value we should set on this perishable world, has decreed that there should be nothing permanent on the face of the earth, but the very vicissitude that marks and agitates it. Let us reflect that time waits for no man; sleeping or waking, our days are on the wing. If we look to those that are past, they are but as a point. Ages are renewed; but the figure of the earth passes away. All is vanity. God only remains the same. bute of immutability belongs to HIM alone.

The attri

"Lean not on earth; 'twill pierce thee to the heart: A broken reed at best, but oft a spear;

On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires."

No. 251.]

[SATURDAY.

THE SCHOOL OF MORALITY.

When I feel my virtue fail,
And my ambitious thoughts prevail,
I'll take a turn among the tombs,
And see whereto all glory comes;
There the vile foot of ev'ry clown
Tramples the sons of honour down;
Beggars with awful ashes sport,
And tread the Cæsar's in the dirt.-

How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not;
To whom related, or by whom begot.
A heap of dust alone remains of thee:
'Tis all Thou art!—and all the proud shall be!

No. 252.]

THE APOSTLES.

[SUNDAY.

THE Apostles were persons chosen by our Saviour, upon his first entrance on his public ministery, to be witnesses of the purity of his life, the doctrines he should teach, and of the miracles he should perform. If we look into the character of the Apostles, we shall find nothing of craft and deceit, no appearance of fraud and wickedness, in any part of their behaviour. Their principles were worthy, and their religion rational: their tempers open and free, their manners humble and benevolent. These genuine marks of probity and piety leave no room for any candid judge to suspect their veracity, or look upon them as impos

tures.

No. 253.]

RETIREMENT.

[MONDAY.

'Tis easy to resign a toilsome place,
But not to manage leisure with a grace;
Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.
Happy, if full of days-but happier far,
If, ere we yet discern life's evening star,
Sick of the service of a world; that feeds
Its patient drudges with dry chaff and weeds,
We can escape from Custom's idiot sway,
To serve the Sovereign we were born t' obey.
Then sweet to muse upon his skill display'd
(Infinite skill) in all that he has made!

To trace in nature's most minute design,
The signature and stamp of power divine.

No. 254.] IMPROVEMENT OF TIME. [TUESDAY. DILIGENCE, industry, and proper improvement of time, are material duties of the young. To no purpose are they endowed with the best abilities, if they want activity for exerting them. Unavailing, in this case, will be every direction that can be given them, either for their temporal or spiritual welfare. In youth, the habits of industry are most easily acquired. In youth, the incentives to it are strongest, from ambition and from duty, from emulation and hope; from all the prospects which the beginning of life affords. If, dead to these calls, you already languish in slothful inaction, what will be able to quicken the more sluggish current of advancing years.

Industry is not only the instrument of improvement, but the foundation of pleasure. Industry is the appointed vehicle of every good to man, and is the indispensable condition of our possessing a sound mind, in a sound body. Fly, therefore, from idleness, as the certain parent both of guilt and ruin.

No. 255.]

[WEDNESDAY.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE FACULTIES.

IN proportion to the improvement of those faculties with which heaven has intrusted us, our

beings are ennobled, and our happiness heightened. The enjoyments of mere animal existence are flat and low. The comforts of plain ordinary life, rise in the next degree. The pleasures of an improved imagination, take in a circle vastly wider and more fair. The joys of a benevolent heart exceed the most gay imagination. But the strong sense and genuine love of truth and goodness, with all those noblest dispositions that fill a mind affected and penetrated as it ought to be with a sense of religion, and practising every part of christian duty, ascend still higher, and raises humanity to that point, from which it begins to claim a near alliance with superior natures.

No. 256.]

CONTENTMENT.

[THURSDAY.

LET the shepherd enjoy his peace, his meadows, and his oaten pipe. Let the honest artificer pursue his trade with cheerful industry, and rejoice that the weight of states and kingdoms does not lie upon his shoulders. Let the man of a middle station know his happiness, in possessing with quiet obscurity all the comforts of society and domestic life, with leisure and advantage for making the noblest improvements of the mind. Let the rich and great still look higher, and instead of repining at

"Ceremony, the idol Ceremony!"

which debars them of those free and humble

joys, delight themselves with their extensive power of doing good, and diffusing happiness around them.

،، This day be bread and peace my lot ;

All else beneath the sun

Thou know'st if best bestowed or not;
And let thy will be done."

No. 257.]

TRUE GREATNESS.

[FRIDAY.

Ir nought avails thee where, but what, thou art.
All the distinctions of this little life,
Are quite cutaneous, foreign to the man.
Away with all, but moral, in his mind ;
And let what then remains impose his name,
Pronounce him weak or worthy, great or mean.
Th' Almighty, from his throne, on earth surveys
Nought greater, than an honest, humble heart;
An humble heart, his residence! pronounc'd
His second seat; and rival to the skies.
The private path, the secret acts of men,
If noble, far the noblest of our lives.

No. 258.]

INGENUOUSNESS. [SATURDAY.

AN open and ingenuous disposition is not only beautiful and most conducive to private happiness but productive of many virtues essential to the welfare of society. What is society without confidence? Cunning and deceit are odious in them-