PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 
approbation, yet it can never, vtliile the 
mind rests with tliis explicit regard to self, 
produce the noblest kind of virtue which 
claims our highest love and esteem. We 
account him a wise man who is wise for 
himself; and if he prosecute his end through 
difficulties and temptation^ his character is 
far superior to that of the man who having 
the same end in view, is continually start- 
ing out of the road from an attachment to 
his appetites and passions, and doing every 
day what he knows he shall heartily repent. 
— Yet, after all, this wise man whose 
thoughts and cares are all centered ulti- 
mately in himself, who indulges even his 
social and divine affections only with a view 
■to his own good, is not the man whom we 
cordially esteem, nor who possesses the 
noble elevation of mind which commands 
our admiration. Our coi'dial esteem and 
admiration are due, are given, only to him 
whose sold is not contracted within itself, 
but embraces a more extensive object; who 
loves religion, not for her dowry only, but 
for her own sake; whose benevolence is 
not selfish, but generous and disinterested ; 
who, forgetful of himself, has the com- 
mon good at heart not as a means only, 
but as an end; w'ho_ abhors what God and 
conscience condemn, however attractive its 
appearance ; who chooses, without hesita- 
tion, what God and conscience approve, 
though surrounded with ten-fold dangers.— 
Such a man we esteem the perfect man, 
compared with whom, he who has no other 
aim than good to himself, is a mean and 
despicable character.— To serve God and 
be useful to mankind without any concern 
about our own good and happiness, is pro- 
bably beyond the pitch of human nature. 
But to serve God and to be useful to men, 
merely to obtain good to ourselves, or to 
avoid ill, is imperfect service, and not of 
lliat liberal natui c which true devotion and 
real virtue require. 
60. Though we miglit be apt to think, 
that lie has the best chance for happiness 
who has no other end of his deliberate ac- 
tions hut his own good, yet a little consi- 
deration will satisfy us of the contrary. A 
concern for our own good is not a principle 
that of itself gives any enjoyment ; on the 
contrary, it is apt to fill the mind with fear, 
and care, and anxiety. And these conco- 
mitants of this principle often give pain 
and uneasiness, which counterbalance the 
good they have in view. We may compare, 
in point of present happiness, two imagina- 
ry characters, the first, of the. man who has 
no other ultimate end of his deliberate ac- 
tions than his own good, and who has no 
regard to religion and duty but as means to 
that end: the second, of the man who is 
not indifl'erent with regard to his own good, 
but has another ultimate end, (perfectly 
consistent with it) a disinterested love of 
goodness for its own sake, or a regard to 
duty as an end. Comparing these two cha- 
racters in point of happiness, that we may 
give all possible advantage to the selfish 
principle, we shall suppose the man who is 
actuated solely by it, to be so far enlighten- 
ed as to see it his interest to live soberly, 
righteously, and piously iii the world, and 
tiiat he follows the same course of conduct 
from the motive of his own good only, 
which the other does, in a great measure, 
or in some measure, from a sense of duty. 
Tlie one labours for hire, without any love 
to the work ; the other loves the work, hud 
thinks it the most noble and the most ho- 
nourable he can be employed in. In the 
first it is mortification and self-denial to 
which he submits only through necessity ; 
to the other it is victory and triumph in the 
most honourable warfare. — It ought further 
to be considered, that though wise men have 
concluded tliat virtue is the only road to 
I'.appiness, and the commands of a benevo- 
lent Creator necessarily lead us to consider 
it as such ; yet he who follows it only as a 
means to an end, and who obeys God onl*' 
for the sake of the rewards he has attachcti 
to obedience, would, in all probability, be 
continually wandering from the direct path, 
and seeking for happiness where it was not 
to iie found. — The road to duty is so plain, 
that the man who seeks it with an upright 
heart cannot greatly wander from it ; but 
the road to happiness, (except wisere that 
confidence in the Supreme Being is formed, 
which supposes the pious affectious to have 
become disinterested) would be found dark 
and intricate, full of thorns and dangers, 
and therefore not to be trodden without 
fear, and care, and peiplexify.— llie happy 
man, therefore, is not he whose happiness is 
his only care ; but he who wdth perfect re- 
signation leaves the care of his happiness to 
his Maker, while he pursues with ardour tlie 
road of his duty. This gives an elevation to 
his mind which is real happiness ; instead of 
care, and fear, and anxiety, and disappoint- 
ment, it brings peace and joy. It gives a 
relish to every good we enjoy ; it smoothes 
the brow of distress, calms the perturbed 
mind, and makes the pillow of suffering and 
of death the rest of happiness. 
