the fad ftate of this negative Goodness. It robs Religion. and the World of the Service due to both; it bereaves us of the Pleasures of Life and the Comforts of Death. Can Idleness maintain the Order and Beauty of human Society? Does it poffefs any of the Virtues that vindicate the Honour of Religion and demonftrate its Divinity? Is it productive of thofe bright Examples that ftrike Faith into Infidels, and inflame thofe that believe with a generous Emulation? Pleasure of Life, if true, must be pure and fpiritual, and can it be drawn from fuch a ftagnated Pool, as that of Idleness? Virtue is a clear and flowing Stream, 'tis the standing Water, that contracts Filth, and the Mind of the lazy Man like the Bottom of a Lake is all Mire and Impurity. He is the fame with respect to both Moral and Chrif tian Virtue. What Hope of Happiness, what Thirst of Glory is he fir'd by? How flames his Devotion, how fhines his Charity, what a Stranger is he to all great and good Actions, and how can his Life therefore be pleasant, or his Death be comfortable? As to the Comforts of Death, what a horrible Defert muft Eternity be to a Mind that has been ever wandering in a vaft Solitude? If life has not been enlighten'd by good Works, how dark and gloomy will Death look, when Confcience fummons the dying Wretch to account, and he has nothing but a Blank to produce? How will he discharge the Debt he owes to his Maker, when the Fruits of many idle Years will be demanded, and nothing is to be found but Fancy and Fortune, Humour and Indulgence? How will the Soul fhrink, faint, and tremble? What Horror and Confufion will feize on all its Faculties, when it confiders that at the dreadful Tribunal, before which he is going to appear, every Man will be judg❜ď according to his Works? What then will become of him, who has none? If immortal Glory be the Reward of well-doing, what will be the Fate of the Sluggard, who has loiter'd and flept away that precious Time, which the God of it, his Judge, had given him to improve?

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The Guilt of this Vice might be aggravated by enumerating the Talents it waftes, the Obligations it flights, and the Hopes it forfeits. 'Tis indeed a general one; but that, instead of rendering it familiar to us, fhould alarm us the more, for fear of yielding to the Strength of the Temptation: We are apt to flatter ourselves that there is fome fecret Charm in it; but it confifts only in that we will not be at the pains to break it. It is an old Cheat that has impos'd on Mankind from the Beginning of the World, and will continue to do fo to the End of it. Liftleffness will ever be mistaken for Simplicity, and Indifference for Innocence. As long

as the Path to Heaven is a ftrait one, and there is the least Pain in Virtue, the Idle will ever mistake the Shadow for the Substance, and be contented with it to their Deftru&tion.

Men of Fortune may flatter themselves that they are not concern'd in the Leffons which are given against this Vice. Their Subfiftence does not depend on their Induftry. They are Mafters of their Time, and it always fticks upon their Hands; but fhould they not confider, that the more they have of it, the more ought they to devote to Religion? To whom much is given, of kim much is required. Such a one has no Excufe for neglecting the Worship of God, either in publick or private: Or if he has an Excufe, it must be Pleafure or Laziness, which alike increases his Guilt. The Bleffings he enjoys require a frequent and grateful Acknowledgment to the bountiful Giver of them. What more noble Part of Life is there, what more transporting Act of Devotion, than the Praise of the Omnipotent, to whom we owe our present Happiness, and all our Hopes of future? The Great whofe good or ill Example is of fuch vaft Importance to the Service or Differvice of Religion, cannot better improve that Leifure which an eafy and affluent Fortune gives them, than in divine Meditation, in Prayer, in Reading, and Inftruction, having Opportunities to perform all thofe

Duties

Duties with more Zeal and Solemnity, than thofe, the Neceffity of whofe Affairs keeps them in a continual Hurry.

And the better to difpofe them for this, they ought to be careful in the Choice of their Friends. Time may as well be gain'd as loft by Conversation. The Dif courfes and Reflexions of our Acquaintance may awaken us when we are drowsy, and relieve us when we forget ourselves in the Discharge of our Duty. Nothing can be of greater Ufe to us in a virtuous Life, than the Society of good Men, whofe Difcourfe is feafon'd with Religion and Virtue. On the contrary, how mischievous is that Company whose Conversation turns all on Levity and Wantonness. Gay, perhaps, in Appearance, but when examin'd 'tis found only Froth and Impertinence. Civility and good Manners, do not oblige us to be Fools, and 'tis the highest Folly to be fond of Society where we cannot maintain our Innocence, and where the Joy and Mirth, which charm us, corrupt our Minds, and fill 'em with either Lightness or Impurity.

