Lay up many of the divine Promises in your Memory. Stock that noble Cabinet with this invaluable Treasure. Faith cometh by hearing*, by meditating on, and praying over, this Word of Life, and Word of Grace.-And never, never forget the Freeness, with which the Promise is made, and its good Things are bestowed. You are to receive the one, and apply the other, not with a full, but with an empty Hand; not as a righteous Person, but as an unworthy Sinner.

*Rom. x. 17. On which Account the Scriptures are ftyled, The Words of Faith, Tim. iv. 6,

பம்பாம்

DIALOGUE XVII.

T

HE next Morning, Theron ordered a cold Collation to be prepared, and his Pleasure-Boat to hold itfelf in Readinefs.-Breakfast being dispatched, and fome neceffary Orders, relating to the Family, given-Now, says He to Afpafio, let me fulfil my Promise; or rather let us execute our mutual Engagement; and confign the Remainder of this mild and charming Day, to a rural Excurfion.

We will take our Rout along one of the fineft Roads in the World. A Road, incomparably more curious and durable, than the famous Causeys raised by those puissant Hands which conquered the Globe. A Road, that has fubfifted from the Beginning of Time; and, though frequented by innumerable Carriages, laden with the heaviest Burdens, has Bb 4

never

never been gulled, never wanted Repair, to this very Hour.-Upon this, they step into the Chariot, and are conveyed to a large navigable River, about three Quarters of a Mile diftant from the Houfe. Here they launch upon a new Element, attended by two or three Servants, expert at handling the Oar, and managing the Nets.

Is this the Road, replied Afpafio, on which my Friend bestows his Panegyric? It is indeed more curious in its Structure, and more durable in its Substance, than the celebrated Roman Caufeys. Though I must affure you, that the latter are very high in my Efteem. I admire them far beyond Trajan's Pillar, or Caracalla's Baths; far beyond the idle Pomp of the Pantheon, or the worfe than idle Magnifi cence of the Amphitheatre. They do the truest Honour to the Empire; because, while they were the Glory of Rome, they were a general Good * *; and not only a Monument of her Grandeur, but a Benefit to Mankind.

But more than all these Works, I admire that excellent and divinely gracious Purpose,

to

*Thefe Roads ran through all Italy, and ftretched themfelves into the Territories of France. They were carried acrofs the Alps, the Pyrenean Mountains, and through the whole Kingdom of Spain. Some of them, towards the South, reached even to Ethiopia; and fome of them, towards the North, extended as far as Scotland. The Remains of feveral of them continue in England to this Day; though they were made, it may be, above 1500 Years ago.

to which Providence made the Empire itself fubfervient. It was a kind of Road or Caufey, for the everlasting Gofpel; and afforded the Word of Life a free Paffage, to the very Ends of the Earth. The evangelical Dove mounted the Wings of the Roman Eagle; and flew, with furprising Expedition, through all Nations. Who would have thought, that infatiable Ambition and the most bloody Wars, should be paving a Way for the PRINCE of Humility and Peace? How remote from all human Apprehenfion, was fuch a Defign; and how contrary to the natural Result of Things, was fuch an Event! How remarkably therefore was that Observation of the Pfalmift verified; His Ways are in the Sea, and his Paths in the great Waters, and his Footsteps are not known* !

Converfing on fuch agreeable Subjects, they were carried by the Stream, through no less agreeable Scenes. They pass by Hills, clothed with hanging Woods; and Woods, arrayed in varying Green. Here, excluded from a Sight of the out-ftretched Plains, they are entertained with a Group of unsubstantial Images, and the Wonders of a mimic Creation.-Another Sun fhines, but ftript of his blazing Beams, in the watery Concave: while Clouds fail along the downward Skies, and fometimes dif

Pfal. lxxvii. 19.

disclose, sometimes draw a Veil over, the radiant Orb. Trees, with their inverted Tops, either flourish in the fair Serene below; or else paint, with a pleasing Delufion, the pellucid Flood. Even the Mountains are there, but in a headlong Posture; and, notwithstanding their prodigious Bulk, they quiver in this floating Mirror, like the poplar Leaves which adorn their Sides.

Soon as the Boat advances, and disturbs the placid Surface; the Waves, pufhed haftily to the Bank, bear off, in broken Fragments, the liquid Landfchape. The fpreading Circles feemed to prophecy, as they rolled; and pronounced the Pleasures of this prefent State the Pomp of Power, the Charm of Beauty, and the Echo of Fame-pronounced them tranfient, as their speedy Paffage; empty, as their unreal Freight. -Seemed to prophecy? It was more. gination heard them utter, as they ran;

Ima

Thus pass the fhadowy Scenes of Life away!

Anon, they emerge from this fluid Alley, and dart amidst the Level of a spacious Meadow. The Eye, lately immured, though in pleasurable Confinement, now expands her delighted View, into a Space almost boundless, and amidst Objects little fhort of innumerable. -Transported for a while, at the numberless Variety of beauteous Images, poured in fweet

Con