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at laft, 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. All our other ftudies and pursuits, however different, ought to be fubfervient to, and centre in, this grand point, the purfuit of eternal happiness, by being good in ourselves, and useful to the world.

SECTION VIII.

SEED.

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ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ORDER IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR TIME.

TIME we ought to confider as a facred trust committed to us by God; of which we are now the depositaries, and are to render account at the laft. That portion of it which he has allotted us, is intended partly for the concerns of this world, partly for thofe of the next. Let each of these occupy, in the diftribution of our time, that fpace which properly belongs to it. Let not the hours of hofpitality and pleafure interfere with the discharge of our neceffary affairs; and let not what we call neceffary affairs, encroach upon the time which is due to devotion. To every thing there is a feason, and a time for every purpose under the heaven. If we delay till tomorrow what ought to be done today, we overcharge the morrow with a burden which belongs not to it. We load the wheels of time, and prevent them from carrying us along fmoothly. He who every morning plans the tranfactions of the day, and follows out that plan, carries on a thread which will guide him through the labyrinth of the most bufy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like a ray of light, which darts itself through all his affairs. But, where no plan is laid, where the difpofal of time is furrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos, which admits neither of distribution nor review.

The first requifite for introducing order into the management of time, is to be impreffed with a juft fenfe of its value. Let us confider well how much-depends upon it, and how fast it flies away. The bulk of men are in nothing more capricious and inconfiftent, than in their appre ciation of time. When they think of it, as the meature of their continuance on earth, they highly prize it, and with the greateft anxiety feek to lengthen it out. But when

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they view it in feparate parcels, they appear to hold it in contempt, and fquander it with inconfiderate profusion. While they complain that life is fhort, they are often wishing its different periods at an end. Covetous of every other poffeffion, of time only they are prodigal. They allow every idle man to be mafter of this property, and make every frivolous occupation welcome that can help. them to confume it. Among thofe who are so careless. of time, it is not to be expected that order fhould be obferved in its diftribution. But, by this fatal neglect, how many materials of fevere and lafting regret are they laying up in store for themselves! The time which they fuffer to pass away in the midit of confufion, bitter repentance feeks afterwards in vain to recal. What was omitted to be done at its proper moment, arifes to be the torment of fome future season. Manhood is difgraced by the consequences of neglected youth. Old age, oppreffed by cares that belonged to a former period, labours under a burden not its own. At the clofe of life, the dying man beholds with anguish that his days are finishing, when his preparation for eternity is hardly commenced. Such are the effects of a disorderly wafte of time, through not attending to its value. Every thing in the life of fuch perfons is mifplaced. Nothing is performed aright, from not being performed in due feason.

But he who is orderly in the diftribution of his time, takes the proper method of efcaping thofe manifold evils. He is juftly faid to redeem the time. By proper management, he prolongs it. He lives much in little space; more in a few years than others do in many. He can live to God and his own foul, and at the fame time attend to all the lawful interests of the prefent world. He looks back on the past, and provides for the future. He catches and arrests the hours as they fly. They are marked down for ufeful purposes, and their memory remains. Whereas thofe hours fleet by the man of confusion, like a fhadow. His days and years are either blanks of which he has no remembrance, or they are filled up with fuch a confused and irregular fucceffion of unfinished tranfactions, that though he remembers he has been bufy, yet he can give no account of the business which has employed him.

therefore recommend to the confideration of those, who are always aiming at fupurfluous and imaginary enjoy. ments, and who will not be at the trouble of contracting their defires, an excellent faying of Bion the philofopher, namely, "That no man has fo much care, as he who endeavours after the most happiness."

In the fecond place, every one ought to reflect how much more unhappy he might be, than he really is. The former consideration took in all those, who are füfficiently provided with the means to make themfelves eafy; this regards fuch as actually lie under fome prelure, or misfortune. These may receive great alleviation from fuch a comparifon as the unhappy perfon may make between himself and others ; or between the misfortune which he fuffers, and greater misfortunes, which might have befallen him.

I like the ftory of the honeft Dutchman, who, upon breaking his leg by a fall from the mainmaft, told the ftanders by, it was a great mercy that it was not his neck. To which, fince I am got into quotations, give me leave to add the faying of an old philofopher, who, after having invited fome of his friends to dine with him, was ruffled by a person that came into the room in a paffion, and threw down the table that ftood before them: "Every one," fays he, "has his calamity; and he is a happy man that has no greater than this." We find an instance to the fame purpose, in the life of doctor Hammond, written by bifhop Fell. As this good man was troubled with a com

cation of distempers, when he had the gout upon him, he used to thank God that it was not the ftone ; and when he had the ftone, that he had not both thefe distempers on him at the fame time.

