How far an Affluence contributes to In a SERMON preached before the LUKE XII. 15. A Man's Life consisteth not in the Abundance of the Things which he possesseth. I Fa Man's Happiness (for Life in this SERM. VI. Abundance; then a Man would be happy in Proportion to what he has: An Assertion, which the Compass of every Man's Observation disproves. We find several, who have no confiderable Advantages, either of Fortune, or Honour, or Power, contented and easy; and several, who possess them all, yet extremely difcontented and miferable. This should in SERM. VI.cline us to think, that Happiness is chiefly feated within: That the Mind, as it is well or ill disposed, must endear the Relish ; or pall the Flavour, of every earthly Bleffing: that we must enjoy ourselves, before we can enjoy any Thing else. Men misplace their Discontent: They are very well fatisfied with what they are, They are only dissatisfied with what they have. Whereas the very Reverse ought generally to take place, and the only Defire which we ought to set no Bounds to, is that of encreasing in Goodness. A flender Allotment of worldly Blessings will content an easy, modeft, humble Frame of Mind: And no Allotment whatever, no Affluence how great foever, can fatisfy an uneasy, restless, fretful Temper, ever seeking Rest and finding none, making to itself Difquietudes, when it meets with none; and improving them when it does. A rational Way of thinking is therefore an essential Ingredient of Happiness. We must possess ourselves with just Apprehenfions of Things: We wind up our Imaginations too high; and Things, as they are in Nature, will never answer to the gay florid Ideas, which a luxuriant Fancy forms forms of them. The only Expedient SERM.VI. therefore is to take down our Fancy, and bring it to the Truth of Things and the Standard of Nature. Unless we do this, we can never be tolerably easy: For our Uneasiness, in the Absence of such Things, will be proportionable to the Good which we imagine them to have: But our Happiness, in the Poffeffion of them, will be only answerable to the Good that is really in them. The Consequence of which is, that the want of them may make us exquisitely unhappy; though the Fruition of them would be but a flender Addition to our Happiness. Confult then your Reafon : Cool unbiassed Reason will teach you the true intrinfic Value of all the Gifts of God, itself the most valuable of any. Whatever you admire beyond the real Proportion of Good that is in it, you will foon disrelish as much: But a just reasonable Value will be as unchanging as Reason itself: And Time, which wears off the specious gilding of each imaginary Good, brightens and improves the Sterling Lustre of real Blessings. An undisciplined Imagination may suggest, "O how happy should I "be, if I could compass such a Situation SERM.VI. " in Life!" But if calm Reason might be suffered to put in it's Plea, it would answer, " Why just as happy as those that are al" ready in Poffession of it, and that is, per" haps not at all." If you place your Happiness in moderating your Defires, you may be happy even now: But if you place it in enlarging your Poffeffions, you would not be happy even then. For, however soon your Views are terminated in Life's low Vale; yet, as foon as you stood upon higher Ground, your Profpect would be enlarged, and the Scene open upon you. As fast as new Streams of Wealth flowed in, the Channel would widen to take in more. Very remarkable are the Words of Solo mon, Every Man, says he, to whom God has given Riches and Wealth, and has given him Power to eat thereof, to take his Portion and to rejoice in his Labour: This is the Gift of God, i. e. To enjoy is the Gift of God, who is the Author of every good Gift, and the Object of every grateful Sentiment. He may give a Man the Power to get Wealth without the Art of enjoying or becoming it: He may give him the Materials of Happiness, Happiness, without giving him Wisdom to SERM.VI. be, what it only can be, the Architect of it. For though Fortune (a great Fortune) may be the Result of undesigning Chance, or a Concurrence of lucky Incidents; yet Happiness must be always, more or less, the Product of Design, Thought, and Reafon. Hence it comes to pass, that those, who are very fortunate, are not always very happy. We see how much a Man has, and therefore we, some of us, envy him: But we fee not, (what is often the Cafe) how little he enjoys; and therefore we do not pity him. And yet we might fee it too, if we did but observe him giving perhaps evident Proofs, that he does not enjoy himself by his constant Endeavours to forget himself in Variety of Company and Diversions, shifting the Scene, and hurrying from Place to Place, in such a perpetual Motion of Body; that nothing can exceed it, but, what it plainly shews, the Restlessness of his Soul: Nothing more irksom to him, than being long at Home ; except it be the entring into a nearer Home, his own Breast. Alas! Happiness is not a showy superficial Thing, that plays, for a while, upon the Imagination: Real Happiness, |