swallowed up there and while it is hastening to its period, it sweeps away all things with it which are not immortal. There is a limit appointed by Providence, to the durarion of the pleasant and desirable scenes of life, to all the works of the hands of men, with all the glories and excellencies of animal nature, and all that is made of flesh and blood. Let us not doat upon any thing here below, for heaven hath inscribed vanity upon it. The moment is hastening when the decree of heaven shall be utter'd and Providence shall pronounce upon every glory of the earth," Its time shall be no longer." No. 224.] [SUNDAY. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. -In his blest life. I see the path, and in his death the price, Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead! The king of glory HE, whose glory fill'd That day of wrath, that dreadful day, [MONDAY. When shriv'ling like a parched scroll O! on that day, that wrathful day, No. 226.] THE DANGERS OF YOUTH. [TUESDAY. THE scenes which present themselves, at our entering upon the world, are commonly flattering. Whatever they be in themselves, the lively spirits of the young gild every opening prospect. The field of hope appears to stretch wide before them. Pleasure seems to put forth its blossoms on every side. Impelled by desire, forward they rush with inconsiderate ardour; prompt to de cide, and to choose; averse to hesitate, or to inquire; credulous, because untaught by experience; rash, because unacquainted with danger; head-strong, because unsubdued by disappointment. Hence arise the perils to which they are exposed; and which, too often, from want of attention to faithful admonition, precipitate them into ruin irretrievable. No. 227.] IRREGULAR PLEASURES. [WEDNESDAY. By the unhappy excesses of irregular pleasure in youth, how many amiable dispositions are corrupted or destroyed! how many rising capacities. and powers are suppressed! how many flattering hopes of parents and friends are totally extinguished! who but beholds that morning which arose so bright, overcast with such untimely darkness; that sweetness of temper which once engaged many hearts, that modesty which was so prepossessing, those abilities which promised. extensive usefulness, all sacrificed at the shrine of low sensuality. These, O! sinful Pleasure! are thy trophies. It is thus that, co-operating with the foe of God and man, thou degradest human honour, and blasteth the opening prospects of human felicity. No. 228.] GLUTTONY. [THURSDAY. It is no slight argument of the dishonour we incur by gluttony, that nothing is more carefully avoided in a well-bred company. Nothing would be thought, by such, more brutal and rude than the discovery of any marks of having eaten intemperately-of having exceeded that proportion of food which is requisite for our nourishment. The influence that our food has upon our health, its tendency to preserve, or impair our constitution, is the measure of its intemperance or excess. He alone is temperate, who eats not to gratify his taste, but to preserve his life; who is the same at every table as his own; who, when he feasts is not cloyed; and sees all the delicacies before him that luxury can accumulate, yet preserves a due abstinence in the midst of them. No. 229.] INTEMPERANCE. [FRIDAY. EXPERIENCE daily proves that nothing contributes more to the preservation of life than temperance. Intemperance is the grossest abuse of the gifts of Providence; the vilest debasement of ourselves; and our bodies owe to it the most painful diseases, and generally a speedy decay. It frequently interrupts the use of our nobler faculties, and it is certain, at length, greatly to enfeeble them. The streights to which it often reduces us, occasion our falling into crimes which would otherwise have been our utter abhorrence. No. 230.] APHORISMS. [SATURDAY. SCARCELY an ill to human life belongs Of all bad things with which mankind are curst, Oh! what a tangled web we weave, No. 231.] THE SACRAMENTS. [SUNDAY. THE Christian religion is an institution of great plainness and simplicity; yet as men, forming a religious society, must have some outward rites of worship, and as proper emblems and representations naturally tend to promote meditation and excite devotion, our Saviour has required the observance of two positive rites, commonly known by the name of the sacraments, and called baptism, and the Lord's supper. No. 232.] TRUE BRAVERY. [MONDAY. TRUE bravery is sedate and inoffensive; if it refuse to submit to insults it offers none; begins no disputes, enters into no needless quarrels, is |