PATIENCE confifts in a well pleafed fubmiffion to the divine will, and a quiet yielding to whatever it pleases the Deity to afflict us with. If we are poffeffed with a fincere reverence and efteem of God, humility will fortify us with patience to fuffer, and not murmur, at his difpenfations.

IN every affair of life, defpair fhould give way to hope, and impatience to content; for the hand of Providence is always nearest to us, when perils are most evident.

AFFLICTIONS, if we make a difcreet use of them, are meffengers of love from Heaven to invite us thither.

A SOUL immortal, spending all her fires,
Wafting her strength in ftrenuous idleness,
Thrown into tumult, raptur'd or alarm'd,
At aught this fcene can threaten or indulge,
Refembles ocean into tempeft wrought,
To waft a feather, or to drown a fly.

The Knowledge of God natural to Man.

THAT gracious Pow'r, who from his kindred clay,
Bids man arise to tread the realms of day,
Implants a guide, and tells what will fulfil
His word, or what's repugnant to his will.
The author of our being marks fo clear,
That none, but those who will be blind, can err;
Or wherefoe'er we turn th' attentive eyes,

Proofs of a God on ev'ry fide arise.
Nature, a faithful mirror, ftands to fhew
God, in his works, disclos'd to human view.
Whate'er exists beneath the crystal floods,
Or cuts the liquid air, or haunts the woods;
The various flow'rs, that spread th' enamell'd mead,
Each plant, each herb, or even the grafs we tread,
Difplays Omnipotence: None elfe could form
The vileft weed, or animate a worm.

Or

Or view the livid wonders of the sky,
What hand fufpends thofe pond'rous orbs on high?
The comets flight, the planets mystic dance!
Are these the works of Providence, or chance?
Themfelves declare that univerfal caufe

Who fram'd the fyftem, and impos'd their laws.

CHRISTIANITY is not a fpeculative fcience, but a practical obligation.

PIETY and pride can no more thrive together, than health and sickness, light and darkness.

THOUGH our nature is imperfect and corrupt, yet it is fo far improveable, by the grace of God upon our own good endeavours, that we all may, though not equally, be inftruments of his glory, ornaments and bleffings to this world, and capable of eternal happinefs.

THERE is a certain candour in true virtue, which none can counterfeit.

IN the moderate ufe of lawful things, there can be no crime; but in all extremes there is.

"WE cannot (fays Amafis in his epiftle to Polycrates) "expect in this world an unmixt happiness, without be"ing tempered with troubles and difafters."

THE family is the proper province for private women to shine in.

TEMPERANCE is a regimen into which all fons may put themselves.

per

GOD hath promifed pardon to him that repenteth; but he hath not promifed repentance to him that finneth.

HEAVEN'S

HEAVEN's favours here are trials, not rewards; A call to duty, not discharge from care, And fhould alarm us full as much as woes; Awake us to their caufe and confequence, O'er our fcan'd conduct give a jealous eye, And make us tremble, weigh'd with our defert.

TO man's falfe optics (from his folly falfe) Time, in advance, behind him hides his wings, And feems to creep, decrepid with his age. Behold him when pafs'd by! what then is feen But his broad pinions swifter than the winds? And all mankind, in contradiction ftrong, Rueful, aghast! cry out at his career.

A DRE A M.

TORTUR'D with pain, as late I fleepless lay,
Opprefs'd with care, impatient for the day,
Juft at the dawn, a gentle flumber came,
And to my wand'ring fancy brought this dream.
Methought my pains were hufh'd, and I was laid
In earth's cold lap, among the filent dead;
Prop'd on my arm, I view'd, with vast surprize,
This laft retreat of all the great and wife;
Where fool, with knave, in friendly confort lies.
Whilft thus I gaz'd, behold a wretch appear'd,
In beggar's garb, with loathfome filth befmear'd;
His carcafe, Lazar like, was crusted o'er

With odious leprofy, one horrid fore.

This wretch approach'd, and laid him by my fide,
Good Heaven!-how great a fhock to mortal pride;
Enrag'd I cry'd-" Friend, keep the distance due
"To us of rank, from beggars fuch as you;
"Obferve some manners, and do me the grace,
"To move far off, and quit your betters place."
"And what art thou? audacious (he reply'd!)
"That thus doft fhew fuch reliques of thy pride?
"What tho' in life the harder lot was mine,
"Of eafe and plenty ev'ry bleffing thine,

.. Yet

"Yet here, diftin&tions cease; a beggar's duft Shall rife with kings-more happy if more juft. "Till then we both one common mafs fhall join, "And fpite of fcorn, my afhes mix with thine."

BLESS'D be the man, his memory at least,
That found the art, thus to unfold his breast,
And taught fuceeeding times an eafy way,
Their fecret thoughts by letters to convey;
To baffle abfence, and fecure delight,
Which, till that time, was limited to fight.
The parting farewel fpoke the laft adieu,
The lefs'ning diftance paft, then lofs of view;

The friend was gone, which fome kind moments gave,
And abfence feparated like the grave.

When for a wife the youthful Patriarch fent,
The camels, jewels, and a fervant went,
And wealthy equipage, tho' grave and flow,
But not a line that might the lover fhew.

The rings and bracelets woo'd her hands and arms;
But had the known of melting words the charms,
That under fecret seals in ambush lie,

To catch the foul when drawn into the eye,
The fair Affyrian had not took his guide,
Nor her foft heart in chains of hair been ty❜d.

WERE it lawful and becoming in man to choose his circumstances in life, a mediocrity would perhaps be the moft ufeful, and the freeft from temptation; though notwithstanding these advantages, fome might think it not the moft defirable. Opulence may tempt us to diffipation, indolence, fenfuality, and total forgetfulness of God; poverty, to envy, falfhood, difhoneity, and perjury. Let us, therefore, fay with Agur," Give me

neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food conve"nient for me; left I be full and deny thee, and fay, "Who is the Lord ? or be poor and steal, and take the 66 name

<name of my God in vain." But even thofe Chriftians, who move in this middle fphere, have their forrows and their joys; they feel fome degree of pain, fome proportionable meafure of anxiety and care; they tafte a bitter mixed with every fweet, and they find a faithful monitor within, who tells them that the earth is not their portion, was not given as their reft, nor intended as their home.

MY God, the steps of pious men
Are order'd by thy will;

Tho' they should fall, they rife again,
Thy hand fupports them ftill.
I choose the path of Heav'nly truth,
And glory in my choice;

Not all the riches of the earth

Could make me fo rejoice.

To MIRA, on removing into the Country,

MIRA, while on earth we stay,

Change our refidence we may;

Change it often, and yet ftill

May be happy if we will.

Virtue ftill fhall be our care,
The Deity is every where ;
Every where to blefs the good,
Seen, tho' little understood.
Seen his wifdom, goodness, pow'r,
When we cultivate the flow'r;
Wisdom all its hues difclofe,
Its perfume with goodness glows.
Finite pow'rs in Heav'n or earth
Could not give the charmer birth.
God fhall fend, our board to spread,
Healthful herbage from the bed;
Cooling fruit from every bough,
Milk and butter from the cow;
From the hive, the comb replete,
Such as was Ifrael's Canaan treat;

D

Chicks