I will say it: the world, without the idea of a God, would be only a desert, embellished by a few delusions;—yet man, disenchanted by the light of reason, would find nothing throughout but subjects of sadness. I have seen them, the dreams of ambition, the allurements of fame, and the vain shews of grandeur; and even when the illusion was most dazzling, my heart always retired into itself, and was attracted to an idea more grand, to a consolation more substantial; I have experienced, that the idea of the existence of a Supreme Being threw a charm over every circumstance of life; I have found, that this sentiment alone was able to inspire men with true dignity: for every thing which is merely personal is of little value, all that places some an inch high above others; it is necessary, in order to have any reason to glory, that, at the same time we exalt ourselves, we elevate human nature; we must refer it to that sublime intelligence, which seems to have dignified it with some of its attributes. We then hardly perceive those trivial distinctions which are attached to transitory things, on which vanity exercises her sway; it is then that we leave to this queen of the world her rattle and toys, and that we search elsewhere another portion; it is then also that virtue, exalted sentiments, and grand views, appear the only glory of which man ought to be jealous. CHAP. VI. _The same Subject continued. The Influence of Virtue on Happiness._ It is not sufficient to have demonstrated, that religion, so necessary to feeling minds, agrees perfectly with the moral nature of men; it is still necessary to observe, that the habitual exercise of virtue, enjoined as a duty in the name of God, is not in opposition with happiness; and after having considered a truth so important, I will prove, that it is not contrary to what has been said in the first chapter of this work, on the impossibility of making men attentive to public order, only by the motive of personal interest. We cannot deny, that virtue often obliges us to conquer our appetites, and struggle with our passions; but if these conflicts, and the victory which attends them, lead to more solid and durable satisfactions, than those which folly and vice portrays the image of, they would misconceive the restrictions of morality, who perpetually united the idea of self-denial with that of a sacrifice.