and the defert; or fhut thyfelf up in a cell. For here, in the midst of fociety, offences must come. We might as well expect, when we behold a calm atmosphere, and a clear sky, that no clouds were ever to rife, and no winds to blow, as that our life was long to proceed, without receiving provocations from human frailty. The careless and the imprudent, the giddy and the fickle, the ungrateful and the interefted, every where meet us. They are the briers and thorns, with which the paths of human life are befet. He only, who can hold his courfe among them with patience and equanimity, he who is prepared to bear what he must expect to happen, is worthy the name of a man.

If we preferved ourselves compofed but for a moment, we should perceive the infignificancy of moft of thofe proVocations which we magnify fo highly. When a few funs more have rolled over our heads, the ftorm will, of itself, have subsided; the cause of our prefent impatience and difturbance will be utterly forgotten. Can we not then anticipate this hour of calmness to ourselves; and begin to enjoy the peace which it will certainly bring? If others have behaved improperly, let us leave them to their own folly, without becoming the victim of their caprice, and punishing ourfelves on their account. Patience, in this exercise of it, cannot be too much studied by all who with their life to flow in a fmooth ftream. It is the reafon of a man, in oppofition to the paffion of a child. It is the enjoyment of peace, in oppofition to uproar and confiufion.

SECTION XIV.

Moderation in our Wishes recommended.

BLAIR.

THE active mind of man feldom or never refts fatisfied with its prefent condition, how profperous foever. Originally formed for a wider range of objects, for a higher fphere of enjoyments, it finds itself, in every fituation of fortune, ftraitened and confined, Senfible of deficiency in its ftate, it is ever fending forth the fond defire, the afpiring wifh, after fomething beyond what is enjoyed at prefent. Hence, that reftleffhefs which prevails fo generally among mankind. Hence, that difguft of pleasures which they have tried; that paffion for novelty; that ambition

G

of rifing to fome degree of eminence or felicity, of which they have formed to themfelves an indiftinct idea. All which may be confidered as indications of a certain native original greatnefs in the human foul, fwelling beyond the limits of its prefent condition; and pointing to the higher objects for which it was made. Happy, if these latent remains of our primitive ftate ferved to direct our wishes towards their proper destination, and to lead us into the path of true blifs!

But in this dark and bewildered ftate, the afpiring tendency of our nature unfortunately takes an oppofite direction, and feeds a very mifplaced ambition. The flattering appearances which here prefent themselves to fenfe; the diftinctions which fortune confers; the advantages and pleafures which we imagine the world to be capable of bestowing, fill up the ultimate with of moft men. These are the objects which engrofs their folitary mufings, and ftimulate their active labours; which warm the breasts of the young, animate the induftry of the middle aged, and often keep alive the paffions of the old, until the very close of life.

Affuredly, there is nothing unlawful in our wishing to be freed from whatever is difagreeable, and to obtain a fuller enjoyment of the comforts of life. But when these wishes are not tempered by reason, they are in danger of precipitating us into much extravagance and folly. Defires and wishes are the firft fprings of action. When they become exorbitant, the whole character is likely to be tainted. If we fuffer our fancy to create to itfelf worlds of ideal happinefs, we shall difcompofe the peace and order of our minds, and foment many hurtful paffions. Here, then, let moderation begin its reign; by bringing within reafonable bounds the wishes that we form. As foon as they become extravagant, let us check them, by proper reflections on the fallacious nature of thofe objects, which the world hangs out to allure defire.

You have ftrayed, my friends, from the road which co ducts to felicity; you have difhonoured the native dignity of your fouls, in allowing your wishes to terminate on nothing higher than worldly ideas of greatnefs or happiness. Your imagination roves in a land of fhadows. Unreal forms

deceive you. It is no more than a phantom, an illufion of happinefs, which attracts your fond admiration; nay, an illufion of happinefs, which often conceals much real mifery. Do you imagine, that all are happy who have attained to thofe fummits of diftinction, towards which your withes afpire? Alas! how frequently has experience shown, that where rofes were fuppofed to bloom, nothing but briers and thorns grew! Reputation, beauty, riches, grandeur, nay, royalty itfelf, would, many a time, have been gladly exchanged by the poffeffors, for that more quiet and humble fration, with which you are now diffatisfied. With all that is fplendid and fhining in the world, it is decreed that there fhould mix many deep fhades of wo. On the elevated fituations of fortune the great calamities of life chiefly fall. There, the ftorm fpends its violence, and there the thunder breaks; while, fafe and unhurt, the inhabitant of the vale remains below. Retreat, then, from thofe vain and pernicious excurfions of extravagant defire. Satisfy yourselves with what is rational and attainable. Train your minds to moderate views of human life, and human happinefs. Remember, and admire, the wifdom of Augur's petition: "Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me: left I be full, and deny thee; and fay, who is the Lord? or left I be poor, and fteal; and take the name of my God in vain."

