ESSAY L 415 tion on things past, but only a sensation of the present : But man besides all the pains of sense, has also the long and grievous uneasinesses that arise from remorse and anguish ofmind, reflect- ing upon his own evil conduct in time past, and dismal presages and terrifying agonies arising from the constant fear and expect- , ationa what may come ; so that as mankind is generally subject to more pains and weaknesses, more diseases and uneasinesses in the body than brute creatures ; so the addition of uneasiness of mind, which arises from a long rememberance of, or reflection on past sorrows, are as it were, a new sensationof them, and agonies of conscience for past sins, are new misery ; besides the terrible forethought and expectation of future evils, whether in this life, or in the world to come, do very much increase the miseries of human nature beyond that of the brutal world, since they are supposed to 'have no reflection no forethought. And it is not only the long and keen passion of remorse and sorrow arising from past sins or moral evils, and of fear and dread from the prospect of future miseries, which makes mankind more unhappy than brutes, who have no such retrospects nor foresights to torment them ; but every uneasy passion of human nature, even grief and sorrow for natural evils, wrath, envy, malice, rage, jealousy, disappointment and despair, with all their dreadful train, are more keen and intense in the breast of man, make much deeper impressions au his heart, and sharper incisions into all the tender powers bf his nature than brutes ever know or feel : They last also much longer ; they dwell upon the spirit for days and months, and years ; they mingle with the soul, and imbitter every sweet of life. Brutal passions, should we allow them to be as strong, yet they are much fewer and more transient : The common calls of nature to eat or sleep, to sport or daily toil, abolishes thepainful passion, the ill ferment subsides, the uneasiness vanishes, tke cause of it is forgotten, and the creature is soon easy and happy again. But some of these uneasy passions of human nature cleave so close to the soul, that men cannot get rid of them ; they sting like an adder, and preyupon the heart like a vulture, they tease the spirit day and night, they take away all appetite to food, and all the sweet relief and power of sleep. Was there ever an instance of a brute -animal whose passions ever wrought out sucha sceneof miseries for him as the unruly powers of man- kind are daily working; and that not inone or two, but in multi- tudes of ,the human kind ? Upon all these views I think it must be acknowledged, that the evils which mankind suffer in the pre- . sent state, are much superior to those of brutes, andconsequent- ly as they surmount all the pleasures of human life ; sa man must be pronounced miserable upon the balance of the whole ; and thereforewemust infer, that we of the human race cannot be in
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