Nature be expunged. Let the whole Extent of Creation be turned again into one undiftinguishable Void, one univerfal Blank :)

Yet, if GOD be ours, we fhall haveenough: If God be ours, we fhall have all, and abound: All that our Circumstances can want, or our Wishes crave, to make us inconceivably bleffed and happy: Bleffed and happy, not only through the little Revolu tions of Time, but through the unmeafurable Lengths of Eternity.

THE Sun is now come forth in his Strength, and beats fiercely upon my throbbing Pulfe. Let me retire to yonder in viting Arbour. There the Woodbines retain the lucid Drop; and the Jeffamines, that line the verdant Alcove, are still impearled with Dews. Welcome, ye refreshing Shades! I feel, I feel, your chearing Influence. My languid Spirits revive; the flackened Sinews are new-ftrung; and Life bounds brisker through all her crimson Channels.

RECLINED on this moffy Couch, and furrounded by this fragrant Coolness, let me renew my Afpirations to the ever-prefent Deity. Here let me remember, and P 2 imitate,

imitate, the pious Auguftine, and his Mother Monica: Who, being engaged in Discourse on the Beauties of the vifible Creation, rofe by these Ladders, to the Glories of the invifible State; till they were inspired with the most affecting Senfe of their fuper-eminent Excellency, and actuated with the most ardent Breathings after their full Enjoyment: Infomuch that they were almost rapt up into the Blifs they contemplated; and fcarce "knew, whether they were in the Body, or out of the Body."

WHEN Tempests tofs the Ocean; when plaintive Signals of Diftrefs are heard from the bellowing Deep, and melancholy Tokens of Shipwreck come floating on the foaming Surge; then, how delightful to ftand fafe on Shore, and hug one's felf in confcious Security! When a Glut of Waters burfts from fome mighty Torrent 3 rufhes headlong over all the neighbouring Plains; Tweeps away the helplefs Cattle; and drives the affrighted Shepherd from his Hut; then, from the Top of a distant Eminence, to defcry the Danger we need not fear; how pleafing! Such, methinks,

is my present Situation; for now the Sun blazes from on high; The Air glows with his Fire The Fields are rent with Chinks: The Roads are fcorched to Duft: The Woods feem to contract a fickly Afpect, and a ruffet Hue: The Traveller, broiled as he rides, haftens to his Inn, and intermits his Journey The Labourer, bathed in Sweat, drops the Scythe, and defifts from his Work: The Cattle flee to fome fhady Covert, or elfe pant and tofs under the burning Noon. Even the ftubborn Rock, fmit with the piercing Beam, is ready to cleave. All Things languish beneath the dazling Deluge While I fhall enjoy a cool Hour, and calm Reflection, amidft the Gloom of this bowery Recefs, that fcarce admits one Speck of Sunshine.

THUS, may both the Flock, and their Shepherd, * dwell beneath the Defence of the Moft High, and abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. Then, though † the Peftilence walketh in Darkness, and the Sickness deftroyeth at Noon-day; though

* Pfalm xci. 1.

This was wrote when a very infectious and mortal Diftemper raged in the Neighbourhood.

Thousands

Thoufands fall befide us, and Ten thoufands at our Right Hand; we need fear no Evil: Either the destroying Angel shall pass over our Houses; or elfe He fhall dispense the Corrections of a Friend, not the Scourges of an Enemy; which, inftead of hurting us, fhall work for our Good. Then,

though Profaneness and Infidelity, far more malignant Evils, breathe deadly Contagion, and taint the Morals of Multitudes around us; yet, if the great Father of Spirits " hide "us in the Hollow of his Hand," we fhall hold faft our Integrity, and be faithful unto Death.

LET then, dearest LORD, O! let thy Servant, and the People committed to his Care, be received into thy Protection. Let us take Sanctuary under that Tree of Life, erected in thy ignominious Crofs; let us fly for Safety to that City of Refuge, opened in thy bleeding Wounds. These shall be a facred Hiding-place, not to be pierced by the Flames of Divine Wrath, or the fiery Darts of Temptation. Thy dying Merits, and perfect Obedience, fhall be to our Souls, as Rivers of Water in a dry Place, * Ifai. xxxii. 2.

or

or as the Shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land.

BUT most of all, in that laft tremendous Day, when the Heavens are rent asunder, and wrap'd up like a Scroll; when thy Almighty Arm shall arrest the Sun in his Career, and dash to-pieces the Structure of the Univerfe; when the Dead, both Small and Great, fhall be gathered before the Throne of thy Glory, and the Fates of all Mankind hang on the very Point of a final irreversible Decifion : -Then, bleffed JESUS, let us be owned by Thee, and we shall not be afhamed; defended by Thee, and we fhall not be afraid. O! may we, at that awful, that unutterably important Juncture, be covered with the Wings of thy Redeeming Love; and we fhall behold all the horrible Convulfions of expiring Nature, with Compofure, with Comfort! We fhall even welcome the Confummation of all Things, as the Times of Refreshing, from the Prefence of the LORD.

THERE are, I perceive, who still attend the Flowers; and, in Defiance of the Sun,

*Acts iii. 19.

ply