sionate thing, but an impartial, disinterested, and uncaptivated nature. Nevertheless, we have not wanted instances, in cases extraordinary, of a God appearing as it were miraculously upon the stage, and manifesting himself in taking immediate vengeance upon notorious malefactors, or delivering his faithful servants from imminent dangers or evils threatened; as the same is often done also by a secret and undiscerned overruling of the things of nature. But the periods of Divine Providence here in this world are commonly longer, and the evolutions thereof slower. "Divine Justice steals on softly with woollen feet, but strikes at last with iron hands." The evolution of the world is a truer poem; and we men actors upon the stage, who, notwithstanding, insert something of our own into the poem too; but God Almighty is that skilful dramatist who always connecteth that of ours, which went before, with what of his follows after, into good coherent sense, and will at last make it appear that a thread of exact justice did run through all, and that rewards and punishments are measured out in geometrical proportion. Cudworth. Esculapius, as we commonly speak, has prescribed such a one Riding out, Walking in his Slippers, or a Cold Bath. Now, much to the same meaning, we may affirm that Providence, or the Soul of the Universe, has ordered this or that Person a Disease, loss of Limbs or Estate, or some other Calamity. These Doses are often unpalatable and rugged; and yet the desire of Health makes them go merrily down. Now that which Nature esteems Profit and Convenience, should be no less valued than your own Health. And, therefore, when any cross Accident happens, take it quietly to you, 'tis for the good of the Universe, and Jupiter himself is the better for it. Antoninus. In the outward course of events we are often ready to see the hand of God in great things, but refuse to own it in small. In like manner it often happens that they, who in heavy trials look wholly to God for strength and support, will in lesser matters trust to themselves. This is the source of the weakness and inconsistency betrayed by many, who yet on great occasions will act rightly. Hare. How idle it is to call certain things godsends! as if there were any thing else in the world. ib. We knew not how God would dispose of us when we came into the world, we know not how he will dispose of us when we go out of it; but since he dealt so bountifully with us why may he not do so again. The very dogs that wait at our trenchers upbraid us with this diffidence, when, after two or three meal's meat, and one day's sport, they cheerfully follow us without any distrust at the first whistling summons. Blount's Notes to Apollonius of Tyana. I. HAPPINESS. THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF THE GREATEST NUMBER. O. P. Q., in the Morning Chronicle, is a clever fellow. He is for the greatest possible happiness for the greatest possible number, and for the longest possible time! So am I; so are you, and every one of us, I will venture to say, round the tea-table. But, don't you see the ridiculous absurdity of setting up that as a principle or motive of action, which is, in fact, a necessary and essential instinct of our very nature, an inborn and inextinguishable desire? How can creatures, susceptible of pleasure and pain, do otherwise than desire happiness? But what happiness? That is the question. A Chickasaw or Pawnee Bentham, or O. P. Q., would necessarily hope for the most frequent opportunities possible of scalping the greatest possible number of savages, for the longest possible time. There is no escaping this absurdity, unless you come back to a standard of reason and duty, imperative upon our merely pleasurable sensations. S. T. Coleridge. 1 |