I have heard it said
sometimes that such and such a person's life was a lie: but no man's
life can be a very bad lie; as long as it continues at all it is at
worst nine-tenths of
Mr. Pontifex's life not only continued a long time, but was
prosperous right up to the end. Is not this enough? Being in this
world is it not our most obvious business to make the most of it- to
observe what things do bona fide tend to long life and comfort, and to
act accordingly? All animals, except man, know that the principal
business of life is to enjoy it- and they do enjoy it as much as man
and other circumstances will allow. He has spent his life best who has
enjoyed it most; God will take care that we do not enjoy it any more
than is good for us. If Mr. Pontifex is to be blamed it is for not
having eaten and drunk less and thus suffered less from his liver, and
lived perhaps a year or two longer.
Goodness is naught unless it tends towards old age and sufficiency
of means. I speak broadly and exceptis excipiendis. So the psalmist
says, "The righteous shall not lack anything that is good." Either
this is mere poetical licence, or it follows that he who lacks
anything that is good is not righteous; there is a presumption also
that he who has passed a long life without lacking anything that is
good has himself also been good enough for practical purposes.
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