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oufnefs; thofe that labour, but faint not, under perfecution! Lord! how different are thy maxims from those of the children of this world! They call the proud happy; and admire the gay, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. But let a vain world take its gaudy trifles, and drefs up the foolish creatures that pursue them. May cur fouls fhare in that happiness which the Son of God came to recommend and to procure! May we obtain mercy of the Lord; may we be owned as his children; enjoy his presence; and inherit his kingdom! With thefe enjoyments, and thefe hopes, we will cheerfully welcome the loweft, or the most painful circumftances.

Let us be animated to cultivate thofe amiable virtues, which are here recommended to us; this humility and meekness ; this penitent fenfe of fin; this ardent defire after righteoufnefs; this compaffion and purity; this peacefulness and fortitude of foul; and, in a word, this univerfal goodnefs which becomes us, as we fuftain the character of "the falt of the earth," and "the light of the world."

Is there not reafon to lament, that we answer the character no better? Is there not reafon to exclaim, with a good man in former times, "Bleffed Lord! either thefe are not thy words, or we are not Chriftians!" Oh, feafon our hearts more effectually with thy grace! Pour forth that divine oil on our lamps! Then fhall the flame brighten; then shall the ancient honours of thy religion be revived; and multitudes be awakened and animated, by the luftre of it, "to glorify our Father in heaven."

SECTION X.

Schemes of Life often Illusory.

DODDRIDGE.

OMAR, the fon of Haffan, had pafled feventy-five years, in honour and profperity. The favour of three fucceffive califs had filled his house with gold and filver; and whenever he appeared, the benedictions of the people proclaimed his paffage.

Terreftrial happiness is of fhort continuance. The brightnefs of the flame is wafting its fuel; the fragrant flower is paffing away in its own odours. The vigour of Omar began to fail; the curls of beauty fell from his head; ftrength departed from his hands; and agility from his feet. He gave back to the calif the keys of truft, and the feals of fecrecy;

and fought no other pleasure for the remains of life, than the converfe of the wife, and the gratitude of the good.

The powers of his mind were yet unimpaired. His chamber was filled by vifitants, eager to catch the dictates of experience, and officious to pay the tribute of admiration. Caled the fon of the viceroy of Egypt, entered every day early, and retired late. He was beautiful and eloquent : Omar admired his wit, and loved his docility. "Tell me,” said Caled, "thou to whose voice nations have liftened, and whose wifdom is known to the extremities of Afia,, tell me how I may resemble Omar the prudent. The arts by which thou haft gained power and preferved it, are to thee no longer neceffary or useful impart to me the fecret of thy conduct, and teach me the plan upon which thy wifdom has built thy fortune."

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"Young man," faid Omar, "it is of little ufe to form plans of life. When I took my first furvey of the world, in my twentieth year, having confidered the various conditions of mankind, in the hour of folitude I faid thus to myself, leaning against a cedar, which spread its branches over my head Seventy years are allowed to man; I have yet fifty remaining. Ten years I will allot to the attainment of knowledge, and ten I will pafs in foreign countries; I fhall be learned, and therefore fhall be honoured; every city will fhout at my arrival, and every ftudent will folicit my friendfhip. Twenty years thus paffed, will ftore my mind with images, which I fhall be bufy, through the rest of my life, in combining and comparing, I fhall revel in inexhaustible accumulations of intellectual riches; I fhall find new pleafures for every moment; and shall never more be weary of myself. I will not, however, deviate too far from the beaten track of life; but will try what can be found in female delicacy. I will marry a wife beautiful as the Heuries, and wife as Zobeide with her I will live twenty years within the fuburbs of Bagdat, in every pleasure that wealth can purchafe, and fancy can invent. I will then retire to a rural dwelling; pafs my days in obfcurity and contemplation ; and lie filently down on the bed of death. Through my life it fhall be my fettled refolution, that I will never depend upon the fmile of princes; that I will never ftand

expofed to the artifice of courts; I will never pant for public honours, nor difturb my quiet with the affairs of state.' Such was my scheme of life, which I impreffed indelibly upon my memory."

"The first part of my enfuing time was to be spent in fearch of knowledge, and I know not how I was diverted from my defign. I had no vifible impediment, without, nor any ungovernable paffions within. I regarded knowledge as the highest honour, and the most engaging pleasure; yet day ftole upon day, and month glided after month, till I found that feven years of the first ten had vanished, and left nothing behind them. I now poftponed my purpose of travelling; for why fhould I go abroad, while fo much remained to be learned at home? I immured myfelf for four years, and ftudied the laws of the empire. The fame of my fkill. reached the judges; I was found able to fpeak upon doubtful queftions; and was commanded to ftand at the footstool of the calif. I was heard with attention; I was confulted with confidence; and the love of praise fastened on my heart."

