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bonefty and virtue, but with a crafty deign to promote and advance more effectually their own interests; and therefore the justice of the divine providence hath hid this trueft point of wisdom from their eyes, that bad men might not be upon equal terms with the juft and upright, and ferve their own wicked designs by honeft and lawful means.

Indeed, if a man were only to deal in the world for a day, and should never have occafion to converse more with mankind, never more need their good opinion or good word, it were then no great matter (peaking as to the concernments of this world) if a man spent his reputation all at ence, and ventured it at one throw: but if he be to continue in the world, and would have the advantage of converfation whilft he is in it, let him make use of truth and fincerity in all his words and actions; for nothing but this will laft and hold out to the end: all other arts will fail, but truth and integrity will carry a man through, and bear him out to the last.

Spectator.

23. Rules for the Knowledge of One's Self.

Hypocrify, at the fashionable end of the town, is very different from that in the city. The modifh hypocrite endeavours to appear more vicious than he really is; the other kind of hypocrite more virtuous. The former is afraid of every thing that has the fhew of religion in it, and would be thought engaged in many criminal gallantries and amours, which he is not guilty of; the latter affumes a face of fanctity, and covers a multitude of vices under a feeming religious deportment.

a claim to their care and compaffion, who are walking in the paths of death, while they fancy themselves engaged in a course of virtue! I fhall therefore endeavour to lay down fome rules for the discovery of thofe vices that lurk in the fecret corners of the foul; and to fhew my reader those methods, by which he may arrive at a true and impartial knowledge of himself. The ufual means prefcribed for this purpofe, are to examine ourselves by the rules which are laid down for our direction in facred writ, and to compare our lives with the life of that perfon who acted up to the perfection of human nature, and is the ftanding example, as well as the great guide and instructor, of those who receive. his doctrines. Though these two heads cannot be too much infifted upon, I fhall but just mention them, fince they have been handled by many great and eminent writers.

I would therefore propofe the following methods to the confideration of fuch as would find out their fecret faults, and make a true eftimate of themselves.

In the first place, let them confider well, what are the characters which they bear among their enemies. Our friends very often flatter us as much as our own hearts. They either do not see our faults, or conceal them from us, or foften them by their reprefentations, after fuch a manner, that we think them too trivial to be taken notice of. An adverfary, on the contrary, makes a ftricter fearch into us, difcovers every flaw and imperfection in our tempers; and, though his malice may set them in too ftrong a light, it has generally fome ground for what it advances. A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes. A wife man fhould give a juft attention to both of them, fo far as they may tend to the improvement of the one, and the diminution of the other. Plutarch has written an effay on the bene. fits which a man may receive from his enemies; and among the good fruits of enmity, mentions this in particular, "that, by the reproaches which it cafts upon us, we fee the worst fide of ourselves, and open our eyes to feveral blemishes and defects in our lives and converfations, which we

But there is another kind of hypocrify, which differs from both these, and which I intend to make the fubject of this paper: I mean that hypocrify, by which a man does not only deceive the world, but very often impofes on himself; that hypocrify which conceals his own heart from him, and makes him believe he is more virtuous than he really is, and either not attend to his vices, or mistake even his vices for virtues. It is this fatal hypocrisy and felfdeceit, which is taken notice of in thefe words, Who can understand his errors?hould not have obferved without the help 'cleanse thou me from my fecret faults.'

If the open profeffors of impiety deferve the utmost application and endeavours of moral writers, to recover them from vice and folly, how much more may thofe lay

of fuch ill-natured monitors."

In order likewife to come to a true knowledge of ourselves, we fhould confider, on the other hand, how far we may deferve the praises and approbations which

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the world bestow upon us; whether the actions they celebrate proceed from laudable and worthy motives; and how far we are really poffeffed of the virtues, which gain us applaufe among thofe with whom we converfe. Such a reflection is abfolutely neceffary, if we confider how apt we are either to value or condemn ourselves by the opinion of others, and to facrifice the report of our own hearts to the judgment of the world.

our fouls in fuch a folid and fubftantial virtue as will turn to account in that great day, when it must stand the test of infinite wisdom and justice.

