ing with thirft, are fometimes known to try various contortions, or inclinations of the body, flattering themselves that they can fwallow in one pofture that liquor which they find in another to repel their lips.

Yet fuch folly is not peculiar to the. thoughtless or ignorant, but fometimes feizes thofe minds which feem most exempted from it, by the variety of attainments, quickness of penetration, or feverity of judgment; and, indeed, the pride of wit and knowledge is often mortified by finding that they confer no fecurity against the common errors which mislead the weakest and meaneft of mankind.

Thefe reflections arofe in my mind upon the remembrance of a paffage in Cowley's preface to his poems; where, however exalted by genius, and enlarged by ftudy, he informs us of a scheme of happiness to which the imagination of a girl upon the lofs of her first lover could have fcarcely given way, but which he feems to have indulged, till he had totally forgotten it's abfurdity, and would probably have put in execution had he been hindered only by his reafon.

My defire, fays he, has been for fome years paft, though the exccution has been accidentally diverted, and ⚫ does ftill vehemently continue, to re'tire myself to fome of our American Plantations; not to feek for gold, or ⚫ enrich myself with the traffick of thofe parts, which is the end of most men that travel thither, but to forfake this world for ever, with all the vanities and vexations of it, and to bury myfelf 'there in fome obfcure retreat, but not without the consolation of letters and philofophy."

Such was the chimerical provifion which Cowley had made, in his own mind, for the quiet of his remaining life; and which he feems to recommend to pofterity, fince there is no other reafon for difclofing it. Surely no ftronger inftance can be given of a perfuafion, that content was the inhabitant of particular regions, and that a man might fet fail with a fair wind, and leave behind him all his cares, incumbrances, and calamities.

If he travelled fo far with no other purpofe than to bury himself in fome obfcure retreat, he might have found, in his own country, innumerable coverts fufficiently dark to have concealed the genius of

Cowley; for whatever might be his opinion of the importunity with which he might be fummoned back into publick life, a fhort experience would have convinced him, that privation is easier than acquifition, and that it would require little continuance to free himself from the intrufion of the world. There is pride enough in the human heart to prevent much defire of acquaintance with a man by whom we are fure to be neglected, however his reputation for fcience or virtue may excite our curiofity or ́efteem; fo that the lover of retirement needs not be afraid left the respect of ftrangers fhould overwhelm him with vifits. Ever thofe to whom he has formerly been known will very patiently fupport his abfence when they have tried a little to live without him, and found new diverfions for thofe moments which his company contributed to exhilarate.

It was perhaps ordained by Providence, to hinder us from tyrannifing over one another, that no individual fhould be of fuch importance as to cause, by his retirement or death, any chafm in the world. And Cowley had converfed to little purpose with mankind, if he had never remarked, how foon the ufeful friend, the gay companion, and the favoured lover, when once they are removed from before the fight, give way to the fucceffion of new objects.

The privacy, therefore, of his hermitage might have been fafe enough from violation, though he had chofen it within the limits of his native ifland; he might have found here prefervatives against the vanities and vexations of the world, not lefs efficacious than those which the woods or fields of America could afford him: but having once his mind imbittered with difguft, he conceived it impoffible to be far enough from the cause of his uneafinefs; and was pofting away with the expedition of a coward, who, for want of venturing to look behind him, thinks the enemy perpetually at his heels.

When he was interrupted by company, or fatigued with bufinefs, he fo ftrongly imaged to himself the happiness of leifure and retreat, that he determined to enjoy them for the future without interruption, and to exclude for ever all that could deprive him of his darling fatisfaction. He forgot, in the vehemence of defire, that folitude and quiet owe their pleafures to thofe miferies which he was

fo

These are some of the motives which have had power to fequefter kings and heroes from the crowds that foothed them with flatteries, or infpirited them with acclamations: but their efficacy feems confined to the higher mind, and to operate little upon the common claffes of mankind, to whofe conceptions the prefent affemblage of things is adequate, and who seldom range beyond thofe entertainments and vexations which folicit their attention by preffing on their fenfes.

But there is an univerfal reafon for fome stated intervals of folitude, which the inftitutions of the church call upon me now especially to mention; a reafon which extends as wide as moral duty, or the hopes of divine favour in a future ftate; and which ought to influence all ranks of life, and all degrees of intellect; fince none can imagine themselves not comprehended in it's obligation, but fuch as determine to fet their Maker at defiance by obftinate wickedness, or whose enthusiastick security of his approbation places them above external ordinances, and all human means of improvement.

The great task of him who conducts his life by the precepts of religion, is to make the future predominate over the prefent, to imprefs upon his mind fo trong a fenfe of the importance of obedience to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrors of the punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal hope or fear can bring in his way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and forrow, to turn away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the threats of calamity.

