Most women, and men too, have no character at all. Just opinions and
virtuous passions appear by starts, and while we are giving way to the
love and admiration which those qualities raise, they are quite
different creatures. It is reflection which forms habits, and fixes
principles indelibly on the heart; without it, the mind is like a wreck
drifted about by every squall. The passion that we think most of will
soon rival all the rest; it is then in our power, this way, to
strengthen our good dispositions, and in some measure to establish a
character, which will not depend on every accidental impulse. To be
convinced of truths, and yet not to feel or act up to them, is a common
thing. Present pleasure drives all before it, and adversity is
mercifully sent to force us to think.
In the school of adversity we learn knowledge as well as virtue; yet we
lament our hard fate, dwell on our disappointments, and never consider
that our own wayward minds, and inconsistent hearts, require these
needful correctives. Medicines are not sent to persons in health.
It is a well-known remark, that our very wishes give us not our wish. I
have often thought it might be set down as a maxim, that the greatest
disappointment we can meet with is the gratification of our fondest
wishes. But truth is sometimes not pleasant; we turn from it, and doat
on an illusion; and if we were not in a probationary state, we should do
well to thicken the cloud, rather than dispel it.
There are some who delight in observing moral beauty, and their souls
sicken when forced to view crimes and follies which could never hurt
them. How numerous are the sorrows which reach such bosoms! They may
truly be called _human creatures_; on every side they touch their
fellow-mortals, and vibrate to the touch. Common humanity points out the
important duties of our station; but sensibility (a kind of instinct,
strengthened by reflection) can only teach the numberless minute things
which give pain or pleasure.
A benevolent mind often suffers more than the object it commiserates,
and will bear an inconvenience itself to shelter another from it. It
makes allowance for failings though it longs to meet perfection, which
it seems formed to adore. The Author of all good continually calls
himself, a God long-suffering; and those most resemble him who practice
forbearance. Love and compassion are the most delightful feelings of the
soul, and to exert them to all that breathe is the wish of the
benevolent heart. To struggle with ingratitude and selfishness is
grating beyond expression: and the sense we have of our weakness, though
useful, is not pleasant. Thus it is with us, when we look for happiness,
we meet with vexations: and if, now and then, we give way to tenderness,
or any of the amiable passions, and taste pleasure, the mind, strained
beyond its usual tone, falls into apathy. And yet we were made to be
happy! But our passions will not contribute much to our bliss, till they
are under the dominion of reason, and till that reason is enlightened
and improved. Then sighing will cease, and all tears will be wiped away
by that Being, in whose presence there is fulness of joy.
A person of tenderness must ever have particular attachments, and ever
be disappointed; yet still they must be attached, in spite of human
frailty; for if the mind is not kept in motion by either hope or fear,
it sinks into the dreadful state before-mentioned.
I have very often heard it made a subject of ridicule, that when a
person is disappointed in this world, they turn to the next. Nothing can
be more natural than the transition; and it seems to me the scheme of
Providence, that our finding things unsatisfactory here, should force us
to think of the better country to which we are going.