trust. He knows not to whom to open himself. He dresses his countenance in forced smiles, while his heart throbs within from apprehensionsf of secret treachery.g Hence fretfulness and ill-humour, disgust at the world, and all the painful sensations of an irritated h and embittered mind. 4. So numerous and great are the evils arising from a suspicious disposition, that, of the two extremes, it is more eligible i to expose ourselves to occasional disadvantages from thinking too well of others, than to suffer continual misery from thinking always ill of them. It is better to be sometimes imposed upon than never to trust. Safety is purchased at too dear a rate, when, in order to secure it, we are obliged to be always clad in armour, and to live in perpetual hostility to our fellows. 5. This is, for the sake of living, to deprive ourselves of the comfort of life. The man of candour enjoys his situation, whatever it is, with cheerfulness and peace. Prudence directs his intercourse with the world; but no black suspicions haunt his hours of rest. Accustomed to view the characters of his neighbours in the most favourable light, he is like one, who dwellsjamidst those beautiful scenes of nature, on which the eye rests with pleasure. 6. Whereas, the suspicious man, having his imagination filled with all the shocking forms of human falsehood, deceit, and treachery, resembles the traveller in the wilderness, who discerns no objects around him, but such as are either dreary or terrible caverns that open, serpents that hiss, and beasts of prey that howl. : a Resource, re-sorse'. Resort, expedient BLAIR. d In-ac-cess-i-ble, in-ak-sẻs'-se-bl. Not to be approached Re-tain, re-tane'. To keep in mind, not to dismiss. SECTION VI.-COMFORTS OF RELIGION. 1. THERE are many, who have passed the age of youth and beauty; who have resigned the pleasures of that smiling season; who begin to decline into the vale of years, impaired in their health, depressed in their fortunes, stript of their friends, their children, and perhaps still more tender connexions. What resource a can this world afford them? It presents à dark and dreary waste, through which there does not issue a single ray of comfort.. 2. Every delusive b prospect of ambition is now at an end ; long experience of mankind, an experience very different from what the open and generous c soul of youth had fondly dreamt of, has rendered the heart almost inaccessible d to new friendships. The principal sources of activity are taken away, when they for whom we labour are cut off from us; they who animated, and who sweetened all the toils of life. 3. Where then can the soul find refuge, e but in the bosom of Religion? There she is admitted to those prospects of Providence and futurity, which alone can warm and fill the heart. I speak here of such as retainƒ the feelings of humanity; whom misfortunes have softened, and perhaps rendered more delicately sensible; not of such as possess that stupid insensibility, which some are pleased to dignify with the name of Philosophy. 4. It might therefore be expected, that those philosophers who think they stand in no need themselves of the assistance of religion to support their virtue, and who never feel the want of its consolations, would yet have the humanity to consider the very different situation of the rest of mankind; and not endeavour to deprive them of what habit at least, if they will not allow it to be nature, has made necessary to their morals, and to their happiness. 5. It might be expected, that humanity would prevent them from breaking into the last retreat of the unfortunate, who can no longer be objects of their envy or resentment; and tearing from them their only remaining comfort. The attempt to ridicule religion may be agreeable to some, by relieving them from restraint upon their pleasures; and may render others very miserable, by making them doubt those truths, in which they were most deeply interested; but it can convey real good and happiness to no one individual. e a Dis-cern, diz-zérn'. To see, distinguish d Re-serve, re-zerv'. To keep in store e Pro-fi-cien-cy, pro-fish'-én-sẻ. Advancement GREGORY. f Ex-plode, éks-plode'. To decry, drive out with noise 2 Mass, más. A body, the service of the Roman church SECTION VII-DIFFIDENCE OF OUR ABILITIES, A MARK OF WISDOM. 1. It is a sure indication of good sense, to be diffident of it. We then, and not till then, are growing wise, when we begin An absolute per to discern a bow weak and unwise we are. fection of understanding, is impossible: he makes the nearest approaches to it, who has the sense to discern, and the humility b to acknowledge its imperfections. 2. Modesty always sits gracefully c upon youth; it covers a multitude of faults. and doubles the lustre of every virtue, which it seems to hide the perfections of men being like those flowers which appear more beautiful, when their leaves are a little contracted and folded up, than when they are full blown, and display themselves without any reserve, d to the view. 3. We are some of us very fond of knowledge, and apt to value ourselves upon any proficiency e in the sciences: one science. however, there is, worth more than all the rest, and that is, the science of living well; which shall remain, when and knowledge shall vanish away." tongues shall cease 4. As to new notions, and new doctrines, of which this age is very fruitful, the time will come, when we shall have no pleasure in them: nay, the time shall come, when they shall be exploded,f and would have been forgotten, if they bad not been preserved in those excellent books, which contain a confutation g of them; like insects preserved for ages in amber, h which otherwise would soon have returned to the common messi of things. 