to their Reputation, and commends the Greatness of their Parts, that they can fupport themfelves upon the Natural frock, without being beholden to the Interest that is brought in by Study and Industry.

But if their Parts be fo good as they would have others believe, fure they are worth Improving; if not, they have the more need of it. And tho' it be an Ar

gument of a rich Mind, to be able to maintain it felf without Labour, and fubfift without the Advantages of Study, yet there is no Man that has fuch a Portion of Senfe, but will understand the ufe of his Time better than to put it to the Tryal. Greatnefs of Parts is fo far from being a difcharge from Industry, that I find Men of the most exquifite Senfe in all Ages were always moft curious of their Time: Nay, the moft Intelligent of all Created Beings (who may be allow'd to pafs a truer Eftimate upon Things than the finest Mortal Wit) value Time at a high rate. Let me go (fays the Angel to the importunate Patriarch) for the Day breaketh. And therefore I very much fufpect the Excellency of those Men's Parts, who are diffolute and careless mis-spenders of their Time: For if they were Men of any Thoughts, how is it poffible but thefe fhould be fome in the Number? (viz.) That this Life is wholly in order to another, and that Time is that fole Opportunity that God has given us for tranfacting the great Bufinels of Eternity: That our Work is great, and our Day of working fhort, much of which alfo is loft and render'd ufeleis, through the Cloudinefs and Darkness of the Morning, and the thick Vapour and unwholefome Fogs of the Evening; the Ignorance and Inadvertency of Youth, ' and the Difeafes and Infirmities of Old Age: That our • Portion of Time is not only fhort, as to its Duration, but alfo uncertain in the Poffeffion: That the lots of it is irreparable to the Lofer, and profitable to no body elfe: That it fhall be feverely accounted for at the great Judgment, and lamented in a fad Eternity.

6

He

He that confiders thefe Things (and fure he muft needs be a very unthinking Man that does not) will certainly be Choice of his Time, and look upon it no longer as a bare State of Duration, but as an Opportunity; and confequently will let no part of it (no confiderable part at least) flip away either Unobserv'd or Unimprev'd. This is the most effectual Way that I know of to fecure to ones felf the Character of a Wife-man here, and the Reward of one hereafter. Whereas the vain Enthufiaftic Pretenders to the Gift of Wit, that Trifle away their Time, betray the Shallowness and Poverty of their Senfe to the difcerning fem; or whatever they may pafs for here among their fellow Mortals, do moft infallibly make themtelves Cheap in the fight of Angels.

Of SOLITUDE.

Imaye Happinets and Self-fufficiency of God, that

may perhaps be urged as an Objection against the

if there were fuch a perfect and Self-fufficient Being, who was compleatly Happy in the Enjoyment of himself, he would never have gone about to make a World. Now tho' there be indeed no force in this Atheistical Objection (the Defign of God in Creating the World being not to increase his Happiness, but to Communicate it) yet it proceeds upon this true Suppofition, that Society is a Bleffing. It is fo, and that not only respectively, and in reference to the prefent Circumftances of the World, and the Neceffities of this Life, but alfo fimply, and in its own Nature; fince it fhall be an Acceffory to our Bliss in Heaven, and add many Moments to the weight of Glory. Neither will the Truth of this Affertion be at all weaken'd by alledging, that no Benefit or Advantage accrues to God by it; for that it becomes unbeneficial to him (tho' a Bleffing in its own Nature) is purely by accident, because God eminently containing in himself all poffible Good, is uncapable of any New Acceffion.

And

And as Society is in its own Nature an Inftrument of Happiness, fo is it made much more fo by the Indigencies and Infirmities of Men. Man of all Creatures in the World, is leaft qualify'd to live alone, because there is no Creature that has fo inany Neceffities to be reliev'd. And this I take to be one of the great Arts of Providence, to fecure mutual Amity and the reciprocation of good turns in the World, it being the Nature of Indigency, like common Danger, to indear Men to one another, and make them herd together like Fellow-Sailers in a Storm. And this indeed is the true Cafe of Mankind, we all Sail in one Bottom, and in a rough Sea, and ftand in need of one anothers Help at every turn, both for the Neceffities and Refreshments of Life. And therefore I am very far from commending the undertaking of those Afceticks, that out of a pretence of keeping themselves unfpotted from the World, take up their Quarters in Defarts, and utterly abandon all Human Society: This is in fhort (to fay no more of it) to put themselves into an incapacity either of doing any good to the World, or of receiving any from it: and certainly that can be no defirable State. No, this Eremetical way of Living is ut terly inconfiftent with the Circumftances and Inclinations of Human Nature; he must be a God, Self-Sufficient and Independent that is fit for this State of abfolute and perfect Solitude, and in this rigorous fenfe, It is not good for Man (tho' in Paradice it felf) to be alone.

