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Show PiJW£r. Book II. will:lince that which is future,will certainly come to be prefent; and then having (he .fame advantuge of nearnefs, will fhcw its felf in its full dimcnftons, and difcover his wilful mifiake, who judged of it by unequal meafur~ s. Were the Pleafure of Drinking accompanied, the very moment a Mao taltes otfhis Glafs, with that lick Stomach, and akeing Head, which in fome Men are fure to follow not many hours after, I think no body, whatever Pleafure he had in his Cups, would, on thefe Conditions, ever let Wine touch his Lips; which yet he gaily fwallows, and the evil fide comes to be chofen only by the fallacy of a little difference in time. But if Pleafureor Pain can be fo lelfened only by a few hours removal, how much more will itlbe 10,by a furtberdifiance,toa Man, that will not (by 3 due conlidj:Tation,do,what time will, i.e. bring it home upon himfe!Ocon. lider it as prefent, and there take its true dimenlions? This is the way we ufually impofe on oor felvcs, in ref pod of bare P!eafure and Pain, on he truedegre~s of_Happinefs or Mifery: The future !ofes its jufi proportion, and what 1S prefent,obtams tbe preference as the greater. I mention not here the wrong Judgment, whereby the abfent are not only lelfened but 'reduced to perfect nothing ; ·when Men enjoy what they can in prefent and make fureofdmt,concluding amifs, That no evil will thence fOllow~ For that lies not in comparing the greatnefs of future Good and Evil which is that we are bere fpeakiog of: But in allllther fort of wrong Judg: ment, which isconcerning Good or Evil,, as it is confidered , to be the caufeandprocuremento! Pleafure or Pam, that will follow fromit. §. 41·. The <A•fo •f wr judg,J•g amifs , when we compare our prerent: PJeafureor Pain with future, feems rome to be the weal and 11arrDif! CMj/irotiows •! •Nr Milllir. We cannot well enjoy two Pleafures at once, much lefs any Pleafure almoft, whilft Pain poife!les us. The prefent Plea· fure, irit be not very languid, and almofi none at all, fills our narrow Soul~, and fo takes up all our Minds, that it three leaves any thought of thmgs abfeot: Or 1f many ofour Pleafures ate'not firong enough to ex• elude the conlideration of things lit a diftance; yet we have fo ~reat an aiXlorreoce ofP"io, that a little of it dtinguithes all our Pleafures. A little btttermmgled m our Olp, le~'ics no relifh of the fweet: and hence it ccmcs, that at any rate we delire to be rid of the prefent Evil, whidt we are .apt to dunk nothmg abfent ean equal ; Iince while the Pain remains, we tind not our telv~ capable of ~ny th~ !call: degree ofHappinefs. Hence 1vefec the prefent Patn, any one futfers, lS always the wortl:; and 'tis with angut!h they cry out, A•y •ther rather tha• tbis; nathint. can !Jefo int .. leraNeaswhatinow foffer. And therefore our whole Endeavours and Thoughts are intent to get rid of the prefent Evil befo11e all things as the fir!l:necelfary fiep !"Wards Happinefs, let what will follow. Not,hing, as Weip>.iliomtely dunk, can exceed, or a! molt equal the Pain we feel : and becaufe the abfimence !rom a prefent •Pieafure that offers it felf. is a fort of ∈ nay, oftenttmes a 'very gr~t one, 'tis no wonder tha~ that operates aft..-the fame manner Pain does, and !elfensin our Thouahts what IS future, and fo fOrces us, as it were, blindfold into its embmc~s. Thus much of the wrong Judgment we make of preknt and future Pleafure and Pain, when they are compared together; and fo the abfent confidered .as future. § .. 41: II. A<t• thi•gs g••d or ~.din theirCanfequences, and by the apt• :netS IS m tl•em to procure us good or Evtl m the future we judge amifi {everaJ :ways. ' ·!