time of prayer, he folds his hands, and then, holding them 14 up, open, as if to receive something from above, he prays for such blessings as he desires for himself or his household. When this is concluded, he strokes his beard with his right hand, and says, "Praise be to God!" This concludes the whole. 1 2 LESSON LXXV. The Three Warnings. - MRS. THRALE. That love of life increased with years This great affection to believe, When sports went round, and all were gay, And, looking grave, "You must," said he, "Neighbor," he said, "farewell! no more 5 6 7 Well pleased, the world will leave." To these conditions both consented, And parted, perfectly contented. What next the hero of our tale befell, The willing muse shall tell:- He passed his hours in peace. But, while he viewed his wealth increase, While thus along life's dusty road Uncalled, unheeded, unawares, Brought on his eightieth year. And now, one night, in musing mood, The unwelcome messenger of fate Half killed with anger and surprise, "So soon returned!" old Dobson cries, "So soon, d'ye call it?" Death replies : "Surely, my friend, you're but in jest: "So much the worse!" the clown rejoined: "To spare the aged would be kind: "I know," cries Death, "that, at the best, 9 10 "This is a shocking story, faith! "There's none," cries he; "and, if there were, I'm grown so deaf I could not hear." "Nay, then," the spectre stern rejoined, "These are unreasonable yearnings: If you are lame, and deaf, and blind, You've had your three sufficient warnings: So come along; no more we'll part." He said, and touched him with his dart: And now old Dobson, turning pale, Yields to his fate-so ends my tale 16 LESSON LXXVI The Misfortunes of Men mostly chargeable on them- 1 We find man placed in a world, where he has by no means the disposal of the events that happen. Calamities sometimes befall the worthiest and the best, which it is not in their power to prevent, and where nothing is left them, but to acknowledge, and to submit to the high hand of Heaven. For such visitations of trial, many good and wise reasons can be assigned, which the present subject leads me not to discuss. But, though these unavoidable calamities make a part, yet they make not the chief part, of the vexations and sorrows that distress human life. A multitude 2 of evils beset us, for the source of which we must look to another quarter. No sooner has any thing in the health, or in the circumstances of men, gone cross to their wish, than they begin to talk of the unequal distribution of the good things of this life; they envy the condition of others : they repine at their own lot, and fret against the Ruler of the world. Full of these sentiments, one man pines under a broken constitution. But let us ask him, whether he can, fairly and honestly, assign no cause for this but the unknown decree of Heaven? Has he duly valued the blessing of 3 health, and always observed the rules of virtue and sobriety? Has he been moderate in his life, and temperate in all his pleasures? If now he is only paying the price of his former, perhaps his forgotten indulgences, has he any title to complain, as if he were suffering unjustly? Were we to survey the chambers of sickness and distress, we should often find them peopled with the victims of intemperance and sensuality, and with the children of vicious indolence and sloth. Among the thousands who languish there, we should find the proportion of innocent sufferers to be small. 4 We should see faded youth, premature old age, and the prospect of an untimely grave, to be the portion of multitudes, who, in one way or other, have brought those evils on themselves; while yet these martyrs of vice and folly, have the assurance to arraign the hard fate of man, and to "fret against the Lord." But you, perhaps, complain of hardships of another kind; of the injustice of the world; of the poverty which you suffer, and the discouragements under which you labor; of the crosses, and disappointments, of which your life has 5 been doomed to be full. Before you give too much scope to your discontent, let me desire you to reflect impartially upon your past train of life. Have not sloth or pride, ill temper, or sinful passions, misled you often from the path of sound and wise conduct? Have you not been wanting to yourselves in improving those opportunities which Providence offered you, for bettering and advancing your state? If you have chosen to indulge your humor, or your taste, in the gratifications of indolence or pleasure, can you complain because others, in preference to you, have obtained 6 those advantages which naturally belong to useful labors, and honorable pursuits? Have not the consequences of some false steps, into which your passions, or your pleasures, have betrayed you, pursued you through much of your life; tainted, perhaps, your characters, involved you in embarrassments, or sunk you into neglect? It is an old saying, that every man is the artificer of his own fortune in the world. It is certain, that the world seldom turns wholly against a man, unless through his own fault. "Religion is," in general, "profitable unto all things." Virtue, dili7 gence, and industry, joined with good temper, and prudence, have ever been found the surest road to prosperity; and where men fail of attaining it, their want of success is far oftener owing to their having deviated from that road, than, to their having encountered insuperable bars in it. Some by being too artful, forfeit the reputation of probity. Some, by being too open, are accounted to fail in prudence. Others, by being fickle and changeable, are distrusted by all. The case commonly is, that men seek to ascribe their disappointments to any cause, rather than to their own mis8 conduct: and when they can devise no other cause, they lay them to the charge of Providence. Their folly leads them into vices; their vices into misfortunes; and in their misfortunes they "murmur against Providence." They are doubly unjust towards their Creator. In their prosperity, they are apt to ascribe their success to their own diligence, rather than to his blessing; and in their adversity, they impute their distresses to his providence, not to their own misbehavior. Whereas, the truth is the very reverse of this. "Every good and every perfect gift cometh from |