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/472

 *planted in our minds, will, upon the first attack of any calamity, easily induce us to reflect, that it is permitted by God to fall upon us, lest we should be too much enamoured of our present state, and neglect to extend our prospects into eternity.

Thus, by familiarizing to our minds the attributes of God, shall we, in a great measure, secure ourselves against any temptation to repine at his arrangements; but shall probably still more strengthen our resolution, and confirm our piety, by reflecting,


 * On the ignorance of man.

One general method of judging, and determining upon the value, or excellence of things, is by comparing one with another. Thus it is, that we form a notion of wealth, greatness, or power. It is by comparing ourselves with others, that we often make an estimate of our own happiness, and even sometimes of our virtue. They who repine at the ways of providence, repine often, not because they are miserable, but because they are not so happy as others; and imagine their afflictions dealt with a partial hand, not that they can conceive themselves free from guilt, but because they see, or think they see, others equally criminal, that suffer less. Should they be supposed to judge rightly of themselves and others, should it be conceived that, in rating their own excellencies, they are not misled by their self-love, or that they are not hindered by envy from discerning the virtues of those whom they look upon as rivals for happiness; yet unless they could prove, that the mercies which they have received are below their merits, they have no reason to complain. He that has more than he deserves, is not to murmur merely because he has less than another.

But when we judge thus confidently of others, we deceive ourselves; we admit conjectures for certainties, and chimeras for realities. To determine the degrees of virtue and wickedness in particular men, is the prerogative only of that Being that searches the secrets of the heart, that knows what temptations each man has resisted;