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reasonings of philosophy; it is the employment of fools to multiply them by the sentiments of superſtition.
For my own part, I ſhould be very much troubled were I endowed with this divining quality, though it ſhould inform me truly of every thing that can befal me. I would not anticipate the reliſh of any hapiness, nor feel the weight of any misery, before it actually arrives.
I know but one way of fortifying my ſoul againſt these gloomy presages and terrors of mind, and that is, by securing to myself the friendſhip and protection of that being who disposes of events, and governs futurity. He sees, at one view, the whole thread of any exiſtence, not only that part of it which I have already paſſed through, but that which runs forward into all the depths of eternity. When I lay me down to ſleep, I recommend myſelf to his care; when I awake, I give my felfup to his direction. Amidſt all the evils that threaten me, I will look up to him for help, and queſtion not but he will either avert them, or turn to my advantage. Though I know neither the time nor the manner of the death I am to die, I am not at all ſolicitons about it; becauſe I am ſure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort and ſupport me under them.
