What does Benjamin Franklin mean here in his essay, "On True Happiness"?

Question

What does Benjamin Franklin mean here in his essay, "On True Happiness"?

There is no happiness, then, but in a virtuous and self-approving conduct. Unless our actions will bear the test of our sober judgments and reflections upon them, they are not the actions, and, consequently, not the happiness, of a rational being.

In the above excerpt, what does Franklin mean by "but"? I think "but" here means "except", but "There is no happiness except in a self-approving conduct" doesn't really make sense; though "There is no happiness except in a virtuous conduct" makes sense.

Answer 1

It does mean "except", as in "There is no happiness except when one's conduct is both virtuous and self-approving" (to restructure the sentence slightly). What Franklin means here by self-approving is explained in the next sentence: not only must one's conduct be virtuous, but it must "bear the test of our [...] reflections upon [it]". In other words, we must consider our own actions rational, and the actions must be virtuous, for a person to be happy.