the difcipline which promotes it, I mean the obfervation of great abftinence from fenfual pleafures. No monk or anchoret can speak with a more glorious contempt of the world than a ftoick; but their flights, who would allow the body, the world, and the things of it, no place nor degree in the number of good things, are too daring and bold to lay any ftrefs upon but the opinion of other philofophers, who allow'd thefe their proper place and value, ought to be of weight with us; becaufe they fhew us plainly, that mortification was ever thought by the light of nature, fubfervient to our true happiness. Hierocles, in the beginning of his divine comments, gives us a fhort, but full account of the Pythagorean (and I may add Platonick) philofophy in this point: the fubftance of which is, The business of philofophy is to purify the soul of man from fenfual lufts and inordinate paffions, and to transform it into the likenefs and image of God: this is that which it pursues, by difcovering to truths, and by recommending to us the practice of excellent virtues. And this was that philofophy which the beft and acutest of the heathens looked upon as the only way to happinefs; fo far were they from judging it inconfiftent and incompatible with it: nay, they deemed this very ftate of virtue a ftate of more cxalted happinefs, and an image of the divine Φιλοσοφία ἐςι ζωής avsponsivs natapors, my τελειότης κάθαρσις μεν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑλικῆς ἀλλογίας, καὶ τὸ θνητεδες σωμα τελειότης δὲ τῆς τις cinstas Caras divantis, πρὸς τὴν θείαν ὡμοίωσιν επανάγεσα· ταῦτα δὲ κάλισα ἀπεργάζεται मै QUE CT and Hey The artian Tay παθῶν ἐξορίζεσα· ἡ δὲ τὸ θεῖον εἶδος, εὐφυῶς ἔχεσα, προσκτωμένη. us excellent than inspired Cùm animus cogni tis perceptifque vir tutibus à corporis obfequio, indulgen tiaque difcefferit, voluptatemque ficut labem decoris opprefferit, omnem que mortis dolorif que timorem effugerit, focietatemque charitatis coierit cum fuis, omnefque natura conjunctos suos duxerit, cultumq; life. Hence is that little less heat or rapture of Tully; When the foul, having difcover'd and entertain'd virtue, has extinguifh'd its fondness for, and indulgence of the body, and ftifled luft as the reproach and ftain of its honour and beauty, and hath put off all dread of death and ruin, &c. What can be faid, or as much as fancied, more blessed than the ftate of fuch a man? Nay, after all, the greatest patrons and abettors of pleasure did ever acknowledge this moderation in our paffions and enjoyments indifpenfably necef- Quid eò dici aut exfary to our happiness. deorum & puram religionem fufceperit, & exacuerit illum, ut oculorum fic ingenii aciem ad bona diligenda & rejicienda contraria. cogitari poterit beatius? L. 2. de Leg. Nil admirari prope res eft una Numici, Horat. Nought to admire's the thing alone that can Caufe and preferve the happiness of man. And 'tis well known, how much the followers of Epicurus gloried in his abstinence that these voluptuaries fhould prefcribe and practise the doctrine of mortification! but this they were compelled to by the irresistible force of reafon for how can he, who doats upon the world, and melts in foft and fenfual pleasures, be able to fecure the repofe of his mind against O 2 thofe those melancholy alterations which may daily, and fome time or other will certainly, befal himself and his enjoyments? On what foundation can the peace or liberty of his mind be eftablish'd? Or can he be happy, who is diftrefs'd by every change of weather, and is divided and distracted between numerous contrary paffions, and a flave to each? To come to a conclufion; the fcripture is fo far from denying, that it does affirm the poffibility of attaining happiness: nor are the fufferings of confeffors and martyrs, or the doctrine of mortification, any prejudice to this affertion: for neither affliction nor mortification are inconsistent with the true happiness of man. That affliction is not, the example of those very martyrs and confeffors triumphing over it does fufficiently evince: that mortification is not, is unanimoufly confefs'd by the fuffrages of fuch as were conducted by the light of nature; and of fuch too, as were entirely devoted to the pleafures of this life, and that upon undeniable grounds. I have now fpoke to all thofe objections which feem to oppofe and affault my pofition of the poffibility of attaining happiness, with any fhew of reafon, or pretence of divine authority. It is now high time I fhould proceed to anfwer thofe, who against this affertion oppose, not reafons and arguments, but observation and experience. CHAP. CHAP. VIII. Of matter of fact and experience. The state of the poor. The gay and filly. The bufy. Princes. The learned, whether happy. The happiness of the devout queftioned, and demonftrated by instances. A FTER all the pains I have taken in the firft fection to demonftrate, that the pursuit and search after happiness is a rational undertaking, an employment becoming the nature and state of man: and, after all that I have taken in this fecond, to demonftrate the poffibility of attaining it, and to difperfe all objections to the contrary; there remains ftill one objection, which, if true, were fufficient to difcourage the endeavours, and chill the heat of the most virtuous and refolved ambition; which is this: 'Tis true, happiness may be found in fpeculation; but rarely, if ever, in poffeffion and fruition. The number of the fortunate and happy is extremely finall; and most men, if not all, when they have worn life to its last period, may give that account of it which the aged (and as others, no doubt, thought happy) patriarch did of his to Pharaoh, Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, Gen. 27. But it moves me not fo much to hear this from the mouth of a fhepherd, who 0 3 from from his youth led a laborious and unfettled life but when I read the mournful poems of Job, the difcontents and melancholy of Solomon, men no less eminent for wisdom and philofophy, than for their worldly glory and profperity; when I read them bewailing the lot of mankind, unable to reflect upon it without a mixture of indignation, contempt, and womanish forrow; I cannot but acknowledge, that I am fhrewdly tempted to defpair of happiness, as of fomething too great and divine to make its abode upon earth; and to look upon all the fine difcourfes that men make of it, only as fo many flights of a bold fancy. Happinefs! What is it? or where is it? In what diftant coafts or unknown regions does it dwell? Who, and where are the fortunate? Who, and where are the darlings of heaven, to whose lot it happens? Shall we, like Bajazer, in a melancholy humour, think poor, filly, leazy peasants happy? happy? O hoppy Shepherd, who hadft neither Sebeftia nor Orthobales to lofe. (Knowle's Turkish Hift.) As if fecure beggary and flothful want were happiness: happy thus might I call the man born no eyes to lofe. Poor, whether happy. blind; he has Or, fhall we The gay and filly, whether happy. call the gaudy fwarm, which (like flies and infects in gleams of fun-fhine) do buz and flutter in the rays and warmth of greatnefs and profperity? Shall we call thefe happy? Ah! these are they that furnish theatres and poets with tragick ftories. Amongst |