390 



ON HUMAN HAPPINESS. 



one of the most inteJig-ent circumnavigators of the present day, M. Von 

 Langsdorti, which he gives as the result of a personal and comprehensive 

 survey of different climates and countries : — " There is no creature upon the 

 earth, in any climate or zone, that bears such an enmity to its own species as 

 man. Let us only," says he, " cast our eyes over the history of the globe, 

 in the most barren wastes, and in the most fertile countries, in the smallest 

 islands, or on the most extensive continents, among the most savage as well 

 as the most cultivated nations, in short, in every part of the world, wherever 

 man exists, and we shall find him seeking to destroy his own species : 

 he is every where, hy nature, harsh and cruel. The observations we made 

 upon these newly-discovered islands (the Polynesian), which never, to the 

 best of our knowledge, had any intercourse with civilized nations, and whose 

 inhabitants may be considered as children of nature, and as still in their 

 original condition, afford remarkable examples in confirmation of these 

 assertions. 



" The sweet and tender feelings of affection and love, of friendship and 

 attachment, even that of parents towards their children, and of children to- 

 wards their parents, I have, alas ! very seldom found among a rude and un- 

 civilized people. The African hordes not only bring their prisoners taken in 

 battle, but their own children, to market. The same thing is done by the 

 Kirgis, the Kalmucs, and many other inhabitants of the north-western coast 

 of America; and here at Nakatiwa (one of the islands of the South Uesi) a 

 woman would very readily have given a child at her breast, which had been 

 asked by us in jest, in exchange for a piece of iron."* And he might have 

 added, that it was the exposure of British, or rather, perhaps, of Saxon, chil- 

 dren for slaves in the public market at Rome, as late as the close of the sixth 

 century, expressly sold for this purpose, by their own parents, at their own 

 homes, that first induced that excellent prelate. Pope Gregory I., to plan a 

 mission for the conversion of our barbarous forefathers to Christipxnity, from 

 the horror he felt at their conduct, and the pity with which he beheld the little 

 outcasts. 



In the view of history, therefore, as well as in the language of Scripture, 

 man, iii a state of nature, is prone to evil, and his heart is desperately wicked : 

 or as it is given most exquisitely in the poetical language of the Psalmist, 



" Behold the dark places of the earth 

 Are full of the habitcilions of cruelty '."f 



The sentiment, then, that exists in human nature in favour of virtue, or a 

 virtuous conduct, though general, is not universal, and, consequently, cannot 

 proceed from any original instincts or innate ideas. What, then, are the 

 other causes to which it has been ascribed by moralists 1 The intrinsic 

 loveliness of virtue itself. Because its attributes are generally useful and 

 agreeable. Because it conducts to human happiness. Because it is the will 

 of God. 



Now all these answers, however diversified, may be resolved into two 

 general ideas — human happiness, and the will of God : for we can only regard 

 that as lovely, or an object of love, which contributes to our happiness : and 

 we can only regard that as useful or agreeable which conduces to the 

 same end. 



The subject, therefore, becomes considerably narrowed, and the only sub- 

 stantial replies that appear capable of being given to the question. What is 

 the source of this general sentiment among mankind in favour of virtue ? are, 

 Because it is the path to happiness ; or. Because it is the will of God. 



But may not the subject be still farther narrowed, and both these replies be 

 resolved into one identical proposition ] may not human happiness and the 

 will of God be the same thing? If so, we shall then only have to inquire 

 farther, whether virtue be the real path to human happiness ? for if it be, then, 

 necessarily, he who pursues that path obeys the will of God. 



• Vod LangsdorfTs Voyages and Travels, ch vii. p. 139. 



t Psalm Ixxiv. 20. 



