WHO would not heartily engage in all the labours and exercises of a pious life, be «ftedfaft, immoveable, and

always abounding in the work of the Lord," when he fees what dull fenfuality, what poor views, what grofs enjoyments, they are left to, who feek for happiness in other ways.

'TIS fenfe of cold, hunger, thirst, and nakedness, that fupplies the poor beggar at your door with pertinent. expreffions and arguments: he needs not the help of a friend or book to furnish him. So, if we know ourselves, and feel our condition, and fet God before us as our God, able and ready to help us, he whofe gift the true spirit of fupplication is, understands the language even of fighs and tears, and groanings which cannot be uttered.”

LORD of my life! O let thy facred ray,
Shine o'er my heart, and break its clouds away;
Deluding, flattering, faithlefs world adieu!
Long haft thou taught me,-GOD alone is true.

HAIL, fweet Content! where joy ferene,
Gilds the mild foul's unruffled fcene,
And with blithe fancy's pencil wrought,
Spreads the white web of flowing thought,
Shines lovely in the cheerful face,

And clothes each charm with native grace.

THE conveniencies of life are, by no means, a contemptible concern, where they are bounded with temperance, and confined within their proper channel: but as there is a part in us of infinitely greater, of no lefs than eternal moment; it also requires an attention proportionable to its proper worth; for what are temporal concerns, when compared with the important one of eternity!

TEACH me the kind endearing art,
To eafe the mourner's broken heart;
To heal the rankling wounds of care,
And foothe the frenzy of defpair.

'TIS an ufual faying, "that short reckonings make long friends:" continue this fhort and frequent reckoning; ever efteeming the numbering of your days aright, to be the most neceffary and bleffed exercife; that hereby ye may be in a continual readiness for your final removal, how fudden fo ever it may be permitted.

THE grave, to which we are all haftening, ought to be an early leffon of ferious inftruction, founding the alarm in the ears of every youth; feeing it is frequently opened to receive its victims in the very bloom of life; and before the years draw nigh, in which, in the course of nature, they can take no pleasure. Boast not therefore thyself of tomorrow, fince thou knoweft not what a day may bring forth; but rather let the example of others teach thee, the abfolute neceffity of improving the prefent moments; and duly to reflect upon the imminent danger of delay.

FRAIL as the leaves that quiver on the sprays,
Like them man flourishes, like them decays.

IT is our duty, as frail dependant beings, to meet every difpenfation of Providence, with that refignation of spirit which inceffantly breathes the humble language of " not

my will, O Lord! but thine, be done in all things."Under the evils which we feel, and which our prudence could not prevent, let us rather implore Divine aid to endure them with patience, than to pray that they may be removed from us; left, like ignorant children, we should seek to avoid that portion from our heavenly Father's hand, by which he graciously defigned to remove, or prevent a greater evil. This is not the place of our reft, but a ftate of probation, a painful pilgrimage, a land of pits and fnares, and through which lies a narrow path to the regions of eternal peace.

MUST one ceafe to be virtuous to escape being expofed to the darts of envy? What a calamity would it be if the fun ceased shining, that weak eyes might not be offended !

WHILE the cenforious man is forward to condemn, without any clear evidence, from idle ftories, bare suspicions, or mere furmifes only; the charitable man, is flow in forming a judgment, and wifely refolves to wait for the full evidence before he prefumes to pass fentence.

A Gentleman, who died fome years ago, defired a Dial to to be erected on his Grave, with the following lines:

NO marble pomp, no monumental praise,
My tomb, this dial; epitaph, these lays;
Pride, and low mould'ring clay, but ill agree:
Death levels me to beggars, kings to me.
Alive, inftruction was my work each day;
Dead, I perfift inftruction to convey.

Here, reader mark, (perhaps now in thy prime)
The ftealing fteps of never-standing time
Thou'lt be what I am; catch the present hour!
Employ that well, for that's within thy pow'r.