'Tis a great Misfortune that Perfons of Condition are no better inftructed by their Tutors in useful Knowledge, that they might know how to amufe and divert themselves innocently, and find Employment for those Hours, which otherwife lay heavy on their Hands. But fure the Greatest need not complain for want of Employment. How many are the Virtues, how many the Duties to which a Chriftian is obliged? How many excellent Qualities are neceffary to render a Gentleman worthy the Station where God has placed him? let him but make use of thofe Qualities, and attend those Duties; let him confider what is requifite to make a good Mafter, a good Husband, a good Father, a good Son, a good Neighbour, a good Subject, and a good Friend; let him lay out all his Leifure in endeavouring to anfwer all thofe Relations as he ought, and then fee, if there's any Part of his Time in which he cannot use

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fully and pleasantly employ himself. He who has ar riv'd to the highest Degree of Perfection in the Discharge of all the Duties of Life, will at last be found wanting in many. Some he will have omitted, and perform'd others with lefs Care and Diligence than he ought. Who therefore can complain of want of Bufinefs? He that has a juft Idea of his Duty, will rather think his Life too fhort, and his Work too great. For let us be

as diligent as we can, let us be as frugal of our Time as we will, we arrive much fooner at a Maturity of Years, than of Knowledge and Virtue.

People of Rank and Wealth fhould, in all their Diverfions, confider what becomes the Character of a Gentleman, and the Dignity of a Chriftian. He errs in both, whenever he is mean or vicious in any of his Actions. Strange are the Notions of Honour by which fome Men are mif-led; they make no Scruple of corrupting another Man's Wife or Daughter, of defrauding the honest Tradefman and Artificer; but they must by no means bear with the Sallies of another Man's Paffion, nor have any Command of their own; they every Minute affront their Creator, in profaning his holy Name, and difobeying his Laws: But they cannot live if they are themfelves affronted, and Murder is fo far from being a Sin with them, that it never gives their Confciences the leaft Difquiet. Were they as jealous of God's Honour as they pretend to be of their own, they would foon fee the Folly and Madnefs of their wild Purfuits of Revenge, and learn to forgive, as they expect to be forgiven.

If we carry our Reflexions on the good Employment of Time to the lower Order of Men, fuch as are engag'd in any Trade or Profeffion, we shall find room enough to condemn thofe for mifpending it, who have fo little to fpare. The Crime is highly aggravated in those whofe Idleness ruins them, as well in this World as the next. Their Sin is the greater, as their Temptation is the lefs That Time that is given up entirely to worldly

worldly Gain, cannot surely be faid to be well spent by a Chriftian whofe greatest Gain is Godlinefs; but he that is negligent in his temporal Affairs, will certainly neglect his fpiritual. There's the lefs to be faid on this Subject; for that Avarice in a great measure hinders the Infection of Idlenefs from fpreading among Men of meaner Condition, who too often fuffer the Cares of this Life to thrust out those of another, and they are then truly idle and flothful Servants to God, how industrious and faithful foever they are to the World. Time is but wafted and mifpent, if it makes not Provifion for Eter nity; and it matters little whether it be used in Pleasure, or in Drudgery.

The Ladies are apt to think that the Softnefs of their Sex excufes their Idleness, and a Woman who can do nothing, imagines therefore that she has nothing to do.

Is it not shameful to fee how Women of Wit and Politeness neglect the common Rudiments of Education? "Tis enough for them to understand what they read, if they do not know how to pronounce it, and read with a Grace. The more trivial these Faults appear, the greater Shame for fuch as cannot correct them; and how can they without blushing be in Company guilty of Errors, which they ought not to have brought out of their Nursery? They should not read with a Tone, nor hefttate in reading; they should go on fmoothly, and with a plain, natural, and uniform Pronunciation. Their Deficiencies in Spelling are become fo fafhionable, that to fpell well, is, among the fair Sex, reckon❜d a Sort of Pedantry; they are taught a little more care in writing a good Hand, but that care goes no farther than the making their Letters; the connexing them, and an orderly placing their Words in ftraight Lines, is what they are, for the most part, utterly Strangers to.

They will find no manner of Inconvenience in acquainting themselves a little with the Grammar of their native Language; not to learn it tedioufly by Rule, as Boys do Latin, but fo as that they may be able to ex

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