AP 3 9-12-49 058 AND EXPLANATION of the FRONTISPIECE. W E are now entering upon the Forty-fixth Volume of the UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE, and do acknow ledge ourlelves intirely obliged to our Readers and Correfpondents, for the Encouragement and Helps they have given us during the Course of the last Year. For a long Time back, we have had great Reason to fhew our Senfe of Gratitude to them, but fcarce ever before greater than at prefent: For, notwithstanding the Number of Competitors the laft Year has produced, we have been diftinguished by a more favourable Acceptance of our Endeavours; and, though the prefent Year rather portends an Augmentation than Diminution, fome new ones having already made their Appearance; yet, far from being alarmed at the formidable Apparatus they boaft of, we intend to proceed with Alacrity, relying on the fame candid Approbation which has hitherto fupported us. The original Defign of Magazines, together with recording the Occurrences of the Month, was to improve the Mind by ufeful and agreeable Researches and curious Points of Knowledge: But feveral cannot help taking Notice, and we ourselves obferve with Pain, that fome Magazines of late Inftitution deviate from that Plan, affuming a Latitude of defcanting on the intriguing Spirit and private Follies and Vices of our People in high Stations. This Mode of diffeminating Scandal may well be called unwarrantable, being very improperly calculated to difcredit Vice, and rather feeming o propofe it, as fashionable and in Vogue, to the Example of the inferior Sort; who too prone, indeed, to imitate their Superiors, fhould have nothing placed before them as Patterns to copy after, but the Lives and Actions of the truly Good and Great. In another Refpect it might feem, from the Feuds and Animofities, whereby Minds have been agitated thefe few Years paft, that Politics is become a fit Object for Magazines. Granted it might, if it did not efpoufe the Views of Party or Faction. But as Science, Arts, and the Mufes delight in the Shade of Peace, feeking tranquil Contemplation, undisturbed by the Tu A 466986 multuous multuous Noife of Broils and Contention; fo we, their Votaries, having nothing more at Heart than a compofed and fettled State of the Nation, think of abiding by our accustomed Plan; yet do fincerely wish that Harmony may reign among all Parties, and Government once more coalefce in a perfect Confiftency, pursuant to those falutary Admonitions the Goodness of our Constitution recommends and inculcates. We are very fenfible that it is not our Business to give Inftructions, much less to make Remonftrances; and that those who imagine it their Duty fo to do, by often concerting wrong Measures, take neceffarily a wrong Biafs: For Zeal itself, through the Imbecillity of human Views, is fubject to many falfe Steps, and, endeavouring to reform Abuses, may carry the Stroke too far: Yet known Corruptions fhould always feel the Weight of juft Severity; and very hard Cenfures ought to be paffed on feveral Things, though they may have Example, Custom, and Authority to plead for them.-Well, but may not thefe Exertions against Practices pernicious in their Tendency be preffed with too great Rigour, fo as to prove a Difcouragement to many from ever thinking to pursue the proper Methods for a Reformation; and may not, in general, all Abuses, by being represented more flagrant than they are in Fact, ferve, in the Point of being rectified, for fcarce more than a Condemnation of one Extreme by running into another. Wisdom, always influenced by Moderation and the public Utility, ought to be the Teft all dubious Affairs, creative of inteftine Troubles, fhould be put to. This is partly expreffed by our Frontispiece. In it the amiable Figure of Virtue advises Man, who records her Inftructions, that his Thoughts and Actions fhould aspire rather to Wisdom and Immortality, figured by their ancient Symbol, Apollo, driving the Chariot of the Sun, than be confined to the tranfient Enjoyments of a Span of Time, pointed to in the Reprefentation of our natural Day, confifting of Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night. Hence all, in general, fhould be induced to indulge at Times a ferious Thought, and confider this emblematic Exhibition of Day, as the Pilure of Human Life, which being but short, all our Actions, as rational Beings, fhould tend to make it conformable to the Defign of its great Author, which is, that, to be agreeable to him, it ought conftantly to be under the Direction and Regulation of Reason, that Ray of his Wisdom, which he has appointed to be our Guide.--This we have endeavoured to illuftrate in the following Difcourfe. THE Univerfal Magazine O F Knowledge and Pleasure : FOR JANUARY, 1770. VOL. XLVI. DISCOURSE on the Importance of a proper CONDUCT in LIFE, T A good Man's Steps are all with Caution trod, O fhew what is truly great, ornamental, or useful in life; to call the attention of mankind to objects worthy of their regard as rational and immortal beings; to lay down certain and eftablished means for attaining the true end of our exiftence; must be a noble work, even the attempt would be laudable. The business of life is serious, not ludicrous. No order of beings, efpecially the rational, was brought into exiftence whole ly for pleasure and amufement; but to fill fome useful place, and anfwer fome important end in the extenfive fcheme of the beneficent Creator. It is therefore evidently the intereft, the wisdom, and the perfection of every rational creature to be careful in properly performing the duty of his appointed itation, as in it he will, in the end, find his glory and his happiness, As young people have a profpect, though a precarious one, of living to old-age, it is NUMB. CCCXVII, Vol. XLVI, of confequence, that they be early put upon fuch courfes as will be likely to render their paffage through life, whether longer or fhorter, eafy and comfortable. A