He is far above the meanness of diffimulation; the words of his mouth are the thoughts of his heart.

Yet with prudence and caution he openeth his lips; he ftudieth what is right, and fpeaketh with difcretion.

He adviseth with friendship, he reproveth with freedom: and whatsoever he promifeth fhall furely be performed.

But the heart of the hypocrite is hid in his breaft; he masketh his words in the femblance of truth, while the bufinefs of his life is only to deceive.

He laugheth in forrow, he weepeth in joy; and the words of his mouth have no interpretation.

He worketh in the dark as a mole, and fancieth he is fafe; but he blundereth into light, and is betrayed and expofed, with his dirt on his head.

He paffeth his days with perpetual conftraint; his tongue and his heart are for ever at variance.

He laboureth for the character of a righteous man; and huggeth himself in the thoughts of his cunning.

O fool, fool! the pains which thou takest to hide what thou art, are more than would make thee what thou wouldst feem; and the children of wisdom fhall mock at thy cunning, when, in the midst of fecurity, thy difguife is ftripped off, and the finger of derifion fhall point thee to fcorn.

RELIGION.

There is but one God, the author, the creator, the governor of the world, almighty, eternal, and incomprehenfible.

The fun is not God, though his nobleft image. He enliveneth the world with his brightness, his warmth giveth life to the products of the earth; admire him as the creature, the inftrument of God; but worship him not.

To the One who is fupreme, most wife and beneficent, and to him alone, belong worship, adoration, thanksgiving, and praife!

Who hath ftretched forth the heavens with his hand, who hath defcribed with his finger the courfes of the stars.

Who fetteth bounds to the ocean, that it cannot pafs; and faith unto the ftormy winds, Be ftill.

Who shaketh the earth, and the nations tremble; who darteth his lightnings, and the wicked are difmayed.

Who calleth forth worlds by the word

of his mouth; who fmiteth with his arm, and they fink into nothing.

"O reverence the Majefty of the Om"nipotent; and tempt not his anger, left "thou be destroyed!"

The providence of God is over all his works; he ruleth and directeth with infinite wisdom.

He hath inftituted laws for the government of the world; he hath wonderfully varied them in his beings; and each, by his nature, conformeth to his will.

In the depths of his mind he revolveth all knowledge; the fecrets of futurity lie open before him,

The thoughts of thy heart are naked to his view; he knoweth thy determinations before they are made.

With respect to his prefçience, there is nothing contingent; with respect to his providence there is nothing accidental.

Wonderful he is in all his ways; his counfels are infcrutable; the manner of his knowledge tranfcendeth thy conception.

"Pay therefore to his wifdom all honour " and veneration; and bow down thyfelf "in humble and fubmiffive obedience to "his fupreme direction."

The Lord is gracious and beneficent; he hath created the world in mercy and love. His goodness is confpicuous in all his works; he is the fountain of excellence, the centre of perfection.

The creatures of his hand declare his goodness, and all their enjoyments speak his praife; he clotheth them with beauty, he fupporteth them with food, he preferveth them with pleasure from generation to generation.

If we lift up our eyes to the heavens, his glory fhineth forth; if we caft them down upon the earth, it is full of his goodnefs; the hills and the vallies rejoice and fing; fields, rivers, and woods refound his praise.

But thee, O man, he hath diftinguished with peculiar favour; and exalted thy ftation above all creatures.

He hath endued thee with reason, to maintain thy dominion: he hath fitted thee with language, to improve by fociety; and exalted thy mind with the powers of medi tation to contemplate and adore his inimitable perfections.

. And in the laws he hath ordained as the rule of thy life, fo kindly hath he fuited thy duty to thy nature, that obedience to his precepts is happiness to thyfelf. "O praife his goodness with fongs of N 4 thankf

thanksgiving, and meditate in filence, on "the wonders of his love; let thy heart "overflow with gratitude and acknow"ledgment; let the language of thy lips fpeak praife and adoration; let the ac"tions of thy life fhew thy love to his "law."

The Lord is juft and righteous, and will judge the earth with equity and truth,

Hath he established his laws in goodnefs and mercy, and fhall he not punish the tranfgreffors thereof?

O think not, bold man! becaufe thy punishment is delayed, that the arm of the Lord is weakened; neither flatter thyfelf with hopes that he winketh at thy doings. His eye pierceth the fecrets of every heart, and he remembereth them for ever; he refpecteth not the perfons or the ftations of men.

The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the wife and the ignorant, when the foul hath fhaken off the cumbrous fhackles of this mortal life, fhall equally receive from the sentence of God a juft and everlafting retribution, according to their

works.

