Nothing is so important to man as his own state, nothing is so formidable to
him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men
indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting
suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They
are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same
man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of
office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who
knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It
is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this
sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest
objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber,
which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.
There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should boast
of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single individual
should be. However, experience has shown me so great a number of such
persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not know that the
greater part of those who trouble themselves about the matter are
disingenuous and not, in fact, what they say. They are people who have heard
it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is what they call
"shaking off the yoke," and they try to imitate this. But it would not be
difficult to make them understand how greatly they deceive themselves in
thus seeking esteem. This is not the way to gain it, even I say among those
men of the world who take a healthy view of things and who know that the
only way to succeed in this life is to make ourselves appear honourable,
faithful, judicious, and capable of useful service to a friend; because
naturally men love only what may be useful to them. Now, what do we gain by
hearing it said of a man that he has now t
.
|
