"Beauties?

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O amazing, distracting AlFondly, I gazed upon the "glittering Meteor : It fhone brightly; and "I mistook it for a Star, for a permanent " and fubftantial Good. But how is it fal"len! fallen from an Orb not its own! And " all that I can trace on Earth, is but á "putrid Mass."

LIE, poor Florella! lie deep, as thou doft, in obfcure Darkness. Let Night, with her impenetrable Shades, always conceal Thee. Thy Dwelling agrees with thy Condition. Let no prying Eye be Witness to thy Difgrace; but let thy furviving Sifters think upon thy State, when they contemplate the Idol in the Glass. When the pleasing Image rises gracefully to View, furrounded with a World of Charms, and flushed with Joy, at the Consciousness of them all; Then, in those Minutes of Temptation and Danger, when Vanity uses to fteal into the Thoughts; Then, let

them remember, what a Veil of Horror is drawn over a Face, that was once beautiful and brilliant, as theirs. Such a feasonable Reflection might regulate the Labours of the Toilet, and create a more earnest Solicitude

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licitude to polish the Jewel, than to varnish the Casket. It might then become their highest Ambition, to have the Mind decked with Divine Virtues, and dressed after the amiable Pattern of their Redeemer's Holiness.

AND would this prejudice their Perfons, or depreciate their Charms?

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Quite the Reverse: It would fpread a Sort of Heavenly Glory over the fineft Set of Features, and heighten the Loveliness of every other engaging Accomplishment. And, what is yet a more inviting Confideration; these Flowers would not wither with Nature, nor be tarnished by Time; but open continually into richer Beauties, and flourish even in the Winter of Age.. But the most incomparable Recommendation of these noble Qualities is; That from their hallowed Relicks, as from the fragrant Ashes of the Phenix, will ere-long arife an illuftrious Form, bright as the Wings of Angels, lafting as the Light of the new Jerufalem.

FOR my Part, the Remembrance of this fad Revolution fhall make me ashamed to pay my Devotion to a Shrine of perishing Flesh; and afraid, to expect all my Happinefs from fo brittle a Joy. It shall teach

me,

me, not to think too highly of well-proportioned Clay, though formed in the most elegant Mould, and animated with the fweeteft Soul. 'Tis Heaven's last, best, and crowning Gift; to be received with Gratitude, and cherished with Love, as a most valuable Bleffing; not worshipped with the Incenfe of Flattery, and Strains of fulfome Adoration, as a Goddess. It will cure, I

truft, the Dotage of my Eyes; and incline me always to prefer the fubftantial "Ornaments of a meek and virtuous Spirit," before the tranfient Decorations of White and Red on the Skin,

HERE I called in my roving Meditations, from their long Excursion on this tender Subject. Fancy liftened a while, to the Soliloquy of a Lover; but now Judg ment refumes the Reins, and guides my Thoughts, to more near, and felf-interefting Inquiries.

However, upon a Review of the whole Scene, crouded with Spectacles of Mortality, and Trophies of Death, I could not forbear fmiting my Breaft, and fetching a Sigh, and lamenting over the nobleft of all visible Beings, lying in Ruins

under

under the Feet of " the pale Horfe, and "his Rider." I could not forbear that pathetic Exclamation, "O! Thou* Adam, "what hast thou done!" What Defolation has thy Difobedience wrought in the Earth O! the deftructive Malignity of Sin! Sin has demolished fo many stately Structures of Flefh: Sin has made fuch Havock, among the most excellent Ranks of GOD's lower Creation: And Sin (that deadly Bane of our Nature) would have plunged our better Part into the execrable Horrors of the nethermoft Hell; had not our merciful Mediator interpofed, and given Himself for our Ranfom. Therefore, what grateful Acknowlegements does the whole World of penitent Sinners owe i what ardent Returns of Love will a whole Heaven of glorified Believers pay, to such a Friend, Benefactor, and Deliverer!

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MUSING upon these melancholy Objects, a faithful Remembrancer fuggefts from with"Muft this fad Change fucceed in me alfo Am I to draw my last Gafp, " and become a breathless Corpfe? Is there "a Time

*2 Efdr. vii. 48.

" a Time coming, when this Body fhall " be carried out upon the Bier, and com"mitted to its long Home? While fome "kind Acquaintance, perhaps, may let fall one parting Tear, and cry, Alas! my Nothing is more certain.

"Brother!"

A Decree, much furer than the Law of the Medes and Perfians, has irrevocably determined the Doom.

SHOULD One of these ghastly Forms burst from his Confinement, and start up in frightful Deformity before me; fhould the baggard Skeleton lift a clattering Hand, and point it full in my View; fhould it open the stiffened Jaws, and, with a hoarse tremendous Murmur, break this profound Silence; should it accost me, as Samuel's Apparition addreffed the trembling King "The LORD fhall deliver Thee also into "the Hands of Death; yet a little while, " and Thou shalt be with me” folemn Warning, delivered in fo ftriking a Manner, must ftrongly impress my Imagination. A Meffage in Thunder would fcarce fink deeper. Yet there is abundantly greater Reason to be alarmed by that exprefs Declaration of the LORD GOD

The

Almighty,