•282 THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 



Nature has a strong tendency to equalization. Habit, 

 the instrument of nature, is a great leveller ; the familiari- 

 ty which it induces, taking off the edge both of our pleasures 

 and our suffernigs. Indulgencies which are habitual keep 

 us in ease, and cannot be carried much further. So that, 

 with respect to the gratifications of which the senses are 

 capable, the diiference is by no means proportionable to the 

 apparatus. Nay, so far as superfluity generates fastidious- 

 ness, the difference is on the wrong side. 



It is not necessary to contend, that the advantages de- 

 rived from wealth are none, (under due regulations they 

 are certainly considerable) but that they are not greater than 

 the V ought to be. Money is the sweetener of human toil, 

 the substitute for coercion, the reconciler of labour with 

 liberty. It is, moreover, the stimulant of enterprise in all 

 projects and undertakings, as well as of diligence in the 

 most beneficial arts and employments. Now did affluence, 

 when possessed, contribute nothing to happiness, or noth- 

 ing beyond the mere supply of necessaries ; and the secret 

 should come to be discovered ; we might be in danger of 

 losing great part of the uses, which are, at present, derived 

 to us through this important medium. Not only would the 

 tranquillity of social life be put m peril by the want of a 

 motive to attach men to their private concerns ; but the sa- 

 tisfaction which all men receive from success in their res- 

 pective occupations, which collectively constitutes the great 

 mass of human comfort, would be done away in its very 

 principle. 



With respect to station, as it is distinguished from rich- 

 es, whether it confer authority over others, or be invested 

 with honours which apply solely to sentiment and imagin- 

 ation, the truth is, that what is gained by rising through 

 the ranks of life, is not more than sufficient to draw forth 

 the exertions of those who are engaged in the pursuits which 

 lead to advancement, and which, in general, are such as 

 ought to be encouraged. Distinctions of this sort are sub- 

 jects much more of competition than of enjoyment; and in 

 that competition their use consists. It is not, as hath been 

 rightly observed, by what the Lord Mayor feels in his coach, 

 but by what the apprentice feels who gazes at him, that the 

 public is served. 



As we approach the summits of human greatness, the 

 comparison of good and evil, with respect to personal com- 

 fort,becomes still more problematical ; even allowing to am- 

 bition all its pleasures. The poet asks, *' What is grandeur, 