· When we judge that fo much Evil does not really depend on them, .as m trullh there<loeo. •. when Chap. XXI. Po-wer. •· When we judge, that though the Ccnfcquecce te of that mcmcnt yet it is not of that certainty, but that it may otberwife fall out. or elf.; by fome means be avoided, as by indufhy, addrefs, change, rep~ntance, &c. But that rhefe arc wrong ways of JUdgmg, were eafie to fhew in every particular,. if I would examine thenut large liqgly; but I U10U on• .1}' mentton tins tn general, w z. That It IS a very wrong, and irrational way ofprocecding,to venture a greater Good and Evil, for a lefs, upon uncer· tam guelfes, and before due, and through examination, as far as a Man's knowledge can, by any endeavollTs or atlifiance, attain. This, 1 think, every one mufi confcfs, efpecially if he confiders the ufual Caufts of this >vrong, J•dgment, whereof thefe following are fome. §. 4~· I. lt.norance : He that judge~ without informing himfelf to the utmoll that he 1s capable, cannot acqutt lnmfelf of judging amifs. ll.lwadvertenq: When a Man overlooks even that which he doeslmow. This is an afle:ted and prefent Ignorance, which miOeads our Judgments, os muclt a< the other. Judgmg IS, as 1t were, balanctng an account, and determining on which fide the odds lies. If therefore eithC!l lide be hndlcd up in hal1e, and feveral of the Summs, that fltould bave gone into the reckoning, be overlook'd and left out, this Precipitancy caufes as wrong a Judgment, as 1f tt were a per fed: Ignorance. That which mofi commonly caufes this, is the pre valency of f<>me prefenJ• Plcafure, heightoed by our feeble patlionate Nature, mo!l_.firongly \1\rought on by what is prefent. To check this Precipitancy, our Underfianding and Reafon was given us, if we will make a right ufe of it, t<r{earch, and fee, and then judgc,thereupon. How much !loth and negligence, heat and paf. lion , the prevalency of faflrion, or acquired indifpolitions, do feverally contribute, on occalion to thefe wrong Judgments, I fhall not here far· ther eoquire. 1 , • • • &.45.l1tis, l think,is eertain,That the. choice of the Will is every-where determined by .the greater apparent Good,howcver it may be wrong reprc• fented by the Underfianding; and it• would.be ~mpoflible Men ihould purfue fo dilfcnint Courfes as they ·do. in the World, had they oot dilfc~ ent Meafurcs of Good and Evil. But yet Morality, efiablifhed upon tts true Foundations, cannot but determine the Choice in any one that will but confider : and he that will no~ be fo far a 'rariooal Creatwe, as to refle::l ferioufly upon infinite Happintfs and Mifery, mufi needs condemn himfelf, as not making that ufe of his Underfianding he fhould. The Rewards and Punithments of another Life, which the-Almighty has cfiabliflJeJ as the Enlorcements of his Law, are of weight enough to determine the Cltoice, againfi whatever Pleafure or Pain this Life .can fhew, whtn the eternal Sme i• conftdered in its bare po(ijbilify, whichoo Body can deny. He tint 'will allow exquifite and endlefs Happinefs .tob~ bu~ the pofltble confequence of a good Life- llere, or the contrary fiate the pofTible Reward of a bad one, mull: own himfclf. to judge very much amifs, if he does not conclude, That a vertuous Life, with the certain expeobtion of everlalling Blifs, which may come, is tQ l>e preferred to a vic. ous one, with the kar of that dreadful !late of Mifery, which 'tis very pollible may overtake the guilty; or at befi the terrible uncertain hope of Anml11lation. This is evidently fo, though the vertuous Life here had nothing bur Pain, anl the vicious continual pleafurc; ·which yeti~ lor the mofi part quiteotherwifc, and wicked Men have not much the odds to brag of, even in their prcfent polfcflion; nay, 131! things rightly confidered, have, I tbink even the worfe part here. But when infinite Happinefs is• put i<1 one Scale, againfi infinite Mifery in the other; if the · S worfl . |