תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

which, however they may appear for a time, are upon the whole, evil or difagreeable; that therefore fome Pleafures fhould be moderated, and others rejected; that fome Labours fhould be undertaken, fome Evil or Pain fubmitted to; That the whole of our Existence should be taken in, and the Confequences of things confidered from first to last; and the Business of Happiness conducted by an uniform and confiftent Scheme.

We fee already, that this Duty, which upon its first Propofal, might ftrike us with Apprchenfions of great Severity and Discipline, courts our Attention in the most amiable Form: 'Tis in other Words, Love your felves to the uttermoft, Deny your felves nothing, but what is upon the whole difadvantageous, nothing but what is destructive of your highest Happiness.

Now that we may proceed with some Distinctness in setting forth thofe

falfe

falle Goods, which are most apt to deceive us, and in which it is our Duty and Intereft to deny our felves, I fhall confider Man,

Firft, apart by himself, abstractedly from all other Relations, but thofe in which he ftands to himself.

Secondly, I fhall introduce him into Society, and confider him in his Relations to thofe of his own Kind.

Thirdly, I fhall go on and confider him in his Relations to his Maker.

First then, I fhall confider Man apart by himself, abstractedly from all other Relations but thofe in which he ftands to himself.

A single or folitary Man, could have only these two kinds of Pleafure; that which we commonly call Senfual or Animal, the Pleasure he perceives in sustaining his Body and preferving his animal Life; The other VOL. I.

I

Con

Contemplative, the Pleasure which arifes from reflecting on his own, and the Natures of things around him. As fenfual Pleafures are evidently Means to an End, viz. the Prefervation of the Body, fo every fingle Man must as evidently perceive it to be his Duty and Intereft, to use them in ftrict Subordination to this End: The Suitableness and Fitnefs of the several Kinds and Degrees of Nourishment, of Reft and Exercise, in the feveral Stages of Life, is not always to be measured by the Pleasure which attends the Ufe of them; We are not determined by Instincts, in this Cafe, as Brutes are for the most part, but must apply our felves to the superior Powers we are endued with. We must confult our Obfervation and Experience, and deny our felves the Ufe of those things, or fuch Degrees of them, which we have reafon to think will be deftructive of our Health, without

any

any regard to the Pleasure which may refult from the Ufe of them.

As there is a natural Congruity betwixt the Appetites of the Body and their Objects, and many Pleafures arife from a right Ufe and Application of them; fo is there the fame, betwixt the Mind and the Natures of Things. The Mind has its Pleasures in contemplating their Relations to Man and to each other, which Pleafures are far more lasting and exquifite, not to be cloy'd in a few Minutes, as the other. And hence it appears to be the Duty and Interest of every Man, to fubordinate his animal Enjoyments, not only to the Prefervation of his Body, their more immediate End, but alfo to the Pleafures of the Understanding: Surfeiting, Drunkenness and Sloth, are found upon the first Trial, not only to induce a Laffitude and Uneafiness upon the Body, but alfo to difable the Mind, to weaken

[blocks in formation]

its Attention and Vigour. The fame Reason which forbids us these groffer Irregularities, will hold in proportion against every way of providing for our Bodies, which, tho' it may not affect them with any immediate Violence, nor perhaps upon the whole, injure our Health, yet may, as to the time it engroffes, or in fome other more remote and fubtle manner, incroach upon the superior Pleasures of the Mind. The Prefervation of our Being, is evidently our first Care, as it is the Foundation or Capacity of all Enjoyment. After this, the Connexion of Pleasures fhould be observed, and they should be profecuted according to their Rank. and Order. Let what will be faid of every Man's being the best and only Judge of his own Enjoyments, our ill Husbandry and Misconduct in the Particulars before recited, can never be got over. As often as we pursue Pleasures which we know to be deftructive

« הקודםהמשך »