"I ftill wifhed to fee diftant countries; liftened with rapture to the relations of travellers; and refolved fome time to afk my difmiffion, that I might feaft my foul with novelty; but my prefence was always neceffary; and the ftream of business hurried me along. Sometimes I was afraid left I fhould be charged with ingratitude; but I ftill propofed to travel, and therefore would not confine myself by marriage."

"In my fiftieth year, I began to fufpect that the time of travelling was paft; and thought it beft to lay hold on the felicity yet in my power, and indulge myfelf in domestic pleasures. But at fifty no man eafily finds a woman beautiful as the Houries, and wife as Zobeide. I inquired and rejected, confulted and deliberated, till the fixty-fecond year made me afhamed of wishing to marry. I had now nothing left but retirement; and for retirement I never found a time, till disease forced me from public employment."

"Such was my fcheme, and fuch has been its confequence. With an infatiable thirst for knowledge, I trifled away the years of improvement; with a reftlefs defire of feeing different countries, I alway, refided in the fame city; with the highest expectation of connubial felicity, I have lived un

married; and with unalterable refolutions of contemplative retirement, I am going to die within the walls of Bagdat."

SECTION XI.

DR. JOHNSON.

The Pleasures of Virtuous Sensibility.

THE good effects of true fenfibility on general virtue and happiness, admit of no difpute. Let us confider its effect on the happiness of him who poffeffes it, and the various pleafures to which it gives him accefs. If he is mafter of riches or influence, it affords him the means of increafing his own enjoyment, by relieving the wants, or increafing the comforts of others. If he commands not thefe advantages, yet all the comforts, which he fees in the poffeffion of the deferving, become in fome fort his, by his rejoicing in the good which they enjoy. Even the face of nature yields a fatisfaction to him, which the infenfible can never know. The profufion of goodnefs which he beholds poured forth on the univerfe, dilates his heart with the thought, that innumerable multitudes around him are bleft and happy. When he fees the labours of men appearing to profper, and views,a country flourishing in wealth and induftry; when he beholds the fpring coming forth in its beauty, reviving the decayed face of nature; or in autumn beholds the fields loaded with plenty, and the year crowned with all its fruits; he lifts his affections with gratitude to the great Father of all, and rejoices in the general felicity and joy.

It may indeed be objected, that the fame fenfibility lays open the heart to be pierced with many wounds, from the diftreffes which abound in the world; expofes us to frequent fuffering from the participation which it communicates of the forrows, as well as of the joys, of friendthip. But let it be confidered, that the tender melancholy of fympathy, is accompanied with a fenfation, which they who feel it would not exchange for the gratifications of the felfifh. When the heart is ftrongly moved by any of the kind affections, even when it pours itlelf forth in virtuous forrow, a fecret attractive charm mingles with the painful emotion; there is a joy in the midst of grief. Let it be farther confidered, that the griefs which fenfibility introduces, are counterbalanced by pleasures which flow from the fame fource. Senfibility

heightens in general the human powers, and is connected with acuteness in all our feelings. If it makes us more alive to fome painful fenfations, in return, it renders the pleafing ones more vivid and animated. The selfish man languishes in his narrow circle of pleafures. They are confined to what affects his own intereft. He is obliged to repeat the fame gratifications, till they become infipid. But the man of virtuous fenfibility moves in a wider fphere of felicity. His powers are much more frequently called forth into occupations of pleafing activity. Numberlefs occafions open to him of indulging his favourite tafte, by conveying fatisfaction to others. Often it is in his power, in one way or other, to footh the afflicted heart; to carry fome confolation into the house of wo. In the fcenes of ordinary life, in the domeftic and focial intercourfes of men, the cordiality of his affections cheers and gladdens him. Every appearance, every defcription of innocent happiness, is enjoyed by him. Every native expreffion of kindness and affection among others, is felt by him, even though he be not the object of it. Among a circle of friends enjoying one another, he is as happy as the happiest. In a word, he lives in a different fort of world from what the felfifh man inhabits. He poffeffes a new fense that enables him to behold objects which the selfish cannot fee. At the fame time, his enjoyments are not of that kind which remain merely on the furface of the mind. They penetrate the heart. They enlarge and elevate, they refine and ennoble it. To all the pleafing emotions of affection, they add the dignified confcioufnefs of virtue. Chil dren of men! men formed by nature to live and to feel as brethren! how long will ye continue to eftrange yourfelves from one another by competitions and jealoufies, when in cordial union ye might be fo much more bleft? How long will ye feek your happiness in felfifh gratifications alone, neglecting thofe purer and better fources of joy, which flow from the affections and the heart?

SECTION XII.

On the true honour of Man.

BLAIR.

THE proper honour of man arifes not from fome of those fplendid actions and abilities, which excite high admiration. Courage and prowefs, military renown, fignal victories and

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