of Man the Virtue I have been hitherto fpeaking of. In order to make us content with our prefent Condition, many of the ancient Philofophers tell us that our Difcontent only hurts our felves, without being able to make any Alteration in our Circumftances; others, that whatever Evil befals us is derived to us by a fatal Neceflity, to which the Gods themselves are fubject; whilft others very gravely tell the Man who is miserable, that it is neceffary he should be fo to keep up the Harmony of the Universe, and that the Scheme of Providence would be troubled and perverted were he otherwise. These, and the like Confiderations, rather filence than fatisfie a Man. They may fhew him that his Discontent is unreasonable, but are by no means fufficient to relieve it. They rather give Defpair than Confolation. In a Word, a Man might reply to one of these Comforters, as Auguftus did to his Friend who advised him not to grieve for the Death of a Perfon whom he loved, because his Grief could not fetch him again. It is for that very Reason, said the Emperor, that I grieve.

ON the contrary, Religion bears a more tender Regard to humane Nature. It prefcribes to every miferable Man the Means of bettering his Condition; nay, it fhews him, that the bearing of his Afflictions as he ought to do will naturally end in the Removal of them: It makes him eafie here, because it can make him happy hereafter.

UPON the whole, a contented Mind is the greatest Bleffing a Man can enjoy in this World; and if in the prefent Life his Happiness arifes from the fubduing of his Defires, it will arife in the next from the Gratification of them.

Monday,

N° 575. Monday, August 2..

A

LEWD young Fellow feeing an aged Hermit go by him barefoot, Father, fays he, you are in a very miferable Condition if there is not another World. True Son, faid the Hermit; but what is thy Condition if there is? Man is a Creature defigned for two different States of Being, or rather, for two different Lives. His firft Life is fhort and tranfient; his fecond permanent and lafting. The Question we are all concerned in is this, In which of these two Lives it is our chief Interest to make our felves happy? Or, in other Words, Whether we should endeavour to fecure to our felves the Pleasures and Gratifications of a Life which is uncertain and precarious, and at its utmoft Length of a very inconfiderable Duration; or to fecure to our felves the Pleasures of a Life which is fixed and fettled, and will never end? Every Man, upon the first hearing of this Question, knows very well which Side of it he ought to close with. But however right we are in Theory, it is plain that in Practice we adhere to the wrong Side of the Question. We make Provifions for this Life as tho' it were never to have an End, and for the other Life as tho' it were never to have a Beginning.

SHOULD a Spirit of fuperior Rank, who is a Stranger to human Nature, accidentally alight upon the Earth, and take a Survey of its Inhabitants; what would his Notions of us be? Would not he think that we are a Species of Beings made for quite diffe rent Ends and Purposes than what we really are? Muft not he imagine that we were placed in this World to get Riches and Honours? Would not he think that it was our Duty to toil after Wealth, and Station, and

Title?

Title? Nay, would not he believe we were forbidden Poverty by Threats of eternal Punishment, and enjoined to purfue our Pleasures under Pain of Damnation? He would certainly imagine that we were influenced by a Scheme of Duties quite oppofite to those which are indeed prefcribed to us. And truly, according to fuch an Imagination, he must conclude that we are a Species of the moft obedient Creatures. in the Universe; that we are conftant to our Duty; and that we keep a fteddy Eye on the End for which we were fent hither.

BUT how great would be his Aftonishment, when he learnt that we were Beings not defigned to exift in this World above Threefcore and Ten Years? and that the greatest Part of this bufie Species fall short even of that Age? How would he be loft in Horrour and Admiration, when he fhould know that this Sett of Creatures, who lay out all their Endeavours for this Life, which fcarce deferves the Name of Existence, when, I fay, he should know that this Sett of Creatures are to exift to all Eternity in another Life, for which they make no Preparations? Nothing can be a greater Difgrace to Reason, than that Men, who are perfwaded of these two different States of Being, fhould be perpetually employed in providing for a Life of Threefcore and Ten Years, and neglecting to make Provision for that, which after many Myriads of Years will be still new, and still beginning; efpecially when we confider that our Endeavours for making our felves great, or rich, or honourable, or whatever elfe we place our Happiness in, may after all prove unfuccefsful; whereas if we conftantly and fincerely endeavour to make our felves happy in the other Life, we are fure that our Endeavours will fucceed, and that we fhall not be difappointed of our Hope.

