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unprofitable connexion, take pleasure in professing himself your friend, and cheerfully assist you to support the burden of your afflictions?

3. When sickness shall call you to retire from the gay and busy scenes of the world, will he follow you into your gloomy retreat, and listen with attention to your tale of wo? Will he administer the balm of consolation to your fainting spirit? And lastly, when death shall burst asunder every earthly tie, will he shed a tear upon your grave, and lodge the dear remembrance of your mutual friendship in his heart, as a treasure never to be resigned? The man who will not do all this, may be your companion, your flatterer, your séducer-but believe me, he is not your friend.

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True Pleasure.

1. THE man whose heart is replete with pure and unaffected piety, who looks upon the great Creator of the universe, in that just and amiable light which all his works reflect upon him, cannot fail of tasting the sublimest pleasure, in contemplating the stupendous and innumerable effects of his infinite goodness.

2. Whether he looks abroad on the moral or natural world, his reflections must still be attended with delight; and the sense of his own unworthiness, so far from lessening, will increase his pleasure, while it places the forbearing kindness and indulgence of his Creator, in a still more interesting point of view.

3. Here his mind may dwell upon the present, look back to the past, or stretch forward into futurity, with equal satisfaction; and the more he indulges contemplation, the higher will his delight arise. Such a disposition as this, seems to be the most secure foundation on which the fabric of true pleasure can be built.

4. Next to the veneration of the Supreme Being, the love of human kind seems to be the most promising source of pleasure. It is a never-failing one to him, who, possessed of this principle, enjoys all the power of indulging his benevolence; who makes the superiority of his fortune, his knowledge, or his power, subservient to the wants of his fellow-creatures.

5. It is true there are few whose power or fortune are so adequate to the wants of mankind, as to render them capable of performing acts of universal beneficence; but a spirit of universal benevolence may be possessed by all; and the bounteous -Author of Nature has not proportioned the pleasure to the greatness of the effect, but to the greatness of the cause.

6. The contemplation of the beauties of the universe, the cordial enjoyments of friendship, the tender delights of love,

and the rational pleasures of religion, are open to all; and each of them seem capable of giving real happiness. These being the only foundations from which true pleasure springs, it is no wonder that many should be compelled to say they have found it; and still cry out, Who will show us any good?' They seek it in every way but the right way; they want a heart for devotion, humanity, and love, and a taste for what is truly beautiful and admirable.

The Wisdom of Providence.

1. In contemplating the various scenes of life, the vicissitudes of the seasons, the perfect regularity, order, and harmony of nature, we cannot but be filled with wonder and admiration, at the consummate wisdom and beneficence of the all-wise and gracious Creator. His consummate wisdom and goodness have made the various seasons of the year perfectly consonant to the refined feelings of man, and peculiarly adapted them to the universal preservation of nature.

2. Dreary winter is past; its severe cold is mitigated, the returning zephyrs dissolve the fleecy snow, and unlock the frozen streams, which overflow the extensive meadows, and enrich the teeming earth. At length the rapid streams begin to glide gently within their banks; the spacious meadows soon receive their usual verdure, and the whole face of nature assumes a cheerful aspect. By the refreshing showers, and vivifying power of the genial sun, we behold the rapid and amazing progress of vegetation..

3. What is more pleasing to the eye, or grateful to the imagination, than the agreeable and delightsome return of spring? The beauties of nature at once expel the gloomy cares of dreary winter. The benign influence of the sun gives a brisk circulation to the animal fluids, and happily tends to promote the propagation of animated náture. In the spring we behold the buds putting forth their blossoms; in summer we meet the charming prospect of enamelled fields, which promise a rich profusion of autumnal fruits..

4. These delightful scenes afford to man a pleasing anticipation of enjoying the bounties of Providence, cheer him in adversity, and support him under the various misfortunes incident to human life. In the spring, when we behold plants and flowers peeping out of the ground, reviving and flourishing at the approach of the vernal sun; when we behold the seed, which the laborious husbandman casts into the earth, starting into life, and rising into beauty, from the remainder of that which

perished in the preceding autumn, we are filled with the most pleasing sensations at the universal re-animation of nature.

