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

Human Happiness.
3ame sum of money: yet their sati~faction, so far as
fortune is concerned in it, will be very different: the
series and sum total of their incoIne being the sam~
it makes a wide difference at which end they begin.
F ou R TH, Happiness consists in health.
By health I understand, as well freedom frol!l bodi-·
ly distempers, as that tranquility, firmness, and alac.
rity of mind, which we call good spirits; and which
may properly enough be included in our notion of
health,as depending commonly tlpt)n the same cause~4
and yielding to the same inanagement; as our bodily
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CODsUtUUOD. .
Health, io this ~·ense, is the one thing needful..
Therefore no pain~, expen~, self-denial, or restraint,
to which we subjec.r our.;elves, for the sake of healt~
is too much- 1.:Vhether it require us to relinqui: h lucl4tive
situ?.~~i~)n~.~ to 2t~staill from fuvourit~ induLgences,
to control intemperate p~~ions, or undergo
tediou~ regimens; whatever difficuhies it jays us UDder,
a man who pursues his happiness ratitJllally· and
resolutely, will be contpDt to s~bmit to.
When \ve are in perfect health and spirits, we feel
in ourselves a happiness independent of any particu·
lar outward gratification whatever, and of which we
can give no account. Thi~ is an enjoyment which the
Deity has annexed to life; and probably constitutes,
in a great measute, the happi~ess of infants and brutes,
especially of the lower and :,edentary orders of animals,
as of oy~ters, periwinkles, and the like; for which I
have sometimes been at a loss to find out amu ement.
The above account of human h.appines!; will jU5tify
the two following conclusions, which, alr,aoug~ found.
in most books of morality, have seldom, I thiGk~_ bP.en .
supported by any sufficient reasons.
First, That happiness i.: pretty equally distrihuted
am.ongst the different orders of civil society.
Second, That vic!! has no advantage over virtue,
~ven w:th re~pect to this world's happiness.
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