the heart of the ungrateful is like a defert of fand, which fwalloweth with greedinefs the showers that fall, and burieth them in its bolom, and produceth nothing. Envy not thy bear factor, neither ftrive to con eal the benefit he hath conferred; for though the act of generofity command th admiration; yet the humility of gratitu le toucheth the heart, and is amiabie in the fight both of God and man. But receive not a favour from the hands of the proud: to the feinth and avaricious have no obligation: the vanity of pride fhul expole thee to fhame, the greediness of avarice hall never be fatisfied. He blufheth at falfehood, and is confounded: but in fpeaking the truth he hath a fleady eye. He fupporteth as a man the dignity of his character; to the arts of hypocrify he fcorneth to ftoop. He is confiftent with himself; he is never embarraffed; he hath courage enough for truth, but to lie he is afraid. He is far above the meannefs of diffimulation; the words of his mouth are the thoughts of his heart. Yet with prudence and caution he openeth his lips; he ftudieth what is right, and fpeaketh with difcretion. He advifeth with friendship, he reproveth with freedom: and whatfoever he promifeth fhall furely be performed. But the heart of the hypocrite is hid in hi, breaft; he mafketh his words in the femblance of truth, while the bufinefs of his life is only to deceive. He laugheth in forrow, he weepeth in joy; and the words of his mouth have no interpretation. He worketh in the dark as a mole, and fancieth he is fafe; but he blundereth into light, and is betrayed and expofed, with his dirt on his head. He pafleth his days with perpetual conftraint: his tongue and his heart are for ever at variance. He laboureth for the character of & righteous man; and huggeth himself in the thoughts of his cunning. O fool! fool! the pains which thou take to hide what thou art, are more than would make thee what thou would:t feem; and the children of wisdom fhall mock at thy cunning, when, in the midst of fecurity, thy ditguife is ftripped off, and the fager of derision fhall point thee to fcorn. $267. RELIGION. There is but one God, the author, the creator, the governor of the world, almighty, eternal, and incomprehenfible. The fun is not God, though his noble image. He enliveneth the world with his brightnefs, his warmth giveth life to the products of the earth; admire him as the creature, the inftrument of God; but worfhip him not. To the One who is fupreme, most wife and beneficent, and to him alone, belg worthip, adoration, thanksgiving, and praife! Who hath ftretched forth the heavens with his hand, who hath defcribed with his finger the courfes of the ftars. Who fetteth bounds to the ocean, that it cannot pafs; and faith unto the formy winds, Be fill. Who shaketh the earth, and the nations tremble; who darteth his lightnings, and the wicked are dismayed. Who calleth forth worlds by the word of his mouth; who fmiteth with his arm, and they fink into nothing. "O reverence the Majefty of the Om"nipotent; and tempt not his anger, left "thou be deftroyed!" The providence of God is over all his works; he ruleth and directeth with infinite wifdom. He hath inftituted laws for the government of the world; he hath wonderfully varied them in his beings; and each, by his nature, conformeth to his will. In the depths of his mind he revolveth all knowledge; the fecrets of futurity lie open before him. The thoughts of thy heart are naked to his view; he knoweth thy determinations before they are made. With refpect to his prefcience, there is nothing contingent; with refpe&t to his providence, there is nothing accidental. Wonderful he is in all his ways; his counfels The Lord is gracious and beneficent; he bath created the world in mercy and love. His goodness is conípicuous in all his works; he is the fountain of excellence, the centre of perfection. . foul hath fhaken off the cumbrous fhackles of this mortal life, fhall equally receive from the fentence of God a juft and everlafting retribution according to their works. Then fhall the wicked tremble and be afraid; but the heart of the righteous fhall rejoice in his judgments. 66 "O fear the Lord, therefore, all the "days of thy life, and walk in the paths "which he hath opened before thee. Let prudence admonish thee, let temperance The creatures of his hand declare his "reftrain, let juftice guide thy hand, benegoodness, and all their enjoyments speak "volence warm thy heart, and gratitude ..s praife; he clotheth them with beauty, "to heaven infpire thee with devotion. h. . fupporteth them with food, he preferv-Thefe fhall give thee happiness in thy eth them with pleasure from generation to "prefent ftate, and bring thee to the mangeneration. "fions of eternal felicity, in the paradife This is the true ECONOMY of HUMAN LIFE. If we lift up our eyes to the heavens," of God." his glory fhineth forth; if we caft them down upon the earth, it is full of his goodnels; the hills