Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

tion of a caufe, which we ourselves approve, may pervert those who fix their eyes upon us, and, having no rule of their own to guide their course, are eafily mifled by the aberrations of that example which they chufe for their directions.

NUMB. 71. TUESDAY, November 20, 1750.

Vivere quod propero pauper, nec inutilis annis
Da veniam, properat vivere nemo fatis.

True, fir, to live I hafte, your pardon give,
For tell me, who makes hafte enough to live?

MART.

F. LEWIS.

MANY words and fentences are fo frequently

heard in the mouths of men, that a fuperficial obferver is inclined to believe, that they must contain fome primary principle, fome great rule of action, which it is proper always to have present to the attention, and by which the ufe of every hour is to be adjufted. Yet if we confider the conduct of thofe fententious philofophers, it will often be found, that they repeat these aphorifms, merely because they have fomewhere heard them, because they have nothing elfe to fay, or because they think veneration gained by fuch appearances of wisdom, but that no ideas are annexed to the words, and that according to the old blunder of the followers of Ariftotle, their fouls are mere pipes or organs, which tranfmit founds, but do not understand them.

Of this kind is the well known and well attefted pofition, that life is fhort, which may be heard among mankind by an attentive auditor,

many

many times a day, but which never yet within my reach of obfervation left any impreffion upon the mind; and perhaps, if my readers will turn their thoughts back upon their old friends, they will find it difficult to call a fingle man to remembrance, who appeared to know that life was fhort till he was about to lofe it.

It is obfervable that Horate, in his account of the characters of men, as they are diverfified by the various influence of time, remarks, that the old man is dilator, pe longus, given to procrastination, and inclined to extend his hopes to a great diftance. So far are we generally from thinking what we often say of the fhortnefs of life, that at the time when it is neceffarily fhorteft, we form projects. which we delay to execute, indulge fuch expectations as nothing but a long train of events can gratify, and fuffer thofe paffions to gain upon us, which are only excufable in the prime of life.

Thefe reflections were lately excited in my mind, by an evening's converfation with my friend Profpero, who, at the age of fifty-five, has bought an eftate, and is now contriving to difpofe and cultivate it with uncommon elegance. His great pleafure is to walk among ftately trees, and lie mufing in the heat of noon under their fhade; he is therefore maturely confidering how he fhall dispose his walks and his groves, and has at laft determined to fend for the best plans from Italy, and forbear planting till the next season.

Thus is life trifled away in preparations to do what never can be done, if it be left unattempted till all the requifites which imagination can suggest are gathered together. Where our defign terminates only in our own fatisfaction, the mistake is

[blocks in formation]

of

of no great importance; for the pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it, and the completion of almost every wish is found a disappointment; but when many others are interested in an undertaking; when any defign is formed, in which the improvement or fecurity of mankind is involved, nothing is more unworthy either of wisdom or benevolence, than to delay it from time to time, or to forget how much every day that paffes over us takes away from our power, and how foon an idle purpose to do an action, finks into a mournful wish that it had once been done.

We are frequently importuned, by the bacchanalian writers, to lay held on the present hour, to catch the pleasures within our reach, and remember that futurity is not at our command.

Τὸ ῥόδον ακμάζει βαιὸν χρόνον. ἦν δὲ παρέλθης,

Ζητῶν ἑυρήσεις & ῥόδον, ἀλλὰ βάτον.

Soon fades the rofe; once past the fragrant hour,
The loiterer finds a bramble for a flow'r.

But furely these exhortations may, with equal propriety, be applied to better purposes; it may be. at leaft inculcated that pleasures are more fafely poftponed than virtues, and that greater lofs is fuffered by miffing an opportunity of doing good, than an hour of giddy frolick and noify merriment.

When Baxter had loft a thousand pounds, which he had laid up for the erection of a school, he used frequently to mention the misfortune as an incitement to be charitable while God gives the power of beftowing, and confidered himfelf as culpable in fome degree for having left a good action in the hands of chance, and fuffered his benevolence to be defeated for want of quickness and diligence.

It is lamented by Hearne, the learned antiquary of Oxford, that this general forgetfulness of the fragility of life, has remarkably infected the ftudents of monuments and records; as their employment confifts first in collecting, and afterwards in arranging or abstracting what libraries afford them, they ought to amafs no more than they can digeft; but when they have undertaken a work, they go on fearching and tranfcribing, call for new fupplies, when they are already overburthened, and at laft leave their work unfinished. It is, says he, the bufinefs of a good antiquary, as of good man, to have mortality always before him.

a

Thus, not only in the flumber of floth, but in the diffipation of ill-directed industry, is the shortness of life generally forgotten. As fome men lofe their hours in lazinefs, because they fuppofe, that there is time enough for the reparation of neglect ; others busy themselves in providing that no length of life may want employment; and it often happens, that fluggishness and activity are equally furprised by the laft fummons, and perish not more differently from each other, than the fowl that received the shot in her flight, from her that is killed upon the bush.

Among the many improvements made by the laft centuries in human knowledge, may be numbered the exact calculations of the value of life; but whatever may be their ufe in traffick, they feem very little to have advanced morality. They have hitherto been rather applied to the acquifition of money, than of wisdom; the computer refers none of his calculations to his own tenure, but perfists, in contempt of probability, to foretel old age to himself, and believes that he is marked out to reach

[blocks in formation]

the utmost verge of human exiftence, and fee thoufands and ten thousands fall into the grave.

So deeply is this fallacy rooted in the heart, and fo ftrongly guarded by hope and fear against the approach of reafon, that neither fcience nor experience can shake it, and we act as if life were without end, though we fee and confefs its uncertainty and fhortness.

Divines have, with great ftrength and ardour, fhn the abfurdity of delaying reformation and repentance; a degree of folly indeed, which sets eternity to hazard. It is the fame weakness, in proportion to the importance of the neglect, to tranffer any care, which now claims our attention, to a future time; we subject ourselves to needless dangers from accidents which early diligence would have obviated, or perplex our minds by vain precautions, and make provifion for the execution of defigns, of which the opportunity once miffed never will return.

As he that lives longeft lives but a little while, every man may be certain that he has no time to wafte. The duties of life are commenfurate to its duration, and every day brings its tafk, which if neglected is doubled on the morrow. But he that has already trifled away those months and years, in which he should have laboured, muft remember that he has now only a part of that of which the whole is little; and that fince the few moments remaining are to be confidered as the laft truft of heaven, not one is to be loft.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »