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the houfe of mourning. terval between them.

Short, to the licentious, is the in

It is of great importance to us, to form a proper estimate of human life; without either loading it with imaginary evils, or expecting from it greater advantages than it is able to yield.

Among all our corrupt paffions, there is a ftrong and intimate connection. When any one of them is adopted into our family, it feldom quits us until it has fathered upon us all its kindred.

Charity, like the fun, brightens every object on which it fhines; a cenforious difpofition cafts every character into the darkeft fhade it will bear.

Many men miftake the love, for the practice of virtue; and are not fo much good men, as the friends of goodness. Genuine virtue has a language that speaks to every heart throughout the world. It is a language which is underftood by all. In every region, every clime, the homage paid to it is the fame. In no one fentiment were ever mankind more generally agreed.

The appearances of our fecurity are frequently deceitful. When our sky feems moft fettled and ferene, infome unobferved quarter gathers the little black cloud in which the tempeft ferments, and prepares to discharge itself on our

head.

The man of true fortitude may be compared to the caftle built on a rock, which defies the attacks of furrounding waters: the man of a feeble and timorcus fpirit, to a hut placed on the shore, which every wind fhakes, and every wave overflows.

Nothing is fo inconfiftent with felf. poffeffion as violent an ger. It overpowers reafon; confounds our ideas; distorts the appearance, and blackens the colour, of every object. By the ftorm which it raises within, and by the mischiefs which it occafions without, it generally brings on the paffionate and revengeful man, greater mifery than he can bring on the object of his refentment.

The palace of virtue has, in all ages, been reprefented as placed on the fummit of a hill; in the afcent of which, labour is requifite, and difficulties are to be furmounted; and where a conductor is needed, to direct our way, and to aid our fleps.

In judging of others, let us always think the best, and employ the fpirit of charity and candour. But in judging of ourselves, we ought to be exact and severe.

Let him that defires to fee others happy, make hafte to give while his gift can be enjoyed; and remember, that every moment of delay, takes away fomething from the value of his benefaction. And let him who propofes his own happiness reflect, that while he forms his purpofe, the day rolls on, and "the night cometh, when no man can work."

To fenfual perfons, hardly any thing is what it appears to be and what flatters moft, is always farthest from reality. There are voices which fing around them; but whofe ftrains allure to ruin. There is a banquet spread, where poifon is in every difh. There is a couch which invites them to repofe; but to flumber upon it, is death.

If we would judge whether a man is really happy, it is not folely to his houfes and lands, to his equipage and his retinue, we are to look. Unless we could fee farther, and difcern what joy, or what bitternefs, his heart feels, we can pronounce little concerning him.

The book is well written; and I have perufed it with pleasure and profit. It fhows, firft, that true devotion is rational and well founded; next, that it is of the highest importance to every other part of religon and virtue; and, laftly, that it is moft conducive to our happiness.

There is certainly no greater felicity, than to be able to look back on a life ufefully and virtuoufly employed; to trace our own progrefs in exiftence, by fuch tokens as excite neither fhame nor forrow. It ought therefore to be the care of thofe who wish to pafs the last hours with comfort, to lay up fuch a treasure of pleafing ideas, as fhall fupport the expenfes of that time, which is to depend wholly upon the fund already acquired.

SECTION V.

WHAT avails the fhow of external liberty, to one who has loft the government of himself?

He that cannot live well today, (fays Martia',) will be lefs qualified to live well tomorrow.

Can we efteem that man profperous, who is raifed to a Situation which flatters his pallions, but which corrupts his

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principles, diforders his temper, and, finally, overfets hisvirtue? What mifery does the vicious man fecretly endure !Adverfity! how blunt are all the arrows of thy quiver, in comparison with thofe of guilt!

When we have no pleasure in goodness, we may with certainty conclude the reafon to be, that our pleasure is all derived from an oppofite quarter.

How ftrangely are the opinions of men altered, by a change in their condition!

How many have had reafon to be thankful, for being difappointed in defigns which they earnestly pursued, but which, if fuccessfully accomplished, they have afterwards feen, would have occafioned their ruin!

What are the actions which afford in the remembrance a rational fatisfaction? Are they the pursuits of fenfual pleafure, the riots of jollity, or the difplays of fhow and vanity? No: I appeal to your hearts, my friends, if what you recollect with most pleasure, are not the innocent, the virtuous, the honourable parts of your paft life.

