67. Absent good unable to counterbalance present uneasiness.
Add to this, that absent good, or, which is the same
thing, future pleasure,--especially if of a sort we are unacquainted with,--seldom is able to counterbalance any
uneasiness, either of pain or desire, which is present. For, its greatness being no more than what shall be really
tasted when enjoyed, men are apt enough to lessen that; to make it give place to any present desire; and conclude
with themselves that, when it comes to trial, it may possibly not answer the report or opinion that generally passes
of it: they having often found that, not only what others have magnified, but even what they themselves have
enjoyed with great pleasure and delight at one time, has proved insipid or nauseous at another; and therefore they
see nothing in it for which they should forego a present enjoyment. But that this is a false way of judging, when
applied to the happiness of another life, they must confess; unless they will say, God cannot make those happy he
designs to be so. For that being intended for a state of happiness, it must certainly be agreeable to everyone's wish
and desire: could we suppose their relishes as different there as they are here, yet the manna in heaven will suit
every one's palate. Thus much of the wrong judgment we make of present and future pleasure and pain, when they
are compared together, and so the absent considered as future.
