98 On RICHES, 
radife ; they deceive us to the very end of life : under their in- 
fluence we never difcover the means of happinefs, much lefs 
the end. Well regulated paflions, and the joys of religion, 
are things to which large poffefTions feldom contribute. Virtue 
is confeffedly our fupreme felicity : but that condition of life 
which experience proves to be moft aftiftant to virtue, is not 
therefore moft coveted. The reafon is plain. Too much at- 
tention to the means of obtaining worldly goods ; or too great 
confidence and complacency in the pofteftion of them, give the 
mind a wrong bias. Hence rich men are oftentimes vicious, 
who probably might have been virtuous in an humble fortune. 
And hence arofe that declaration, in the hyperbolical ftrain of 
the eaftern languages, that “ fooner fhall a cable go thro’ the 
“ eye of a needle, than a rich man enter into the kingdom of 
“ heaven !” — Heaven forbid it fhould be literally true ! Large 
pofteftions are sometimes the fecret fpring of diffufive virtues ; 
and we may fay, “ Blefted is the rich who is found without ble- 
“ mish, and hath not gone after gold.” True greatnefs of mind 
confifts in mediocrity of enjoyment, and is not dependent ei- 
ther on riches or poverty. Indeed men’s minds differ much in 
this refpedh As the phyftcian who prefcribes without feeing his 
patient, may be more eaftly miftaken than he who watches the 
fymptoms of the difeafe, fo the philofopher, or divine, ought to 
conftder what kinds, or quantities of their medicines, ought to 
be applied in particular cafes. But ftill I muft fay, that to put 
us above temptation, or to keep temptation the further from 
us, the petition, “ Remove far from me vanity and lies.; 
<c give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food 
<( convenient for me,” is a wife prayer ; and men of eafy cir- 
cumftances, 
