ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

LONGEVITY.

PASSAGE.

AND ALL THE DAYS OF

METHUSELAH WERE NINE

HUNDRED SIXTY AND NINE YEARS.

[ocr errors]

O what a span is existence reduced in the comparifon! Threefcore and ten, with nine hundred and fixty-nine! What a difference! Yet the fcheme of ambition is vast, as ever; and, perhaps, it is for the beft it should be fo. I fear, pofterity is more indebted to our pride than any better principle we build houses, lay out gardens, and pursue the most coftly and laborious projects very frequently, when we have measured three fourths of our time, while the foot totters, and the hand shakes. Yet, let us make an honest, and candid confeffion. Is all this toil and expence to

[blocks in formation]

accommodate the new comers into life! Is it to render the paffage delightful to our heirs; or, is it to gratify a paffion for property; to furnish age with a fresh plaything; cr to fhew the world how unwilling we are to leave it, by making preparations to enjoy it? Whatever be the motive, the end is well anfwered. Whatever the impetus which prompts to magnificence, and convenience; which bids us delight in extenfive improvements; whether it fprings from our pride, or our pleasure,. it is just the fame; pofterity is ultimately the better for it. Thus, life hath pleasing attentions and amusements to the laft; the old are bufied in defigns, which the young fhall enjoy; the father fows, the fon reaps; and a general and healthful exercise, both of body and mind, preferves us, equally from gloom, vacuity and ftagnation.

ESSAY

ESSAY IV.

ORIGIN of SHIPPING.

PASSAGE.

AND GOD SAID UNTO NOAH, MAKE

THEE AN ARK OP

GOPHER-WOOD; ROOMS SHALT THOU MAKE IN THE ARK, AND SHALT PITCH IT WITHIN, AND WITHOUT, WITH PITCH.

T

HE moft ingenious and ufeful arts are of celestial origin; and from this chapter, it is evident, that the first ship which ever floated on the world of waters, was built according to the plan, and under the regulating eye, of a divine artificer. With what amazing contrivance and œconomy were the directions given by the Deity to Noah! How exact the architecture, and what judicious hints were hence furnished to human creatures in regard to maritime affairs! Man has always been charactarised by his powers of imitation. C 2 From

From this very ark arofe the first ideas of a poffibility to pafs beyond the limits of land: the scheme once projected, and the fecret of its conftruction once imparted,

it was not likely to be forgotten; fo far otherwife, that we ftand indebted to it, for many valuable bleffings-for the advantages of commerce, the pleasure of travel, and the glory of victory. The merchant and the failor owe to this undertaking all their benefits; and whatever defirable circumftances arife from connections with remote climates, certainly originate from an imitation of that facred repofitory, which preserved from the deluge the family of Noah.

ESSAY

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »