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An HYMN.

LORD! in the folemn fhades of night,
When I behold the skies,
In contemplation of thy works
My thoughts to heav'n arife.

If I furvey the filver moon,
Array'd in robes of light,
Who form'd her lucent orb, I cry,
Must be supremely bright.

But when I view ten thousand stars,
Shining with rival rays,

My foaring foul the fky tranfcends,
And thinks the fees thy blaze.

Transported with extatic love,
Ingulph'd in blifs I ftand,
Gaze on thy dazzling beams, and tafte.
The joys at thy right hand.

TIME is to be met, and never to be followed, because

never to be overtaken.

A SOUL, which uncorrupted reafon fways,
With calm indiff'rence fortune's gifts furveys;
If Providence an affluent store denies,
Its own intrinfick worth that want fupplies,
Difdains by vicious actions to acquire
That glitt'ring trifle vulgar minds admire,
With eafe to heav'n's fuperior will refigns,
Nor meanly at another's wealth repines,
Firmly adheres to virtue's fteady rules,
And fcorns the fickle deity of fools.

THERE

THERE is fcarce a man living who is not actuated by ambition. When this principle meets with an honeft mind, and great abilities, it does infinite fervice to the world. On the contrary, when a man only thinks of diftinguishing himself, without being thus qualified for it, he becomes a very pernicious or a very ridiculous creature.

HEALTH, a kind gift from heaven fent ;
When added to a mind content,.
Will evr'y want and with supply,
And yield true joys which never die;
What is grandeur, power, or wealth?
All fleeting nothings, without health.

THERE is nothing which contributes fo much to the welfare and happiness of mankind as contentment, and a calm fubmiffion to the will of Providence. It is that alone which pours the lenient balm of confolation into the wounds of poverty; it is that which renders the yoke of captivity light, and fupports the mind under all the troubles of adver fity and diftrefs.

THE characteristicks of virtue, are modefty and humility; the most common attendants of profperity, are pride and prefumption.

By a Young Man on attaining his FREEDOM. NOW the sweet morn of liberty appears,, I grafp at once the joys of future years; For ever bid each gloomy scene depart, Whilft joy unrival'd circles round my heart, And, in full torrents, gushes through each vein, While eager transports turn almost to pain! But ah! rafh youth, why wrapp'd in transient joy? Sickness may fade, affliction may deftroy; Or death may, blast, and turn to fcenes of woe, Thofe pleasures which, in thought, fo plenteous flow. Then rouze, my foul! feek more fubftantial blifs In the next world, which can't be felt in this!

AVOID all books, and all converfation, that tend to thake your faith on thofe great points of religion, which should serve to regulate your conduct, and on which your hopes of future and eternal happiness depend.

CULTIVATE an enlarged charity for all mankind, however they may differ from you in their religious opinions. I hat difference may probably arise from causes in which you had no fhare, and from which you can derive no merit.

THERE is a dignity in confcious virtue which is able to awe the moft fhameless and abandoned of men.

IT is a great article in the happiness of life, to have your pleasures as independent of others as poffible.

WHEN benignity and gentleness reign within, we are always least in hazard of being ruffled from without.

SOFT-SMILING hope! thou anchor of the mind! The only refting place th' unhappy find;

How doft thou all our anxious cares beguile!
And make the orphan, and the friendlefs fmile.
With thee on pleafure's wings, thro' life we're borne ;
Without thee, wretched, friendlefs, and forlorn.
Poffeft of thee, the weary piigrim ftrays
Thro' barren defarts, and untrodden ways:
Thirsty and faint, his nerves new vigour strings,
And full of thee, he quaffs immortal springs.

WHEN fmiling fortune fpreads her golden ray,
All croud around to flatter and betray:
But when the thunders from an angry sky,
Our friends-our flatterers, and our lovers fly.

SOME have pitied an unlearned gentleman on a rainy "day." Upon any day the man is extremely to be pitied who can neither amuse his mind by reading, nor bear to be a moment converfing with himself.

SOLITUDE

SOLITUDE is agreeable to pure and fenfible hearts; it is only when we are afraid of our own reflections that we fear a calm, and seek diffipation.

IF you have acted your part with integrity and honour, you are justly entitled to respect, and you will generally receive it. For rarely, or never, is old age contemned, unless when, by vice or folly, it renders itself contemptible. Though length of time may have worn off fuperficial ornaments, yet what old age lofes in grace, it often gains in dignity.

VAIN, nay, often dangerous, were youthful enterprise, if not conducted by aged prudence. I faid, days fhould Speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. Therefore, thou fhalt rife up before the hoary head, and "and honour the face of an old man, and fear thy God."

PATIENCE refifts the greatest hardships of this world, and sweetens the bitters of adverfity in fuch a manner, that we scarce perceive we are miserable. It is one of those virtues that conftantly carries its own reward, for the very practice of it makes us fenfible of its benefits.

TRUE happiness dwells with God; and from the light of his countenance, it beams upon the devout man. His voice is, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is "none upon earth that I defire befide thee." After exploring heaven and earth for happiness, they seem to him a mighty void, a wilderness of fhadows, where all would be empty and unfubftantial without God. But in his favour and love, he finds what fupplies every defect of temporal objects; and affures tranquility to his heart, amidst all the changes of his existence. "Thou shalt guide me with thy "counfel; and thou shalt receive me to thy glory. My "flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the ftrength of my "heart, and my portion for ever."

KNOWLEDGE is the ornament of the rich, and the riches of the poor.

LET

LET all our wishes here below
Their juft and proper limits know:
Would you poffefs a tranquil mind,
Then bear the lot by heav'n affigned.
Thro' anxious wishes to increase,
We often make our pleasures less.

A WOMAN must be very injudicious in the choice of her studies, if she is not frequently reminded by her books of the various duties with which the ought to acquaint herfelf. She cannot avoid thinking, and therefore must see the confequence of neglecting them. But the hurry, the confufion of diffipation, leaves her too little time for thought. They rob her equally of reflection enough to know them, and of leifure to practise them.

TO mifapply riches, is to abufe the liberality of a benevolent Creator; whereas to make a proper application of them, and to spread them abroad, by diftributing to the needy and oppreffed, is to perform the part of an useful fubject and good Christian.

HOW amiable, how soft is virtue! how amply does fhe reward those who obey her precepts!fhe has her forrows, like all other afflictions, but even in the midst of those forrows fhe brings confolation. Her momentary afflictions are fully compenfated. They never fail to be fucceeded by the pureft, the most lively, and the most durable pieafures.

PERFECT happinefs is not the growth of a terrestrial foil; it buds in the gardens of the virtues on earth; but blooms with unfading verdure only in the celeftial regions.

HAPPINESS is not confined to any rank of men; the Supreme Being, in his infinite wifdom, hath made an impartial diftribution of it to every ftation in life. Wifely hath he ordained that none fhould be wholly exempt from trouble, left we place our affections too much on fublunary objects; nor that any fhould be conftantly fubjected to it, left we defpair.

HOW