without any ftruggle against calamity, or endeavour after advantage, is indeed below the dignity of a reasonable being, in whose power Providence has put a great part even of his present happiness; but it fhews an equal ignorance of our proper fphere, to harrass our thoughts with conjectures about things not yet in being. How can we regulate events, of which we yet know not whether they will ever happen? And why fhould we think, with painful anxiety, about that on which our thoughts can have no influence? It is a maxim commonly received, that a wife man is never furprized; and, perhaps, this exemption from astonishment may be imagined to proceed from fuch a profpect into futurity, as gave previous intimation of thofe evils which often fall unexpected upon others that have lefs forefight.But the truth is, that things to come, except when they approach very nearly, are equally hidden from men of all degrees of understanding; and if a wife man is not amazed at fudden occurrences, it is not that he has thought more, but lefs upon futurity. He never confidered things not yet exifting as the proper objects of his attention; he never indulged dreams till he was deceived by their phantoms, nor ever realized non-entities to his mind. He is not furprized, because he is not difappointed; and he efcapes difappointment, because he never forms any expectations. The concern about things to come, that is fo justly cenfured, is not the refult of thofe general reflections on the variableness of fortune, the uncertainty of life, and the universal infecurity of all human acquifitions, which muft always be fuggefted by the view of the world; but fuch a defponding anticipation of misfortunes, as fixes the mind upon scenes of gloom and melancholy, and makes fear predominate in every imagination. Anxiety of this kind is nearly of the fame nature with jealousy in love, and suspicion in the general commerce of life; a temper which keeps the man always in alarms, difpofes him to judge of every thing in a manner that least favours his own quiet, fills him with perpetual ftratagems of counteraction, wears him out in fchemes to obviate evils which never threatened him, and at length, perhaps, contributes to the production of thofe mifchiefs of which it had raised fuch dreadful apprehenfions. It has been usual, in all ages, for moralifts to reprefs the fwellings of vain hope, by reprefentations of the innumerable cafualties to which life is fubje&t, and by inftances of the unexpected defeat of the wifeft fchemes of policy, and fudden fubverfions of the higheft eminences of greatnefs.-It has, perhaps, not been equally obferved, that all thefe examples afford the proper antidote to fear as well as to hope, and may be applied with no less efficacy as confolations to the timorous, than as reftraints to the proud. Evil is uncertain in the fame degree as good, and for the reason that we ought not to hope too fecurely, we ought not to fear with too much dejection. The ftate of the world is continually changing, and none can tell the refult of the next viciffitude. Whatever is afloat in the stream of time, may, when it it very near us, be driven away by an accidental blaft, which fhall happen to crofs the general courfe of the current. The fudden accidents by which the powerful are depreffed, may fall upon thofe whofe malice we fear; and the greatnefs by which we expect to be overborne, may become another proof of the falfe flatteries of fortune. Our enemies may become weak, or we grow frong, before our encounter, or we may advance against each other without ever meeting. There are, indeed, natural evils which we can flatter ourselves with no hopes of escaping, and with little of delaying; but of the ills which are apprehended apprehended from human malignity, or the oppofition of rival interefts, we may always alleviate the terror by confidering that our perfecutors are weak and ignorant, and mortal like ourselves. The misfortunes which arife from the concurrence of unhappy incidents, fhould never be fuffered to difturb us before they happen; becaufe, if the breaft be once laid open to the dread of mere poffibilities of mifery, life must be given a prey to dismal folicitude, and quiet must be loft for ever. Is is remarked by old Cornaro, that it is abfurd to be afraid of the natural diffolution of the body, because it must certainly happen, and can, by no caution or artifice, be avoided. Whether this fentiment be entirely juft, I fhall not examine; but certainly if it be improper to fear events which muft happen, it is yet more evidently contrary to right reafon to fear thofe which may never happen, and which, if they fhould come upon us, we cannot refift. As we ought not to give way to fear, any more than indulgence to hope, becaufe the objects both, of fear and hope are yet uncertain, fo we ought not to trust the reprefentation of one more than of the other, because they are both equally fallacious; F 2 cious; as hope enlarges happiness, fear aggravates calamity. It is generally allowed, that no man ever found the happinefs of poffeffion proportionate to that expectation which incited his defire, and invigorated his purfuit; nor has any man found the evils of life fo formidable in reality, as they were defcribed to him by his own imagination; every species of diftrefs brings with it fome peculiar fupports, fome unforeseen means of refifting, or power of enduring. Taylor juftly blames fome pious perfons, who indulge their fancies too much, fet themselves, by the force of imagination, in the place of the ancient martyrs and confeffors, and question the validity of their own faith, because they fhrink at the thoughts of flames and tortures. It is, fays he, fufficient that you are able to encounter the temptations which now affault you; when God fends trials, he may fend ftrength. All fear is in itself painful, and when it conduces not to safety is painful without ufe. Every confideration, therefore, by which groundless terrors may be removed, adds fomething to human happiness. It is likewife not unworthy of remark, that in proportion as our cares are employed upon the future, they are abftracted from the prefent, from the only time which we can call our own, and |