THE following Queftion is ftarted by one of the Schoolmen. Suppofing the whole Body of the Earth were a great Ball or Mafs of the finest Sand, and that a fingle Grain or Particle of this Sand fhould be annihilated every thoufand Years. Suppofing then that

you

4

you had it in your Choice to be happy all the while this prodigious Mafs of Sand was confuming by this flow Method till there was not a Grain of it left, on Condition you were to be miferable for ever after; or, fuppofing that you might be happy for ever after on Condition you would be miferable till the whole Mafs of Sand were thus annihilated at the Rate of one Sand in a thousand Years: Which of these two Cafes would you make your Choice?

IT must be confeffed in this Cafe, fo many Thou fands of Years are to the Imagination as a kind of E ternity, tho' in Reality they do not bear fo great a Proportion to that Duration which is to follow them, as a Unite does to the greatest Number which you can put together in Figures, or as one of thofe Sands to the fuppofed Heap. Reason therefore tells us, without any Manner of Hefitation, which would be the better Part in his Choice. However as I have before intimated, our Reafon might in fuch Cafe be fo over-fet by the Imagination, as to difpofe fome Perfons to fink under the Confideration of the great Length of the firft Part of this Duration, and of the great Diftance of that fecond Duration which is to fucceed it. The Mind, I fay, might give it felf up to that Happiness which is at hand, confidering that it is fo very near, and that it would last so very long. But when the Choice we actually have before us is this, Whether we will chufe to be happy for the Space of only Threefcore and ten, nay perhaps of only Twenty or Ten Years, I might fay of only a Day or an Hour, and miferable to all Eternity; or, on the contrary, miferable for this fhort Term of Years, and happy for a whole Eternity: What Words are fufficient to exprefs that Folly and want of Confideration which in fuch a Cafe makes a wrong Choice?

I here put the Cafe even at the worst, by fuppofing (what feldom happens) that a Course of Virtue makes us miferable in this Life: But if we fuppofe (as it generally happens) that Virtue would make us more happy even in this Life than a contrary Courfe of Vice;

how

how can we fufficiently admire the Stupidity or Maduefs of thofe Perfons who are capable of making fo abfurd a Choice?

EVERY wife Man therefore will confider this Life only as it may conduce to the Happiness of the other, and chearfully facrifice the Pleafures of a few Years to thofe of an Eternity.

N° 576.

4

I

Wednesday, August 4.

Nitor in adverfum; nec me, qui catera, vincit
Impetus; rapido contrarius evehor Orbi.

Ovid.

Remember a young Man of very lively Parts, and of a fprightly Turn in Converfation, who had only one Fault, which was an inordinate Defire of appearing fashionable. This ran him into many Amours, and confequently into many Diftempers. He never went to Bed till two a-Clock in the Morning, because he would not be a queer Fellow; and was every now and then knocked down by a Conftable, to fignalize his Vivacity. He was initiated into half a Dozen Clubs before he was One and twenty, and fo improved in them his natural Gayety of Temper, that you might frequently trace him to his Lodgings by a Range of broken Windows, and other the like Monuments of Wit and Gallantry. To be fhort, after having fully established his Reputation of being a very agreeable Rake, he died of old Age at Five and twenty.

THERE is indeed nothing which betrays a Man into fo many Errors and Inconveniencies, as the Defire of not appearing fingular; for which Reason it is very neceffary to form a right Idea of Singularity, that we may know when it is laudable and when it is vicious. In the firft Place, every Man of Senfe will agree with me, that Singularity is laudable, when, in Contradiction to a Multitude, it adheres to the Dictates

of