and the vallies rejoice and fing; fields, rivers, and woods refound his Fraile. But thee, O man, he hath diftinguished with peculiar favour; and exalted thy ftation above all creatures. He hath endued thee with reafon, to maintain thy dominion: he hath fitted thee with language, to improve by fociety; and exalted thy mind with the powers of meditation to contemplate and adore his inimitable perfections. And in the laws he hath ordained as the 1 ECONOMY of HUMAN LIFE. Part II. Man confidered in the generalConfidered in regard to his infirmities and their effects-The advantages he may acquire over his fellow-creatures-Natural accidents. MAN confidered in the General. rale of thy life, so kindly hath he fuited thy $263. Of the HUMAN FRAME and duty to thy nature, that obedience to his precepts is happiness to thyfelf. " "O praife his goodneis with fongs of thanksgiving, and meditate in filence on the wonders of his love; let thy heart "overflow with gratitude and acknowledgment; let the language of thy lips fpeak praife and adoration; let the "actions of thy life fhew thy love to his " law." The Lord is juft and righteous, and will jedge the earth with equity and truth. Hath he established his laws in goodness ard mercy, and fhall he not punish the tranfgreffors thereof? O think not, bold man! because thy punishment is delayed, that the arm of the Lord is weakened; neither flatter thyfelf with hopes that he winketh at thy doings. His eye pierceth the fecrets of every heart, and he remembereth them for ever; he refpe&teth not the perfons or the ftations of men. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the wife and the ignorant, when the STRUCTURE. Weak and ignorant as thou art, O man! humble as thou oughteft to be, O child of the duft! wouldst thou raise thy thoughts to infinite wifdom? wouldst thou fee Ŏmnipotence difplayed before thee, contemplate thine own frame. Fearfully and wonderfully art thou made; praise therefore thy Creator with awe, and rejoice before him with reverence. Wherefore of all creatures art thou only erect, but that thou shouldt behold his works! wherefore art thou to behold, but that thou mayft admire them! wherefore to admire, but that thou mayft adore their and thy Creator! Wherefore is confcioufaefs repofed in thee alone? and whence is it derived to thee? It is not in flesh to think; it is not in bones to reafon. The lion knoweth not that worms fhall eat him; the ox perceiveth not that he is fed for flaughter. Something is added to thee unlike to what thou feeft: fomething informs thy clay, higher than all that is the object of thy fenfes. Behold, what is it? Thy body remaineth perfect after it is fle, therefore it is no part of it; it is immaterial, therefore it is eternal; it is free to act, therefore it is accountable for its actions. Knoweth the afs the ufe of food, because his teeth mow down the herbage? or ftandeth the crocodile erect although his back-bone is as ftraight as thine? God formed thee as he had formed there after them all wert thou created; fuperiority and command were given thee over all, and of his own breath did he communicate to thee thy principle of knowledge. Know thyself then the pride of his creation, the link uniting divinity and matter; behold a part of God himfelf within thee; remember thine own dignity, nor dare to defcend to evil or meannefs. Who planted terror in the tail of the ferpent? who clothed the neck of the horte with thunder? even he who hath inftructed thee to crush the one under thy feet, and to tame the other to thy purposes. $269. Of the USE of the SENSES. Vaunt not of thy body, because it was first formed; nor of thy brain, because therein thy fou refideth. Is not the mafter of the houfe more honourable than its walls? The ground must be prepared before corn be planted; the potter must build his furnace before he can make his porcelane. As the breath of Heaven fayeth unto the waters of the ep, This way fhall thy billows roll, and no other; thus high and no higher fhall they raife their fury; fo let thy fpirit, O man, actuate and direct thy flesh; fo let it reprefs its wildness. Thy foul is the monarch of thy fame; fuffer not its fubjects to rebel against it. Thy body is as the globe of the earth, thy bones the pillars that fuftain it on its bafis. As the ocean giveth rife to fprings, whole waters return again into its bofom through the rivers, fo runneth thy life from thy heart outwards, and fo runneth it into its place again. Do not both retain their course for ever? Behold, the fan e God ordaineth them. Is not thy nofe the channel to perfumes? thy mouth the path to delicacies? Yet know thou that perfumes long fmelt become of fenfive, that delicacies deftroy the appetite they flatter. Áre not thine eyes the centinels that watch for thee? yet how often are they unable to distinguish truth from error? Keep thy foul in moderation, teach thy fpirit to be attentive to its good; fo fhall thefe its minifters be