ABSTRACT
The author has some desire to enjoy the present good, and some fondness for the past; but he is not given to building castles in the air, nor hope to the brilliant illusions held out by the future. Hence, he had perhaps been led to form a theory, which is contrary to the common notions on the past and future. Men attach more or less importance to past and future events, according as they are more or less engaged in action and the busy scenes of life. If we take away from the present the moment that is just gone by and the moment that is next to come, how much of it will be left for this plain, practical theory to rest upon? Their solid basis of sense and reality will reduce itself to a pin's point, a hair-line, on which our moral balance-masters will have some difficulty to maintain their footing without falling over on either side.