It is not without reafon that the Apofde reprefents our paffage through this ftage of our existence by images drawn

from the alarms and folicitude of a military life; for we are placed in fuch a ftate, that almost every thing about us confpires against our chief interest. We are in danger from whatever can get posfeffion of our thoughts; all that can excite in us either pain or pleasure has a tendency to obftruct the way that leads to happiness, and either to turn us afide, or retard our progrefs.

Our fenfes, our appetites, and our paffions, are our lawful and faithful guides in most things that relate folely to this life; and therefore, by the hourly neceffity of confulting them, we gradually fink into an implicit fubmiffion and habitual confidence. Every act of compliance with their motions facilitates a fecond compliance; every new step towards depravity is made with lefs reluctance than the former; and thus the defcent to life merely fenfual is perpetually accelerated.

The fenfes have not only that advantage over confcience, which things neceffary must always have over things chofen, but they have likewise a kind of prescription in their favour. We feared pain much earlier than we apprehended guilt, and were delighted with the fenfations of pleasure before we had capacities to be charmed with the beauty of rectitude. To this power, thus early established, and inceffantly increafing, it must be remembered, that almost every man has, in fome part of his life, added new ftrength by a voluntary or negligent fubjection of himself; for who is there that has not inftigated his appetites by indulgence; or fuffered them by an unrefifting neutrality to enlarge their dominion, and inultiply their demands?

From the neceffity of dispossessing the fenfitive faculties of the influence which they must naturally gain by this preoccupation of the foul, arifes that con flict between oppofite defires in the first endeavours after a religious life; which, however enthufiaftically it may have been defcribed, or however contemptuously ridiculed, will naturally be felt in fome degree, though varied without end, by different tempers of mind, and innumerable circumftances of health or condition, greater or less fervour, more of fewer temptations to relapfe.

From the perpetual neceffity of confulting the animal faculties, in our provifion for the prefent life, arifes the difficulty of withstanding their impulfes,

even in cafes where they ought to be of no weight; for the motions of fenfe are inftantaneous,it's objects strike unfought, we are accustomed to follow it's directions, and therefore often fubmit to the fentence without examining the authority of the judge.

Thus it appears, upon a philofophical eftimate, that, fuppofing the mind, at any certain time, in an equipoife between the pleafures of this life and the hopes of futurity, prefent objects falling more frequently into the fcale would in time preponderate, and that our regard for an invisible state would grow every moment weaker, till at last it would lofe all it's activity, and become abfolutely without effect.

To prevent this dreadful event, the balance is put into our own hands, and we have power to transfer the weight to either fide. The motives to a life of holinefs are infinite; not lefs than the favour or anger of Omnipotence, not lefs than eternity of happinefs or mifery. But thefe can only influence our conduct as they gain our attention, which the bufinefs or diverfions of the world are always calling off by contrary attractions.

The great art therefore of piety, and the end for which all the rites of religion feem to be inftituted, is the perpetual renovation of the motives to virtue, by a voluntary employment of our mind in the contemplation of it's excellence, it's

importance, and it's neceffity; which, in proportion as they are more frequently and more willingly revolved, gain a more forcible and permanent influence, till in time they become the reigning ideas, the ftanding principles of action, and the test by which every thing propofed to the judgment is rejected or approved.

To facilitate this change of our affections, it is neceffary that we weaken the temptations of the world, by retiring at certain feafons from it; for it's influence arifing only from it's presence, is much leffened, when it becomes the object of folitary meditation. A conftant refidence amidft noife and pleasure inevitably obliterates the impreffions of piety, and a frequent abftraction of ourfelves into a ftate, where this life, like the next, operates only upon the reason, will reinftate religion in it's juft authority, even without thofe irradiations from above, the hope of which I have no intention to withdraw from the fincere and the diligent.

This is that conqueft of the world and of ourselves, which has been always confidered as the perfection of human nature: and this is only to be obtained by fervent prayer, fteady refolutions, and frequent retirement from folly and vanity; from the cares of avarice, and the joys of intemperance; from the lulling founds of deceitful flattery, and the tempting fight of profperous wickedness.

ζυν,

CREECH.

tumultuous hurries of bufinefs, and the.

tuoft eru vehemence of pues,

It is faid by modern philofophers, that not only the great globes of matter are thinly fcattered through the universe, but the hardest bodies are fo porous, that, if all matter were compreffed to perfect folidity, it might be contained in a cube of a few feet. In like manner, if all the employment of life were crouded into the time which it really occupied, perhaps a few weeks, days, or hours, would be fufficient for it's accomplishment, fo far as the mind was.

engaged