I fhall conclude this effay with obferv. ing, that the two kinds of hypocrify I have here fpoken of, namely, that of deceiving the world, and that of impofing on ourfelves, are touched with wonderful beauty in the hundred thirty-ninth pfalm. The folly of the firft kind of hypocrify is there fet forth by reflections on God's omnifcience and omniprefence, which are celebrated in as noble ftrains of poetry as any other I ever met with, either facred or profane. The other kind of hypocrify, whereby a man deceives himself, is intimated in the two last verses, where the pfalmift addreffes himself to the great fearcher of hearts in that emphatical petition; " Try me, O God, and feek the ground of my "heart; prove me and examine my thoughts: look well if there be any way "of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Spectator.

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In the next place, that we may not deceive ourselves in a point of fo much importance, we should not lay too great a ftrefs on any fuppofed virtues we poffefs, that are of a doubtful nature: and fuch we may esteem all thofe in which multitudes of men diffent from us, who are as good and wife as ourfelves. We fhould always act with great cautiousness and cir. cumfpection, in points where it is not imposible that we may be deceived. Intemperate zeal, bigotry, and perfecution, for any party or opinion, how praife-worthy foever they may appear to weak men of our own principles, produce infinite calamities among mankind, and are highly cri- § minal in their own nature; and yet how many perfons, eminent for piety, fuffer fuch monstrous and abfurd principles of action to take root in their minds under the colour of virtues? For my own part, I muft own, I never yet knew any party fo just and reasonable, that a man could follow it in its height and violence, and at the fame time be innocent.

We should likewise be very apprehenfive of thofe actions, which proceed from natural conftitution, favourite paffions, particular education, or whatever promotes our worldly intereft or advantage. In thefe or the like cafes, a man's judgment. is easily perverted, and a wrong bias hung upon his mind. These are the inlets of prejudice, the unguarded avenues of the mind, by which a thousand errors and fecret faults find admifion, without being obferved or taken notice of. A wife man will fufpect thofe actions to which he is directed by fomething befides reafon, and always apprehend fome concealed evil in every refolution that is of a difputable nature, when it is conformable to his particular temper, his age, or way of life, or when it favours his pleasure or his profit.

There is nothing of greater importance to us, than thus diligently to fift our thoughts, and examine all thefe dark reeffes of the mind, if we would establish

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24. No Life pleafing to God, but that which is ufeful to Mankind. An eaftern Story.

It pleafed our mighty fovereign Abbas Carafcan, from whom the kings of the earth derive honour and dominion, to fet Mirza his fervant over the province of Tauris. In the hand of Mirza, the balance of diftribution was fufpended with impartiality; and under his administration the weak were protected, the learned received honour, and the diligent became rich: Mirza, therefore, was beheld by every eye with complacency, and every tongue pronounced bleffings upon his head. But it was obferved that he derived no joy from the benefits which he diffufed; he became penfive and melancholy; he spent his leifure in folitude; in his palace hè fat motionless upon a fofa; and when he went out, his walk was flow, and his eyes were fixed upon the ground: he applied to the business of state with reluctance; and refolved to relinquish the toil of government, of which he could no longer enjoy the reward.

He, therefore, obtained permiffion to approach the throne of our fovereign; and being asked what was his request, he made this reply: "May the Lord of the world "forgive the flave whom he has honour"ed, if Mirza prefume again to lay the "bounty of Abbas at his feet. Thou hast

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ven me the dominion of a country, fruitful as the gardens of Damafcus; and a city glorious above all others, except that only which reflects the fplen"dour of thy prefence. But the longest "life is a period fcarce fufficient to prepare for death: all other bufinefs is vain " and trivial, as the toil of emmets in the "path of the traveller, under whofe foot "they perith for ever; and all enjoyment " is unfubftantial and evanefcent, as the "colours of the bow that appears in the ❝ interval of a storm. Suffer me, there"fore, to prepare for the approach of eternity; let me give up my foul to "meditation; let folitude and filence ac"quaint me with the mysteries of devotion; let me forget the world, and by "the world be forgotten, till the moment * arrives in which the veil of eternity fhall fall, ard I fhall be found at the bar of "the Almighty." Mirza then bowed himself to the earth, and stood filent.