The prefent employment of time fhould frequently be an object of thought. About what are we now bufied? What is the ultimate fcope of our prefent purfuits and cares? Can we juftify them to ourselves? Are they likely to produce any thing that will furvive the moment, and bring forth fome fruit for futurity?

Is it not frange, (fays an ingenious writer,) that fome perfons fhould be fo delicate as not to bear a disagreeable picture in the houfe, and yet by their behaviour, force every face they fee about them, to wear the gloom of uneafinefs and difcontent?

If we are now in health, peace, and fafety; without any particular or uncommon evils to afflict our condition; what more can we reasonably look for in this vain and uncertain world? How little can the greate profperity add to fuch a itate? Will any future fituation ever make us happy, if now, with fo few caufes of grief, we imagine ourfelves miferable? The evil lies in the ftate of our mind, not in our condition of fortune; and by no alteration of circumftances is likely to be remedied.

When the love of unwarrantable pleafures, and ef vicious companions, is allowed to amufe young perfons, to ingrois their time, and to flir up their paflions; the day of ruin,-~

let them take heed, and beware! the day of irrecoverable ruin, begins to draw nigh. Fortune is fquandered; health is broken; friends are offended, affronted, eftranged; aged parents, perhaps, fent afflicted and mourning, to the duft.

On whom does time hang fo heavily, as on the flothful and lazy? To whom are the hours fo lingering? Who are fo often devoured with fpleen, and obliged to fly to every expedient, which can help them to get rid of themselves? Inftead of producing tranquillity, indolence produces a fret ful restlefsnefs of mind; gives rife to cravings which are never fatisfied; nourishes a fickly effeminate delicacy, which fours and corrupts every pleasure.

SECTION VI.

WE have feen the hufbandman fcattering his feed upon the furrowed ground! It fprings up, is gathered into his barns, and crowns his labours with joy and plenty. Thus the man,who diftributes his fortune with generofity and prudence, is amply repaid by the gratitude of those whom he obliges; by the approbation of his own mind; and by the favour of Heaven.

Temperance, by fortifying the mind and body, leads to happiness intemperance, by enervating them, ends generally in mifery.

Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious; but an ill one, more contemptible. Vice is infamous, though in a prince; and virtue honourable, though in apeafant.

An elevated genius, employed in little things, appears (to ufe the fimile of Longinus) like the fun in his evening declination he remits his fplendor, but retains his magnitude; and pleases more, though he dazzles lefs.

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If envious people were to afk themfelves, whether they would exchange their entire fituations with the perfons envied, (I mean their minds, paffions, notions, as well as their perfons, fortunes, and dignities,)-I prefume the felf-love, common to human nature, would generally make them prefer their own condition.

We have obliged fome perfons: very well! what would we have more? Is not the confcioufnefs of doing good a fufficient reward?

Do not hurt yourselves or others, by the purfuit of pleaf

ure. Confult your whole nature. Confider yourselves not only as fenfitive, but as rational beings; not only as rational, ; but focial; not only as focial, but immortal.

Art thou poor? Show thyself active and industrious, peaceable and contented. Art thou wealthy? Show thyfelf beneficent and charitable, condefcending and humane. Though religion removes not all the evils of life, though it promifes no continuance of undisturbed profperity, (which deed it were not falutary for man always to enjoy,) yet, if it mitigates the evils which neceffarily belong to our ftate, it may justly be faid to give "réft to them who labour and are heavy laden."

What a fmiling afpect does the love of parents and children, of brothers and fifters, of friends and relations, give to every furrounding object, and every returning day! With what a luftre does it gild even the small habitation, where fuch placid intercourfe dwells! where fuch fcenes of heartfelt fatisfaction fucceed uninterruptedly to one another!

How many clear marks of benevolent intention appear every where around us! What a profufion of beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent fpectacle prefented to the view of man! What fupply contrived for his wants! What a variety of objects fet before him, to gratify his fenfes, to employ his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his heart!

The hope of future happiness is a perpetual fource of confolation to good men. Under trouble, it fooths their minds; amidft temptation, it fupports their virtue; and, in their dying moments, enables them to fay "O death! where is thy fting? O grave! where is thy victory?"

SECTION VII.

AGESILAUS, king of Sparta, being afked, "What things he thought moft proper for boys to learn," anfwered; "Thofe which they ought to practife when they come to be men." A wifer than Agefilaus has inculcated the fame fentiment: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart froin it."

An Italian philofopher expreffed in his motto, that "time was his estate." An eftate, indeed, which will produce nothing without cultivation; but which will always abun