But tho' Society, as 'tis oppofed to a state of perfect and perpetual Solitude, be a Bleffing, yet confidering how little of it there is in the World that is Good, I think it advisable for every Man that has Senfe and Thoughts enough, to be his own Companion, (for certainly there is more required to qualifie a Man for his own company than for other Men's) to be as frequent in his Retirements as he can, and to communicate as little with the World as is confiftent with the Duty of doing good, and the discharge of the common Offices of Humanity. 'Tis true indeed (as Seneca fays) Mifcenda & alternanda funt

Solitudo & Frequentia: Solitude and Company are to have their turns, and to be interplaced. But Wife Men ufe to dedicate the largest fhare of their Lives to the former, and let the best and most of their Time go to make up the Canonical Hours of Study, Meditation and Devotion. And for this, befides the Practice of Wife Men, we have the Authentick Example of our Bleffed Lord himfelf, Who, as 'tis reasonably fuppofed (for he had pass'd the Thirtieth Year of his Life before he enter'd upon the Stage of Action, and then alio fought all Opportunities to be alone, and oftentimes purchas'd Retirement at the expence of Night-watches) allotted the greatest part of his little Time here on Earth, to Privacy and Retirement; and 'tis highly probable, would have liv'd much more Refervedly, had not the peculiar Business of his Function made it neceffary for him to be converfant in the World. The inclination of our Lord lay more toward the Contemplative way of Life, tho' the Interest of Mankind engaged him oftentimes upon the Active. And 'tis very obfervable, that there is fcarce any one Thing which he vouchfafed to Grace with fo many Marks and Inftances of Favour and Refpect, as he did Solitude. Which are thus fum'd up by the excellent Pen of a very Great Master of Learning and Exemplar. Language: It was Solitude and Retirement in which Jefus kept his Vigils; the Defart places heard him Pray, in a Privacy he was Born, in the Wilderness he Fed his Thoufands, upon a Mountain apart he was Transfigured, upon a Mountain he Died, and from a Mountain he afcended to his Father. In which Retirements his Devotion cer tainly did receive the Advantage of convenient Circumftances, and himself in fuch Difpofitions twice had the opportunities of Glory.

The Great

Indeed, the Satisfactions and Advantages of Solitude (to a Perfon that knows how to Improve it) are very great, and far Tranfcending thofe of a Secular and Popular Life. First, as to Pleafure and Satisfaction, whofoever confiders the great variety of Mens Humours, the

Peevish

1

Peevishness of fome, the Pride of Conceitednefs of others, and the Impertinence of moft; he that confiders what unreasonable Terms of Communion fome Perfons impose upon thofe that partake of their Society; how rare 'tis for a Man to light upon a Company, where, as his first Salutation, he fhall not prefently have a Bottle thrust to his Nofe; he, I fay, that confiders thefe and a thousand more Grievances, wherewith the Folly and Illnature of Men have confpired to Burthen Society, will find, take one time with another, Company is an occafion of almost as much Difpleasure as Pleafure. Whereas in the mean time the Solitary and Contemplative Man fits as fafe in his Retirement, as one of Homers Heroes in a Cloud, and has this only Trouble from the Follies. and Extravagancies of Men, that he pities them. He does not, it may be, Laugh fo loud, but he is better Pleas'd; He is not perhaps fo often Merry, but neither is he fa often Difgufted; he lives to himfelf and God, full of Serenity and Content.

And as the Pleasures and Satisfactions of Solitude exceed thofe of a Popular Life, fo alfo do the Advantages. Of these there are two forts, Moral and Intellectual; to both which Solitude is a particular Friend. As to the firft, it is plain that Solitude is the proper Opportunity of Contemplation, which is both the Foundation and the Perfection of a Religious Life. It is (as the fame excellent Perfon fore-cited fays elfewhere of a fingle Life) the huge Advantage af Religion, the great Opportunity for the Retirements of Devotion, which being empty of Cares is full of Prayers, being unmingled with the World, is apt to Converfe with God, and by not feeling the Warmth of a too forward and indulgent Nature, flames out with holy Fires, till it be burning like the Cherubim and the most extafy'd Order of holy and unpolluted Spirits. And for this Rea fon 'twas that the Ancients chofe to build their Altars and Temples in Groves and Solitary Receffes, thereby intimating, that Solitude was the best opportunity of Religion.

Neither