I cannot conclude this effay without obferving, that there never was any fyftem befides that of Chriftianity, which could effectually produce in the mind of man, the virtue I have been hitherto speaking of. In order to make us contented with our condition, many of the present philofophers tell us, that our difcontent only hurts ourselves, without being able to make any alteration in our circumftances; others, that whatever evil befalls us is derived to us by a fal necellity, to which fuperior beings themfelves are fubject; while others, very gravely, tell the man who

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is miferable, that it is neceffary he fhould be fo, to keep up the harmony of the univerfe; and that the fcheme of Providence would be troubled and perverted, were he other wife. These, and the like confiderations, rather filence than fatisfy a man. They may fhow him that his difcontent is unreasonable, but they are by no means fufficient to relieve it. They rather give despair than confolation. In a word, a man might reply to one of thefe comforters, as Auguftus did to his friend, who advised him not to grieve for the death of a perfon whom he loved, because his grief could not fetch him again: "It is for that very reason," faid the emperor, "that I grieve."

On the contrary, religion bears a more tender regard to human nature. It prefcribes to every miferable man the means of bettering his condition: nay, it fhows him, that bearing his afflictions as he ought to do, will naturally end in the removal of them. It makes him eafy here, because it can make him happy hereafter. +10NODISON.

SECTION XII.

RANK AND RICHES AFFORD NO GROUND FOR ENVY.

Or all the grounds of envy among men, fuperiority in rank and fortune is the moft general. Hence the malignity which the poor commonly bear to the rich, as engroffing to themselves all the comforts of life. Hence, the evil eye with which perfons of inferior station fcrutinize those who are above them in rank; and if they approach to that rank their envy is generally strongest against fuch, as are just one ftep higher than themfelves. Alas! friends, all this envious difquietude, which agitates the world, arifes from a deceitful figure which impofes on the public view. Falfe colours are hung out: the real state of men is not what it feems to be. The order of society requires a diftinction of ranks to take place; but in point of happiness, all men come much nearer to equality than is commonly imagined; and the circumstances, which form any material difference of happiness among them, are not of that nature which renders them grounds of envy. The poor man poffeffes not, it is true, fome of the conveniences and pleafures of the rich; but in return, he is free from many embarraffments to which they are fubject. By the fimplicity and uniformity of his life, he is delivered

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from that variety of cares, which perplex thofe who have great affairs to manage, intricate plans to purfue, many enemies, perhaps, to encounter in the purfuit. In the tranquillity of his fmall habitation, and private family, he enjoys a peace which is often unknown at courts. The gratifications of nature, which are always the most fatisfactory, are poffeffed by him to their full extent; and if he be a ftranger to the refined pleafures of the wealthy, he is unacquainted alfo with the defire of them, and by confequence, feels no want. His plain meal fatisfies his appetite, with a relish, probably higher than that of the rich man, who fits down to his luxurious banquet. His fleep is more found; his health more firm; he knows not what fpleen, languor, and listlessness are. His accustomed employments or labours are not more oppreflive to him, than the labour of attendance on courts and the great, the labours of dress, the fatigue of amufements, the very weight of idleness, frequently are to the rich. In the mean time, all the beauty of the face of nature, all the 4 enjoyments of domestic fociety, all the gaiety and cheerfulness of an eafy mind, are as open to him as to those of the highest rank. The fplendour of retinue, the found of titles, the appearances of high refpect, are indeed foothing, for a fhort time, to the great. But, become famil iar, ey are foon forgotten. Cuftom effaces their impreffion. They fink into the rank of those ordinary things, which daily recur, without raifing any fenfation of joy. Let us ceafe, therefore, from looking up with difcontent and envy to thofe, whom birth or fortune has placed above us. Let us adjust the balance of happiness fairly. When nk of the enjoyments we want, we should think alfo of troubles from which we are free. If we allow their jult value to the comforts we poffefs, we fhall find reafon to reft fatisfied, with a very moderate, though not an opulent and fplendid, condition of fortune. Often, did we know the whole, we fhould be inclined to pity the state of those whom we now envy.

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SECTION XIII.

BLAIR.

PATIENCE UNDER PROVOCATIONS OUR INTEREST AS WELL AS DUTY??? THD wide circle of human fociety is diverfified by an endless variety of characters, difpofitions, and paffions.

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