it only when it happens to be furprizing and uncommon, which few important truths are. The love of novelty will be the predominant paffion; that of truth will only influence them, when it does not interfere with it. Perhaps nothing fooner misleads men out of the road of truth, than to have the wild, dancing light of a bright imagination playing before them. Perhaps they have too much life and spirit to have patience enough to go to the bottom of a fubject, and trace up every argument, through a long tedious procefs, to its original. Perhaps they have that delicacy of make which fits them for a fwift and speedy race, but does not enable them to carry a great weight, or to go through any long journey; whereas men of fewer ideas, who lay them in order, compare and examine them, and go on, ftep by step, in a gradual chain of thinking, make up by induftry and caution what they want in quickness of apprehenfion. Be not difcouraged, if you do not meet with fuccefs at firit. Obferve, (for it lies within the compafs of any man's obfervation) that. he who has been long habituated to one kind of knowledge, is utterly at a lofs in another, to which he is unaccustomed; till, by repeated efforts, he finds a progreffive opening of his faculties; and then he wonders how he could be fo long in finding out a connection of ideas, which, to a practifed understanding, is very obvious. But by neglecting to use your faculties, you will, in time, lofe the very power of ufing

Others there are, who plead an exemption from study, becaufe their fortune makes them independent of the world, and they need not be beholden to it for a maintenance-that is, because their fituation in life exempts them from the neceffity of fpending their time in fervile offices and hardships, therefore they may difpofe of it juft as they pleafe. It is to imagine, because God has empowered them to fingle out the best means of employing their hours, viz in reading, meditation; in the highest intances of piety and charity; therefore they may throw them away in a round of impertinence, vanity, and folly. The apostle's rule, that if any man will not work, neither should he eat,' extends to the rich as well as the poor; only fuppofing, that there are different kinds of

work affigned to each. The reason is the fame in both cafes, viz. that he who will do no good, ought not to receive or enjoy any. As we are all joint traders and partners in life, he forfeits his right to any hare in the common stock of happiness, who does not endeavour to contribute his quota or allotted part to it: the public happiness being nothing but the fum total of each individual's contribution to it. An eafy fortune does not fet men free from labour and industry in general; it only exempts them from fome particular kinds of labour: it is not a bleffing, as it gives them liberty to do nothing at all; but as it gives them liberty wifely to chufe, and fteadily to profecute, the moft ennobling exercifes, and the most improving employments, the purfuit of truth, the practice of virtue, the fervice of God who giveth them all things richly to enjoy, in short, the doing and being every thing that is commendable; though nothing merely in order to be commended. That time which others muft employ in tilling the ground (which often deceives their expectation) with the fweat of their brow, they may lay out in cultivating the mind, a foil always grateful to the care of the tiller.The fum of what I would fay, is this: That, though you are not confined to any particular calling, yet you have a general one; which is, to watch over your heart, and to improve your head; to make your felf master of all thofe accomplishmentsan enlarged compass of thought, that flowing humanity and generofity, which are neceffary to become a great fortune; and of all thofe perfections, viz. moderation, humility, and temperance, which are neceffary to bear a finall one patiently; but efpecially it is your duty to acquire a tafte for thofe pleasures, which, after they are tafted, go off agreeably, and leave behind them a grateful and delightful flavour on the mind. Ibid.

$45. The Pleasures refulting from a pru

dent Ufe of our Faculties.

Happy that man, who, unembarraffed by vulgar cares, mafter of himself, his time, and fortune, fpends his time in making himself wifer, and his fortune in making others (and therefore himself) happier: who, as the will and underkanding are the two ennobling faculties of the foul, thinks himfelf not complete, till his understanding be beautified with the valuable furniture of knowledge, as well as his will en

48. Irregularities of a Few bring Cenfure on the Whole.

It were to be wished, that they who claim greater indulgences, would ferioufly reflect, that the glaring irregularities of two or three members bring an undiftinguishing cenfure upon a whole body; make a noife in, and alarm the world, as if all flesh had here corrupted their ways: whereas the fober, modeft worth of a much greater number, who here in private attend the duties of the wife and good, muft, in the nature of the thing, efcape the notice of the world. Notorious diforders, how few foever are concerned, ftrike upon the fenfes of fome, and affect the paffions of many more; by which (their fenfes and paffions) the grofs of mankind generally judge of things; but it requires fome expence of reflection, to which the bulk of mankind will never put themselves to confider, that great numbers muft have spent their time profitably, formed habits of juft thinking here, and laid in that flock of knowledge which they have produced into view in a more public fphere; that those vices, which they complain of, may not be the native growth of the place, but imported from irregular and undifciplined families, from fchools, and from the worst of fchools, the world at large, when youth are entered into it too soon. Ibid.

