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“Come, Chearfulness, triumphant fair,
Shine thro’ the painful cloud of care:
O sweet of language, mild of mien;
O virtue’s friend, and pleasure’s queen!
And, while thy gracious gifts I feel,
My song shall all thy praise reveal.”
Dr. AKENSIDE.
It is the indispensable duty, not to say privilege, of every rational
being on the face of the earth, to cultivate and improve a serene and
chearful disposition, independent of that levity and versatility which
many possess from an erroneous way of thinking. “Chearfulness,” says Mr.
Addison, in the Spectator--a work of very considerable merit for its
natural sweetness, ease, and delicacy--“is the best promoter of health.
Repinings and secret murmurings of heart give imperceptible strokes to
those delicate fibres of which the vital parts are composed, and wear
out the machine insensibly; not to mention those violent ferments which
they stir up in the blood, and those irregular, disturbed motions, which
they raise in the animal spirits. The pleasures of friendship, books,
conversation, and other accidental diversions of life, offer themselves
as incitements to a chearful temper, to persons of all ranks and
conditions; and which may sufficiently shew us, that Providence did not
design this world should be filled with murmurs and repinings, or that
the heart of man should be involved in gloom and melancholy.”
There are many persons who indulge a fixed melancholy, from religious
motives. Many of the lower orders of society contract a gloomy,
forbidding aspect, by feeding their minds with the ranting effusions of
puritanical enthusiasts; whose doctrines, for the most part, are
particularly calculated to cloud all their bright intellects. They
discourage the good, and intimidate the penitent. They oftener disserve,
than benefit, the cause of christianity. It is an observation of the
learned and pious Dr. Watts, that religion never was designed to make
our pleasures less. Innocent recreations (and innocent they must be, or
not at all) calculated to promote chearfulness, are absolutely necessary
to soften the cares of life. Superstition and fanaticism are highly
incompatible with the generous feelings of a devotional taste and habit
which are in themselves very desirable; but a habit of melancholy is
altogether improper, and wholly repugnant to these divine precepts,
which ought to influence all to the adoption of amiable principles, and
a chearful disposition. “Piety and goodness,” says Dr. Blair, “ought
never to be marked with that dejection which sometimes takes rise from
superstition, but which is the proper portion only of guilt. At the same
time, the chearfulness belonging to virtue, is to be carefully
distinguished from that light and giddy temper which characterises
folly, and is so often found among the dissipated and vicious part of
mankind. Their gaiety is owing to a total want of reflection; and brings
with it the usual consequences of an unthinking habit, shame, remorse,
and heaviness of heart, in the end. The chearfulness of a well regulated
mind, springs from a good conscience and the favour of Heaven, and is
bounded by temperance and reason. It makes a man happy in himself, and
promotes the happiness of all around him. It is the clear and calm
sunshine of a mind illuminated by piety and virtue. It crowns all other
good dispositions, and comprehends the general effect which they ought
to produce on the heart.”
Indeed, true piety is an invaluable treasure; and happy are they who
esteem its salutary tendency. It meleorates the morals and disposition,
and promotes present and future felicity. It adds dignity, pleasure, and
security, to any age. To old age, in particular, it is the most becoming
grace, the most substantial support, and the sweetest comfort. It is the
only proper and adequate relief of decaying man. Let the old and the
young, therefore, who wish to be happy, and preserve so great an
acquisition, cultivate it with peculiar care and increasing ardour, as
the source of all tranquility and chearfulness; and let it be
remembered, that in order to retain it successfully, the whole tenour of
life must be guided and attended by the very admirable requisites of
temperance, innocence, and simplicity.
A chearful temper irradiates the progress of life, and dispels the evils
of sublunary nature. All, indeed, cannot possess so desirable a
blessing, without some interruptions, inseparable from the evils of
life, to damp its energy and excellence. Afflictions are so diversified,
that it were superfluous to enumerate even the most prominent and
lamentable: but in these, and all other misfortunes, there is a remedy
pointed out for the acceptance of mankind, which, if properly
administered, does not fail to alleviate the unavoidable casualties and
afflictions necessarily attendant on frail nature. Not a few are
rendered wretched and despondent by their own immediate vices, after
having exhausted their vile pursuits and prostituted their advancement
to a comfortable and peaceful life by practices which religion forbids
and wisdom reprobates. We should endeavour to turn our enjoyments to a
current altogether serene and pure. Such rational and manly conduct
would render us respectable: man would admire a life so exemplary, and
God himself would approve it.
I was pleased a few evenings since, on reading the answer of an Italian
Bishop, who possessed all the virtues which adorn and embellish human
life. He struggled through great difficulties without repining; and met
with much opposition in the discharge of his episcopal function, without
ever betraying the smallest impatience. An intimate friend, who highly
admired these virtues which he thought it impossible to imitate, one day
asked the prelate if he could communicate the _secret_ of being always
easy?--“Yes,” replied the old man, “I can teach you _my_ secret, and
with great facility: it consists in nothing more than making a right use
of my _eyes_.”
My friend begged him to explain himself. “Most willingly,” returned the
Bishop--“In whatever state I am, I first of all look up to heaven, and I
remember that my principal business here, is to get there: I then look
down upon the earth, and call to mind how small a space I shall occupy
in it when I come to be interred: I then look abroad into the world, and
observe what multitudes there are, who in many respects are more unhappy
than myself. Thus I learn where true happiness and innate chearfulness
are placed, where all my cares must end, and hew very little reason I
have to repine, or to complain.”
From what has been said, we may learn to be chearful; at least, calm and
contented; and gratefully enjoy, in moderation, the blessings which
Providence has bestowed on us. It is puerile and absurd, to indulge
melancholy. Be it, therefore, the endeavour of us all to cherish with
the greatest care an ingenuous and mild disposition; and, above all,
religion, piety, and virtue. Let it be our constant rule and practice to
cultivate self-command; to cultivate humility; to cultivate the milder
affections; submit to our reason and our conscience; be christians, and
be happy.