desires; so that, occupied incessantly with the strict account which thou wilt demand of me perhaps tomorrow, perhaps indeed to-day, of all that I have said, done, or thought, contrary or conformable to thy law, I may be continually prepared for the solemn scene; and that I may reckon among the number of the happy days of my life those only in which I shall have labored to obtain the favor of my supreme judge.

But, O God of mercy! is this the only effect which the expectation of a day of judgment ought to produce in me,-to fill me with terror? If that day will be a day of thy vengeance towards sinners, will it not be to the righteous a day of thy mercy and of thy triumph? If in that day, in which all the universe shall appear before thy tribunal, there to hear the decision of their eternal destiny, thou wilt be a terrible judge to the wicked,-if thou wilt have nothing for them but the thunder of thine indignation; wilt thou not also be to thine elect a tender and gracious father? Wilt thou not bestow upon them all the treasures,-all the riches of thy mercy? And ought not the hope of this to make me despise and detest the world, with all its vanities and false blessings, fill me with an ardent desire to lead a holy life, and make me support with joy all the troubles and difficulties which attend such a life? If I have the happiness to be of the number of those upon whom thou wilt bestow a crown of glory, shall I then regret the labor, the self-denial, and constraint it may cost me, to keep from wandering from that straight path which the footsteps of thine adorable Son have marked out for me? At the view of that blessed eternity,-that ocean of delight, into which I shall then be about to enter, shall I find, O my God, that thou hast made me buy too dear, or wait too long for the reward of my fidelity? Will my heart be sufficient for the transports of my gratitude to a God who consults his goodness and greatness only, in his

manner of recompencing the little that I do for him, in which I always mingle so much sin and imperfection? How will the language of those inconsiderate sinners then appear to me, who repeat incessantly that life is given us for enjoyment, and that to spend it in the exercises of piety and religion only is to lose it? Ah, if I could now think as I shall think at that moment, how vile and hateful would the world appear! How odious would every thing be which has the appearance of evil! What charms should I find in holiness! How easy, pleasant, and delightful would be the practice of its most painful duties!

O most merciful God! Deeply engrave, then, upon my soul these truths, so well calculated to console me in this vale of tears, and to animate me to persevere in duty. They ought not to affrighten any but those who abandon thee, O God of my heart, my all, the only source of all blessings! Let them be always present to my mind, to be a preservative against the censures of the world,-against the seduction of its examples, and the deceitful charms of its false blessings,-especially against the many erroneous and dangerous maxims which are so prevalent in this age of impiety.

VERSES 6, 7. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

I AM well aware, O Lord, that the maxims and usages of the world are but error and corruption, since they are opposed to thy law, that law so true, so pure, and so holy. Therefore, to take them for the rule of my conduct would evidently be to enter upon a course which cannot but terminate in destruction and death; for can error ever lead to true happiness? Truth, without any mixture of falsehood, is found only in thy holy law; for thou canst not teach

falsehood, thou who art the God of truth, and truth itself. Let me then walk in the way which that points out to me, for the way of truth cannot fail to conduct me to thee who art the only source of happiness. Let me consult that in all my doubts; let me condemn what that condemns; let me approve what that approves; let me love what that requires me to love. It is in this way that thou wilt save me, O my God; and enabling me to avoid the rocks to which thy servants are so much exposed, in the boisterous ocean of life, in consequence of the storms and tempests which the world raises against them, thou wilt cause me at last to arrive at a haven of safety and felicity.

VERSE 8. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

YES, O Lord, I have need to keep myself invariably attached to the truth of thy holy law, and to consult that incessantly. The efforts which the world makes to seduce me are continual; the means which it uses in order to succeed are infinite; at every step which I take I find this alluring world intent upon my ruin; and still I am not able to separate myself from it wholly. If the wicked constituted a people apart, and distinct from the righteous, I should then have only to avoid their society, to secure myself from their seduction: If their number was inconsiderable, the influence which the contrary example of the greater number of righteous would have upon me, would render their allurements less dangerous: If at least they were distinguished from thy servants by some visible and unequivocal mark, I could then take heed and provide against their artifices, though obliged to live among them. But alas! the wicked live in the midst of the righteous and connected with them; they are their relations and their friends. The number of them is so great that the good, compared with them, are

like the grapes scattered here and there, which have escaped the attention and avidity of the vintager. Many cover their vices under the appearance of so many virtues, that it is often impossible to know what they really are, and thus guard against them. Such persons, O God, are the most dangerous to thy servants; those who are open and bold in vice and irreligion are less to be feared. How difficult is it to defend ourselves against those who appear to agree with us as respects essential duties, and who publicly condemn every thing grossly and openly wicked? They pretend they would be very sorry to lead us to violate thy commandments, and that they are not less anxious for salvation than we are. They claim to understand the spirit of thy law better than we do; they say that we are too much alarmed concerning thy justice, and that we do not place sufficient reliance on thine infinite mercy. They do not attack religion directly, because they well know they would be repulsed. They therefore content themselves, at first, with attempting to weaken it, sometimes by retrenching from its ordinary duties, and sometimes by artfully suggesting doubts with respect to rules of conduct and maxims which till then had been thought incontestible. They say that all men must be condemned, if the austere way which has been hitherto marked out is the only way to heaven; and thus they operate so powerfully as to destroy in many, who have professed themselves thy servants, all real piety, and leave only the appearance of goodness.

In the midst of so many snares, laid with so much art, my salvation, O my God, must be wholly the work of thy grace; and my ruin is inevitable if thou abandonest me one moment to myself,

PSALM XIV.

Meditations of a saint upon the great prevalence of infidelity and irreligion in the world.

VERSE 1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

[NFIDELITY always begins in the heart. As

ful passions, and pushes them to the most enormous excesses, he seeks to justify them to himself by saying, in secret, that thou art not,—thou, eternal God! by whom every thing exists. It is not in his reason that his doubts concerning thine adorable essence originate; thou there causest a ray of light to shine which shows thee to him every where, which makes him always carry within him a strong, and incontestible witness of thy being :—It is in his depraved heart that these doubts are formed. He wishes thee not to be; he endeavors to persuade himself that thou art. not; he even glories in appearing to be convinced, and, with disdain, insults those who are frightened at his blasphemies, as being weak and credulous. But he is an impostor; his mouth and his heart only renounce thee, and proclaim that thou art nothing; while his reason acknowledges thee, and, in spite of himself, does homage to thee. Can it be, O God, that man is capable of falling into this abyss of extravagance? He would annihilate the idea of thine existence in the minds of other men, but cannot efface it wholly from his own mind; he preaches atheism to others, but cannot succeed in becoming wholly an atheist himself. He cannot long support this contrast in which extravagance and impiety equally display themselves. He is afraid to revolt against all mankind, and to find himself the only person in the universe who wishes and acknowledges no God; he