repentance may not be a barren anguish, and let us open our eyes to every rival excellence, and pay early and willingly those honours which jusțice will compel us to pay at last.' I am, Your, &c. LETTER VII. Thy freedom barter'd for a pleasing chain, To thee, the wants of thy lov'd consort call, FIND, Philetus, that you are about to engage in a new undertaking, or, as you are pleased to express it, going to launch your bark upon the sea of life: a sea, Philetus, on which you must expect to meet with adverse winds and swelling waves; with numberless difficulties and dangers that have never yet disturbed your moments of repose, but to which every mariner is exposed, who has courage to embark, and fortitude to brave the dangers of the deep. But here I shall drop the metaphor, and recommend to your notice a few observations, which, if regarded, may be serviceable to your future welfare. This I shall do with pleasure and with frankness, because, whatever be their worth, I know they will be gratefully received. I speak thus confidently from a conviction that your ideas of right and wrong are influenced by the light of reason, and a conscientious regard to those divine precepts intended for the direction of our moral conduct. It may be needless to ask, Whether, in the matter that engages your attention, there be a concurrence between the Word and the providence of God? because I think no reasonable man would undertake any thing without believing that such a coincidence existed. Business seems to be the means intended for your support. And here, Philetus, permit me to observe, that industry is the ordinary way to prosperity. Indolence will clothe a man with rags; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. The possession of temporal blessings is so closely connected with our exertions in the present life, that they are not often separated. Idleness " never can secure tranquillity; the call of reason and of conscience will pierce the closest pavilion of the sluggard, and, though it may not have force to drive him from his down, will be loud enough to hinder him from sleep.' This remark, if properly considered, will rouse attention and stimulate activity, without the exertion of which we have no right to expect, nor indeed can we reasonably solicit the bestowment of any favour. He that floats lazily down the stream, in pursuit of something borne along by the same current, will find himself indeed moved forward; but unless he lays his hand to the oar, and increases his speed by his own labour, must be always at the same distance from that which he is following.' Godliness is indeed profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come; but no man can rationally expect the blessings of the one, or the bounties of the adapted to the end. other, without using means The Lord hath promised, that while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and But winter, and day and night shall not cease. does this benign declaration induce the husbandman to remit his diligence, and to waste in torpid indolence the time allotted for the culture of his field? No: he tills the ground; he sows the seed in hope; and in the appointed weeks of harvest, the earth teems with renewed blessings. He sees the fulfilment of the promise, and receives the produce as the fruit of his industry and toil. But still, Philetus, you must remember that the increase of worldly substance is not always connected with industry. It sometimes happens that the most unwearied endeavours prove unsuccessful. One man, without either integrity or diligence, shall soon accumulate a large fortune; while another, possessed of both, shall rise up early and sit up late, and after all be scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life. To make great acquisitions can happen to very few; and in the uncertainty of human affairs, to many it will be incident to labour without reward, and to lose what they already possess by endeavours to |