49. Diffidence of one's Abilities, an Indication of good Senfe.

Confider, that it is a fure indication of good fenfe to be diffident of it. We then, and not till then, are growing wife, when we begin to difcern how weak and unwife we are. An abfolute perfection of underftanding is impoffible: he makes the neareft approaches to it, who has the fenfe to difcern, and the humility to acknowledge, its imperfections. Modefty always fits gracefully upon youth; it covers a multitude of faults, and doubles the luftre of every virtue which it seems to hide: the perfections of men being like thofe flowers which appear more beautiful when their leaves are a little contracted and folded up, than when they are full blown, and

difplay themfelves, without any referve, to the view.

We are fome of us very fond of knowledge, and apt to value ourselves upon any proficiency in the fciences; one fcience, however, there is, worth more than all the reft, and that is, the fcience of living well; which shall remain, when, Whether there

be tongues, they fhall ceafe; Whether there be knowledge, it fhall vanish away.' As to new notions, and new doctrines, of which this age is very fruitful, the time will come, when we fhall have no pleasure in them: nay, the time fhall come, when they fhall be exploded, and would have been forgotton, if they had not been preferved in thofe excellent books, which contain a confutation of them: like infects preferved for ages in amber, which otherwife would foon have returned to the common mafs of things. But a firm belief of Chriftianity, and a practice fuitable to it, will fupport and invigorate the mind to the lait, and moft of all at last, at that important hour, which must decide our hopes and apprehenfions: and the wifdom, which, like our Saviour, cometh from above, will, through his merits, bring us thither. And indeed, all our other ftudies and pursuits, however different, ought to be fubfervient to, and center in this grand point, the parfuit of eternal happiness, by being good in ourfelves, and useful to the world. Ibid.

50. The Neceffity of peculiar Temperance

in Places of Education.

From a thorough infight into human nature, with a watchful eye, and kind attention to the vanity and intemperate heat of youth, with well-weighed meafures. for the advancement of all ufeful literature,

and the continual fupport and increase of virtue and piety, have the wife and religi ous inftitutors of the rules of conduct and government in places of education, done all that human prudence could do, to promote the moft excellent and beneficial defign, by the moft rational and well-concerted means. They firft laid the foundation well, in the difcipline and regulation of the appetites. They put them under the restraint of wholefome and frugal rules, to place them out of the reach of intemperance, and to preclude an excess that would ferve only to corrupt, inflame, and torment them. They are fed with food convenient for them; with fimplicity yet fufficiency; with a kind though cautious hand. By this means, the feeds of vice are ftifled in their birth; yeung

perfons

perfons are here removed from temptations, to which others, from a lefs happy fituation, are too frequently expofed; and by an early habit of temperance and felfcommad, they may learn either to prevent irregular folicitations, or with eafe to control them. Happy are they who, by a thankful enjoyment of thefe advantages, and a willing compliance with thefe rales, lay up in tore for the reft of their Efe, virtue, health, and peace! Vain, in. deed, would be the expectation of any rea' progres in intellectual and moral im provements, were not the foundation thus Lid in fict regularity and temperance; were the fenfual appetite, to be pampered in youth, or even vitiated with that degree of indulgence which an extravagant world may allow and call elegance, but in a place of education would be downright luxury. The tale of fenfual pleatures at be checked and abated in them, that they may acquire a relish of the more fubFre pleasures that refult from reafon and religion; that they may pursue them with effect, and enjoy them without avocation. And have they not in this place every motive, affiftance, and encouragement, to engage them in a virtuous and moral life, and to animate them in the attainment of wal learning? What rank or condition of youth is there, that has not daily and hourly opportunities of laying in fupplies of knowledge and virtue, that will in every station of life be equally ferviceahie and ornamental to themfelves, and beneficial to mankind? And fhall any one dre to convert a house of difcipline and learning into a houfe of diffoluteness, extravagance, and riot? With what an aggravation of guilt do they load themselves, who at the fame time that they are purfing their own unhappiness, facrilegionly break through all the fences of good order and government, and by their practice, feducement, and example, do what in them lies, to introduce into thefe fchools of frugality, fobriety, and temperance, all the mad vices and vain gaieties of a licentious and voluptuous age! What have they to anfwer for, who, while they profigately fquander away that most precious part of time, which is the only feafon of application and improvement, to their own irretrievable lofs, encourage one another in an idle and fenfual courfe of life, and by fpreading wide the contagion, reflect a fcandal upon, and ftrive to bring into public difesteem, the place of their edu

cation, where induftry, literature, virtue, decency, and whatever elfe is praife-worthy, did for ages flourish and abound? Is this the genuine fruit of the pious care of our ancestors, for the fecurity and propagation of religion and good-manners, to the lateft pofterity? Is this at last the reward of their munificence? Or does this conduct correfpond with their views, or with the juft expectations and demands of your friends and your country? Tottie.

§ 51. Valuable Opportunities once loft can

not be recalled.