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"humble, enable me to determine with "wifdom."

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Mirza departed; and on the third day, having received no command, he again requested an audience, and it was granted. When he entere the royal prefence, his countenance appeared more chearful; he drew a letter from his bofom and having kiffed it, he prefented it with his righthand. "My Lord!" faid ne, I have "learned by this letter, which I received " from Cofrou the Iman, who stands now «before thee, in what manner life may "be beft improved. I am enabled to "look back with pleafure, and forward "with hope; and I thal! now rejoice still "to be the thadow of thy power at Tauris, "and to keep thofe honours which I fo "lately wished to refign." The king, who had liftened to Mirza with a mixture of furprize and curiofity, immediately gave the letter to Cofrou, and commanded that it should be read. The eyes of the court were at once turned upon the hoary fage, whofe countenance was fuffufed with an honeft blufh; and it was not without fome hesitation that he read thefe words.

By the command of Abbas it is recorded, that at these words he trembled upon the throne, at the footstool of which the world pays homage; he looked round upon his nobles; but every countenance was pale, and every eye was upon the earth. No man opened his mouth; and the king" dominion, be everlasting health! When frft broke filence, after it had continued Dear an hour,

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"Mirza, terror and doubt are come * upon me. I am alarmed as a man who fuddenly perceives that he is near the "brink of a precipice, and is urged for"ward by an irrefiftible force: but yet I " know not whether my danger is a reality or a dream. I am as thou art, a reptile of the earth: my life is a mo«ment, and eternity, in which days, and "years, and ages, are nothing, eternity is before me, for which I alfo fhould prepare: but by whom then must the Faithful be governed? by thofe only, who have no fear of judgment? by thofe only, whofe life is brutal, because like brutes they do not confider that they' fhalf die? Or who, indeed, are the * Faithful? Are the bufy multitudes that * crowd the city, in a state of perdition ? " and is the cell of the Dervise alone the "gate of Paradife? To all, the life of a * Dervife is not poffible: to all, therefore, it cannot be a duty. Depart to "the house which has in this city been "prepared for thy refidence: I will meditate the reafon of thy requeft; and may He who illuminates the mind of the

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"To Mirza, whom the wifdom of Ab, "bas our mighty Lord has honoured with

"I heard thy purpose to withdraw the "bleffings of thy government from the "thousands of Tauris, my heart was "wounded with the arrow of affliction, "and my eyes became dim with forrow, "But who fhall fpeak before the king "when he is troubled; and who shall boast "of knowledge, when he is diftressed by "doubt? To thee will I relate the events "of my youth, which thou haft renewed "before me; and those truths which they taught me, may the Prophet multiply to "thee!

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"Under the inftruction of the phyfician " Aluzar, I obtained an early knowledge " of his art. To those who were fmitten with difeafe, I could administer plants, " which the fun has impregnated with the

fpirit of health. But the fcenes of pain, "languor, and mortality, which were per "petually rifing before me, made me of "ten tremble for myself. I faw the grave

open at my feet: I determined, there "fore, to contemplate only the regions

beyond it, and to defpife every acquifi "tion which I could not keep. I con"ceived an opinion, that as there was no "merit but in voluntary poverty, and "filent meditation, those who defired mo

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"At these words I was not lefs afto"nished than if a mountain had been "overturned at my feet. I humbled my"felf in the duft; I returned to the city; "I dug up my treasure; I was liberal, yet I "became rich. My skill in reftoring health "to the body gave me frequent opportu"nities of curing the difeafes of the foul.

