intimately rooted in our minds as not to be torn up by the storms of adversity. It is not enough to join in with the general voice, nor abound in professions of the divine goodness, nor stifle every thought that would suggest a doubt: this is only a flattery of God, a covering over the sore and deceiving ourselves, nor will afford us comfort when we want it most. For persuasion is not to be gotten by rote, nor can an inward sentiment be produced by forced expressions, which only give us the credit in our own opinion of believing what we really do not believe: to be hearty and durable it must proceed from a full and impartial conviction of our reason. This is best effected when the understanding is clear and the thoughts at ease, when we can look around us calmly and make our judgment not solely upon the circumstances of our present situation: then is our time to settle the true idea of goodness upon such mature and thorough consideration, as that it may abide without changing colors ever afterwards; to observe what marks of it may be gathered from experience, and discern its consistence with some temporary displeasures. The existence of evil has been the grand stumbling-block in all ages; had we fewer blessings, but never anything to cross or disturb us, we should be content: let us then consider the evils as so many deductions from the good, and if our sources of enjoyment be so copious as that the balance remaining after these deductions be equal in quantity to what would have satisfied us if given alone, why cannot we be satisfied as well with both taken together? For a number of conveniences and delights, attended with some toil and suffering, are deemed more desirable than a little pleasure that may be had without any trouble at all: as a large estate, subject to taxes, repairs, cares of management, and vexations by bad tenants, appears preferable in the eye of the world to a small annuity constantly paid upon demand. But we are apt to imagine that Omnipotence might have given us the same blessings without the mixture of evil appendant thereto, or making it the necessary passage to them: this, for aught we know, might have been done in the original constitution of universal nature, which was the work of God in his character of Creator, wherein he stands far above the reach of our faculties, nor is it possible for us to discern what rules or measures it was fit for him to be guided by. We shall do best to take things as they are constituted, to contemplate him in his Person or Character of Governor, ordering all things in perfect wisdom, goodness, and equity, according to their natures and relations established before from everlasting, laying out every event in his plan so as to yield the greatest profit to the whole, and providing that each individual shall share in the good of the whole. Could we once thoroughly convince ourselves of these points upon rational grounds, by the evidences suggested in former parts of this work, or what others may occur to our observation; and could we bring ourselves to a habit of estimating things by the whole line of their consequences, and learn to value an evil productive of much greater good, though we might still fall deficient in our idea of infinite goodness through the imperfection of our conceptions, yet we should have sense and apprehension of goodness enough to be the object of our cordial dependence and unfeigned adoration. : 16. We have seen in $11, how the contentions and competitions, unavoidable in our transactions with the world, often tend to abate our Charity to one another and I have endeavored to point out the remedy for preventing that effect, by deducing our rules of private prudence and self-defence from the general good, and holding that derivation constantly in view when we practise them; which will still leave us inclination to do as many kind offices to the party opposed as are not inconsistent therewith. But there is another abatement made by a false delicacy we too often contract, which gives us a contempt and loathing of persons whose appearance, taste, and manners are very different from our own. If we dislike a man's face, if his dress be shabby, his deportment clownish, his language rude, his ideas gross, or any vicious mixture in his character, we can scarce prevail upon ourselves to wish him anything good, or think him capable of enjoying a real pleasure, because those he seems to delight in are utterly unsuitable to our relish. This turn of mind we are not formed with by nature, but drawn into by education as a preservative against catching habits and desires, that would be unbecoming and mischievous: for it being natural to imitate what one likes, and avoid what one abhors, we teach our children an aversion to the manners and sentiments of the vulgar and ignorant, to prevent their being led into the like by their example; and a contempt of the brutes and their ways of living, to take off their attention from sordid and grovelling employments or pleasures. Thus we are forced to excite an antipathy, to ward off the pernicious effects of sympathy, that might otherwise ensue: for young and inexperienced minds cannot easily make a distinct estimation of the persons and of the practices, nor pick out the good and bad parts in a character, nor discern the force of propriety, which renders the same things bad in one place that were good and commendable in another. Therefore this method of dealing with them is prudent and necessary, until a better can be taken by gradually showing them the reasons, relations, and differences of things, together with the rudiments and cautions founded thereupon: which though I apprehend possible in theory to be done, and would certainly be preferable, yet cannot be practised by the generality of parents and teachers, who must be left to go by rule, and rote, and custom, because they know none other way to go by. Nevertheless, when we come to some maturity of judgment and reflection, we may learn to walk without those go-carts which were necessary to support our infant steps, to be sensible of pleasures which would be none to us, to see the fitness of things in other circumstances of condition, which would be highly pernicious and unbecoming in ours, to weigh the several ingredients of a character apart, and to distinguish between the person and the sentiments or practices, so as to escape the influence of sympathy from the one, without aid of antipathy to the other. For surely one may see the joy a hog receives by wallowing in the mire, without wishing to roll with him one's self; or contemplate a multitude of flies frisking about and regaling luxuriously upon cow-dung, without either desiring to partake of the repast, or feeling our stomachs turn at the filthiness of their taste; for those appetites are