NOTE XOV. 



The various obstacles are : 



1. Want of time, from } orld] y occupation. 



( Shortness of life. 



2. Want of means. 



it they are all and each overrated may, without difficulty, be seen. 



Worldly occupation. 



Although it is, in general, true that the wisdom of a learned man cometh by 

 opportunity of leisure, and he that hath little business shall become wise, yet 

 let it not be forgotten what has ever been done in contemplation by lovers of 

 truth engaged in active life : by those who are so fortunate as to know the 

 delights of intellectual pleasure. 



Brutus, when a soldier under Pompey in the civil wars, employed all his 

 leisure in study 4 and the very day before the battle of Rharsalia,, though it was 

 in the middle of summer, and the &amp;lt;;amp under many privations, spent all his 

 time till the evening in writing an epitome of Polybius. 



Julius Caesar wrote his Commentaries and a work De Analogia, occasioned 

 a reformed computation of the year, and collected a book of Apophthegms. 



Who can forget the labours of Cicero 1 



Alfred, notwithstanding the multiplicity and urgency of his affairs, employed 

 Jiimself in the pursuits of knowledge : he often laboured under great bodily 

 infirmities : he fought in person fifty-six battles by sea and land ; was able, 

 during a life of no extraordinary length, to acquire more knowledge, and even 

 to compose more books, than most studious men, though blest with the greatest 

 leisure and application, have in more fortunate ages made the .object of their 

 uninterrupted industry. 



Elizabeth, unto the very last year of her life, accustomed herself to appoint 

 set hours for reading ; scarce any young student in an university more daily or 

 more duly. 

 .Can the labours .of Milton or .of Burke be forgotten 1 



Shortness of life. 

 &quot;* Vita b re vis : ars longa : 

 Sed fugit interea : fugit irreparabile tempus.&quot; 



Notwithstanding the shortness of life, which is supplied by the conjunction 

 of labours, much may be done by any individual who steadily pursues his 

 object. Let him who despairs think of the labours of the schoolmen : of our 

 divines, of Barrow, of Taylor : of eminent artists, of Raphael, of Michael 

 Angelo : of poets, of Milton, of Shakespeare : of philosophers, of Newton, of 

 Bacon. 



The obstacle from the shortness of life may be counteracted by the con 

 sciousness that no labour is lost,&quot; and that a discovered truth will flourish in 

 future ages. &quot; We hold it sufficient,&quot; says Bacon, &quot; to carry ourselves soberly 

 and usefully in moderate things ; and in the mean time to sow the seeds of pure 

 truth for posterity, and not be wanting in our assistance to the first beginnings 

 of great things.&quot; 



In Bacon s Dedication of the Novum Organum to James, he says, &quot; I may, 

 perhaps, when I am dead, hold out a light to posterity by this new torch set up 

 in the obscurity of philosophy.&quot; 



We ought rather to be grateful than to repine at being able to conceive more 

 than we are able to execute. In works of benevolence our exertions are limited : 

 we can reach only to our arm s length, and our voice can be heard only till the 

 next air is still : are we to murmur because our good wishes and prayers 

 extend to all mankind ? 



Wasting time. 



The knowledge of the art of preventing the waste of time is a science of great 

 importance, and may be thus exhibited : 



