in their lives, and ever fince has preferv'd their memories facred and honourable; and we acquit those from all blame or guilt, which the laws of their own country, and the common sense of all mankind have ever condemn'd and detefted. What grofs and monftrous abfurdities are these? Shall we now after the improvement of fo many ages (for we pretend to grow more wife and learned daily) difpute whether vice or virtue be the better guide of human actions, or the more ferviceable to human life? Shall floth and luxury be thought to conduce as much to the profperity and decency of our lives, as industry and frugal temperance? Shall ambiticn, pride and choler be now judg'd as inftrumental to promote and preferve the peace and repose of our minds and ftates,as modefty, meeknefs and charity? Or if this be too daring a defiance to fense and experience, fhall we contend that the flothful and luxurious, the unjust and cruel, are as blameless and innocent; nay, if we extend the principles to their juft confequence, as commendable and worthy of praise as the induftrious and temperate, the meek and gentle, the juft and charitable? For this muft inevitably follow, if neither mens virtues nor vices be in any degree to be afcrib'd to themselves. Wretched and defperate is that fhift that equals the just and unjuft, the induftrious and fluggard, the great mind that ftands upright under and out-braves misfortune, and the dangerous one which effeminately fhrinks and breaks under it! Wrethed the fhift that equals the tyrant and most gracious prince, the loyalleft fubject and the traytor, the faithful friend and perfidious flat

terer;

terer;

and all this we must be driven to, or elfe, as we cannot deny that fome are happier than others, fo we must not deny that the happiness of the one, or the mifery of the other, is owing, in fome measure at least, to their virtues and vices, and these to themselves. And if this be true, 'tis evident we may be happy if we will; and tho' we may not equal the most happy (for I will not exclude temper, education, fortune, from all share in mens mifery or happiness) yet fince every degree of happiness is truly valuable, let us with all our might endeavour to be as happy as we can. Nec quia defperes invicti membra Glyconis, Nodofa corpus noli prohibere Chiragra: Eft quiddam prodire tenus

Hor.

The mighty Glyco's ftrength you can't attain; Don't therefore fcorn to free your limbs from pain [gain, Of knotty gout: eafe, tho? not ftrength to Is no fmall happiness

But to pursue our proof:

Because there is good and evil in the world.

2. It is a great abfurdity to confound or equal virtue and vice; but 'tis not the greatest they commit who deny the poffibility of attaining happiness: for he, who banishes happiness out of the world, does at the fame time banish good and evil out of it too: for good being nothing else but the fubferviency of fome things to our true intereft and pleasure, and evil the tendency of others

to

to our trouble and injury; it must needs follow, if there be good and evil in the world, that he, who has a greater fhare of good than evil, is a happy man; and he, that denied good and evil, may with as plaufible a confidence deny all human paffions, and affert that there is neither love nor hatred, neither joy nor grief, nor hope, nor fear, nor pity, nor envy: for good or evil are the objects or causes of all these. I may then, I think, take it for granted, that no man will take the confidence to say, that there is no fuch thing as good or evil in the world; and confequently all men must be oblig'd to acknowledge fuch a state as happiness in the world too, unless they will affirm one of these three things; either firft, that evil grows up every where in thick crops; good, thin, scatter'd, and rarely to be found, efpecially grown up to its maturity: that confequently there are none whose share of evil doth not infinitely out-weigh that of good. Or, Secondly, That evil hath fo much of venom and malignity in it, that a little evil contributes more to our mifery, than a great deal of good can to our happiness; fo ripe and full grown is evil; fo lank, under-grown, and every way imperfect is good in this world. Or, Thirdly, That we our felves can contribute nothing to that good or evil which is our portion; 'tis the product, not of reafon or industry, but of time and chance, or of fome other principle which is not in our power. All these deserve to be weigh'd, not only because the examination of them will tend to chear and encourage the

minds of men, and to render the great Creator and Governour of the world more dear and venerable to us; but also, because it will be of fome use and service to the whole enquir y

1. Evils not more than goods in the world. From the

Firft, Therefore let us examine what truth there is in that fancy which fupposes the weight and number of the evils in the world infiniteSuffrage of the good. ly to exceed that of good things. I know there are a fort of four and murmuring, of proud and ambitious wretches, who deal with their God as with their prince or patron; and estimate favours and benefits, not according to their merit, but expectation, greedy and haughty expectation which even prodigal bounty cannot fatisfie: 'tis the ftrange temper of fome men that they wither and grow lean with discontent and envy; even whilft their studied meals diftract the wanton appetite, and their very attendants are fleek, and full, and fat with the remains of their feafts; and the meaneft of their relations thrive into pride and infolence by the mere fprinklings of their plenty. I know 'tis natural to fome to blafpheme God and the King, to quarrel with and reproach providence and their government; while loaded with good things, they stretch themselves on filken couches, under roofs of cedar, and loll at eafe in their gilt coaches; and yet at the fame time the honeft countryman, who with fecurity, tho' much drudgery, ploughs and fows, and reaps a few acres, eats his plain meals with chearfulness, fleeps with

out

without difturbance, bleffes God, and magnifies the goodness of his prince. The contentment of one is an evident proof of God's bounty and goodness; whofe provifion doth far exceed the neceffities of his creatures: the difcontent of the other can be no difparagement to it, fince he has dealt extreamly liberally with 'em, tho? they enjoy not what they poffefs. We are not therefore to judge of the world by the clamours and invectives of fuch as are always mutinous and diffatisfied, but by the fuffrages of those most humble, modeft, and grateful fouls, who know how to value the favours of heaven and themselves as they ought to do; who do not mar and corrupt every bleffing by peevishness, or envy, or pride, or wantonnefs; but can weigh their enjoyments, their hopes and their merits, in juft and equal balances; and difcerning how. much the one does exceed the other, chearfully adore and praise the world's Author and Governour. If this controverfy were to be determin'd by fuch, we should find these even under uneafy and tyrannical governments, and in the more barren and niggardly countries, confuting this objection by their chearfulness and contentment: what would they have done, if providence had planted 'em there where a fertile foil and thriving trade had unladed the wealth and plenty of the world into their arms, and a mild and gentle government had fecur'd and guarded their enjoyments?

But let us decide the controverfy not by votes, but reafons; let us confider the state and nature of the world;

From the make of the world.