I fhall in this paper confider one very remarkable effect which custom has upon human nature; and which, if rightly observed, may lead us into very useful rules of life. What I fhall here take notice of in cuftom, is its wonderful efficacy in making every thing pleasant to us. A person who is addicted to play or gaming, though he took but little delight in it at first, by degrees contracts. so strong an inclination towards it, and gives himself up fo entirely to it, that it seems the only end of his being. The love of a retired or busy life will grow upon a man infenfibly, as he is converfant in the one or the other, till he is utterly unqualified for relishing that to which he has been for fome time difufed. Nay, a man may fmoke or drink, or take fnuff, till he is unable to pass away his time without it; not to mention how our delight in any particular study, art, or science, rifes and improves in proportion to the application which we beftow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise, becomes at length an entertainment. Our employments are changed into our diverfions. The mind grows fond of those actions fhe is accustomed to, and is drawn with reluctancy from thofe paths in which fhe has used to walk.

Not only such actions as were at first indifferent to us,

but

but even fuch as were painful, will by custom and practice become pleasant. Sir Francis BACON obferves, in his Natural Philofophy, that our taste is never pleased better than with those things which at first created some difguft. He gives particular inftances of claret, coffee, and other liquors, which the palate feldom approves upon the first taste; but when it has once got a relish of them, generally retains it for life. The mind is conftituted after the fame manner, and, after having habituated herself to any particular exercife or employment, not only loses her first averfion towards it, but conceives a certain fondness and affection for it. I have heard one of the greatest geniuses this age has produced, who had been trained up in all the polite studies of antiquity, asfure me, upon his being obliged to fearch into several rolls and records, that notwithstanding such an employment was at first very dry and irksome to him, he at last took an incredible pleasure in it, and preferred it even to the reading of Virgil or Cicero. The reader will observe, that I have not here confidered cuftom as it makes things easy, but as it renders them delightful; and though others have often made the fame reflections, it is poffible they may not have drawn those uses from it, with which I intend to fill the remaining part of this fection.

VOL. IV.

6 A

If

If we confider attentively this property of human nature, it may inftruct us in very fine moralities. In the 'firft place, I would have no man discouraged with that kind of life or series of action, in which the choice of others, or his own neceffities, may have engaged him. may perhaps be very disagreeable to him at firft; but use and application will certainly render it not only less painful, but pleafing and fatisfactory.

It

In the fecond place I would recommend to every one that admirable precept which PYTHAGORAS is faid to have given to his disciples, and which that philosopher muft have drawn from the obfervation I have enlarged upon: Optimum vitæ genus eligito, nam confuetudo faciet jucundif fimum; pitch upon that courfe of life which is the most excellent, and custom will render it the most delightful. Men, whofe circumftances will permit them to choofe their own way of life, are inexcufable if they do not pursue that which their judgment tells them is the most laudable. The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination, fince by the rule above mentioned, inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination.

In the third place, this obfervation may teach the moft fenfual and irreligious man to overlook those hardships and difficulties, which are apt to difcourage him from the prosecution of a virtuous life. The gods, faid HESIOD, have placed Labour before Virtue; the way to her is at firft rough and difficult, but grows more smooth and eafy the further you advance in it. The man who proceeds in it, with steadiness and refolution, will in a little time find, that "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace."

In the fourth place, we may learn from this obfervation which we have made on the mind of man, to take particular care, when we are once fettled in a regular course of life, how we too frequently indulge ourselves in any the most innocent diversions and entertainments, fince the mind may infenfibly fall off from the relish of virtuous actions, and, by degrees, exchange that pleafure which it takes in the performance of its duty, for delights of a much more inferior and unprofitable na

ture.

The laft ufe which I fhall make of this remarkable property in human nature, of being delighted with those actions to which it is accustomed, is to fhew how abfo

lutely neceffary it is for us to gain habits of virtue in this life, if we would enjoy the pleasures of the next. The ftate of blifs we call heaven will not be capable of affecting those minds, which are not thus qualified for it; we muft, in this world, gain a relish of truth and virtue, if we would be able to taste that knowledge and perfection, which are to make us happy in the next. The feeds of those spiritual joys and raptures, which are to rife up and flourish in the foul to all eternity, must be planted in her during this her present state of probation. In thort, heaven is not to be looked upon only as the reward, but as the natural effect of a religious life.

On the other hand, thofe evil fpirits, who, by long custom, have contracted in the body habits of luft and fenfuality, malice and revenge, an averfion to every thing that is good, just, or laudable, are naturally feafoned and prepared for pain and mifery. Their torments have already taken root in them; they cannot be happy when divested of the body, unless we may suppose, that PROVIDENCE will, in a manner, create the mind anew, and work a miracle in the rectification of their faculties. They may, indeed, taste a kind of malignant pleasure in

thofe