"ney were not proper objects of bounty; "refolution; but my eyes at length bega and that by all who were proper objects "to fail me, and my knees fmote each "of bounty money was defpifed. I," other; I threw myfelf backward, and "therefore, buried mine in the earth; " hoped my weakness would foon increase "and renouncing fociety, I wandered to infenfibility. But I was fuddenly "into a wild and fequeftered part of the "roufed by the voice of an invisible being, country: my dwelling was a cave by "who pronounced thefe words: Cof"the fide of a hill; I drank the running rou, I am the angel, who by the command water from the fpring, and ate fuch of the Almighty, have registered the "fruits and herbs as I could find. To thoughts of thy heart, which I am now "increase the aufterity of my life, I fre- commiflioned to reprove. While thou "quently watched all night, fitting at the waft attempting to become wife above that entrance of the cave with my face to which is revealed, thy folly has perverted "the eaft, refigning myself to the fecret the inftruction which was vouchsafed thee. "influences of the Prophet, and expecting Art thou disabled as the Fox? haft thou "illuminations from above. One mornnot rather the powers of the Eagle? Arife, ing after my nocturnal vigil, just as I let the Eagle be the object of thy emulaperceived the horizon glow at the ap- tion. To pain and fickness, be thou again proach of the fun, the power of fleep the meffenger of eafe and health. Virtue "became irrefiftible, and I funk under it. is not rest, but action. If thou dost good "I imagined myfelf ftill fitting at the to man as an evidence of thy love to God, "entrance of my cell; that the dawn in- thy virtue will be exalted from moral to "creafed; and that as I looked earneftly divine; and that happiness which is the "for the firit beam of day, a dark fpot pledge of Paradife, will be thy reward "appeared to intercept it. I perceived upon earth.' "that it was in motion; it increased in fize as it drew near, and at length I dif"covered it to be an eagle. I till kept my eye fixed ftedfaftly upon it, and faw "it alight at a small distance, where I now "defcried a fox whofe two fore-legs appeared to be broken. Before this fox "the eagle laid part of a kid, which fhe "had brought in her talons, and then dif- I put on the facred vestments; I grew "appeared. When I awaked, I laid my "eminent beyond my merit; and it was "forehead upon the ground, and blessed "the pleasure of the king that I fhould "the Prophet for the inftruction of the " ftand before him. Now, therefore, be morning. I reviewed my dream, and "not offended; I boast of no knowledge "faid thus to myself: Cofrou, thou haft" that I have not received: As the fands "done well to renounce the tumult, the "bufinefs, and vanities of life: but thou haft as yet only done it in part; thou "art fill every day bufied in the fearch "of food, thy mind is not wholly at reft," that it is he who tells thee, all know"neither is thy truft in Providence com- "ledge is prophane, which terminates inplete. What art thou taught by this thyfelf; and by a life wafted in fpecu"vifion? If thou haft feen an eagle com- "lation, little even of this can be gained. "miffioned by Heaven to feed a fox that "When the gates of Paradife are thrown "is lame, fhall not the hand of Heaven alto fupply thee with food; when that which prevents thee from procuring it for thyfelf, is not neceflity but devotion? I was now fo confident of a miraculous fupply, that I neglected to walk out for my repaft, which, after the firft day, I "expected with an impatience that left me little power of attending to any other object: this impatience, however, I laboured to fupprefs, and perfifted in my

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"of the defart drink up the drops of rain, "or the dew of the morning, fo do I "alfo, who am but duft, imbibe the in"structions of the Prophet. Believe then

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open before thee, thy mind shall be irra"diated in a moment; here thou can "little more than pile error upon error; "there thou shalt build truth upon truth. "Wait, therefore, for the glorious vifion; "and in the mean time emulate the Ea

gle. Much is in thy power; and, there"fore, much is expected of thee. Though "the ALMIGHTY only can give virtue,

yet, as a prince, thou may'it ftimulate "thofe to beneficence, who act from no higher