perfon's fetting out with proper dignity is of great importance towards his future profperity; as, on the contrary, one falfe ftep, at the firft entrance into life, may prove irretrievable. Mankind fix their attention upon the behaviour of a perfon juft fetting out, and, according to the prudence, or want of judgment, they obferve in the firft fteps he takes, pronounce upon the whole of his future conduct. Men in active ftations, especially, ought to confider, that, at their firft entrance into life, they will have the ill-will and envy of many rivals and competitors to encoun-ter; and ought to remember, that it will require no ordinary degree of fagacity to defeat the defigns of those who think themfelves interested to make a bad use of every mifcarriage, A 2 Το To this end there is nothing fo indifpenfably neceffary as a certain turn of mind which puts a perfon upon looking forward, and enables him to judge rightly of the confequences of his behaviour, fo as to avoid the inisfortunes into which rafhnefs precipitates many, and to gain the ends which a wife and virtuous man ought to purfuc. It is evident to the micaneft understanding, that there is a fitness or unfitness, a fuitablenefs or unfuitableness of things to one another, which is not to be changed without fome change prefuppofed in the things, or their circumstances. A prudential forecast is the knowledge and obfervance of this propriety of behaviour to times and circumtances, and probable confequences, according to their leveral varieties; and, like all other endowments of the mind, it is allo a natural gift bestowed more or lefs liberally upon different perfons. Some give promises of fagacity and coolness almoft from their infancy; and others never arrive at the mature exercife of forefight or reflection, but, in fpite of the experience of many years, feem children to the laft. Yet this faculty, at the fame time, is capable of great improvements in the weakest heads, could they but be brought to bestow a little thought and attention, or to liften to reafon more than to paffion. If we confider the life we lead in this world as a ftate of difcipline, all is ordered as it fhould be. We enter into this life with minds wholly unfurnished with ideas, attachments, or biaffes of any kind. After a little time, we find certain propenfities begin act pretty strongly within us, which, in the main, are neceffary to move us to avoid what might be hurtful, and purfue what might be useful to the fupport of the animal frame; and thefe propensities are appointed to anticipate reason, which does not at firft exert itself. As we advance in life, we become capable of reasoning upon actions, and their confequences, and, accordingly, do in general, reafon justly enough about matters of right and wrong, where paffion does not blind or mislead us. When we come into the vigorous and flourishing time of life, excited by our paffions and appetites, we enter upon various fcenes of action: Yet here is the proper feafon for exercifing our virtue; for habituating ourselves to keep conftantly on our guard against innumerable affaults; for watching over ourselves that we may not be furprised, and fall before temptation; or, If we fall, that, by fuffering from our errers, we may be moved to greater diligence and attention to our duty, to a ftronger attachment to virtue, and a more fixed ha 3 tred to the crimes which have brought fuch fufferings upon us. Pleafure and pain, health and difeafe, fuccefs and misfortune, reward and punishment, often, at a very great distance of time after the action, are made the natural, or at leaft frequent confequences of our general behaviour here; to fuggeft to us the reafonableness of concluding that an extenfive uniformity prevails through the whole of the divine moral government, and that what we fee here in fhadow will, in the future state, appear in fubftance and perfection, and that it not only will, but ought to be fo, and cannot be otherwife. If we confider the oppofite natural tendencies and effects of virtue and vice, in the prefent ftate, we fall from thence fee reafon to conclude, that the former is pleafing to the gracious Author of our being, and the latter the contrary. The natural effects of temperance are health, length of days, and a more delicate enjoyment of the innocent pleafures of life. The natural effects of gluttony, drunkenness, and lewdness, are difeafe and pain, difguft and disappointment, and untimely death. The natural effects of univerfal benevolence, juftice and charity, are the love of mankind, fuccefs in life, and peace in one's own mind. The confequences to be expected from ill-will, injuftice, and felfifhnefs, are the contempt and hatred of mankind, and punishment by the laws of nations. When we fay fuch an ef. fect follows naturally from fuch a caufe, we mean, that it does fo by the divine appointment. For what is natural is only fo, becaufe rectitude requires it to be fo. Now, if our bodily frame is fo formed that its well-being confifts in temperance, and that an immoderate indulgence of appetite tends to diforder and unhinge it; if the make of the human mind, and our focial state in life, are fuch, that the focial virtues tend to produce univerfal happiness, and all this by the conftitution and courfe of nature; if thefe things be fo, who is fo blind, as not to fee in all this a moral government already eftablifhed under God, even in this world, and going on to perfection? And yet, that we may not, by a continued course of cafe and happinefs, be led either to fuch arrogance and pride as to conclude ourselves the Lords of nature, or to fix our affections upon the present state, we are placed in the school of affliction, to be broke and tamed to obedience. That happiness too eafily come at, and a conftant feries of fuccefs and profperity, are by no means proper for us, is too evident from the effects of eafe and affluence, which very few can bear without almost lofing their reafont |