ONE can hardly imagine any thing more fublime than the idea which the following paffage from Ifaiah gives us of the Deity: "He hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand-meted out heaven with the fpancomprehended the duft of the earth in a meafureweighed the mountains in fcales, and the hills in a balance! "Where is the human writer, that can produce any thing equal to this? Where is the reader that can fail to contemplate with admiration, fo ftupendous a Creator and God;-that can fail to glow with gratitude on the recollection, that this God is his Father ;that can fail to bow with humility, under the fense of his own weakness and unworthinefs;-and to live in chearful refignation, under the government and protection of fo great, fo good, and fo wife a Ruler!

REFLECTIONS on the NEW YEAR,

:

THE year is paft-the days, the weeks, the months are flown; gone, for ever, irrevocably gone, and with them all opportunity to alter or undo, whatever in this period, we have done!-If our actions have been virtuous and amiable; if humanity and benevolence have conducted our steps; if juftice and honefty have directed our dealings; if religion and truth have influenced our behaviour what a joy fhall we find in the retrospect; We shall have no cause to regret that we are now another year nearer to eternity!-If, on the other hand, blackness and darknefs involve our proceedings; if guilt and shame; if vice and folly only mark the former days--alas, how fad, how unpleafing the review!-For what have we lived? Nay, rather let us afk, for what do we live? And upon this inquiry we may well rejoice in the gracious permiffion of Providence, to fee another year before us; in which we may redeem the paft, in which we may treasure up a happy ftore for our future comfort and review; if we may be allowed to fee another year fucceeding.

ON PROVIDENCE,

ON PROVIDENCE.

GOD works in a myfterious way
His wonders to perform:
He plants his footsteps in the fea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright defigns,
And works his fov'reign will.

Ye feeble faints fresh courage take:
The clouds ye fo much dread,
Are big with mercy, and fhall break
In bleffings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble fenfe,
But truft him for his

grace;

Behind a frowning Providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes are rip'ning fast,
Unfolding ev'ry hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste;
But wait to smell the flow's.

Blind unbelief is fure to err,

And scan his work in vain.

God is his own interpreter,

And he will make it plain.

FLOWERS of rhetoric in fermons, or ferious difcourfes, are like the blue and red flowers in corn, pleafing to those who come only for amufement, but prejudicial to him who would reap the profit.

OH, Death!

Where art thou? -Death! thou dread of guilt,
Thou wish of innocence, affliction's friend,
Tir'd nature calls thee-Come, in mercy come,
And lay me pillow'd in eternal rest,
F

VOL. II.

On the NEW YEAR.

GOD of my life, thy conftant care,
With bleffings crowns the op'ning year;
This guilty life doft thou prolong,
And wake anew my annual fong.

How many precious fouls are fled
To the vaft regions of the dead,
Since from this day the changing fun,
Thro' his last yearly period run!

We yet furvive, but who can fay,
Or thro' the year, or month, or day,
I will retain this vital breath;

Thus far at least, in league with death?

That breath is thine, eternal God;
"Tis thine to fix my foul's abode :
It holds its life from thee alone
On earth, or in the world unknown.

To thee our spirits we refign;
Make them, and own them fill as thine;
So fhall they fmile fecure from fear,
Tho' death fhould blast the rifing year.

Thy children, eager to be gone,
Bid time's impetuous tide roll on,
And land them on that blooming shore,
Where years and death are known no more.

ONE of the most deceitful bubbles that ever danced before the eye of human vanity, is wealth. It glitters at a diftance, and appears replete with all the requifites effential to earthly felicity; it attracts the attention of numbers from every other object, and kindles in the breasts of its votaries an inextinguifhable thirft to acquire it. By weak minds it is confidered as the fummum bonum of fublunary bleffings, and therefore in the attainment of it, fuch think to exclude every want, to enjoy every satisfaction.

HAPPY

HAPPY he, who in this short journey called life, while he travels through difficult and thorny roads, or loses himfelf in the midt of by-paths, purfues his way at least without carrying in his bofom the fad reproach of having ftopped another in the peaceful courfe of his journey.

ALTHOUGH many and various are the purfuits of mankind after happinefs, yet the greatest felicity is a constant sense of the Divine favour.-The pleafures which arife to the mind from a pre-eminence of birth, ftation, and fortune, are of a foreign and extrinfic nature. Hence we daily fee multitudes poffeffed of thefe benefits, who are utter ftrangers to folid and permanent fatisfactions. But the good man, however deftitute of those incidental advantages, hath nevertheless an inexhaustible fource of comfort within himself. When he quits the crowd, and defcends into his breaft, he is fure of meeting with the best of company there, GOD, and his own heart. While the conscioufnefs of his integrity, and the approbation of his Maker, furnish him with a perpetual feaft.

FEW know that elegance of foul refin'd,
Whofe foft fenfation feels a quicker joy
From melancholy's fcenes, than the dull pride
Of taftelefs fplendor and magnificence
Can e'er afford.

MY GOD, with grateful heart, I'll raise
A daily altar to thy praife;

Thy friendly hand my courfe directs,

Thy watchful eye my bed protects.

When danger, woes, or death, are nigh,
Past mercies teach me where to fly;
The fame almighty arm can aid,
Now fickness grieves, and pains invade.

To all the various helps of art,
Kindly thy healing pow'r impart :
Bethesda's bath refus'd to fave,
Unless an angel blefs'd the wave.

All med'cines act by thy decree,
Receive commiffion all from thee:
And not a plant which spreads the plains
But teems with health when heav'n ordains.

Clay and Siloam's pool we find
At heav'n's command, reitor'd the blind:
Hence Jordan's waters once were seen
To wash a Syrian leper clean.

But grant me nobler favours ftill:
Grant me to know and do thy will.
O purge my foul from ev'ry itain,
And fave me from eternal pain.

Can fuch a wretch for pardon fue!
My crimes, my crimes, arife to view!
Arreft my trembling tongue in pray'r,
And pour the horrors of defpair.

But, oh! regard my contrite fighs,
My tortur'd breaft, my ftreaming eyes:
To me thy boundless love extend,
My God, my Father, and my Friend.

Thefe lovely names I ne'er could plead,
Had not thy Son vouchfaf'd to bleed.
His blood procures for Adam's race
Admittance to the throne of grace.

When vice hath fhot its poifon'd dart,
And confcious guilt corrodes the heart:
His blood is all-fufficient found

To draw the fhaft, and heal the wound.

What