IT is indeed a dreadful thing, when people cannot refolve to content themfelves with the fphere in which they are placed by Heaven. It is this reftleffness of the mind, that occafions half the mifchiefs that befal mankind; and yet we are all, more or lefs, apt to have fome fhare of it. Every one wishes for fomething he has not, and that hinders him from enjoying, properly, what he is poffeffed of. We fancy we know better than he that made us, what will befit us, and accufe Providence of partiality in the lot affigned to us.

LIFE is an uncertain ocean; numberless, nameless dangers, lurk beneath the faireft furface. No one, at his first embarkation, can promife to himself that he fhall go through his voyage, unruffled with the ftorms which from above, below, and every where, furround. Who then would not be glad to fecure fome friendly bark at hand, whofe kind affiftance, in cafe of a wreck, might fave him?

THE feeds of those spiritual joys and raptures, which are to rife up and flourish in the foul to all eternity, muft be planted in her, during her present state of probation.

BEWARE thy meddling hand in ought to try,
That does beyond thy reach of knowledge lie;
But feek to know, and bend thy ferious thought,
To fearch the profitable knowledge out.
So joys, on joys, for ever will increase,
Wifdom fhall crown thy labours, and shall blefs
Thy life with pleasure, and thy end with peace.

LET gratitude, in acts of goodness flow;
My love to God, in love to man below.
Be this my joy, to calm the troubled breast,
Support the weak, and fuccour the diftreft;
Direct the wand'rer, dry the widow's tear,
The orphan guard, the finking fpirits chear.
Tho' fmall my pow'r to act, tho' mean my fkill,
God fees the heart, he judges by the will.

}

AN

AN EVENING THOUGHT.

NOW down the fteep of heav'n the fource of day Purfues, unwearied, his diurnal way.

Mild fhine his rays, his beams ferene defcend,
And o'er the earth a fweet effulgence fend.
The bluft'ring winds a pleafing filence keep,
And in their caves, with folded pinions, fleep.
No longer from the cloud defcends the rain,
But a clear azure spreads th' etherial plain.
A folemn, pleafing filence, hovers round,
And peace, with downy wing, o'erfpreads the ground.
While filver Cynthia fheds her milder light,
And ufhers in the awful reign of night.

So when the lamp of life thall dimly burn,
And this frail frame to kindred duft return,
May the rude ftrife of earth-born paffions cease,
And life's fhort journey terminate in peace.
May then no cares terreftrial break my reft,
Or keen reflections discompofe my breast.
May then no fears, no dread of ills to come,
Make me fhrink back with terror from the tomb
But when the awful mandate from on high
The fentence shall proclaim, that bids me die,
Refign'd and peaceful, let me bow my head,
And heav'n enjoy, when number'd with the dead.

;

TO be too inquifitive into things in which we have no concern, and which with the utmoft labour, affifted by the greatest learning and strongest capacity, we can never be able to penetrate, is doubtless both a fin and a folly.

A MIND, eager to inquire into the minuteft works of nature, will be infenfibly led to a content plation on the greatest; and in all, we fhall find fufficient for our aftonishment, and the exciting in us fuch ideas of the great Author of Nature, as cannot fail to fill us with the highest fenfe of the infinity of his goodness to all his crea

tures;

tures; and to us in particular, to whom alone, of all fublunary beings, he has given the power of reafon and reflection.

THERE is nothing requires a greater delicacy of fentiment and expreffion, than what we call raillery; and a perfon must be very polite indeed, who knows how to practise it, fo as not to give offence.

TO be merry ourselves, or make fport for others, on the errors or mistakes of our friend or companion, is certainly very unkind; but if our jeft is on the defects or infirmities of his perfon, it is really cruel.

VITAL fpark of heav'nly flame! Quit, oh quit! this mortal frameTrembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, Oh! the pain, the blifs of dying! Ceafe, fond nature, cease thy ftrife, And let me languish into life.

Hark they whisper, angels fay,
Sifter fpirit, come away!

What is this abforbs me quite,
Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight;

Drowns my spirits, draws my breath,
Tell me, my foul, can this be death?

III.

The world recedes, it disappears!
Heav'n opens on my eyes-my ears
With founds feraphic ring:

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
Oh! grave, where is thy victory?

Oh! death, where is thy fting?

THO'

THO' plung'd in ills, and exercis'd in care,
Yet never let the noble mind despair:

For bleffings always wait on virtuous deeds,
And tho' a late, a fure reward fucceeds.:

THE brighteft hours of profperity have their clouds; and the ftream of life, if it is not ruffled by obftructions, will grow putrid by ftagnation.

WHATEVER bufies the mind, without corrupting it, has at least this ufe, that it refcues the day from idleness; and he that is never idle, will not often be vicious.

KNOWLEDGE is praised and defired by multitudes, whom her charms could never roufe from the couch of floth.

SINCE life itself is uncertain, nothing which has life for its bafis, can boaft much stability.

OF him that hopes to be forgiven, it is indifpenfably required, that he forgive.

FEW are placed in a fituation fo'gloomy and diftrefsful, as not to fee every day beings yet more forlorn and miferable, from whom they may learn to rejoice in their own lot..

A CONSTANT habit of unprofitable amufement, relaxes the tone of the mind, and renders it totally incapable of application, ftudy, or virtue.

TO infult over the miseries of an unhappy creature,.. is inhuman; not to compaffionate them, is unchriftian.

THE wickednefs of a woman changeth her face, and darkeneth her countenance like fack-cloth.

As the climbing of a fandy way is to the feet of the aged, fo is a wife full of words to a quiet man

A woman that will not comfort her husband in distress, maketh weak hands, and feeble knees. Ecclef. xxv. chap.

Extract

Extract from Young's Refignation.

WHAT cannot refignation do?
It wonders can perform;

That pow'rful charm, "thy will be done,"
Can lay the loudeft ftorm.
Our hearts are faften'd to this world,
By ftrong and tender ties;

And ev'ry forrow cuts a string,
And urges us to rife.

When Heav'n would kindly fet us free,
And earth's enchantments end,

It takes the most effectual means,
And robs us of a friend.
Oh! how diforder'd our machine,
When contradictions mix;

When nature ftrikes no lefs than twelve,
And folly points at fix.
They let unmark'd, and unemploy'd,
Life's idle moments run,

And, doing nothing for themfelves,
Imagine nothing done.
Dang'rous miftake-their fate goes on,
Their dread account proceeds-
And their not doing, is fet down,
Amongst their darkest deeds.

IT was the practice of Vefpafian, the Roman emperor, to call himself to an account every night for the actions of the paft day; and as often as he let flip one day without doing fome good, he entered upon his diary this memorial : "I have loft a day.”

THE grace of a wife delighteth her hufband, and her difcretion will fatten his bones.

A filent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord: and there is nothing fo much worth, as a mind well instructed.

As the fun when it arifeth in the high heaven, so is the beauty of a good wife in the ordering of her house. Eccl. xxvi.

TO