Then fhall the wicked tremble and be afraid; but the heart of the righteous fhall rejoice in his judgments.

"O fear the Lord, therefore, all the "days of thy life, and walk in the paths "which he hath opened before thee. Let "prudence admonish thee, let temperance "reftrain, let juftice guide thy hand, bene"volence warm thy heart, and gratitude "to heaven infpire thee with devotion. "Thefe fhall give thee happiness in thy "prefent ftate, and bring thee to the man"fions of eternal felicity, in the paradife " of God."

This is the true ECONOMY of HUMAN LIFE.

the duft! wouldst thou raife thy thought to infinite wifdom? wouldst thou fee Ŏmnipotence difplayed before thee? contemplate thine own frame.

Fearfully and wonderfully art thou made: praife therefore thy Creator with awe, and rejoice before him with reverence.

Wherefore of all creatures art thou only erect, but that thou fhould it behold his works! wherefore art thou to behold, but that thou mayft admire them! wherefore to admire, but that thou mayft adore their and thy Creator!

Wherefore is confcioufnefs repofed in thee alone? and whence is it derived to thee?

It is not in flesh to think; it is not in bones to reafon. The lion knoweth not that worms thall eat him; the ox perceiveth not that he is fed for flaughter.

Something is added to thee unlike to what thou feeft: fomething informs thy clay, higher than all that is the object of thy fenfes. Behold, what is it?

Thy body remaineth perfect after it is fied, therefore it is no part of it; it is immaterial, therefore it is eternal: it is free to act, therefore it is accountable for its actions.

Knoweth the afs the ufe of food, because his teeth mow down the herbage? or ftandeth the crocodile erect although his back-bone is as ftraight as thine?

God formed thee as he had formed thefe: after them all wert thou created; fuperiority and command were given thee over all, and of his own breath did he communicate to thee thy principle of knowledge.

Know thyself then the pride of his creation, the link uniting divinity and matter; behold a part of God himfelf within thee; remember thine own dignity,, nor dare to defcend to evil or meannefs.

Who planted terror in the tail of the ferpent? who clothed the neck of the horfe with thunder? even he who hath inftructed

thee to crush the one under thy feet, and to tame the other to thy purpofes.

Of the USE of the SENSES.

Vaunt not of the body, because it was firft formed; nor of thy brain, because therein thy foul refideth. Is not the master of the houfe more honourable than its

walls.

The ground must be prepared before corn be planted; the potter muft build his furnace before he can make his porcelane.

As the breath of Heaven fayeth unto the waters of the deep, This way fhall thy billows roll, and no other; thus high and to higher, fhall they raife their fury; fo let thy fpirit, O man, actuate and direct thy flesh; fo let it reprefs its wildness. Thy foul is the monarch of thy frame; faffer not its fubjects to rebel against it. Thy body is as the globe of the earth, thy bones the pillars that fuftain it on its

bes.

As the ocean giveth rife to fprings, whofe waters return again into its bofom through the rivers, fo runneth thy life from thy heart outwards, and fo runneth it into its place again.

Do not both retain their course for ever? Behold, the fame God ordaineth them.

Is not thy nofe the channel to perfumes? thy mouth the path to delicacies ? Yet know thou that perfumes long finelt become offenfive, that delicacies deftroy the appetite they flatter.

Åre not thine eyes the centinels that watch for thee? yet how often are they unable to diftinguish truth from error?

Keep thy foul in moderation, teach thy fpirit to be attentive to its good; fo fhall thefe its minifters be always open to the convevances of truth,

Thine hand is it not a miracle? is there in the creation aught like unto it? wherefore was it given thee, but that thou might eft ftretch it out to the affiftance of thy brother?

Why of all things living art thou alone made capable of blufhing the world fhall read thy fhame upon thy face: therefore do nothing shameful.

Fear and difmay, why rob they the countenance of its ruddy fplendor? Avoid gult, and theu fhalt know that fear is beneath thee; that difmay is unmanly.

Wherefore to thee alone fpeak fhadows in the vifions of thy pillow? Reverence them; for know, that dreams are from high.

Thou man alone canft fpeak. Wonder at thy glorious prerogative; and pay to Lim who gave it thee a rational and welcome praife, teaching thy children wisdom, inftructing the offspring of thy loins in Fiety.

3. The SOUL of MAN, its ORIGIN and AFFECTIONS.

The bleffings, O man! of thy external part, are health, vigour, and proportion. The greatest of thefe is health, What

health is to the body, even that is honefty to the foul.

