importance.

What I would, firft, confider as render. ing any pleasure blameable is,

When it raifes our Paffions.

As our greatest danger is from them, their regulation claims our conftant attention and care. Human laws confider them in their effects, but the divine law in their aim and intention. To render me ob. noxious to men, it is necessary that my impure luft be gratified, or an attempt be made to gratify it; that my anger operate by violence, my covetoufness by knavery: but my duty is violated, when my heart is impure, when my rage extends not beyond my looks and my withes, when I invade my neighbour's property but in defire. The man is guilty the moment his affections become fo, the inftant that any difhoneft thought finds him approving and indulging it.

The enquiry, therefore, what is a fit amufement, fhould always be preceded by the confideration of what is our difpofition. For, it is not greater madness to fuppofe, that equal quantities of food or liquor may be taken by all with equal temperance, than to affert, that the fame pleasure may be ufed by all with the fame innocence. As, in the former cafe, what barely fatis fies the ftomach of one, would be a load infupportable to that of another; and the draught, that intoxicates me, may scarcely refrefn my companion: fo in the latter, an amusement perfectly warrantable to this fort of conftitution, will to a different become the moft criminal. What liberties are allowable to the calm, that must not be thought of by the choleric! How fecurely may the cold and phlegmatic roam, where he, who has greater warmth and fenfibility, should not approach! What fafety attends the contemner of gain, where the molt fatal

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fnares await the avaritious! Some lefs governable paffion is to be found in them, whofe refolution is fteadieft, and virtue firmeft: upon that a conitant guard must be kept; by any relaxation, any indulgence, it may be able to gain that ftrength, which we fhall afterwards fruitlessly oppofe. When all is quiet and compofed within us, the difcharge of our duty puts us to little trouble; the performance thereof is not the heavy tafk, that fo many are willing to reprefent it: but to reftore order and peace is a work very different from preferving them, and is often with the utmost difficulty effected. It is with the natural body, as with the politic; rebellion in the members is much eafier prevented than quelled; confufion once entered, none can forefee to what lengths it may proceed, or of how wide a ruin it may be productive.

What, likewife, renders any pleasure culpable, is its making a large, or an unfeasonable, demand upon our time.

No one is to live to himfelf, and much lefs to confine his care to but one, and that the worst, part of himself. Man's proper employment is to cultivate right difpofitions in his own breast, and to benefit his fpecies to perfect himself, and to be of as much ufe in the world, as his faculties and opportunities will permit. The fatisfactions of fenfe are never to be pursued for their own fake: their enjoyment is none of our end, is not the purpose, for which God created us; amufe, refresh us it may, but when it bufies, when it chiefly engages us, we act directly contrary to the defign, for which we were formed; making that our care, which was only intended to be our relief.

Some, deftitute of the neceffaries, others, of the conveniences of life, are called to labour, to commerce, to literary application, in order to obtain them; and any remiffness of these perfons, in their respective employments or profeffions, any purfuit inconfiftent with a due regard to their maintenance, meets ever with the harshest cenfure, is univerfally branded, as a failure in common prudence and difcretion: but what is this animal life, in comparison with that to which we are raised by following the dictates of reason and confcience? How despicable may the man continue, when all the affluence to which his wishes aspire, is obtained?

Can it then be fo indifcreet a part, to follow pleasure, when we fhould mind our fortune? do all so clearly fee the blame of

this? And may we doubt how guilty that attachment to it is, which lays waste our understanding-which entails on us ignorance and error-which renders us even more useless than the beings, whom inftin& alone directs? All capacity for improvement is evidently a call to it. The neglect of our powers is their abufe; and the flight of them is that of their giver. Whatever talents we have received, we are to account for: and it is not from revelation alone that we learn this: no moral truth commands more strongly our affent, than that the qualifications bestowed upon us, are afforded us, in order to our cultivating them-to our obtaining from them the advantages they can yield us; and that foregoing fuch advantages, we become obnoxious to him, who defigned us them, as we mifapply his gift, and knowingly oppofe his will. For, the furest token we can have, that any perfections ought to be purfued, is, that they may be attained: our ability to acquire them is the voice of God within us to endeavour after them. And would we but ask ourselves the queftion, Did the Creator raise us above the herd, and doth he allow us to have no aims nobler than those of the herd-to make its engagements the whole of ours? we could not poffibly mistake in the answer. All, who have reafon given them, know that they may and ought to improve it, ought to cultivate it at fome seasons, and ever to conform to it.