always open to the conveyances of truth. Thine hand is it not a miracle? is there in the creation aught like unto it? wherefore was it given thee, but that thou might eft ftretch it out to the affiftance of thy brother? Why of all things living art thou alone made capable of blushing? the world thall read thy fhame upon thy face: therefore do nothing fhameful. Fear and difmay, why rob they the countenance of its ruddy fplendour? Avoid guilt, and thou shalt know that fear is be neath thee; that difmay is unenanly. Wherefore to thee alone fpeak shadows in the vifions of thy pillow? Reverence them; for know that dreams are from on high. Thou man alone canft fpeak. Wonder at thy glorious prerogative; and pay to him who gave it thee a rational and welcome praife, teaching thy children wifdom, inftructing the offspring of thy loins in piety. $270. The SouL of MAN, its ORIGIN and AFFECTIONS. What The bleffings, O man! of thy external part, are health, vigour, and proportion. The greateft of thefe is health. health is to the body, even that is honely to the foul. That thou haft a foul, is of all knowledge the most certain, of all truths the most plain unto thee. Be meek, be grateful for it. Seek not to know it gratefully it is infcrutable. Thinking, understanding, reafoning, willing, call not thefe the foul! They are its actions, but they are not its effence. Raife it not too high, that thou be not defpifed. Be not thou like unto thofe who fall by climbing; neither debafe it to the fenfe of brutes; nor be thou like unto the horfe and the mule, in whom there is no understanding. Search it by its faculties; know it by its virtues. They are more in number than than the hairs of thy head; the ftars of heaven are not to be counted with them. Think not with Arabia, that one foul is parted among all men; neither believe thou with the fons of Egypt, that every man hath many know, that as thy heart, fo alio thy foul is one Doth not the fun harden the clay? doth it not also soften the wax? As it is one fun that worketh both, even fo it is one foul that willeth contraries. As the moon retaineth her nature though darkness fpread itself before her face as a curtain, fo the foul remaineth perfect even in the bofom of a fool. She is immortal; he is unchangeable; he is alike in all. Health calleth her forth to thew her lovelinefs, and application anointeth her with the oil of wisdom. Although the fhall live after thee, think not he was born before thee. She was co-created with thy flesh, and formed with thy brain. Justice could not give her to thee exalted by virtues, nor mercy deliver her to thee deformed by vices. Thefe must be thine, and thou must answer for them. Sappofe not death can fhield thee from examination; think not corruption can hide thee from inquiry. He who formed thee of thou knoweft not what, can he not raise thee to thou knoweft not what again? Perceiveth not the cock the hour of midnight? Exalteth he not his voice, to tell Lee it is morning? Knoweth not the dog the foot leps of his matter? and flieth not the wounded goat unto the herb that healeth him? Yet when thefe die, their spirit returneth to the duft: thine alone furviveth. Eivy not to these their fenfes, becaufe quicker than thine own. Learn that the advantage lieth not in poffeffing good things, but in the knowing to ule them. Hadit thou the ear of a flag, or were thine eve as ftrong and piercing as the eagle's; cit thou equal the hourds in fmell, or could the ape refign to thee his tafte, or the tortoife her feeling; yet without reafon, what would they avail thee? Perish Lot all thefe like their kindred? Hath any one of them the gift of speech? Can any fay unto thee, Therefore did I Canft thou think too greatly of thy fou'? or can too much be faid in its praife? It is the image of him who gave it. Remember thou its dignity for ever; forget not how great a talent is committed to thy charge. Whatfoever may do good may alfo do harm. Beware that thou direct her courfe to virtue. Think not that thou canft lofe he in the crowd; fuppofe not that thou can bury her in thy clofet. Action is her delight, and he will not be withheld from it. Her motion is perpetual; her attempts are univerfal; her a iity is not to be uppreffed. Is it at the uttermol ps of the earth? he will have it: Is it beyond the region of the stars? yet wil her eye difcover it. Inquiry is her d light. As one who traverieth the burning fan is in fe ch of water, fo is the foul that fearcheth after knowledge. Guard her, for the is rafh; reftrain her, for fhe is irregular: correct her, for the is outrageous; more fupple is the than water, more flexible than wix, more yielding than air. Is there aught can bind her ? As a fword in the hand of a madman, even fo is the foul to him who wanteth difcretion. The end of her fearch is tru.h; her means to difcover it are reafon and experience. But are not thefe weak, uncertain, and fallacious? How then ihall the attain unto it? General opinion