MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 39 



his nature, in every condition, to carry a burthen 

 equal to his strength. The changes of situation, 

 various as they are, are only a kind of shifting of the 

 load. 



Indeed, to think himself exempt from uneasiness, 

 is enough to give joy to a reasonable man; for the 

 enjoyment of pleasure is not attainable, nor is it re- 

 quired. The absence of pain, well managed, renders 

 our condition sufficiently happy.* 



Counterfeit Happiness. 



The world, in its best state, is nothing more than a 

 large assembly of beings, combining to counterfeit 

 happiness which they do not feel, employing every 

 art and contrivance to embellish life, and to hide 

 their real condition from one another. 



Tranquillity. 



Positive happiness being unattainable in this world, 

 mental tranquillity is all that should be aimed at, and 

 this can only be preserved by a strict adherence to 

 the true spirit of the Christian religion, (founded on 

 self-denial,) the existence of which, considering how 

 counter its precepts run to all the base, sensual, and 

 malignant passions of man, is in itself a daily miracle. 



The Miseries of Life. 



From this general and indiscriminate distribution 

 of misery, the moralists have always derived one of 

 their strongest arguments for a future state; for 

 since the common events of the present life happen 

 alike to the good or the bad, it flows from the jus- 



* The word happy is merely a relative term, and when we call 

 a man happy, we only mean that he is happier than some others 

 with whom we compare him, with the generality of others, or than 

 he himself was in some other condition. Happiness is an abstract 

 idea, and in reality means nothing. 



