ftatefman inventing methods to enflave thofe who are yet unborn; the great and wealthy building fumptuous palaces that may laft for ages; the wife and learned grafping at univerfal knowledge, and diving into the depths of futurity! Would he not imagine, that man was not, as the Pfalmift fays, little lower, but infinitely fuperior to the angels in his powers and faculties; that we were made to live and reign here for ever, and that (as it is faid of our Creator) a thousand years were nothing in our fight; that our bodies were firm, folid, and indiffoluble, and our fouls never fubject to change, or frailty! Would he not think that wherever riches had chofen their habitation, they could never depart from it, and where the fun of profperity once fhone, the clouds of forrow and adverfity could never over-fhadow it; that the rofes of youth could never be plucked by time, nor the bloom of health impaired by ficknefs and decay?

How great then after all would be his furprife and aftonishment, to find upon a clofer inspection, that man, proud and felf-sufficient as he is, was but a fhort-lived, poor, miferable, dependant being; that he fadeth away fuddenly like the grafs, which in the morning and groweth up, and in the evening is cut down, dried up and withered; that fo far from being able to look into futurity, he was ignorant even of the things which were before him; that every attainable human good was fleeting and tranfitory; and every evil almoft certain and unavoidable; that all the

is green

riches he could amass, might be snatched from him in a moment, and all the knowledge he was fo proud of erafed and obliterated, and leave not a trace upon his mind; that in fhort, whilft he is boafting of to-morrow, he is not mafter of to-day, nor even of an hour of it; and that in the midst of all his views, and all his pretenfions, he may be called away, his breath go forth, he return to his earth, and all his thoughts perifh! On fuch an occafion, what would be the thoughts of fuch a being? With what an eye of fcorn and contempt would he look down upon us!

Thou knowest not, fays the wife man, what a day may bring forth. When we caft our eyes on fo apparently inconfiderable a portion of time, we are apt to imagine it incapable of containing any thing great or important; and yet what a variety of good and evil may be crowded into this narrow circle! It hath not only determined the fate of individuals, but even of the largest bodies and focieties of men; armies have been conquered, kingdoms ruined, and empires deftroyed in it. And if we bring our reflections home to ourfelves, if we confi der how very much a few fleeting hours may affect our private concerns, we fhall be fill better enabled to judge what a day may bring forth. Have we not feen families one day fmiling in the bofom of plenty and profperity; the next, crushed down by fome unexpected ftroke, and weeping in anguifh, and bitterness of heart? Have we not feen, even in lefs time than

than this, wealth changed to penury, healthi to ficknefs, and life to death?

Joy and forrow, good and evil fucceed each other, like light and darkness over the face of the whole earth.

Therefore hear now this, as the Prophet fays, thou that dwelleft carelessly; thou that art given to pleafures, that fayeft in thine heart, I am, and none elfe befides me-I fhall not fit as a widow, neither fhall I know the lofs of children. But thefe two things fhall come upon thee in a moment, in one day, the lofs of children and widowhood.

As man is himself a frail and imperfect being, it cannot fail but that every thing which he produceth must partake of his imperfection, and that the ftamp of his own mortality should be imprinted on all his works. The best operations of his weak hands moulder into ruin, the nobleft productions of his mind perifh and are no more. Yet, though the labours of human art are but the conftant though filent reproaches of human folly, we hardly make any thing which does not last longer than ourfelves; the building we know will often remain, when he who raifed, is buried under it; and the garden fhall preferve its beauty and verdure, when the hand that planted it is withered and decayed. Look at that builder (fays a fenfible writer) who in the vale of years is carrying on the work of youth, pref fing the labourer to finish that edifice which he fhall never live in, furnishing those apartments which he shall never inhabit! Turn thy eyes to another who is fo proud of becoming a

father,

father, who hath already pointed out the magiftracy which his fon fhall obtain, the feat of honour he fhall poffefs! If he knew that his beloved child fhould die almoft as foon as he was born, would he be fo transported at his birth?

Man (fays the Pfalmift) walketh in a vain Shadow, and difquieteth himself in vain; he heap. eth up riches and cannot tell who shall enjoy

them.

God hath graciously ordained that the miferies and difappointments we meet with here, fhould prepare our minds for hereafter. Pain, want, and adverfity, are inflicted on us, that we may fit more loofe to the things of this tranfitory ftate. Towards the clofe of our short day, instead of being flattered with delufive hopes of to-morrow's happiness, our evening is clouded over with forrow and difquietude; the lofs of fome whom we loved. and efteemed, the unkindness and ingratitude of others, and the infincerity and treachery of many more, make us out of love with every thing about us, and reconcile us to our neceffary and unavoidable change: and how carly (even in youth) that change may come, there is none can fay! How ridiculous is it then to depend on that which we may never fee! Have we, who boaft of to-morrow, one hour at our own command? To-morrow may in. deed arrive, but who fhall tell us, whether we shall live to meet it? Or if we do, whether it will come as a friend or an enemy, and whether

whether the fun will fhine, or the day be overcaft?

How often docs it happen that where we promife ourselves the greateft fhare of happinefs, we meet the leaft! where the imagination is exalted, and we flatter ourfelves with vifionary ideas of future joy and pleafurc, the feaft generally palls upon the appetite, and the higher we raifed our hopes and expectations, the more exquifite is our pain at the difappointment of them. And the fame degree of certainty which we have of to-morrow's pleasure, we have alfo of to-morrow's conduct. We make refolutions one day, which we want ftrength to perform the next. It is very easy to talk of virtue and religion, to promife to be good, fober, charitable, and devout; but when we are called upon to put in practice these profeffions, there is generally fome obftacle to divert us from it and yet this imaginary point, to-morrow, is ftill fixed upon as the centre of our happiness, and virtue alfo.

Ask the miser, "who panteth after the duft of the earth," and drudges with unceafing toil and affiduity in the dirty, flavish road of intereft, when he will fit down and enjoy the fruits of his labours? and he will anfwer you to-morrow.

Afk the ambitious man, who is hunting after power and preferment, when his hopes will be fatisfied, and his defires have an end? he will tell you he has but one step to the fummit of his wifhes, that to-morrow will put a period