MANY are the promises to the poor," whom the Lord "will deliver when he crieth, even him that hath no

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helper;" they are frequently encouraged to hope; while the rich, if they mifapply the riches committed to their truft, we are affured, by Divine authority, will be conftrained to weep: they enjoy the bleffing and bounty of heaven, which they ought to apply to the nobleft purposes, particularly the relief of their diftreffed brethren; "inaf"much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, (faith our Saviour) ye have done it unto For which purpose he hath committed to some a larger fhare of temporal enjoyments; which ought to be a ftriking motive, a neceffary incitement to well-doing: but, alas! inftead of it, too frequently wealth becomes fubfervient to the purposes of pride, luxury, and wickednefs: and therefore, our Lord remarks in another place," how hard it is "for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven."

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me."

A LIAR begins with making falfhood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falfhood.

ALL

ALL the tender connections in life are but of uncertain duration, and upon them all this infcription is wrote, “ They "fhall fhortly perish;" but the love of God never fades. It is continued from generation to generation, and will remain when time shall be swallowed up in eternity.

HE who poffeffes a great deal is not the most happy; it is he who defires little, and knows how to enjoy it.

THE defire of doing well is debased by the defire of appearing to have done well.

IT is not in our power to command wealth, or wisdom, or authority, whereby we may affift our fellow-creatures; but a fympathetic temper may be fully approved in the fight of God without thefe; and the poor man who hath nothing to give, and no means of helping others, may yet bear in his bofom a heart as truly tender, as thoroughly difpofed to fhew mercy, and as acceptable in this refpect before God, as he, who, in a more exalted station, enjoys the power as well as the heart.

IN the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we are, in a moft lively manner, fhewn, how much we shall be mistaken in our judgments of human happiness, if we form them from outward circumftances in this life: in it we have the most awakening confiderations offered us to induce charity and a holy life, in the different ftates allotted to each of them after death; and in the clofe of the parable, have the best arguments given us to reft fatisfied with thofe revelations which God is pleased to make us of his will, and that we ought not to expect or defire more.

THOUGH the truly charitable man may fometimes fee juft caufe to expofe and paint a vicious character in its true light; yet will he be confiftent, at leaft; he will give no countenance to fuch characters; while, at the fame time, he is careful never caufelessly to expofe them; but, upon the whole, is tender of the reputation of all mankind.

AN

On the miserable State of an AFRICAN SLAVE,
By W. SHENSTONE.

SEE, the poor Native, quit the Lybian fhores,
Ah! not in love's delightful fetters bound!
No radiant fimile his dying peace reftores,

Nor love, nor fame, nor friendfhip heals his wound.
Let vacant bards difplay their boafted woes,
Shall I the mockery of grief difplay?
No, let the mufe his piercing pangs disclose,
Who bleeds and weeps his fum of life away!
On the wild beach in mournful guise he stood,
Ere the fhrill boatfwain gave the hated fign;
He dropt a tear, unfeen, into the flood;

He fole one fecret moment to repine.
Yet the mufe liften'd to the plaints he made,
Such moving plaints as nature could infpire;
To me the mufe his tender plea convey'd,

But fmooth'd and fuited to the founding lyre.
Why am I ravish'd from my native ftrand?
What favage race protects this impious gain?
Shall foreign plagues infeft this teeming land,
And more than fea-born monsters plough the main ?
Here the dire locufts, horrid fwarms, prevail,
Here the blue afps with livid poifon fwell;
Here the dry dipfa wriths his finuous mail,
Can we not here fecure from envy dwell?
When the grim lion urg'd his cruel chace;
When the ftern panther fought his midnight prey,
What fate referv'd me for this Chriftian race?
O race more polifh'd, more fevere than they!
Ye prowling wolves purfue my latest cries!
Thou hungry tyger, leave thy reeking den;
Ye fandy waltes in rapid eddies rife!

O tear me from the whips and fcorns of men!
Yet in their face fuperior beauty glows:

Are fmiles the mien of rapine and of wrong? Yet from their lips the voice of mercy flows, And ev'n religion dwells upon their tongue,