❝ great advances in divine love, that the firft "moment fhe was allowed to pay her adoration

to the CRUCIFIX, the fervency of her pious "paffion burft forth with such extacy, that the "eagerly fnatched the holy object to her arms, ❝and embraced it with a tranfport fo warmly. "affectionate, that ftreams of tenderness rufhed " from her eyes."

It is truly faid by a celebrated English writer, to be" of the utmost importance to guard against extremes of every kind in religion. We muft beware, left by seeking to avoid one rock, we split upon another. It has been long the fubject of remark, that SUPERSTITION and ENTHUSIASM are two capital fources of delufion Superftition, on the one hand, attaching men with immoderate zeal to the ritual and external points of religion; and Enthusiasm, on the other, directing their whole attention to internal emotions, and myftical communications with the fpiritual world; while neither the one nor the other has paid fufficient regard to the great moral duties of the Chriftian life. But running with intemperate eagernefs from these two great abuses of religion, men have neglected to observe that there are extremes oppofite to each of them, into which they are in hazard of precipitating themselves, Thus the horror of Superstition

has

has fometimes reached fo far as to produce contempt for all external institutions; as if it were poffible for Religion to fubfift in the world without forms of worship, or public acknowledg-` ment of God. It has also happened, that some who, in the main, are well affected to the cause of goodness, obferving that persons of a devout turn have at times been carried away by warm affections into unjustifiable excesses, have thence haftily concluded that all DEVOTION was a-kin to Enthusiasm; and separating Religion totally from the heart and affections, have reduced it to a frigid obfervance of what they call the rules of Virtue." These extremes are to be carefully avoided. True devotion is rational and well founded; and confifts in the lively exercise of that affection which we owe to the Supreme Being, comprehending several emotions of the heart, which all terminate in the fame great object.

These are among the evils which an irrational Solitude is capable of producing upon an unreftrained and mifdirected imagination: but I do not mean to contend indifcriminately, that Solitude is generally to be confidered as dangerous to the free indulgence of this delightful faculty of the mind. Solitude well chofen, and rationally pursued, is so far from being either the open

enemy

enemy or the treacherous friend of a firm and fine imagination, that it ripens its earlieft fhoots, ftrengthens their growth, and contributes to the production of its richest and most valuable fruits. To him who has acquired the happy art of enjoying in Solitude the charms of Nature, and of indulging the powers of Fancy without impairing the faculty of Reason,

Whate'er adorns

1

The princely dome, the column, and the arch,
The breathing marble, and the fculptur'd gold,
Beyond the proud poffeffor's narrow claim,
His happy breast enjoys. For him the Spring
Diftills her dews, and from the filken gem
Its lucid leaves unfolds: for him the hand
Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch.
With blooming gold, and blufhes like the morn.
Each paffing hour fheds tribute from her wings;
And ftill new beauties meet his lonely walk,
And love's unfelt attract him. Not a breeze
Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes
The fetting fun's effulgence, not a strain
From all the tenants of the warbling fhade
Afcends, but whence his bofom can partake
Fresh pleasure, unreprov'd. Nor thence partakes
Fresh pleasure only for the attentive mind,
By this harmonious action on her powers,
Becomes herfelf harmonious. Wont so oft
In outward things to meditate the charm
Of facred Order, soon she seeks at home
To find a kindred order, to exert
Within herself this elegance of love,

This fair infpir'd delight: her tempered powers
Refine at length; and every paffion wears
A chafter, milder, more attractive mien.
But if to ampler prospects, if to gaze
On Nature's face, where, negligent of all
These leffer graces, she affumes the port
Of that Eternal Majefty that weigh'd
The world's foundations, if to these the mind
Exalts her daring eye, then mightier far

Will be the change, and nobler. Would the forms
Of fervile cuftom cramp her generous powers,?
Would fordid policies, the barbarous growth
Of ignorance and rapine, bow her down
To tame pursuits, to indolence and fear?

Lo! the appeals to NATURE, to the winds

And rolling waves, the fun's unwearied course,
The elements and feafons: all declare

For what the eternal Maker has ordain'd

The powers of Man. We feel within ourselves.
His energy divine: he tells the heart

He meant, he made us to behold and love
What he beholds and loves, the general orb

*Of Life and Being; to be great like him,
Beneficent and active. Thus the men

Whom NATURE'S WORKS CAN CHARM, with God himself

Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day,
With his conceptions, act upon his plan,

And form to his the relish of their fouls.

A

DISPOSITION to enjoy the filence of fequeftered Solitude, and a growing distaste of the noisy tumults of public life, are the earlieft and moft general fymptoms of approaching melancholy. The heart on which felicity was used to fit enthroned, becomes fenfeless to the touch of pleasure; the airy wing of high delight finks proftrate to the earth on broken pinions; and care, anxiety, chagrin, and regret, loads the mind with distempering ideas, and renders it chearless and forlorn. The dawning fun, and heaven-lighted day, give no pleasure to the fickened fenfes of the unhappy fufferer. His only pleasure is to "commune with his own griefs;" and for this purpose he feeks fome gloomy glen,

"Where bitter boding Melancholy reigns "O'er heavy fighs and care-disorder'd thoughts.”

for

But a mind thus difpofed, however it may a time console its forrows* by retiring from the

* METODORUS, in one of Seneca's Epiftles, fays, that there is always a mixture of pleasure in the indulgence of forrow:

And