TERTULLIAN faith of the primitive Chriftians, "They fat not down before they prayed; they eat no more "than might fuffice hunger; they drank no more than what was fufficient for temperate men; they did fo eat and drink, as thofe that remembered they must pray after"wards."

"

WOULD you contract a friendship that should last a long time, be a long time in contracting it.

ILL fuits it man unerring heav'n to guide!
'Tis mine content its bounty to receive,
Than I to afk, it better knows to give.
Nor have I wish to name, but this alone,.
Ever our bleft Creator's will be done!

On the PLENTIFUL HARVEST.

PROPITIOUS day! we hail thy grateful light
Heav'n-born, before th' Almighty's high command
Confin'd the ocean wave: and now, bright orb
Extend thy cheerful beam with radiance mild,
While Nature's boon brings forth her choiceft ftores,
Long-wifh'd-for joy.-Now fhines the teeming foil.
With golden plenty deck'd, and gaily fmiles.
The fruitful hill, and rich extendeď vale,
Gladden the farmer's heart, erft fill'd with care,
Left the keen froft, or fatal eastern wind,
Destroy the tender blade, and dafh his hopes.
Joyous he views the full ripe waving ear,
Luxuriant, bending to the crooked steel;
Nor longer deems his honeft labour vain:
Grateful begins his hard, but pleafing toil.
Nor will we cease to praise the bounteous hand
Which largely gives, preventing all our wants,
And more than crowns our hopes. Let morn and eve
Be facred to our fong, juft tribute due!

Ye woods, and vocal hills, refound the lay
Melodious; attend ye lift'ning vales,

Breathe foft ye winds, and fwell the chorus wide.

AVARICE

AVARICE afpires after the poffeffion of all the earth and heaven too; but is not he who made heaven and earth, of more value than both put together?

IN fuch a world, fo thorny, and where none:
Finds happiness unblighted, or, if found,.
Without fome thiftly forrow at its fide;
It feems the part of wisdom, and no fin
Against the law of love, to meafure lots
With lefs diftinguifh'd than ourselves: that thus,
We may with patience, bear our mod' rate ills,
And fympathize with others, fuffering more..

FAITH is the fruitful parent of all other graces, and can never be too carefully cultivated and improved. 'Tis the fource of pleasure, the lamp of wifdom, and foul of virtue! 'tis that myfterious ladder by which the foul afcends to heaven, and heaven defcends to it, by which a joyful correfpondence is continually held between it and its Creator. Faith is that celeftial flame that purifies the foul from drofs and pollution; and opens in it a new and glorious fcene, gilded with the ineffable brightness of the Deity, adorned with the inconceivable delights of a blissful eternity, and enriched with ravishing hopes, pure defires, love divine, and joy unutterable.

THOU Good Supreme! the joy of worlds above,
Whofe yoke is freedom! and whofe laws are love!
Oh! keep my country from oppreffion free,
And when chaftis'd, may it be done by thee!
Yet fpare, O! fpare the rod our crimes demand,
And bid repentance fave a finful land.

No captive's figh be heard throughout our street,
But peace and joy in bleft embraces meet;
And with these bleffings, yet one more be giv'n.
One more exalted,-Gratitude to heav'n.

THOSE actions and difpofitions, which are kind, generous, and beneficent, and do evidently tend to the general good, will always appear amiable, and win our love

and efteem, even though we receive no advantage from them; but if they are beneficial to us, they excite a farther affection, called gratitude.

