they will infallibly subject themselves to difficulties and disasters.

No. 336.] DEVOTIONAL RETIREMENT. [SUNDAY.

To commune with our own hearts and to retreat from the world, and give ourselves up to private meditation and reflection, will be the means to cherish and improve the seeds of virtue; and give us leisure for examining into the state of our souls; to stamp upon our hearts a love for God, and a reverence for his laws; to make us in short, "stand in awe, and sin not."

The best and greatest of men, have found this self-communion necessary to preserve them from sin and error. The royal Psalmist more especially, who gave us the precept, enforced it powerfully by his own example. But we have this practice of self-communion recommended to us by a still holier and brighter example, that of the blessed Jesus himself. In the active course of his life we find him frequently breaking away from the crowds that surrounded him, and betaking himself to privacy and solitude.

No. 337.]

PROCRASTINATION.

MONDAY.

Procrastination is the thief of time.

PROCRASTINATION has in every age been the ruin of mankind. Dwelling amidst endless pro

jects of what they are to do hereafter, they cannot so properly be said to live, as to be always about to live; and the future has ever been the gulf in which the present has been swallowed up and lost; hence arise many of those misfortunes which befall men in their worldly concerns. What might now be arranged with advantage, by being delayed cannot be delayed at all. They are clogged and embarrassed; affairs multiply and crowd upon each other, till at last they prove so intricate and perplexed, that nothing is left but to sink under the burden.

Thou art now in tranquillity, in health, and in possession of a calm mind. Improve these advantages for performing all that become thee as a man and as a christian; who can tell how long thou shalt be permitted to enjoy them!

No. 338.] LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS.

[TUESDAY.

WERE there no restraint on the passions, the vices, and the perverse conduct of mankind, no one could be safe in person or property. The laws impose these restraints; they leave us, in this kingdom at least, to enjoy ourselves, our possessions, and every pleasure which trenches not on the privileges, possessions, and pleasures of others; but to the ill-disposed they hold out the dread of punishment, and thus make even negative virtue productive of public good.

Be it your study, then, to regard the laws not as capable of hurting you, but of doing you good. Venerate them, because they are founded in wisdom, sanctioned by the experience of ages, and productive of public good; and think not, even if they could be eluded, or violated with impunity, that you could either be safe or happy. But above all, learn to act on higher principles than those of restraint, and to respect yourself. Conscience supplies the defects of legal provisoes, and men who listen to its sacred dictates, and act according to its unperverted suggestions, are virtuous because they are wise, and happy because they deserve to be so.

become

No. 339.]

SEDUCTION.

[WEDNESDAY.

THERE is not, perhaps, in all the stores of ideal anguish, a thought more painful than the consciousness of having propagated corruption by viciating principles, of having not only drawn others from the paths of virtue, but blocked up the way by which they should return; of having blinded them to every beauty but the paint of pleasure, and deafened them to every call, but the alluring voice of the syrens of destruction.

No. 340.J

OBSTINACY.

[THURSDAY.

OBSTINACY is a pertinacious and stubborn perseverance in any opinion or course of action

s 3

we have once adopted, however absurd and destructive in its consequences. This unhappy error often arises from a strong desire of appearing consistent, and a shame of acknowledging ourselves to be wrong. It is one of those vices which misleads us with a semblance of virtue; its common foundation is pride. Pride and selfsufficiency cheat us through life, and we become dupes to our own blindness, in supposing that others do not see our weakness, because we ourselves refuse to acknowledge it. In short, truth, and nothing but truth, is what we ought obstinately to adhere to; for if we are obstinately attached to error, as sure as truth and falsehood are different things, our misfortunes in life will be in exact proportion to our obstinacy.

No. 341.]

PROSPERITY.

[FRIDAY.

PROSPERITY very much obstructs the knowledge of ourselves. No man can form a just estimate of his own powers, by inactive speculation. That fortitude which has encountered no dangers, that prudence which has surmonted no difficulties, that integrity which has been attacked by no temptations, can, at least, be considered but as gold not yet brought to the test, of which, therefore, the true value cannot be assigned. Equally necessary is some variety of fortune, to a nearer inspection of the manners, principles, and affections of mankind.

Moderation in prosperity is a virtue very difficult to all men. "Health and good state of body are above all gold, and a strong body above infinite wealth."

No. 342.]

FAME.

[SATURDAY.

THE true satisfaction which is to be drawn from the consciousness that we shall share the attention of future times, must arise from the hope, that with our names, our virtues shall be propagated, and that those whom we cannot benefit in our lives, may receive instruction from our example, and incitement from our renown. That fame which hopes to resist the blasts of malignity, and stand firm against the attacks of time, must contain in itself some original principle of growth.

He that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavours after it by false merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the storm, but the leaks of his vessel.

No. 343.]

PURITY OF HEART.

[SUNDAY.

PURITY of heart must proceed from the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the most exalted virtues that can dignify human