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gar minds; and how few minds can be found which are not vulgar in one or other of these respects, or which can preserve just ideas of these objects in opposition to prevailing opinion, and fairly rate them by their use, and not by that delusive splendour which is cast upon them by the imagination of the multitude!

The contagious nature of the passions is experienced, if not more extensively, at least more strongly. The hearts of men, like strings in unison, if one is struck, the rest respond in the same tone. In the presence of a single fellow-creature under the influence of joy or grief, of hope or despondence, of courage or timidity, we feel ourselves involuntarily subject to similar emotions; and consequently, still more must our sympathies be awakened in the midst of society, where all the passions, and chiefly those which are of a vicious or malignant nature, act with redoubled vigour.

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Hence, if in the mass of human opinions there is less truth than error, and less purity than depravity in the mass of human passions; and if, further, these passions and opinions, by engaging men in an eager pursuit of the same objects, convert public life into a scene of vehement competition; (and that all this is the fact, I suppose no attentive and impartial observer will deny ;) it follows, that the general impression of the world must be unfavourable to truth and virtue; and that retirement, so far as it tends to weaken this impression, is an object of importance to all, and especially to persons of a yielding and infirm character; those, I mean, who, from a facility of disposition or unfixedness of principle, are very liable to be ensnared by false compliances, or, from a weak and irritable habit, to be discouraged at the least difficulty, exasperated at every appearance of opposition, and wounded before they are stricken. This morbid sensibility and feebleness of temper, when it

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is radicated, as it often is, in the natural constitution, admits of no perfect cure by any human methods, and we are not to look for miracles; nor is even any sensible mitigation to be expected, unless the occasions of debility and irritation are avoided, or considerably diminished, by an abstraction from the bustle of the world.

Even men of the firmest nerves, and the most established principles, have need of occasional repose, in order to recruit their forces and to recover the due tone both of body and mind. The stoutest frame is impaired, and the hardiest virtues grow sickly and languid, by unremitted exertion; and what Lord Bacon says of silence, that it is the rest of the soul, and refreshes invention, is here more generally applicable; as it is in the silence and calm of retreat that all our powers, natural and moral, are refreshed and invigorated, and made prompt for further service. Like our mother earth, we require respite at certain intervals, lest by being over-wrought

we become impoverished and unproduc-. tive.

Should there be any one who imagines his sufficiency to be such as to place him above this timid precaution, who sets both the toils and the temptations of the world at defiance, and who scorns retreat as an act of cowardice, let him not mistake his vain presumption for a happy presage of victory, or boast himself in putting on his harness, as if he had put it off. In that perfect model of prayer, in which we are taught both our duty and our danger, we are directed to ask, not to be led into temp tation; which implies, that to pass through such a state without prejudice to faith and a good conscience, is a work of difficulty; that to avoid sin we must avoid the occasions; and that, consequently, we should be extremely wary in the measure and manner of our intercourse with the world, where these occasions are most frequent, and commonly most dangerous. It is true, that at the clear call of duty, to deliberate

is to be base; and that when a man is thus summoned, he ought, (in a becoming diffidence of himself, and a humble re. liance upon heaven,) to go forth nobly to. the encounter; otherwise he may do well to listen to the counsels of a cautious prudence, and not wantonly provoke a contest in which many have been cast down wounded, and many flain, who probably had more strength and wisdom than himself To meet his enemy in the open field is not the only part of a skilful general, who knows how to retreat as well as how to advance, and when pressed by a superior power, how best to defend himself behind his entrenchments. The Christian warfare is no piece of knight-errantry; it is not by a rash confidence to brave the world with unequal forces, but soberly to oppose the wisdom and the power of God to its insidious or violent assaults, when they cannot be avoided without deserting our proper station,

Indeed, to escape this conflict altogether is not the lot of any man, in any situ

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