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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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I eltever in the constant ^ superinteodauce oi' an infinitely wise and kind Providence , will naturally cherish ; and he will be led to this ' , bv a sense not merely of its propriety , but of its immediate and direct influence on his present enjoyments . Let the more serious afflictions of life then teach us
patience and resignation . As for the lighter grievances and petty miseries by which so many suffer their tempers to be raffled and their cheerfulness destroyed , let them be regarded as fitter subjects of a laugh or jest than of any graver reflections . A very
amusing book—which had a great run some y ears ago , but seems now almost forgotten . ' —the " Miseries of Human JLifri" may perhaps show us the right way of dealing with these minor troubles . To allow them to destroy one ' s
comfort would be the extreme of folly ; and to talk about philosophy or resignation in connexion with such trifles would be equally absurd ; the only method left therefore is to treat them with their own characteristic levity .
Another circumstance of great importance to human happiness , is a wise management and distribution of our habits . The capacity of acquiring habits , both bodily and mental , is a most important and valuable part pf our constitution . By its means we acquire and . continually improve our skill in those occupations which arc
to be the means of our subsistence or the source of our usefulness to our fellow-creatures ; and our various necessary employments become , through ithe operation of the same general principle , not only easy but agreeable to
us . Every thing however depends on the right . application of , this principle . It may minister to virtue or be made subservient to vice ; it may contribute to happiness or greatl y aggravate our misery , according aa it i $ wisely or injudiciously directed . The object
therefore in the regulation of our habits must be that those things be renr dered easy , and agreeable through frequent practice , which are most essentially requisite to our comfort and permanent well-being ; and that w , c jrender * our pleasures dependent , as
much a 9 possible , on those sources which . are most easily attainable . -Now all this maybe done by habit , Afofcbitof moderation in our desires will enable us to Hake as much delight inu the cheaper , ; more ordinary mean f gratification , as others do in those
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which are most difficuj fc to be procur e ^ In absolute enjoymentr we are nearlj upon a level ; but the difference m out favour consists in this , that our pleasures are more secure and perma
nent than theirs , and also that almost wery change is with us a ehange from contented tranquillity to a state of high enjoyment , while they , having foolishly placed their habitual station
at the summit of all , cannot rem ove from it without descending . Such then are some of those sources from which the wise and prudent man may , in oijdinary cases , depend . Hpon deriving an abundant and
secure ^ supply of happiness ; - —from innocent , or still better , from henefir cent , activity—from the exercise of the benevolent affections either t < v wards those with whom he is peculiarl y connected by t ^ ie ties of kindred or friendship , or as delighting in the more enlarged , expanded views of universal philanthropy ;—from a serene
and even temper , unruftled either by trifling offences -on the part of others , or by those petty miseries and vexations which occasionally occur to himself . From these , and such as these , the wise man may draw a never-failing supply of enjoyment . Not that he
is to be always in transport or extacy , for this is inconsistent with human nature , and indeed is not in itself desirably ; but a'steady , uniform cheerfulness and tranquillity which , from its
. permanence and security , will certainly furnish in the end a much greater sum of real happiness . The enumeration is not by any means complete ; Jfor such is the admirable constitution
of things * that , to the truly wise . 0 * aa , every object in nature , and almost $ yery circumstance of life , may be made the source of pleasure . All the provinces of external nature—all uie powers , desires and affections ? v }? his feli
own mind , will contribute to - city : the powers , of taste and imagination—the search after , and d ^ covery of , knowledge—the interest lie taM * in the events which diversifythe m * toryof hU species , —all these , an < T ? thousand other pleasures of tketmtfuj ' which , though » otfo ^/ can !» w * -uncertain state be : , monounqp * W * i i f f
- — - v- — — ^ ' s - , " ™ , ^ " — — t - — r > ¦ " W w * ' ' ^ MB ^^ fl lutel y iinpcsribh ^ bfe ; ^ i | 4 , fW $ W TJ within re ^ ch , nwy yf *^ W ^^ ^^ j general ftrmly mwr < $ »> # w J ^ d metn aai » just t £ Wf ! jli m mwi&W 9 *®* mOTjll h&ppu » UB 9 Q s vvrb r'W ^ - ^ rM
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3 IB Q _ n ^ k ? : ^ WK&& of H uman Happiness
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1816, page 318, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2453/page/10/
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