will come when we fhall out-grow the relifh of childish amufements; and, if we are not provided with a tafte for manly fatisfactions to fucceed in their room, we must of courfe become miferable, at an age more difficult to be pleased.

THE moft fure way to make any proficiency in a virtuous life, is to fet out in it betimes. It is then, when our inclinations are trained up in the way that they should lead us, that cuftom foon makes the beft habits the most agreeable; the ways of wisdom become the ways of pleafantnefs, and every step we advance, they grow more eafy and more delightful. But, on the contrary, when vicious head-ftrong appetites are to be reclaimed, and inveterate habits to be corrected, what fecurity can we give ourselves, that we fhall have either inclination, refolution, or power, to ftop and turn back, and recover the right way from which we have fo long and fo widely wandered, and enter upon a new life, when perhaps our ftrength now faileth us, and we know not how near we may be to our journey's end?

AN Italian philofopher expreffed in his motto, that "time was his eftate;" an estate indeed, which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labours of induftry, and fatisfy the most extenfive defires, if no part of it be fuffered to lie wafte by negligence, to be over-run with noxious plants, or laid. qut for fhew rather than for use.

SPEAK well, or fpeak nothing; fo if others be not better by your filence, they will not be worfe by your difcourfe.

FROM all the bufy fcenes of life;
The noise of war! the Senate's ftrife,
The empty founds of rifing fame,,
And heroes bleeding for a name,
A 3.

Grant

Grant me, O Power Supreme, a place,
Where all these jarring tumults ceafe.
Have just enough, to bear me o'er
The ftage of life, nor rich, nor poor,
But bleft amidft fome rural fcenes,
Of purling brooks, and flow'ry greens,
Enraptur'd rove,-and there enjoy,
What man can't give, nor man destroy.

O gracious God, regard a fuppliant's prayer;
Sooth all my pangs, and fave me from despair;
Illuminate my foul with gladfome rays,
And tune my voice to thy eternal praise;
Difpel the clouds of darkness from my eyes,
And make me know that to be good is wife!
Let Christian precepts all my foul employ,
And be not more my duty than my joy!
Let confcience, void of art, and free from guile,
Still in my bofom innocently smile;

Hence fhall I learn my talent to improve,
If poor, by patience; and if rich, by love:
If fortune fmiles, let me be virtue's friend,
And where I go let charity attend;
Within my bofom let compaffion dwell,
To foften all the woes which others feel;
T'affwage, by kind relief, affliction's fighs,
And wipe the falling tear from widows eyes;
To feed the hungry, the diftrefs'd to cheer,
The needy fuccour, and the feeble rear;
Hence fhall my mind inflam'd with public good,.
Unfhaken ftand in midst of plenty's flood.

- Come tafte with me the rural joys,
Remote from hurry, pomp, and noise:
Here let us view great nature's frame,
And trace her whence her wonders came;
Thro' all, bright marks of wifdom fhine,
That prove the forming hand divine.
See how the ties of union bind
Of beings, ev'ry sev'ral kind!
Mark how yon rolling orbs above,
Thro' fields of space, in order move!
The lowly fhrub, the tow'ring tree,
Obey their Maker's fix'd decree:
The ocean wide, the purling rill,
And brute creation do his will;
Perform their diff'rent tasks affign'd,
While man alone to heav'n is blind.
Leave for a while the busy train.
Of mortals in pursuit of gain,
What folly thus with toil to heap
Vaft wealth, which long we cannot keep.
Remote from envy, noife, and ftrife,

That poifon all the joys of life,

Let me, like fome fair tree, be plac'd
Midst fragrant gales, and waters chaste;
Let truth and virtue be the root,
Then happinefs will be the fruit.

WE ought to make a good improvement of paft and prefent afflictions. If they are not fanctified to us, they become a double crofs; but if they work rightly in us, and convince ús of our failings, and how justly we are afflicted, they do us much good. Affliction is fpiritual phyfic for the foul, and is compared to a furnace, for as gold is tried and purified therein, fo men are proved; and

either purified from their drofs, and fitted for good ufes, or elfe entirely burnt up, and undone for ever.-Therefore may all, who labour under any kind of affliction, have reafon to fay with Job, "When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

A FALSE friend, like a fhadow, attends only while the fun fhines.

The HERMIT'S INSTRUCTION to his Son.

BE thine those feelings of the mind,
That wake at honour's, friendship's call;
Benevolence, that unconfined

Extends her liberal hand to all.
By fympathy's untutor'd voice

Be taught her focial laws to keep;
Rejoice, if human heart rejoice,

And weep if human eve fhall weep.
The heart that bleeds for other's woes,
Shall feel each selfish forrow lefs:

His breast who happiness beftows,
Reflecting happinefs fhall blefs.
Each ruder paffion ftill withstood
That breaks o'er virtue's fober line,
The tender, noble, and the good

To cherish and indulge, be thine.

IN beftowing your alms, inquire not fo much into the perfon as his neceffity. God looks not fo much upon the merit of him that requires, as into the manner of him that relieves; if the man deferves not, you have given to humanity.

HYMN to CHARITY.

O FAIREST offspring of the fkies!

Bright charity appear

!:

In all thy native radiance rife,
Thy mildeft afpect wear."

Let

Let thy fweet form ferenely glide
Thro' this dark veil of woe,
Whilft foft compaffion at thy fide
Bids ftreams of bounty flow.
O banish from the widow'd breast
The gloom of grief and care;
The orphan's forrows footh to rest,
And wipe off ev'ry tear.
"Tis done-th' inspiring pow'r we feel,
And wait her mild command:
With focial foftnefs bofoms thrill,
And hearts with joy expand.

See from the lap of gen'rous wealth
She takes the golden store,

And deals out plenty, peace, and health,
To all the virtuous poor.

O! lovelieft beam of light divine,
Thy chearing warmth beftow;

With thine own flame our hearts refine,
And make it heaven below.

GOD is Alpha and Omega in the great world; let us endeavour to make him fo in the little world: let us practife to make him our laft thought at night when we fleep, and our firft in the morning when we awake; fo fhall our fancy be fanctified in the night, and our underftanding rectified in the day; fo fhall our reft be peaceful, and our labours profperous; our life pious, and our death glorious.

GRATITUDE.

O! HOW amiable is gratitude! especially when it has the Supreme Benefactor for its object. I have always looked upon gratitude as the moft exalted principle that can actuate the heart of man. It has fomething noble, difinterested, and (if I may be allowed the term) generously devout. (Repentance indicates our nature fallen, and prayer turns chiefly upon a regard to one's felf.) But the exercifes of gratitude fubfifted in paradife, when there was no fault to deplore; and will be perpetuated in heaven, when God fhall be all in all."

HEALTH