61

CHAPTER VII.

PHILOSOPHY IS THE GUIDE OF LIFE.

F it be true," says the ancient philosopher "that the Understanding and the Will are the two eminent faculties of the reasonable soul, it follows necessarily that WISDOM and VIRTUE must be the perfection of our reasonable being, and consequently the un

deniable foundation of a happy life."

The ancients divided Philosophy into three classes-Moral, Natural, Rational. The first concerns our manners, the second regards the works of Nature, and the third furnishes us with propriety of words and arguments, and the faculty of distinguishing right from wrong. PHILOSOPHY is the art and law of life, which teaches us what to do in all cases. In men's weakness it gives the security of holiness, in sickness it is a never-failing remedy; for whatsoever eases the mind is profitable to the body. The physician may prescribe diet and exercise, and accommodate his medicine to the disease; but can he cure the wounded soul? No; but philosophy can.

In poverty philosophy gives us riches, or such a state of mind that makes them superfluous; for it arms us against all difficulties. Philosophy relieves the infirm, shows the ignorant their errors, and rectifies their affections. It rouses us when we are faint and drowsy; it binds up what is loose, and humbles in us that which is contumacious. Philosophy delivers the mind from the bondage of the body, and raises it up to the contemplation of its Divine Original.

When the mind is tinctured with philosophy there is no place

for grief, anxiety, or superfluous vexations. It is prepossessed with virtue to the neglect of fortune, which brings it to a degree of security not to be disturbed; it gives contentment, and induces man to look upon his own lot in life as one of the best. Though it does not pretend to make man succeed in everything he undertakes, yet it teaches him this:-That what he UNDERTAKES to Do he must DO WELL.

The ancients have three degrees of Philosophy. First, those men who come within SIGHT of it, but not up to it; for they have learnt what they ought to do, but they have not sufficient power to put their knowledge into practice.

66

A second are those who govern their appetites for a season," but who are constantly falling back upon their badly acquired habits.

A third, those who are free from many vices, but not all. They are not covetous, but over-ambitious; firm enough in some cases, but weak in others.

Philosophy teaches man VIRTUE; for it is that perfect good that makes up the complement of a happy Life. Virtue is sociable and gentle; free, steady, and fearless; full of inexhaustible delights—an invincible greatness of mind not to be elevated or dejected by good or ill fortune; for the seat of it is a pure and holy spirit.

"If one," says Socrates, "could but see the mind of a good man, as it is illustrated with virtue-its beauty! its majesty !— would not a man bless himself at the sight of such an object, as he would at the encounter of some supernatural power-a power that has a charm upon the souls of those who are truly affected by greatness?" For however bad a man may be, there is something in his nature that makes him reverence the holy

THE GUIDE OF LIFE.

63

and the good-he has a respect for that which he cannot, or will not, practise himself. If he has no love of virtue, he respects the virtuous.

Philosophy teaches us that he that would live happily must neither trust to good fortune nor succumb to bad. He must rely upon himself, without depending upon other people.

PHILOSOPHY tells us that nothing can be good which gives neither greatness nor security to the mind; that Virtue dwells not upon the tip of the tongue, but in the temple of a purified heart; that Virtue is free and indefatigable, and accompanied by concord and gracefulness; whereas vanity or vice is mean, transitory, sickly, and scarce outlives the tasting of it; that it is by the impulse of virtue that we love virtue; so that the way to virtue is by virtue, which embraces the LAWS of HUMAN LIFE.

Virtue raises us above grief, hopes, fears, and chances; and makes us not only patient but willing. He that possesses it not can ill grapple with dangers, necessities, adversity, or the dissolution that awaits us all! Wealth, honour, and power may come upon a man by chance, but virtue is the work of industry and labour; and it is certainly worth our pains to labour hard to purchase that good which brings all others with it—the GLORY of a VIRTUOUS MIND!

PHILOSOPHY tells us that a good man is happy within himself and independent of fortune; that he is KIND to his friends, TEMPERATE to those who wrong him, scrupulously JUST, indefatigably LABORIOUS, and discharges all his duties with constancy and cheerfulness. PHILOSOPHY warns us that there is no avarice without punishment over and above that which it is to itself, for money is a greater torment in the possession than it is in the pursuit; that the fear of losing it is a great trouble -the loss of it a greater and the fear of the one or the other is the gnawing worm that keeps us ever in disquiet.

PHILOSOPHY tells us that parents train up their children to an admiration of wealth and the power of gold, and the love of it grows with them; instead of training up a child to do his duty in whatever sphere he may be placed, as RICHES that give PEACE to the HEART will follow. Poverty is painted as a curse, and thus they turn the greatest misery of mankind into the greatest blessing; for if they that run mad after wealth and pomp could but look into the hearts of those who possess them, how would they startle to see those hideous cares and crimes that wait upon ambitious greatness-the vicissitudes of fortune, and the awful depths of degradation to which speculation reduces

man.

PHILOSOPHY gently hints that honesty is fair and even, as is virtue; but the road to ill-gotten greatness is rugged and craggy; traversing precipices with gulfs on every side; that ill-gotten riches lead to trouble, and the very causes of sorrow are made the objects of delight.

PHILOSOPHY tells us that honours, emoluments, and all the works of vanity and ambition are destroyed by time; but that the reputation of wisdom is venerable to posterity; that those men who were neglected in their lives are adored in their memories, and, though dead, still live in the heart of ages, having left a halo of glory round their names; and, like the oases in the wilderness, their words and actions still cheer us on in life, ease our anxieties, and, by following their bright example, we "chase away the idle phantoms that all but frighten us to death." In distress PHILOSOPHY breathes comfort. Be cheerful and vigilant; do thy duty; "let God's will be done on earth ;" and the echo from heaven is-AMEN!

PHILOSOPHY tells us that the true felicity of life is to

THE GUIDE OF LIFE.

65

be free from perturbations; to understand our duties towards God and man, and to enjoy the present without any anxious dependence upon the future; not to be too strong in Hopes nor too weak in Fears, but to be reasonably satisfied with what we justly possess; that Tranquillity is a certain equality of mind which no condition of fortune can either exalt or depress, for it is the state of HUMAN PERFECTION; as it raises us as high as we can go, and makes every man his own supporter.

To have a TRANQUIL MIND, therefore, is the first step to happiness, for it ensures a constancy in all conditions—a care for the things of this world, a care not amounting to a trouble; a lukewarm indifference for the bounties of Fortune, that either with them or without them we may live contentedly.

A SOUND MIND knows no fear, for he that fears, serves; it knows no lamentations, nor grumbling, nor sloth. The cheerfulness of the man of sound mind is great, for it is like the resolution of a brave man that has Fortune under his feet. "He," says Socrates, "that can look Death in the face and bid it welcome; he that bridles his own appetite and opens his door to poverty, is the man whom God has established in the possession of inviolable delights." The pleasures of folly are vain and unsubstantial; but the delight of wisdom is solid and eternal. A PEACEFUL CONSCIENCE, HONEST THOUGHTS, VIRTUOUS ACTIONS, and an INDIFFERENCE to CASUAL EVENTS, are blessings without end, satiety, or measure.

This consummated state of felicity is only in harmony with the dictate of right nature; the fountain of it is wisdom and virtue; the knowledge of WHAT WE OUGHT TO DO and what we ought NOT to do, and the conformity of the will to that knowledge.

Men are vicious for the profit of villany, for conscience within condemns the act which they have just committed. So kind is God that every man has the light of virtue within him for a guide, which we all feel and acknowledge, though we do not follow it. It is this that makes the sick bed of the man of God