Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On One Of The Sources Of Human Happiness.
The definition of happiness , both among ancients and moderns , has not been transmitted to us in quite so perspicuous and logical a manner as the demonstrations of the contemporary of some of the former , ( Euclid ); nor is the source whence it is obtained marked out by any particular hand-post by which we may pursue the same track in search after it . Indeed , it is perhaps as well that there should not be such
distinctions and circumscribed limits , considering how various its sources are , and how dissimilar is the taste of different individuals in different climes . The European—the Asiatic , derive theirs from , perhaps , opposite springs . The civilized and the barbarous are probably as varied in their ideas of felicity as the shades which separate one caste of nation from another ; and each quarter of the globe , with all
its divisions and subdivisions , is peopled by beings whose happiness is concentered m objects and occupations as fecund in variety and character , as the several regions from which they take their impression of things in local affinity with themselves . This is a subject of such an unbounded nature , that thought might
speculate in surmises and conjectures upon its rise and progress in the heart , till pain would oblige us to forego the pleasure of thinking . But it is not my intention to walk the ground my predecessors have so skilfully and wisely trod before me ; my search is confined within a more simple and unlearned sphere , and 1 desire not to embitter present happiness , by the knowledge I might gain of its fugaciousness and
uncertainty , while thumbing the rescripts of philosophers and historians . It is sufficient that I have one record , wherein is taught the true and most lasting source of human happiness . Religion is , without dispute , to the good mind and feeling heart , the purest fountain of earthly joy ; yet to the young , revelling in the bounty of nature ' s gifts , it is not precisely the happiness I would wish to be understood . Youth cannot be
expected to enjoy the wisdom and gravity of age ; though I would not insinuate that forgetfulness of that dependence on invisible power , which all really feel , however they may think proper to deny it , should be any feature in its character . The wise Solomon , whom I have before quoted , saith , there is a time for every thing ; a time to love , and a time to worship Him who has sown in our hearts that seed which is most adapted to produce the
happiness for ivhich I have searched . Love is xhe key-stone of the sub-stratum on which relig ion is founded , and it is the source of human happiness . Those who possess it not , are to lie pitied ; they are the blots whicli deface the picture of humanity ; they are the stains which corrupt nature ' s handy workmanship— -the fallen tjom the divine image of their Creator . And what is it which kindles this angelic passion ? Woman—as God gave her to Adam-soft , gentle , credulous , simple-hearted , single-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On One Of The Sources Of Human Happiness.
The definition of happiness , both among ancients and moderns , has not been transmitted to us in quite so perspicuous and logical a manner as the demonstrations of the contemporary of some of the former , ( Euclid ); nor is the source whence it is obtained marked out by any particular hand-post by which we may pursue the same track in search after it . Indeed , it is perhaps as well that there should not be such
distinctions and circumscribed limits , considering how various its sources are , and how dissimilar is the taste of different individuals in different climes . The European—the Asiatic , derive theirs from , perhaps , opposite springs . The civilized and the barbarous are probably as varied in their ideas of felicity as the shades which separate one caste of nation from another ; and each quarter of the globe , with all
its divisions and subdivisions , is peopled by beings whose happiness is concentered m objects and occupations as fecund in variety and character , as the several regions from which they take their impression of things in local affinity with themselves . This is a subject of such an unbounded nature , that thought might
speculate in surmises and conjectures upon its rise and progress in the heart , till pain would oblige us to forego the pleasure of thinking . But it is not my intention to walk the ground my predecessors have so skilfully and wisely trod before me ; my search is confined within a more simple and unlearned sphere , and 1 desire not to embitter present happiness , by the knowledge I might gain of its fugaciousness and
uncertainty , while thumbing the rescripts of philosophers and historians . It is sufficient that I have one record , wherein is taught the true and most lasting source of human happiness . Religion is , without dispute , to the good mind and feeling heart , the purest fountain of earthly joy ; yet to the young , revelling in the bounty of nature ' s gifts , it is not precisely the happiness I would wish to be understood . Youth cannot be
expected to enjoy the wisdom and gravity of age ; though I would not insinuate that forgetfulness of that dependence on invisible power , which all really feel , however they may think proper to deny it , should be any feature in its character . The wise Solomon , whom I have before quoted , saith , there is a time for every thing ; a time to love , and a time to worship Him who has sown in our hearts that seed which is most adapted to produce the
happiness for ivhich I have searched . Love is xhe key-stone of the sub-stratum on which relig ion is founded , and it is the source of human happiness . Those who possess it not , are to lie pitied ; they are the blots whicli deface the picture of humanity ; they are the stains which corrupt nature ' s handy workmanship— -the fallen tjom the divine image of their Creator . And what is it which kindles this angelic passion ? Woman—as God gave her to Adam-soft , gentle , credulous , simple-hearted , single-