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#higher motive than immediate intereft: thou canst not produce the principle, but may't enforce the practice. The rehef of the poor is equal, whether they * receive it from oftentation, or charity; * and the effect of example is the fame, " whether it be intended to obtain the fa"your of God or man. Let thy virtue * be thus diffused; and if thou believeft ← with reverence, thou shalt be accepted "above. Farewell. May the fmile of Him who refides in the Heaven of Hea"vens be upon thee! and against thy name, in the volume of His will, may Happinefs be written!"

The King, whofe doubts like thofe of Mirza, were now removed, looked up with a fmile that communicated the joy of his mind. He difmiffed the prince to his government; and commanded thefe events to be recorded, to the end that pofterity may know that no life is pleafing to Ġed, but that which is useful to Man**kind." Adventurer.

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25. Providence proved from Animal Inftinet.

I must confefs I am infinitely delighted with thofe fpeculations of nature which are to be made in a country life; and as my reading has very much lain among books of natural hiftory, I cannot forbear recollecting, upon this occafion, the feveral remarks which I have met with in authors, and comparing them with what falls under my ewn obfervation; the arguments for Providence, drawn from the natural history of animals, being, in my opinion, demonftradive.

The make of every kind of animal is different from that of every other kind; and yet there is not the least turn in the mufcles or twist in the fibres of any one, which does not render them more proper for that particular animal's way of life, than any other caft or texture of them would have been.

The moft violent appetites in all creatures are luft and hunger: the firft is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind; the latter to preferve themfelves.

It is aftonishing to confider the different degrees of care that defcend from the parent of the young, fo far as is abfolutely neceffary for the leaving a pofterity. Some creatures caft their eggs as chance directs them, and think of them no farther, as infects and several kind of fish; others, of a ricer frame, find out proper beds to depofit

them in, and there leave them, as the ferpent, the crocodile, and oftrich; others hatch their eggs and tend the birth, until it is able to fhift for itself.

What can we call the principle which directs every different kind of bird to obferve a particular plan in the ftructure of its neft, and directs all of the fame fpecies to work after the fame model? It cannot be imitation; for though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let it fee any of the works of its own kind, the neft it makes fhall be the fame, to the laying of a tick, with all the nefts of the fame fpecies. It cannot be reafon; for were animals endued with it to as great a degree as man, their buildings would be as different as ours, according to the different conveniencies that they would propofe to themselves,

Is it not remarkable that the fame temper of weather which raifes this general warmth in animals, fhould cover the trees with leaves, and the fields with grass, for their fecurity and concealment, and produce fuch infinite fwarms of infects for the.

fupport and fuftenance of their respective

broods?

Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent fhould be fo violent while it lafts, and that it fhould laft no longer than is neceffary for the prefervation of the young?

The violence of this natural love is exemplified by a very barbarous experiment; which I fhall quote at length, as I find it in an excellent author, and hope my readers will pardon the mentioning fuch an inftance of cruelty, because there is nothing can fo effectually fhew the ftrength of that principle in animals of which I am here fpeaking. "A perfon, who was well killed in "diffections, opened a bitch, and as the lay "in the most exquifite torture, offered her

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one of her young puppies, which fhe im

mediately fell a licking; and for the "time feemed infenfible of her pain: on "the removal, fhe kept her eye fixed on it, "and began a wailing fort of cry, which "feemed rather to proceed from the lofs "of her young one, than the fense of her own torments."

But notwithstanding this natural love in brutes is much more violent and intense than in rational creatures, Providence has taken care that it fhould be no longer troublefome to the parent than it is, useful to the young; for fo foon as the wants of the latter ceafe, the mother withdraws her fondness, and leaves them to provide for themfelves: and what is a very remarkable D 3 circumstance

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