11. To conclude: if we will be truly wise, let us set the gospel and example of Christ before us, and endeavour to be as wise in our generation, as the men of this world are in theirs, to be as diligent in pursuing our true and great end, as they are in pursuing their false and little ones. They are intent upon the _present_, and sollicitous to provide for the short _future_ of an uncertain life. Let us be intent upon providing for that future life, which will soon be present, and never past. For this purpose we should retire as much as we can conveniently from the world, and have as little to do with it; we should lay aside every weight, and every incumbrance, and not be _troubled about many things_, that we may the more quietly and entirely attend upon the one thing needful. Not that I plead for a hermit’s solitude, not understanding the agreement of such a state with human nature, nor what authority men have thus to bury themselves alive, and to excommunicate themselves from human society. But so much of solitude as disengages us from the affairs and incumbrances of the world, and places us out of the noise, hurry and bustle of it, and out of the way of its temptations, must certainly be of vastly great advantage to a truly Christian life. Being much abroad may teach us to know _the world_; but retirement only can teach us to know _ourselves_. For to know ourselves, we must converse much with ourselves. Let us therefore _retire_, and when we are alone, let us remember, that we are not alone, for God is with us. And while we think and act as in his presence, solitude has all the safety of company, without the temptations and interruptions. And here let us think much of eternity, and of our nearness to it, of the future judgment, and the two final sentences of that day, of the glorious things that are spoken of the city of God, and the unspeakable misery of being for ever banished from his presence; and lastly, of the thoughts which we shall have of all these things when we come to die. Every man is wise _then_, and has a right sense of things; let us endeavour to have the same _now_, as we shall then wish we had, which is the sum of all Christian prudence. NICODEMUS: Or, A TREATISE on the FEAR of MAN. Written in _German_ by _Augustus Herman Franck_. _To all ministers and teachers in churches and schools, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord |Jesus Christ|, in the fellowship of the |Holy Ghost|:_ _Dearly beloved brethren_,