NUMB, 7. TUESDAY, April 10, 1750. O qui perpetuâ mundum ratione gubernas, Disjice terrena nebulas & pondera molis, O thou whofe pow'r o'er moving worlds prendes, Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, On darkling man in pure effulgence fine, And chear the clouded mind with light divine. 'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend BOETHIUS HE love of RETIREMENT has, in all ages, THE adhered closely to thofe minds, which have been most enlarged by knowledge, or elevated by genius. Thofe who enjoyed every thing generally fuppofed to confer happiness, have been forced to feek it in the fhades of privacy. Though they poffeffed both power and riches, and were, therefore, furrounded by men, who confidered it as their chief intereft to remove from them every thing that might offend their eafe, or interrupt their pleafure, they have foon felt the languors of fatiety, and found themfelves unable to purfue the race of life without frequent refpirations of intermediate folitude, To To produce this difpofition, nothing appears requifite but quick fenfibility, and active imagination; for, though not devoted to virtue, or fcience, the man, whofe faculties enable him to make ready comparisons of the prefent with the paft, will find fuch a conftant recurrence of the fame pleasures and troubles, the fame expectations and difappointments, that he will gladly fnatch an hour of retreat, to let his thoughts expatiate at large, and feek for that variety in his own ideas, which the objects of fenfe cannot afford him. Nor will greatnefs, or abundance, exempt him from the importunities of this defire, fince, if he is born to think, he cannot reftrain himself from a thoufand inquiries and fpeculations, which he must pursue by his own reason, and which the fplendour of his condition can only hinder: for thofe who are most exalted above dependance or controul, are yet condemned to pay fo large a tribute of their time to cuftom, ceremony, and popularity, that according to the Greek proverb, no man in the houfe is more a flave than the master. When a king afked Euclid the mathematician, whether he could not explain his art to him in a more compendious manner? he was anfwered, That there was no royal way to geometry. Other things may be feized by might, or purchased with money, but knowledge is to be gained only by ftudy, and ftudy to be profecuted only in retirement. These are some of the motives which have had power to fequefter kings and heroes from the crowds that foothed them with flatteries, or infpirited them with acclamations; but their efficacy feems confined to to the higher mind, and to operate little upon the common claffes of mankind, to whofe conceptions the prefent affemblage of things is adequate, and who feldom range beyond thofe entertainments and vexations, which folicit their attention by preffing on their fenfes. But there is an univerfal reafon for fome stated intervals of folitude, which the inftitutions of the church call upon me now efpecially to mention; a reason which extends as wide as moral duty, or the hopes of divine favour in a future ftate; and which ought to influence all ranks of life, and all degrees of intellect; fince none can imagine themselves not comprehended in its obligation, but fuch as determine to fet their Maker at defiance by obftinate wickedness, or whofe enthufiaftick fecurity of his ap: probation places them above external ordinances, and all human means of improvement. The great task of him who conducts his life by the precepts of religion, is to make the future predominate over the prefent, to imprefs upon his mind. fo strong a fenfe of the importance of obedience to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrours of the punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal hope or fear can bring in his way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and forrow, to turn away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the threats of calamity. It is not without reafon that the apostle reprefents our paffage through this ftage of our existence by images images drawn from the alarms and folicitude of a military life; for we are placed in fuch a state, that almost every thing about us confpires against our chief intereft. We are in danger from whatever can get poffeffion of our thoughts; all that can excite in us either pain or pleasure, has a tendency to obftruct the way that leads to happiness, and either to turn us afide, or retard our progrefs. Our fenfes, our appetites, and our paffions, are our lawful and faithful guides, in moft things that relate folely to this life; and, therefore, by the hourly neceffity of confulting them, we gradually fink into an implicit fubmiffion, and habitual confidence. Every act of compliance with their motions facilitates a fecond compliance, every new ftep towards depravity is made with less reluctance than the former, and thus the defcent to life merely fenfual is perpetually accelerated. The fenfes have not only that advantage over confcience, which things neceffary muft always have over things chofen, but they have likewife a kind of prefcription in their favour. We feared pain much earlier than we apprehended guilt, and were delighted with the fenfations of pleasure, before we had capacities to be charmed with the beauty of rectitude. To this power, thus early established, and inceffantly increasing, it must be remembered that almost every man has, in fome part of his life, added new ftrength by a voluntary or negligent fubjection of himself; for who is there that has not inftigated his appetites by indulgence, or fuffered them, by an unrefifting neutrality, to enlarge their dominion, and multiply their demands? From From the neceflity of difpoffeffing the fenfitive faculties of the influence which they muft naturally gain by his pre-occupation of the foul, arifes that conflict between oppofite defires in the firft endeavours after a religious life; which, however enthusiastically it may have been defcribed, or however contemptuoufly ridiculed, will naturally be felt in fome degree, though varied without end, by different tempers of mind, and innumerable circumftances of health or condition, greater or lefs fervour, more or fewer temptations to relapfe. From the perpetual neceffity of confulting the animal faculties, in our provifion for the prefent life, arifes the difficulty of withstanding their impulfes, even in cafes where they ought to be of no weight; for the motions of fenfe are inftantaneous, its objects ftrike unfought, we are accuftomed to follow its directions, and therefore often fubmit to the fentence without examining the authority of the judge. Thus it appears, upon a philofophical eftimate, that, fuppofing the mind, at any certain time, in an equipoife between the pleasures of this life, and the hopes of futurity, prefent objects falling more frequently into the fcale, would in time preponderate, and that our regard for an invifible ftate would grow every moment weaker, till at last it would lofe all its activity, and become abfolutely without effect. To prevent this dreadful event, the balance is put into our own hands, and we have power to transfer the weight to either fide. The motives to a life of holiness are infinite, not less than the favour or anger of Omnipotence, not less than eternity of happiness or mifery. But thefe can only influence our conduct as |