Retirement, and imprisoned under the Beams of Day*.

THE Voice of this Creature fcreaming at our Windows, or of the Raven croaking over our Roof, is, they fay, a Token of approaching Death. There are Perfons, who would regard fuch an Incident with no fmall Degree of Solicitude. Trivial as it is, it would damp their Spirits, and perhaps break their Reft- -One cannot but wonder, that People fhould fuffer themfelves to be affrighted at fuch fantastical, and yet be quite unaffected with real, Prefages of their Diffolution. Real Prefages of this awful Event,

I cannot forbear taking Notice, with what admirable Emphafts and Propriety our LORD touches this important Point, in his memorable Conference with Nicodemus. Verily, verily, I fay unto you, Except a Man be born again, He CANNOT enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; q. d. "I wave the Authority "of the fupreme Judge, and fpeak with the in"ftructive Condefcenfion of a Mafter in Ifrael. "Though I might, without being liable to the least "Controul, pafs it into a fovereign Decree; That "unrenewed Mortals, who are Slaves to corrupt "Appetite, SHALL NOT enter the Habitations of "the Juft. I rather choose to reprefent it, as a Cafe utterly impoffible; and charge the Calamity

not upon divine Severity, but human Folly. Such "Perfons, from the very Nature of Things, pre"clude themselves; they incapacitate their own "Minds; and Contrarieties must be reconciled, be"fore They, in their unregenerate Condition, can "be Partakers of thofe fpiritual and fublime De "lights." Jobn iii. 3.

Event, addrefs us from every Quarter. What are these incumbent Glooms, that overwhelm the World, but a Kind of Pall provided for Nature; and an Image of that long Night, which will quickly cover the Inhabitants of the whole Earth? What an Affinity has the Sleep, which will very foon weigh down my drowsy Eye-lids, with that State of intire Ceflation, in which all my Senfes must be laid afide? The filent Chamber, and the Bed of Slumber, are a very fignificant Reprefentative of the Land, where all Things are hushed, all Things are forgotten.-What meant that deep Death-Bell Note, which, the other Evening, faddened the Air? Laden with heaviest Accents, it truck our Ears, and feemed to knock at the Door of our Hearts. Surely, it brought a Meffage to furviving Mortals, and thus the Tididgs ran: "Mortals, the Deftroyer "of your Race is on his Way. σε my has begun the Chace, and is

upon you, every Moment. "ftrewed with Heaps of Slain.

"Javelin has laid one of your

The laft Enegaining Ground His Paths are

Even now his
Neighbours in

the Duft; and will foon, very foon, aim the " inevitable Blow at every one of your Lives."

WE need not go down to the Charnel-House, nor carry our Search into the Repositories of the Dead,

Et Confanguineus Lethi Sopor.

VIRG.

Dead, in order to find Memorials of our im pending Doom. A Multitude of these Remembrances are planted in all our Paths, and point the heedlefs Paffengers to their long Home. I can hardly enter a confiderable Town, but I meet the funeral Proceffion, or the Mourner's going about the Streets. The Atchievement fufpended on the Wall, or the Crape streaming in the Air, are filent Intimations; that both Rich and Poor have been emptying their Houses, and replenishing their Sepulchres. I can scarce join in any Conversation, but mention is made of fome that are given over by the Physician, and hovering on the Confines of Eternity; of others, that have juft left their Clay amidst weeping Friends, and are gone to appear before the Judge of all the Earth. There's not a News-Paper comes to my Hand, but, amidst all its entertaining Narrations, reads feveral ferious Lectures of Mortality. What elfe are the repeated Accounts, of Age worn out by flow-confuming Sickneffes; and of Youth dashed to Pieces by fome fudden Stroke of Casualty? Of Patriots, exchanging their Seats in the Senate for a Lodging in the Tomb; and of Mifers, refigning their Breath, and (O relentless Destiny !) leaving their very Riches for others? Even thefe Vehicles of our Amusement are Registers of the Deceased;

and

and the Voice of Fame feldom founds, but in Concert with a Knell.

THESE Monitors croud every Place; not fo much as the Scenes of our Diverfions excepted. What are the Decorations of our public Buildings, and the most elegant Furniture of our Parlours, but the Imagery of Death, and Trophies of the Tomb? That marble Bust, and thofe gilded Pictures, how folemnly they recognize the Fate of others, and fpeakingly remind us of our own!-I fee, I hear, and Oh! I feel, this great Truth. It is interwoven with my Conftitution, The frequent Decays of the Structure foretel its final Ruin. What are all the Pains, that have been darted through my Limbs; what every Disease, that has affaulted my Health; but the advanced Guards of the Foe? What are the Languors and Wearinefs, that attend the Labours of each revolving Day, but the more fecret Practices of the Adversary, flowly undermining the earthly Tabernacle?

AMIDST fo many Notices, fhall we go on thoughtless and unconcerned? Can none of these Prognoftics, which are fure as Oracles, awaken our Attention, and engage our Circumfpection? Noah, 'tis written, being warned of GOD, prepared an Ark. O! imitate this excellent Example. Admonished by fuch a Cloud of Wit

neffes

neffes, be continually putting thyself in a Readi nefs for the last Change. Let not that Day, of which Thou haft fo many infallible Signs, come upon thee unawares.-Get the Ivy untwined, and thy Affections difentangled from this inchant ing World; that thou may'st be able to quit it, without Reluctance. Get the dreadful Handwriting cancelled, and all thy Sins blotted out; that thou may'st depart in Peace, and have nothing to fear at the decifive Tribunal. Get, O get thy Soul interested in the Redeemer's Merits, and transformed into his facred Image; then, fhalt Thou be meet for the Inheritance of Saints in Light, and may'ft even defire to be diffolved, and to be with CHRIST.

SOMETIMES, in my Evening Walk, I have

heard

- The wakeful Bird'

Sing darkling, and, in shadiest Govert hid,
Tune her nocturnal Note*.

How different were the Airs of this charming Songfter, from thofe harth and boding Outeries? The little Creature ran through all the Variations of Mufic; and fhewed herself Mistress of every Grace, that conftitutes or embellishes Harmony. Sometimes, fhe fwells a manly Throat, and

*MILT. Par. foft B. III. 1. 38.