contract a friendship for the instrument which will not be broken. 151. For which reason, it is offered as a constant companion for the study, or the closet. Where, if it be admitted, let it be frequently, if not daily, inspected; espe cially at one or other of those early and late periods of the day, at which, it is supposed, every wise and good man directs his thoughts, and aspirations, to the Author of his Being, his Time, and his Salvation. Whatever may be the momentary effect, received from an hasty and superficial view of the scale, it is only the permanent impression, that can produce the vast and blessed consequences which are ascribed to its operation. That permanent impres sion, can only be formed by habit; by which the first impressions will be repeated and enforced, until they finally become indurated, and indelible. 152. And as the mind ought to apply itself, even daily, to inspect the dial; so it ought, with particular attention and seriousness, to meet the day upon which it is to M be annually rectified: when we are to remove the INDEX, from the point at which it will have rested for one entire year; and to advance it to the next degree, in evidence that another year is gone, and is absorbed into the general gulf with all the ages that are past. Bishop Taylor, in his rules for the improvement of time, prescribes the following one: "Let him that is most busied, set apart "some solemn time every year, in which, "for the time, quitting all worldly business, "he may attend wholly upon God; that he may make up his accounts, renew his "vows, make amends for his carelessness, "and retire back again from whence levity, "and the vanities of the world, or the એ opportunity of temptations, or the dis"traction of secular affairs, have carried "him." And what time can point itself out so fit for this wise and necessary exercise, as the day which is THE NEW-YEAR'S DAY of each individual's life; namely, the anniversary of his, or her, BIRTH? As this exercise is only designed for the retirement of the closet, it need not interfere with, or impair, any part of that cheerfulness, which gratitude to Heaven, and the liveliness of affection, may call forth in celebration of the day. The mind never experiences so high a relish in cheerfulness, as when it has answered, and complied with, the claims of seriousness; nor is any joy, that the soul can aspire to taste, comparable to that, which receives its savour from religious wisdom. 153. Lastly, when the dial is once set, let the face of it remain continually upon the mind. By that means, we shall possess a clear and intelligible idea, what our age is. To note age by the number of the year alone; without reference to the two terms of life; is only deceiving the understanding. When we say, that we are fifty, or sixty; if we receive any other idea than mere number, we shall find, that it is most commonly a comparison of our age, with the ages of others who are either younger or older than ourselves. Now it is of no consequence to compare our age with that of others, but only حال of ourselves; and we can only compare our age with the age of ourselves, by comparing it with the ages which we have already lived, and with the extreme average of time, to which it is possible we may advance. And that comparison will be brought, at once, before the mind, by recollecting the face of the dial, as we last parted from it: in which recollection, all the necessary relations, and combinations, will immediately reveal themselves. 154. And now, to conclude: If any one should ask :-" has the author himself "6 acquired all that wisdom, all that excel"lence of practical prudence, which he is so ready to propose for the acquirement "of others?" I thus shortly reply: That he is far, very far, from pretensions so presumptuous, and so preposterous; on the contrary, that he feels himself far in arrear of that point, to which he is desirous, that he himself, and all others, should attain. But, an hungry man who has found a feast, may as well share it with those who are as |