5. But a firm belief of Christianity, and a practice suitable to it, will support and invigorate the mind to the last; and most of all, at last, at that important hour, which must decide our hopes and apprehensions: and the wisdom, which, like our Saviour, cometh from above, will, through his merits, bring us thither. All our other studies and pursuits, however different, ought to be subservient to, and centre in, this grand point-the pursuit of eternal happiness, by being good in ourselves, and useful to the world. SEED. a Com-mit, kôm-mit'. To intrust, imprison, perpetrate [others d En-croach, én-krotsh'. To make invasions upon the rights of e Dis-po-sal, dis-po'-zál. Regulation, distribution f Sur-ren-der, sår-rẻn'-dår. To deliver up g Cha-os, ka-os. The state of matter before the creation h Ap-pre-ci-a-tion, p-prẻ-shé-à'-shan. Estimation 2 Squan-der, skwôn'-dår. To lavish, waste j In-con-sid-er-ate, In-kon-sid'-ér-åte. Thoughtless n Re-gret, re-gret'. Bitter reflection, to repent • Con-fu-sion, kỗn-fù'-zhån. Astonishment, tumult q An-guish, ang-gwish'. Excessive pain u Ar-rest, ár-rẻst'. A restraint of a man's person, to stop SECTION VIII-ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ORDER IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR TIME. 1. Time we ought to consider as a sacred trust committed a to us by God; of which we are now the depositaries, b and are to render an account at the last. That portion of it, which he has allotted to us. is intended partly for the concerns of this world, partly for those of the next Let each of these occupy, in the distribution of our time, that space c which properly belongs to it. 2. Let not the hours of hospitality and pleasure interfere with the discharge of our necessary affairs; and let not what we call necessary affairs, encroach d upon the time, which is due to devotion To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven. If we delay till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day, 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 smoothly. 3. He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows out that plan, carries on a thread which will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy 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 disposal e of time is surrenderedƒ merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos g which admits neither of distribution nor review. 4. The first requisite for introducing order into the management of our time, is to be impressed with a just sense of its value. Let us consider well how much depends upon it, and how fast it flies away. The bulk of men are in nothing more capricious or inconsistent, than in their appreciation h of time. When they think of it, as the measure of their continuance on earth, they highly prize it, and with the greatest anxiety seek to lengthen it out. 5. But when they view it in separate parcels, they appear to hold it in contempt, and squander i it with inconsideratej profusion. k While they complain that life is short, they are often wishing its different periods at an end. Covetous of every other possession, of time only they are prodigal. m They allow every idle man to be master of this property, and make every frivolous occupation welcome, that can help them to consume it. 6. Among those who are so careless of time, it is not to be expected, that order should be observed in its distribution. But by this fatal neglect, how many materials of severe and lasting regretn are they laying up in store for themselves. The time, which they suffer to pass away in the midst of confusion, o bitter repentance p seeks afterwards in vain to recal. What was omitted to be done at its proper moment, arises to be the torment of some future season. 7. Manhood is disgraced by the consequences of neglected youth. Old age, oppressed by cares that belonged to a former period, labours under a burden not its own. At the close of life, the dying man beholds with anguish, q that his days are finishing, when his preparation for eternity is hardly commenced. Such are the effects of a disorderly waste of time, through not attending to its value. Every thing in the life of such persons is misplaced. Nothing is performed aright, from not being performed in due season. 8. But he who is orderly in the distribution of his time, takes the proper method of escaping those manifoldr evils. He is justly said to redeems the time. By proper management, he prolongst 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 soul, and at the same time attend to all the lawful interests of the present world. He looks back on the past, and provides for the future. 9. He catches and arrests u the hours as they fly. They are marked down for useful purposes, and their memory remains. Whereas those hours fleet by the man of confusion like a shadow. His days and years are either blanks, of which he has no remembrance, or they are filled up with so confused and irregular a succession of unfinished transactions, that tho' he remembers he has been busy, yet he can give no account of the business, which has employed him. a A-dorn, á-dorn'. To deck with ornaments b Pop-u-lar, pop'-på-lår. Pleasing to the people BLAIR. • Mo-ral-i-ty, mô-rål'-é-te. The doctrine of the duties of life |