is no proof of truth, for the generality of men are ignorant. Perceiveft thou of thylelf, the knowledge of him who created thee, the fenfe of the worship thou oweft unto him? are not thefe plain before thy face? And behold! what is there more that man neede.h to know? $271. Of the PERIOD and USES of HUMAN LIFE. As the eye of morning to the lark, as the fhade of evening to the owl, as honey to the bee, or as the carcafe unto the vulture; even fuch is life unto the heart of man. Think not with the fool, that nothing is more valuable: nor believe with the pretended wife, that thou oughteft to contemn it. Love it not for itself, but for the good it may be of to others. Gold cannot buy it for thee, neither can mines of diamonds purchase back the moment thou haft now loft of it. Employ the fucceeding ones in virtue. Say not, that it were beft not to have been born; or if born, that it had been beft to die early: neither dare thou to afk of thy Creator, Where had been the evil that I had not exifted? Good is in thy power; the want of good is evil; and if the queftion be juft, lo! it condemneth thee. Would the fish fwallow the bait if he knew the hook was hidden therein ? would the lion enter the toils if he faw they were prepared for him? fo neither were the foul to perifh with this clay, would man with to live? neither would a merciful God have created him know hence thou fhalt live afterward. As the bird is inclofed in the cage before he feeth it, yet teareth not his flesh against its fides; fo neither labour thou vainly to run from the ftate thou art in; but know it is allotted thee, and be content with it. Though its ways are uneven, yet are they not all painful. Accommodate thyfelf to all; and where there is leaft appearance of evil, fufpe&t the greatest danger. When thy bed is ftraw, thou fleepeft in fecurity; but when thou ftretcheft thy felf On roles, beware of the thorns. A good death is better than an evil life: ftrive therefore to live as long as thou Oughteft, not as long as thou canft. While thy life is to others worth more than thy death, it is thy duty to preferve it. Complain not with the fool, with the fhortness of thy time: remember that with thy days, thy cares are fhortened. Take from the period of thy life the ufelefs parts of it, and what remaineth? Take off the time of thine infancy, the fecond infancy of age, thy fleep, thy thoughtless hours, thy days of fickness: and even at the fulness of years, how few featons haft thou truly numbered. He who gave thee life as a bleffing, fhortened it to make it more fo. To what end would longer life have ferved thee? Witheft thou to have had an opportunity of more vices? As to the good," will not he who limited thy fpan, be fatisfied with the fruits of it? To what end, O child of forrow! wouldft thou live longer? to breathe, to eat, to fee the world? All this thou hast done often already. Too frequent repetition, is it not tirefome? or is it not fuperfluous ? Wouldst thou improve thy wisdom and thy virtue? Alas! what art thou to know? or who is it that shall teach thee? Badly thou employeft the little that thou haft, dare not, therefore, to complain that more is not given thee. Repine not at the want of knowledge; it mult perifh with thee in the grave. Be honeft here, thou fhalt be wife hereafter. Say not unto the crow, why numbereft thou feven times the age of thy lord? or to the fawn, why are thine eyes to fee my offspring to an hundredth generations? Are there to be compared with thee in the abufe of life? are they riotous? are they cruel? are they ungrateful? Learn from them rather, that innocence of life and fimplicity of manners are the paths to good old age. Knoweft thou to employ life better than thefe then lefs of it may fuffice thee. Man who dares enflave the world when he knows he can enjoy his tyranny but a moment, what would he not aim at if he were immortal? Enough haft thou of life, but thou regardeft it not: thou art not in want of it, Oman! but thou art prodigal: thou throweft it lightly away, as if thou hadst more than enough; and yet thou repineft that it is not gathered again unto thee? Know that it is not abundance which maketh rich, but economy. The wife continueth to live from his first period; the fool is always beginning. Labour not after riches firft, and think thou afterwards wilt enjoy them. He who neglecteth the prefent moment, throweth away all he hath. As the arrow paflets through the heart, while the warrior knew not that it was coming; fo fhall his life be taken away before he knoweth that be hath it. What then is life, that man fhould defire it what breathing, that he should covet it? 1s it not a scene of delusion, a series of mifadventures, a purfuit of evils linked on all fides together? In the beginning it is ignorance, pain is in its middle, and its end is forrow. As one wave pufheth on another till both are involved in that behind them, even fo fucceedeth evil to evil in the life of man: the |