Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/452

 the life of him, who places his happiness in his present state; a consideration that cannot be suppressed by any artful sophistries, which the appetites or the senses are always ready to suggest, and which it might be imagined not always possible to avoid in the most rapid whirl of pleasure, or the most incessant tumults of employment. As it is impossible for any man not to know, it may be well imagined difficult for him not to remember, that, however surrounded by his dependents, however caressed by his patrons, however applauded by his flatterers, or esteemed by his friends, he must one day die; that though he should have reason to imagine himself secured from any sudden diminution of his wealth, or any violent precipitation from his rank or power, yet they must soon be taken away by a force, not to be resisted or escaped. He cannot but sometimes think, when he surveys his acquisitions or counts his followers, "that this night his soul may be required of him," and that he had applauded himself for the attainment of that which he cannot hope to keep long, and which, if it could make him happy while he enjoys it, is yet of very little value, because the enjoyment must be very short.

The story of the great eastern monarch, who, when he surveyed his innumerable army from an eminence, wept at the reflection, that in less than a hundred years not one of all that multitude would remain, has been often mentioned; because the particular circumstances, in which that remark occurred, naturally claim the thought, and strike the imagination; but every man that places his happiness in external objects, may every day, with equal propriety, make the same observations. Though he does not lead armies, or govern kingdoms, he may reflect, whenever he finds his heart swelling with any present advantage, that he must, in a very short time, lose what he so much esteems, that in a year, a month, a day, or an hour, he may be struck out from the book of life, and placed in a state, where wealth or honour shall have no residence, and where all those distinctions shall be for