Greater privileges call us but to more important cares. You are not placed above your fellow-creatures, you have not the leifure, which they want, that you may be more idle and worthlefs, may devote more of your time to vanity and folly, but that you may become more eminent in the perfections you acquire, and the good you do. He, who has all his hours at command, is to confider himself as favoured with thofe opportunities to increafe in wisdom and virtue, which are vouchfafed to few; if no good effect follows; if having them, he only mifapplies them; his guilt is, according to what his advantage might have been.

The difpenfations of heaven are not fo unequal, as that fome are appointed to the heaviest toil for their support, and others left to the free, unconftrained enjoyment of whatever gratifications their fancy fuggests. The diftinction between us is not that of much business and none at all; it is not, that I may live as I can, and you as you

please;

pleafe; a different employment conftitutes it. The mechanic has his part affigned him, the scholar his, the wealthy and powerful theirs, each has his talk to perform, his talent to improve,-has barely fo much time for his pleasure, as is neceffary for recruiting himfelf-as is confiftent with habitual feriousness, and may rather qualify than interrupt it.

be

We are furnished with numerous arguments, why the graver occupations fhould remitted-why the humour for gaiety and mirth fhould be allowed its place; and no man in his right mind ever taught the contrary. Let the delights of fenfe have their feason, but let them stand confined to it; the fame abfurdity follows the excefs on either fide, our never ufing, and our never quitting them.

Be not over wife, is an excellent rule; but it is a rule full as good, and much more wanted,—That fome wifdem fhould be fought-That drefs and diverfion fhould not take up all our hours-That more time fhould not be spent in adorning our persons, than in improving our minds-That the beautified fepulchre fhould not be our exaft refemblance, much fhew and ornament without, and within nothing but stench and rottennefs-That barely to pass our time fhould not be all the account we make of it, but that fome profit should be confulted, as well as fome delight.

145. On Pleafure.

SECT. IV. Again, no pleasure can be innocent, from which our health is a fufferer. You are no more to shorten your days, than with one ftroke to end them; and we are fuicides but in a different way, if wantonnefs and luxury be our gradual deftruction, or defpair our inftant. It is felf-murder, to take from our continuance here any part of that term, to which the due care of ourselves would have extended it; and our life, probably falls a more criminal facrifice to our voluptuoufnefs, than to our impatience.

When we throw off the load, which Providence has thought fit to lay upon us, we fail greatly in a proper deference to it's wisdom, in a due fubmiflion to its will; but then we have to plead, fufferings too grievous to be sustained-a distress too mighty to be contended with; a plea, which can by no means justify us; yet how preferable to any, that he can alledge, who, in the midft of all things that can give a relish to his being, neglects the prefervation

of it-who abuses the conveniences of life to its wafte, and turns its very comforts to its ruin? Or, could we fuppofe our pleasures difordering our conftitution, after a manner not likely to contribute to its decay, they would not even then be exempted from guilt: to preserve yourself should not folely be your concern, but to maintain your most perfect ftate: every part and every power of your frame claims your regard; and it is great ingratitude towards him, who gave us our faculties, when we in any wife obftruct their free ufe. The proper thankfulness to God for our life is to be expreffed by our care about it; both by keeping it, 'till he pleases to require it; and by fo preferving it, that it may be fit for all thofe purposes, to which he has appointed it.

Further, the pleasure is, undoubtedly, criminal, which is not adapted to our fortune-which either impairs it, or hinders an application of it to what has the principal claim upon it.

If actions, otherwise the most commendable, lose their merit, when they difqualify us for continuing them--if generofity changes its name, when it fuits not our circumstances; and even alms are culpable, when by bestowing them we come to want them-if the very beft ufes, to which we can put our wealth, are not fo to draw off, as to dry the ftream; we can by no means fuppofe, that our amusements are not to be limited, as by other confiderations, fo by this in particular-the expence which they create: we cannot imagine, that the reftraints fhould not lie upon our wantonnefs, which lie upon our beneficence.

Be our poffeffions the largest, it is but a very fmall part of them that we have to difpofe of as we think fit, on what conduces folely to our mirth and diverfion. Great affluence, whatever we may account it, is really but a greater trust; the means committed to us of a more extenfive provifion for the neceffities of our fellow-creatures; and when our maintenance--our convenience-an appearance fuitable to our rank have been confulted, all that remains is the claim of others, of our family, our friends, our neighbours, of those who are most in need of us, and whom we are moft obliged to affift.