That thou haft a foul, is of all knowledge the moft certain, of all truths the moft plain unto thee. Be meek, be grateful for it. Seek not to know it gratefully it is infcrutable.

Thinking, understanding, reafoning, willing, call not thefe the foul! They are its actions, but they are not its effence.

Raife it not too high, that thou be not defpifed. Be not thou like unto thofe who fall by climbing; neither debafe it to the fenfe of brutes; nor be thou like unto the horfe and the mule, in whom there is no understanding.

Search it by its faculties; know it by its virtues. They are more in number than the hairs of thy head; the stars of heaven are not to be counted with them.

Think not with Arabia, that one foul is parted among all men; neither believe thou with the fons of Egypt, that every man hath many know, that as thy heart, fo alfo thy foul is one.

Doth not the fun harden the clay? doth it not alfo foften the wax? As it is one fun that worketh both, even fo it is one foul that willeth contraries.

As the moon retaineth her nature though darknefs fpread itself before her face as a curtain, fo the foul remaineth perfect even in the bofom of a fool.

She is immortal; fhe is unchangeable; fhe is alike in all. Health calleth her forth to fhew her lovelinefs, and application anointeth her with the oil of wisdom.

Although the fhall live after thee, think not fhe was born before thee. She was concreated with thy flesh, and formed with thy brain.

Juftice could not give her to thee exalted by virtues, nor mercy deliver her to thee deformed by vices. Thefe must be thine, and thou must answer for them.

Suppose not death can fhield thee from examination; think not corruption can hide thee from inquiry. He who formed thee of thou knoweft not what, can he not raife thee to thou knoweft not what again?

Perceiveth not the cock the hour of midnight? Exalteth he not his voice, to tell thee it is morning? Knoweth not the dog the wounded goat unto the herb that healthe footsteps of his mafter? and flieth not eth him? Yet when thefe die, their spirit returneth to the duft: thine alone furviveth.

Envy not to these their fenfes, because quicker than thine own. Learn that the advantage

advantage licth not in poffeffing good things, but in the knowing to use them.

Hadft thou the ear of a flag, or were thine eye as ftrong and piercing, as the eagle's; didst thou equal the hounds in fmell, or could the ape refign to thee his tafte, or the tortoife her feeling; yet without reafon, what would they avail thee? Perish not all these like their kindred? Hath any one of them the gift of speech? Can any fay unto thee, Therefore did I fo?

The lips of the wife are as the doors of a cabinet; no fooner are they opened, but treasures are poured out before thee.

Like unto trees of gold arranged in beds of filver, are wife fentences uttered in due feafon.

Canft thou think too greatly of thy foul? or can too much be faid in its praife? It is the image of him who gave it.

Remember thou its dignity for ever; forget not how great a talent is committed to thy charge.

Whatsoever may do good may alfo do harm. Beware that thou direct her courfe to virtue.

Think not that thou canft lofe her in the crowd; fuppofe not that thou canst bury her in thy closet. Action is her delight, and she will not be withheld from it.

Her motion is perpetual; her attempts are univerfal; her agility is not to be fuppreffed. Is it at the uttermoft parts of the earth? fhe will have it: Is it beyond the region of the stars, yet will her eye discover it.

Inquiry is her delight. As one who traverfeth the burning fands in fearch of water, fo is the foul that fearcheth after knowledge.

Guard her, for fhe is rafh; reftrain her, for fhe is irregular; correct her, for fhe is outrageous; more fupple is she than water, more flexible than wax, more yielding than air. Is there aught can bind her?

As a fword in the hand of a madman, even fo is the foul to him who wanteth difcretion.

The end of her fearch is truth; her means to discover it are reafon and experience. But are not thefe weak, uncertain and fallacious? How then fhall fhe attain unto it?

General opinion is no proof of truth, for the generality of men are ignorant.

Perceiveft thou of thyfelf, the knowledge of him who created thee, the fenfe

Though bright, it dazzleth not; though obfcure, it difpleafeth not; though fweet, it cloyeth not; though corrupt, it forbiddeth not; yet who is he that knoweth its true value?

Learn to esteem life as it ought; then art thou near the pinnacle of wisdom.

Think not with the fool, that nothing is more valuable: nor believe with the pretended wife, that thou oughteft to contemn it. Love it not for itself, but for the good it may be of to others.

Gold cannot buy it for thee, neither can mines of diamonds purchase back the moment thou haft now loft of it. Employ the fucceeding ones in virtue,

Say not, that it were beft not to have been born; or if born, that it had been beft to die early: neither dare thou to al of thy Creator, Where had been the evil that I had not existed? Good is in thy power; the want of good is evil; and if the queftion be juft, lo! it condemneth thee.