IT is faid of the pious Archbishop of Cambray, that "he faw the faults of his friends, and bore them with great mildness and fweetness of temper. He waited the proper moment of speaking, laid hold of it when it came; and knew how to feafon his advice in fuch a manner, that the most unpleafing truths from him would give no offence.”It is often, faid he, our own imperfection which makes us reprove the imperfections of others, a harp fighted felflove of our own, which cannot pardon the felf love of others. The paffions of other men feem infupportable to him who is governed by his own. Divine Charity makes great allowances for the weakneffes of others, bears with them, and treats them with gentleness and condefcenfion. It is never over hafty in its proceeding. The lefs we have of felf-love, the more easily we accommodate ourselves to the imperfections of others, in order to cure them patiently,. when the right fealon arrives for it. Imperfect virtue is apt to be four, fevere, and implacable. Perfect virtue ismeek, affable, and compaffionate. It thinks of nothing. but doing good, bearing others burdens. It is this principle of difinterestedness with regard to ourfelves, and of compaffion for others, which is the true bond of 1ociety.- fo one of his friends he wrote as follows: I request you not to fpare me in telling my faults. Though you thould think. you discover a fault in me, which perhaps I have not, the misfortune will not be great. If your intimations offend. me, I fhall fee thereby that you have reached the quick. Thus you will do me a great kindness, by inuring me to reproof, and to a Chriftian lowlinefs of fpirit. The higher I am raised in rank, the more I ought to be humbled. have need of this fimplicity; and, I hope that, far from weakening our union, it will be a means to itrengthen it.

I

Towards the year 1709 a young Prince vifited and spent fome time with him at his palace, and, in divers convería tions they had together, liftened to him with great veneration and docility. The Archbishop recommended to him especially,

efpecially, never to compel his fubjects to change their religion. Liberty of thought, (faid he to him) is an impregnable fortress, which no human power can force. Violence can never convince, it only makes hypocrites. When kings take upon them to direct in matters of religion, instead of protecting it, they bring it into bondage. You ought therefore to grant to all a legal toleration, not as approving every thing indifferently, but fuffering with pa tience what God fuffers, and endeavouring to restore such as are misled, by foft and gentle perfuafion.

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O HAPPY fouls, who, free from vice,
Poffefs the pearl of greatest price;
Who still each worthieft aim pursue,
And stubborn ills with good fubdue!

HAPPY it is for those who from their tender years, while the inclination was yet flexible and yielding, have been trained up in the ufe of felf-denial, and frequently obliged to endure what they were averfe to, and to forego what was the object of their defire, to refrain from unlawful pleasure, and to undergo fome labour and hardship; for this will ever after contribute very much to the health and ftrength both of their bodies and minds: and they who have effectually acquired this habit, will not be hurried away by their unruly paffions, but having the reins in their own hands, will find no difficulty to ftop in their full career, and divert their motions into another course, as virtue and reason shall direct.

PRESENT evil will, by fretfulness and impatience, be rendered more grievous than is neceffary; but by looking forward, hope will chear us with a pleafing profpect of relief; or if it is an evil which cannot be avoided, the confideration of the common appointments of life, and how necessary it is that all men shall receive evil as well as good, will help us to bear it with patience and contentment.

THE wretched and miserable do, before all others, claim our notice and regard: and the first, as well as the most pleafing

pleafing office of charity, is to fuccour the diftreffed, to comfort the afflicted, and to fupply the wants of the indigent: and, in one word, fo far as we are able, to alleviate the forrows of all who are oppreffed with trouble and miffortune of any kind.

I ENVY none their pageantry and shew,
I envy none the gilding of their woe.
Give me indulgent Heav'n, with mind ferene
A guiltless heart, to range the sylvan scene,
Where rural objects ufeful thoughts fuggeft,
The foul is ravish'd, and the fenfes bleft.
In every bush fome pleafing leffon grows,
In every brook fome foft inftruction flows.

VIRTUE alone can give true joy;
The sweets of virtue never cloy.
May I delight in doing good,
In justice, truth, and gratitude.
In aiding those whom cares opprefs,
And giving comfort to diftrefs.

O MAN, greatly beloved by thy Creator! the darling. of Providence! thou art diftinguished by his goodness; diftinguish thyfelf alfo by thy gratitude. Be it thy one undivided aim, to glorify him, who has done fo much to gratify thee. While all the inferior creatures, in filent eloquence, declare the glory of God, do thou lend them thy tongue. Be thou the high-priest of the mute creation : let their praises become vocal in thy fongs. Adore the

Supreme Benefactor, for the bleffings he fhowers down upon every order of beings: adore him for numberless mercies, which are appropriated to thyfelf: but, above all, adore him, for that noble gift of a rational and immortal foul.

THINK upon the vanity and shortness of human life, and let death and eternity be often in your minds; for thefe thoughts will ftrengthen and exalt your minds, make you wife and judicious, and truly fenfible of the littleness of all human things.

O! LET