PART VI. The idea of that divine Being, whofe benevolence and wifdom have, from all eternity, contrived and conducted the immenfe machine of the univerfe, fo as at all times to produce the greateft poffible quantity of happiness, is certainly of all the objects of human contemplation by far the most fublime. Every other thought neceffarily appears mean in the comparison. The man whom we believe to be principally occupied in this fublime contemplation, feldom fails to be the object of our highest veneration; and though his life fhould be altogether contemplative, we often regard him with a fort of religious refpect much fuperior to that with which we look upon the most active and useful fervant of the commonwealth. The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus, which turn principally upon this fubject, have contributed more, perhaps, to the general admiration of his character, than all the different tranfactions of his juft, merciful, and beneficent reign. The administration of the great fyftem of the universe, however, the care of the univerfal happiness of all rational and sensible beings, is the bufinefs of God and not of man. To man is allotted a much humbler department, but one much more fuitable to the weakness of his powers, and to the narrowness of his comprehenfion; the care of his own happiness, of that of his family, his friends, his country: that he is occupied in contemplating the more fublime, can never be an excufe for his neglecting the more humble department; and he must not expofe II. pofe himself to the charge which Avidius Caffius SE C T. is faid to have brought, perhaps unjustly, against Marcus Antoninus; that while he employed himfelf in philofophical fpeculations, and contemplated the profperity of the universe, he neglected that of the Roman empire. The moft fublime fpeculation of the contemplative philofopher can scarce compenfate the neglect of the fmalleft active duty. VOL. I. FE SEC. PART THE SECTION III. OF SELF-COMMAND. HE man who acts according to the rules of perfect prudence, of ftrict juftice, and of proper benevolence, may be faid to be perfectly virtuous. But the most perfect knowledge of thofe rules will not alone enable him to act in this manner: his own paffions are very apt to mislead him; fometimes to drive him and fometimes to feduce him to violate all the rules which he himfelf, in all his fober and cool hours, approves of. The moft perfect knowledge, if it is not, fupported by the moft perfect felf-command, will not always enable him to do his duty. Some of the best of the ancient moralists seem to have confidered thofe paffions as divided into two different claffes: firft, into those which it requires a confiderable exertion of felf-command to restrain even for a fingle moment; and fecondly, into those which it is easy to restrain for a fingle moment, or even for a short period of time; but which, by their continual and almoft inceffant folicitations, are, in the course of a life, very apt to mislead into great deviations. Fear and anger, together with fome other paffions which are mixed or connected with them, conftitute the firft clafs. The love of eafe, of pleasure, of applaufe, and of many III. other felfish gratifications, conftitute the fecond. SE C T. Extravagant fear and furious anger, it is often difficult to reftrain even for a fingle moment. The love of eafe, of pleasure, of applause, and other selfish gratifications, it is always eafy to reftrain for a fingle moment, or even for a fhort period of time; but, by their continual folicitations, they often mislead us into many weakneffes which we have afterwards much reafon to be afhamed of. The former fet of paffions may often be faid to drive, the latter, to feduce us from our duty. The command of the former was, by the ancient moralifts above alluded to, denominated fortitude, manhood, and ftrength of mind; that of the latter, temperance, decency, modefty, and moderation. The command of each of those two sets of paffions, independent of the beauty which it derives from its utility; from its enabling us upon all occafions to act according to the dic tates of prudence, of justice, and of proper benevolence; has a beauty of its own, and feems to deferve for its own fake a certain degree of efteem and admiration. In the one cafe, the ftrength and greatnefs of the exertion excites fome degree of that efteem and admiration. In the other, the uniformity, the equality and unremitting fteadiness of that exertion. The man who, in danger, in torture, upon the approach of death, preferves his tranquillity unaltered, and fuffers no word, no gefture to efcape him which does not perfectly accord with the feelings of the most indifferent spectator, necef EE 2 VI. PART neceffarily commands a very high degree of admiration. If he fuffers in the cause of liberty and juftice, for the fake of humanity and the love of his country, the most tender compaffion for his fufferings, the strongest indignation against the injuftice of his perfecutors, the warmeft fympathetic gratitude for his beneficent intentions, the higheft fenfe of his merit, all join and mix themselves with the admiration of his magnanimity, and often inflame that fenti. ment into the most enthufiaftic and rapturous veneration. The heroes of ancient and modern history, who are remembered with the most peculiar favour and affection, are many of them, thofe who, in the caufe of truth, liberty, and justice, have perished upon the fcaffold, and who behaved there with that eafe and dig nity which became them. Had the enemies of Socrates fuffered him to die quietly in his bed, the glory even of that great philofopher might poffibly never have acquired that dazzling fplendour in which it has been beheld in all fucceeding ages. In the English history, when we look over the illuftrious heads which have been engraven by Vertue and Howbraken, there is fcarce any body, I imagine, who does not feel that the axe, the emblem of having been beheaded, which is engraved under fome of the moft illuftrious of them; under those of the Sir Thomas Mores, of the Raleighs, the Ruffels, the Sydneys, &c. fheds a real dignity and intereftingness over the characters to which it is affixed, much fuperior to what they can derive from |