Would the fish fwallow the bait if he knew the hook was hidden therein ? would the lion enter the toils if he saw they were prepared for him? fo neither were the foul to perish with this clay, would man wish to live? neither would a merciful God have created him: know hence thou shalt live afterward.

As the bird is inclofed in the cage before he feeth it, yet teareth not his flesh against its fides; fo neither labour thou vainly to run from the ftate thou art in; but know it is allotted thee, and be content with it.

Though its ways are uneven, yet are they not all painful. Accommodate thyfelf to all; and where there is least appearance of evil, fufpect the greatest danger.

When thy bed is ftraw, thou fleepest in fecurity; but when thou firetcheth thyself on rofes, beware of the thorns.

A good death is better than an evil life: ftrive therefore to live as long as thou

oughteft,

oughteft, not as long as thou canft. While thy life is to others worth more than thy death, it is thy duty to preferve it.

Complain not with the fool, with the fhortness of thy time: remember that with thy days, thy cares are fhortened.

Take from the period of thy life the ufelefs parcs of it, and what remaineth? Take off the time of thine infancy, the fecond infancy of age, thy fleep, thy thoughtless hours, thy days of fickness: and even at the fulness of years, how few feafons haft thou truly numbered.

He who gave thee life as a bleffing, fhortened it to make it more fo. To what end would longer life have ferved thee? Wifheft thou to have had an opportunity of more vices? As to the good, will not he who limited thy fpan, be fatisfied with the fruits of it?

To what end, O child of forrow! wouldft thou live longer? to breathe, to eat, to fee the world? All this thou haft done often already. Too frequent repetition, is it not tirefome? or is it not fuperfluous ?

Wouldst thou improve thy wisdom and thy virtue? Alas! what art thou to know? or who is it that fhall teach thee? Badly thou employeft the little that thou haft, dare not, therefore, to complain that more is not given thee.

Repine not at the want of knowledge; it mult perish with thee in the grave. Be honeft here, thou shalt be wife hereafter.

Say not unto the crow, why numberest thou feven times the age of thy lord? or to the fawn, why are thine eyes to fee my offspring to an hundredth generations? Are there to be compared with thee in the abufe of life? are they riotous? are they cruel? are they ungrateful? Learn from them rather, that innocence of life and fimplicity of manners are the paths to a good old age.

Knoweft thou to employ life better than these? then lefs of it may fuffice thee.

Man who dares enflave the world when he knows he can enjoy his tyranny but a moment, what would he not aim at if he were immortal?

Enough haft thou of life, but thou regardeft it not: thou are not in want of it, Oman! but thou art prodigal: thou throweft it lightly away, as if thou hadst more than enough; and yet thou repineft that it is not gathered again unto thee? Know that it is not abundance which maketh rich, but economy,

The wife continueth to live from his first period; the fool is always beginning.

Labour not after riches firit, and think thou afterwards wilt enjoy them. He who neglecteth the prefent moment, throweth away all he hath, As the arrow paffeth through the heart, while the warrior knew not that it was coming; fo fhall his life be taken away before he knoweth that he hath it.

What then is life, that man should defire it? what breathing, that he should covet it?

Is it not a scene of delufion, a series of mifadventures, a pursuit of evils linked on all fides together? In the beginning it is ignorance, pain is in its middle, and its end is forrow.

As one wave pusheth on another till both are involved in that behind them, even fo fucceedeth evil to evil in the life of man; the greater and the present swallow up the leffer and the past. Our terrors are real evils; our expectations look forward into improbabilities.

Fools, to dread as mortals, and to defire as if immortal!

What part of life is it that we would wish to remain with us? Is it youth? can we be in love with outrage, licentioufnefs, and temerity? Is it age? then we are fond of infirmities.

It is faid, grey hairs are revered, and in length of days is honour. Virtue can add reverence to the bloom of youth; and without it age plants more wrinkles in the foul than on the forehead.

Is age refpected because it hateth riot? What juftice is in this, when it is not age that defpifeth pleasure, but pleature that defpifeth age,

Be virtuous while thou art young, so shall thine age be honoured.

MAN confidered in regard to his Infir mities, and their Effects.

1. VANITY.

Inconftancy is powerful in the heart of man; intemperance fwayeth it whither it will; defpair engroffeth much of it; and fear proclaimeth, Behold, I fit unrivalled therein! but vanity is beyond them all.

Weep not therefore at the calamities of the human state; rather laugh at its follies. In the hands of the man addicted to vanity, life is but the fhadow of a dream. The