2" IlTTRODUCTrOir. 



losoplier they furnish inestimable rules and prin^ 

 ciples of calculation; to the man of business they 

 present measures and stimulants to industry; and, 

 above all, to the christian they offer continual me- 

 morials of the end of Hfe, and unceasing excite- 

 ments to moral dispatch. 



Hence the close of one year, and the commence- 

 ment of another, are generally marked by mutual 

 cono^ratulations, by a peculiar train of reflections, 

 by new plans and undertakings, and by charac- 

 teristic changes in domestic, social, and political 

 affairs. It is a period which interests the feelings, 

 and constitutes a prominent point in the life of 

 almost every man. 



But, on reaching the termination of an active 

 and eventful century, and entering upon a new 

 one, the emotions of the reflecting mind are still 

 more strong, and the impressions made more va- 

 rious and interesting. This is a transition which 

 few individuals at present on earth have before wit- 

 nessed, and which few now living will ever again 

 behold. At such a period it is natural, and it is 

 useful, to pause; to review the extensive scene; to 

 estimate what has been done; to inquire whether 

 we have grown wiser and better, or the reverse ; 

 and to derive those lessons of wisdom from the 

 whole, which rational beings ought ever to draw 

 from experience. — While the student of chronology 

 is disputing about the time when the old century 

 terminated, and the new one began ;"" and while 



a It would be neither convenient nor seasonable to attempt, in this place, 

 a discussion of the question, when the nineteenth century commenced. 

 The author takes for granted, that it commenced on the first day of Ja- 

 nuary, l8oi. In this opinion he is supported by the decision of many of 

 those who are best qualified to judge on the subject. De Lalande, the 

 great French aftronomer, tells us that the same question was discussed with 

 great warmth at the close of the seventeenth century, and that many pam- 

 phlets were written with a view to settle it, of several of which he is^ pos- 

 sessed. He decides, without hesitation, that the century commenced on 

 the day above-mentioned. — See DtLalandas History of Astronomy for I799« 



