278 
THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 
The distinctions of civil life are apt enough to be re¬ 
garded as evils, by those who sit under them: but, in my 
opinion, with very little reason. 
In the first place, the advantages which the higher con¬ 
ditions of life are supposed to confer, bear no proportion in 
value to the advantages which are bestowed by nature. 
The gifts of nature always surpass the gifts of fortune. 
How much, for example, is activity better than attendance; 
beauty than dress; appetite, digestion, and tranquil bowels, 
than all the studies of cookery, or than the most costly 
compilation of forced or far-fetched dainties? 
Nature has a strong tendency to equalisation. Habit, 
the instrument of nature, is a great leveller; the familiari¬ 
ty which it induces, taking off the edge both of our plea¬ 
sures and our sufferings. Indulgences which are habitual 
keep us in ease, and cannot be carried much farther. So 
that, with respect to the gratifications of which the senses 
are capable, the difference is by no, means proportionable 
to the apparatus. Nay, so far as superfluity generates 
fastidiousness, 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 they ought to be. Moneij is the sweetener of human 
toil, the substitute for coercion, the reconciler of labor 
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 afflu¬ 
ence, when possessed, contribute nothing to happiness, or 
nothing beyond the mere supply of necessaries; and the 
secret should come to be discovered; we might be in dan¬ 
ger 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 in peril by the 
want of a motive to attach men to their private concerns; 
but the satisfaction which all men receive from success in 
their respective 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 honors which apply solely to sentiment and imagina¬ 
tion, 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 