SECTION XV.

BLAIR.

Omniscience and Omnipresence of the Deity, the Source of Consolation to good men.

I was yesterday, about funfet, walking in the open fields, till the night infenfibly fell upon me. I at firft amufed myfelf with all the richnefs and variety of colours, which appeared in the western parts of heaven. In proportion as they faded away and went out, feveral ftars and planets appeared one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The bluenefs of the ether was exceedingly heightened and enlivened, by the feafon of the year, and the rays of all thofe luminaries that paffed through it. The galaxy appeared in its most beautiful white. To complete the fcene, the full moon rofe, at length, in that clouded majesty, which

Milton takes notice of; and opened to the eye a new picture of nature, which was more finely fhaded, and difpofed among fofter lights than that which the fun had before difcovered to us.

As I was furveying the moon walking in her brightness, and taking her progrefs among the conftellations, a thought *arofe in me, which I believe very often perplexes and difturbs men of ferious and contemplative natures. David himself fell into it in that reflection; "When I confider the heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars which thou haft ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the fon of man that our regardeft him!" In the fame manner, when I confider that infinite host of stars, or, to fpeak more philofophically, of funs, which were then fhining upon me; with those innumerable fets of planets or worlds, which were moving round their refpective funs; when I ftill enlarge the idea, and fuppofed another heaven of funs and worlds, rifing ftill above this which we difcovered; and thefe ftill enlightened by a fuperior firmament of luminaries, which are planted at fo great a distance, that they may appear to the inhabitants of the former, as the stars do to us; in fhort, while I purfued this thought, I could not but reflect on that little infignificant figure, which I myself bore amidst the immenfity of God's works.

Were the fun, which enlivens this part of the creation, with all the hoft of planetary worlds, that move about him, ́utterly extinguifhed and annihilated, they would not be mifsed, more than a grain of fand upon the fea fhore. The fpace they poffefs, is fo exceedingly little in comparison of the whole, it would fcarcely make a blank in the creation. The chafm would be imperceptible to any eye, that could take in the whole compafs of nature, and pafs from one end of the creation to the other; as it is poffible there may be fuch a fenfe in ourfelves hereafter, or in creatures which are at prefent more exalted than ourfelves. By the help of glaffes, we fee many ftars, which we do not discover with our naked eyes; and the finer our telescopes are, the more ftill are our difcoveries. Huygenius carries this thought fo far, that he does not think it impoffible there may be stars, whose light has not yet travelled down to us, fince their first

creation. There is no question that the universe has certain bounds fet to it; but when we confider that it is the work of Infinite Power, prompted by Infinite Goodness, with an infinite space to exert itself in, how can our imagination fet any bounds to it?

To return, therefore, to my first thought, I could not but look upon myself with fecret horror, as a being that was not worth the smallest regard of one who had fo great a work under his care and fuperintendency. I was afraid of being overlooked amidst the immenfity of nature; and loft among that infinite variety of creatures, which, in all probability, fwarm through all these immeafurable regions of matter.

In order to recover mylelf from this mortifying thought, I confidered that it took its rife from thofe narrow conceptions, which we are apt to entertain of the Divine Nature. We ourselves cannot attend to many different objects at the fame time. If we are careful to infpect fome things, we muft of courfe neglect others. This imperfection which we obferve in ourfelves, is an imperfection that cleaves, in fome degree, to creatures of the higheft capacities, as they are creatures, that is, beings of finite and limited natures., The prefence of every created being is confined to a certain meafure of space; and confequently his obfervation is ftinted to a certain number of objects. The fphere in which we move, and act, and understand, is of a wider circumference to one creature, than another, according as we rife one above another in the fcale af exiftence. But the widest of these our fpheres has its circumference. When, therefore, we reflect on the Divine Nature, we are fo ufed and accustomed to this imperfection in ourselves, that we cannot forbear, in fome measure, afcribing it to HIM, in whom there is no fhadow of imperfection. Our reafon indeed affures us, that his attributes are infinite; but the poornefs of our conceptions is fuch, that it cannot forbear fetting bounds to every thing it contemplates, till our reafon comes again to our fuccour, and throws down all thofe little prejudices, which rife in us unawares, and are natural to the mind of man.

We shall therefore utterly extinguifh this melancholy thought of our being overlooked by our Maker, in the multiplicity of his works, and the infinity of thofe objects among