PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

HU~lan HappitlclI. 37
the pleasures, lastly, of active sports, as of bunting,
shooting, fishing, &c. For,
1st, These pleasures continue but a little while at .
a time. This is true of them all, especially of the
gros~cr sort of them. Laying aside the preparation
and the etpectation, and computing strictly the actual
sensation, we shall be surpised to findf how inconsiderable
a portion of (,ur tilne they occupy, how
few hours in the four and twenty they are able to fill
up.
· · I h· I
It is a property of the machine, for which we·
2dly, These pleassres, by repetItIOn, ose t elr re ..
ish.
. know no remedy, that the organs, by which we perceive
pleasure, are blunted and benumbed, by being
frequently exercised in the same way. There is
hardly anyone wbo has not found the difference be·
tw"een a gratification, when new, and when familiar ;
or any pleasure, which does not be(:ome indifferent
as it grows habitual.
3dl" The eagerness for high and intense delights,
takes away the relish from all others; and as such
delights fall rarely in our way, the greater part of
our time becomes from this cause empty and uneasy.
There is hardly any delusion by which men are
greater sufferers in their happiness, than by their expecting
too much from what is called pleasure; that
is, from those intense delights, which vulgarly engross
the name of pleasure. The very expectation
spoils them. When they do come, we are often engaged
in taking pains to persuade ourselves how
much we ~re pleased, rather than enjoying any
pleasure which springs naturally out of the obJect.­
~nd whenever we depend upon being vastly delight.
ed, ~ always g? home secretly griev~d at missing
our aim. LikeWIse, as hath been observed just now,
when this humour of being prodigiously delighted
has once taken hold of the imagination, it hinders
us from .providing for, or acquiescing .in those gent~
Iy soothlDg engagements, the dU,e '\':)'l'lety and Stu:-