Nor let any one vainly imagine, that the time and valuable opportunities which are now loft, can hereafter be recalled at will; or that he who has run out his youthful days in diffipation and pleasure, will have it in his power to top when he pleafes, and make a wifer ufe of his riper years. Yet this is too generally the fallacious hope that flatters the youth in his fenfual indulgences, and leads him infenfibly on in the treacherous ways of vice, till it is now too late to return. There are few, who at one plunge fo totally immerge in pleafures, as to drown at once all power of reafon and confcience: they promise themfelves, that they can indulge their appetites to fuch a point only, and can check and turn them back when they have run their allotted race. I do not indeed fay, that there never have been perfons in whom the ftrong ferment of youthful lufts may have happily fubfided, and who may have brought forth fruits of amendment, and difplayed many eminent virtues. God forbid! that even the most licentious vices of youth should be abfolutely incon igible. But I may venture to affirm, that the inftances in this cafe have been fo rare, that it is very dangerous for any one to truft to the experiment, upon a prefumption that he fhall add to the number. The only fure way to make any proficiency in a virtuous life, is to fet out in it betimes. It is then, when our inclinations are trained up in the way that they fhould lead us, that cuftom foon makes the beft habits the moft agreeable; the ways of wifdom become the ways of pleafantnefs, and every step we advance, they grow more eafy and more delightful. But, on the contrary, when vicious, headstrong appetites are to be reclaimed, and inveterate habits to be corrected, what fecurity can we give ourselves, that we fhall have

E

either

either inclination, refolution, or power, to ftop and turn back, and recover the right way from which we have fo long and fo widely wandered, and enter upon a new life, when perhaps our ftrength now faileth us, and we know not how near we may be to our journey's 'end? Thefe reflections I have fuggefted principally for the fake of thofe, who allowing themselves in greater indulgences than are confiftent with a liberal and virtuous education, give evident proofs that they are not fufficiently aware of the dangerous encroachments, and the peculiar deceitfulness of pleasurable fin. Happy for them, would they once ferioufly confider their ways! and no time can be more proper, than when these folemn feasons of recollection and religious difcipline thould particularly difpofe them to seriousness and thought. They would then discover, that though they are awhile carried gently and fupinely down the fmooth ftream of pleasure, yet foon the torrent will grow too violent to be ftemmed; the waves will arife, and dafh them upon rocks, or fink them in whirlpools. It is therefore the part of prudence to ftop fhort while they may, and to divert their courfe into a different channel; which, whatever obftructions and difficulties they may labour with at firft, will every day become more practicable and pleafing, and will affuredly carry them to a ferene and fecure haven. Tottie.

$52. The Beginnings of Evil to be refifted. Think not, as I am afraid too many do, that because your paffions have not hur ried you into atrocious deeds, they have therefore wrought no mifchief, and have left no fting behind them. By a continued feries of loofe, though apparently trivial gratifications, the heart is often as thoroughly corrupted, as by the commiffion of any one of thofe enormous crimes which fpring from great ambition, or great revenge. Habit gives the paffions ftrength, while the abfence of glaring guilt feemingly juftifies them; and, unawakened by remorse, the finner proceeds in his courfe, till he wax bold in guilt, and become ripe for ruin: for, by gradual and latent fteps, the deftruction of our virtues advances. Did the evil unveil itself at the beginning; did the ftorm which is to overthrow our peace, difcover, as it rofe, all its horrors, precautions would more frequently be taken against it. But we are imperceptibly betrayed; and from one

licentious attachment, one criminal paffion, are, by a train of confequences, drawn on to another, till the government of our minds is irrecoverably loft. The enticing and the odious paffions are, in this refpect, fimilar in their procefs; and, though by different roads, conduct at laft to the fame iffue. Blair.

$53. Order to be obferved in Amuse

ments.

Obferve order in your amusements; that is, allow them no more than their proper place; ftudy to keep them within due bounds; mingle them in a temperate fucceffion with ferious duties, and the higher bufinefs of life. Human life cannot pro ceed, to advantage, without fome measure of relaxation and entertainment. We require relief from care. We are not formed for a perpetual ftretch of ferious thought. By too intenfe and continued application, our feeble powers would foon be worn out. At the fame time, from our propensity to eafe and pleafure, amufement proves, among all ranks of men, the most dangerous foe to order: for it tends inceffantly to ufurp and encroach, to widen its territories, to thrust itself into the place of more important concerns, and thereby to disturb and counteract the natural course of things. One frivolous amufement indulged out of feafon, will often carry perplexity and confufion thro a long fucceffion of affairs.

Amusements, therefore, though they be of an innocent kind, require iteady government, to keep them within a due and limited province. But fuch as are of an irregular and vicious nature, require not to be governed, but to be banished from every orderly fociety. As foon as a man feeks his happinefs from the gaming-table, the midnight revel, and the other haunts of licentioufnefs, confusion seizes upon him as its own. There will no longer be order in his family, nor order in his affairs, nor order in his time. The mot important concerns of life are abandoned. Even the order of nature is by fuch perfons inverted; night is changed into day, and day into night. Character, honour, and intereft itfelf, are trampled under foot. You may with certainty prognofticate the ruin of thefe men to be juft at hand. Disorder, arifen to its height, has nearly accomplished its work. The fpots of death are upon them. Let every one who would efcape the peftilential con

tagion,