perfections in their natures which would be deprivations in ours, and the materials for gratifying them are valuable blessings to them, though they are troubles and annoyances to us. In like manner we may perceive a real enjoyment in the diversions and coarse merriment of the vulgar, though we find no relish in ourselves for the like; an expedience in their sentiments and manners, which would prove hurtful and unsuitable to us. We may admire the robustness of the porter, the intrepidity and heartiness of the common sailor, the hardiness of a house-breaker or poacher capable of enduring all weathers unconcernedly, without wanting to acquire those qualities by the same methods. We may regard vice as a loathsome disease, detestable in itself but not exciting a detestation of the patient; for whom we may still retain a tenderness and what degree of esteein he deserves, while we keep him at a distance for fear of taking the infection: for in almost every character and every form of being, we may find something well worth our purchase if it were to be bought with money, though we should not be willing to exchange conditions upon the whole. By such observations and reflections we may in time clear ourselves from the remains of the school-boy, a fierceness and strangeness of temper, an aversion and contempt of everything not exactly suited to our own ways: which while it lasts must make us unequitable, partial in our judgments, incapable of acknowledging anything good or valuable elsewhere, and consequently indisposed to give God his glory. For a sincere and hearty honor can spring only from the largeness of his bounty; but we shall have no sense of any in the greatest part of the creation appearing wretched and despicable in our eye, where the scene of happiness will stand confined to a very few of our own acquaintance who happen to hit our taste, as being persons of good humor or good breeding, that have seen the world and are orthodox. 17. Were men apprized how many good fruits are the natural produce of a thorough Charity, they would be more careful to cultivate it, and suffer no delicacy or prejudice of education and custom to stint its growth. It would be superfluous to expatiate upon the benefits resulting from this principle, if it were to prevail in general among mankind: for they must occur to any one who will deign to bestow a thought upon the subject: there would be no war, nor injury, nor cozenage, nor contention, nor fear, nor suspicion, nor waste, nor idleness, nor perversity, nor fond indulgence; unexperienced innocence would find an easy instruction everywhere: natural appetite be withholden from warping with a tender gentle hand, and the earth restored to her paradisiacal state. But this is a romantic imagination which we can never expect to see verified in fact; or if it were, Charity would then become not a virtue, nor scarcely a science: for there is no difficulty in knowing how to behave where everybody behaves friendly, and the sweets of such a conduct all around us must raise a pressing appetite and draw us into it whether we will or no. Therefore our business in this state of imperfection and trial lies in learning how to preserve our Charity entire amidst an uncharitable world, to retain our good-will while forced by necessity or prudence to act contrary thereto, to accommodate it to the usages and circumstances about us, and render it feasible in practice rather than plausible in theory. Yet the introduction of an Utopian state may be our aim without being our expectation; and what little approaches we can make in the progress towards it, will be an advantage well worth our gaining. For so far as mutual good-will and communion of interests obtains in any little society, or among a few persons, it creates a mutual trust and confidence, relieves them from the necessity of guarding against encroachments by one another, enables them, by their joint endeavors, to strike out more lights and procure themselves more conveniences and pleasures, than they could have done singly; and answers all the same purposes, though in a far lower degree, as if it were general throughout the species. Neither is a sincere Charity unprofitable to a man's self, though it were to meet with no returns in kind: for it enlarges the understanding, purifies the mental eye, and clears the judgment. Most of our errors arise from a narrow partiality to our own interests and humors; we do not see things in the same light when the case is our own as in another's. If my hogs break into my neighbor's corn, it is an accident, and such things ought not to be minded between friends: but if his hogs break into mine, then the case is altered, for he ought to have yoked them, and it is but reasonable that he should pay for his negligence. But to those whom we heartily love, we shall heartily wish well, and judge as favorably in their case as in our own: and if we bore a sincere good-will to our fellowcreatures as such, we should judge equitably upon them all, regarding solely the merits of the cause without respect to the difference of persons; and this would teach us an impartiality and calmness in matters relating to ourselves. It is commonly said that a stander-by sees more of the game than he that plays, because the passions of the player are interested, which raises an eagerness that blinds his judgment: and for the like reason many people can give better advice than they can follow; for our concern for another proceeds from reason and good-nature, passion has no share in it, therefore we can often see clearer into his affairs than we can in our own. If we could inure ourselves to take concern in the evils befalling others, and seek for alleviations and comforts with the same heartiness as for ourselves, we should find them more readily than we could in our own case; because we should not have the pungency of the smart to confuse our ideas, and prevent reflection from taking its full and fair scope: we might then weigh the value of distant good in a just balance, see its desirableness, and acknowledge a present pain eligible that works out a greater advantage: we should be more at leisure and better qualified to examine what benefits may result from a suffering, and be able to find a spice of comfort even in probabilities. As the mind is more ready to hope well for those to whom we wish well, and quicker in remarking the success of persons in whose enjoyments we can sympathize, we might learn a greater facility in augurating for the best, without that anxiety and dread which seizes us upon just possible dangers hanging over ourselves, and should discern a much more copious flood of the divine bounty than the selfish and narrow-minded can ever conceive. For we can judge more calmly upon hurts we see than those we feel, and |