to give than to receive," saith our Lord. Happy is he who can subscribe sincerely to this truth, and whose felicity arises in proportion as he alleviates the distresses of others. To do good is to resemble the best of Beings. This is, indeed, our honour, and renders us valuable and useful in society. A compassionate heart and a liberal hand form a degree of amiableness ever worthy to be venerated. We are excited to the relief of misery, by the consciousness that we have the same nature with the sufferer; that we are in danger of the same distresses; and may some time implore the same assistance.

No. 119.]

[SUNDAY.

REFLECTIONS ON THE AID OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

HAPPY in the promise, that God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him, let us frequently and fervently pray for the invaluable gift. Let us come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may find grace to help in every time of need. Be pleased, O Lord, to shed abroad his sanctifying influences on our minds, that he may become our comforter and our guide;-that our bodies may be preserved as his pure temples, dedicated to his service, and animated by his presence; that he may constantly dwell in our hearts, and that we may be one with Thee, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, for ever.

No. 120.]

KNOWLEDGE.

[MONDAY. OTHER things may be seized by might or purchased with money; but knowledge is to be gained only by study, and study to be prosecuted only in retirement. No degree of knowledge, attainable by man, is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance, or to extinguish the desire of fond endearments and tender officiousness; and therefore no one should think it unnecessary to learn those arts by which friendship may be gained or love confirmed. By this descent from the pinnacles of art, no honour will be lost; for the condescensios of learning are always overpaid by gratitude. An elevated genius employed in little things, appears "like the sun in its evening declination: he remits his splendor, but retains his magnitude; and pleases more though he dazzles less."

No. 121.]

SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

[TUESDAY.

Know thyself, is one of the most useful and comprehensive precepts in the whole moral system. Self-knowledge is that acquaintance with ourselves, which shows us what we are, and do, and ought to be, in order to our living comfortably and usefully here and happily hereafter. The means of it is self examination; the end of it is self-government and self-fruition. It discovers ourselves to us; pierces into the inmost recesses of the mind; strips off every disguise;

lays open the inward part; makes a strict scrutiny into the very soul and spirit; and critically judges of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It shows us with what exactness and care we are to search and try our spirits, examine ourselves, and watch our ways. 66 If a man," saith the Apostle, Thinketh himself (through self-ignorance) to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself, and not in another.

No. 122.]

ENGLISH PROVERBS. [WEDNESDAY.

"A rolling stone gathers no moss." This proverb is indicative of the ill consequences of fickleness and inconstancy. Persons of unsettled and restless tempers are never happy: they are always busily beginning to live, but by reason of love of change and impatience, never arrive at a way of living.

"He looks one way, and rows another." The point of this proverb is directed at sycophants and hollow-hearted hypocrites, who, while they pretend to be carrying on the interest of their friends, are at the same time undermining them.

No. 123.]

HOPE.

[THURSDAY.

Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all

That men have deem'd substantial since the fall,

She, with uplifted foot set free from earth,
Pants for the place of her etherial birth,

On steady wings sails through th' immense abyss,
Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss,
And crowns the soul, while yet a mourner here,
With wreaths like those triumphant spirits wear.
Hope, as an anchor firm and sure, holds fast,
The christian vessel and defies the blast.

No. 124.]

[FRIDAY.

THE MUTABILITY OF EARTHLY THINGS.
All flesh is grass, and all its glory fades;
Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream,
All has its date below; the fatal hour,
Was register'd in heaven ere time began.
We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works
Die too the deep foundations that we lay,
Time ploughs them up, and not a trace remains.
Nothing is proof against the general curse
Of vanity, that seizes all below.

The only amaranthine flower, on earth
Is virtue, th' only lasting treasure truth.

No. 125.]

[SATURDAY.

RELIGION NOT ADVERSE TO PLEASURE.

Religion does not censure or exclude
Unnumber'd pleasures harmlessly pursued ;

To study culture, and with artful toil

To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;
To mark the matchless workings of the power,
That shuts within its seed the future flower;
Bid these in elegance of form excel.

In colour these, and those delight the smell;
To teach the canvas innocent deceit,
Or lay the lanscape on the snowy sheet-
These, these are arts pursued without a crime,
That leave no stain upon the wing of time.

No. 126.]

VOWS.

[SUNDAY.

Vows are not to be made without great caution and deliberation. When we presume, as it were to make bargains with God, and engage concerning temporal affairs, that if He will do such a thing for us, we will do such a thing for Him; we do but tempt God, and lay a snare for ourselves. All vows, however, which are formed merely to bring us nearer to God, and oblige us to a more stedfast obedience, are not only lawful, but prudent and expedient. We should endeavour to bind our treacherous hearts to him with the most solemn ties, and firmly resolve to be and to do nothing but what is agreeable to his will. Particularly every christian should seriously reflect upon his baptismal vow, and frequently renew that covenant with God in the sacred ordinance appointed by Him, through whose mediation our