*If instead of the cares and anxieties of _bad bonds_, _troublesome mortgages_, and _ill bargains_, he had had the constant comfort of knowing, that his treasure was securely laid up, where neither moth corrupteth, nor thieves break thro’ and steal; could it with any reason be said, that he had mistaken the spirit and dignity of his order, or lessened any of that happiness, which is to be found in his sacred employment?
If instead of rejoicing in the happiness of a second _living_, he had thought it unbecoming the office of a clergyman to traffick for gain in _holy things_, as to open a shop.
*If he had thought it better to recommend some _honest labour_ to his _niece_, than to support her in _idleness_ by the labour of a _curate_; better that she should want _fine cloaths_, and a _rich husband_, than that cures of souls should be farmed out, and brother clergymen not suffered to live by those altars at which they serve. If this had been the spirit of _Cognatus_, could it with any reason be said, that these rules of religion, this strictness of piety, had robbed _Cognatus_ of any real happiness? Could it be said, that a life thus governed by the spirit of the gospel, must be _dull_ and _melancholy_, if compared to that of raising a fortune for a _niece_?
6. Look now at that condition of life which draws the envy of all.
*_Negotius_ is a temperate, honest man. He served his time under a master of great trade; but has, by his own management, made it a more considerable business than ever it was before. For thirty years last past, he has been corresponding with all parts of _Europe_. The general good of trade seems to _Negotius_ to be the general good of life; whatever he commends or condemns, either in church or state, is commended, or condemned, with regard to trade.
As money is continually pouring in upon him; so he often lets it go in various kinds of expence and generosity, and sometimes in ways of charity.
_Negotius_ is always ready to join in any public contribution. If a _purse_ is making at any place where he happens to be, whether it be to buy a plate for a horse-race, or to redeem a _prisoner_ out of gaol, you are always sure of having something from him.
He has given a fine _ring of bells_ to a church in the country; and there is much expectation that he will some time or other make a more beautiful _front_ to the _market-house_, than has yet been seen in any place: for it is the generous spirit of _Negotius_, to do nothing in a mean way.
7. If you ask what it is that has secured _Negotius_ from all _scandalous vices_, it is the same thing that has kept him from all _strictness of devotion_, it is his great business. He has always had too many important things in his head: his thoughts are too much employed, to suffer him to fall either into a course of _rakery_, or to feel the necessity of an _inward, solid_ piety.
For this reason he hears of the pleasures of debauchery, and the pleasures of piety with the ♦same indifferency; and has no more desire of living in the one than in the other, because neither of them consists with that turn of mind, and multiplicity of business, which are his happiness.
♦ inserted omitted word ‘same’
*If _Negotius_ was asked, what it is which he drives at in life? He would be as much at a loss for an answer, as if he was asked, what any other person was thinking of. For though he always seems to himself to know what he is doing, and has many things in his head, which are the motives of his actions; yet he cannot tell you of any _one general end_ of life that he has chosen with deliberation, as being truly worthy of all his labour and pains.
He has several confused notions in his head, which have been a long time there: such as these; that it is _something great_ to have more business than other people, to have more dealings upon his hands than a hundred of the same profession, to grow continually richer and richer, and to raise an immense fortune before he dies. The thing that seems to give _Negotius_ the greatest life and spirit, and to be most in his thoughts, is an expectation that he shall die richer than any of his business ever did.
8. The generality of people when they think of happiness, think upon _Negotius_; in whose life every instance of happiness is supposed to meet, sober, prudent, rich, prosperous, generous and charitable.
Let us now look at this condition in another, but truer light.
*Let it be supposed, that this same _Negotius_ was a painful, laborious man, very deep in variety of affairs; that he neither drank, nor debauched, but was sober and regular in his business. Let it be supposed, that he grew old in this course of trading, and that the _end_ and _design_ of all his labour, and care, and application to business, was only this, that he might die possessed of more than an hundred thousand pair of _boots_ and _spurs_.