5. The warm and invigorating sun produces myriads of insects, which have been lifeless through the hoary frosts of winter. The herds go forth to graze on the verdant plains. The numerous flocks quit their folds with their young, to feed on the distant mountains. The matin lark, with all the charming choir which nature wakes to cheerfulness and love, tune their melodious voices to hail the welcome return of spring. The busy bee flies over the fields, and extracts the liquid sweets from every flower.

6. How pleasing! how wonderful! how delightful are the scenes presented to our view! The spring of the year is strikingly emblematical of that grand and universal resurrection, which shall commence at the final consummation of all things. May its beauties, therefore, raise our affections to those superiour regions of bliss, into which the truly virtuous shall then enter, and forever enjoy an unfading and eternal spring.

Comforts of Religion.

1. THERE are many who have passed the age of youth and beauty; who have resigned the pleasures of that smiling season; who begin to decline into the vale of years, impaired in their health, depressed in their fortunes, stript of their friends, their children, and perhaps still more tender connections. What resource can this world afford them? It presents a dark and dreary waste, through which there does not issue a single ray of comfort. Every delusive prospect of ambition is now at an end; long experience of mankind, an experience very different from what the open and generous soul of youth had fondly dreampt of, has rendered the heart almost inaccessible to new friendships. The principal sources of activity are taken away, when those for whom we labour, are cut off from us; those who animated, and those who sweetened all the toils of life. Where then can the soul find refuge, but in the bosom of Religion? There she is admitted to those prospects of Providence and futurity, which alone can warm and fill the heart. I speak here of such as retain the feelings of humanity; whom misfortunes have softened, and perhaps rendered more delicately sensible not of such as possess that stupid insensibility, which some are pleased to dignify with the name of philosophy.

2. It might therefore be expected, that those philosophers who think they stand in no need themselves of the assistance of religion to support their virtue, and who never feel the want of

its consolations, would yet have the humanity to consider the very different situation of the rest of mankind; and not endeavour to deprive them of what habit, at least, if they will not allow it to be nature, has made necessary to their morals, and to their happiness. It might be expected, that humanity would prevent them from breaking into the last retreat of the unfortunate, who can no longer be objects of their envy or resentment; and tearing from them their only remaining comfort. The attempt to ridicule religion may be agreeable to some, by relieving them from restraint upon their pleasures; and may render others very miserable, by making them doubt those truths, in which they were most deeply interested; but it can convey real good and happiness to no one individual.

Filial Piety and Obedience.

1. FILIAL piety is the prime affection of the soul, and one of the most sacred and important of all social relations. It is the voice of nature, sanctioned by the authority of reason and revelation, and derived from the best and purest feelings of the heart. Consider that its violation was always regarded, by the wisest and most enlightened people, as the most flagrant breach of morality, and therefore was punished with the severest rigour. Reason fully justifies the principle upon which the laws of the Jews, the Romans, and the Chinese, against refractory and undutiful children, were founded; for filial disobedience is a sure mark of that insensibility, as well as of that ingratitude and injustice, which have a direct tendency to a violation of order, and the commission of crimes.

2. Filial love, on the contrary, is the certain indication of such an amiable temper, as will display itself with uniform benevolence in all relations, in which hereafter, as a man, you will stand to society. It is the root of the most endearing charities; its branches are vigorous, and will bear the most precious, and the most delicious fruit. There is the best reason to presume that an affectionate son will become an affectionate brother, friend, husband, and father. When arrived at the age of mature reason, you will be sensible that the restraints formerly laid upon you by your parents were the effects of true regard, intended to shield you from evil, not to debar you from good, to guard you from danger, not to contract the circle of your pleasures, for the sake of asserting authority, or displaying power.

3. Let, therefore, no foolish vanity, no levity or caprice of temper, no arrogance, arising from superiour fortune, or the

consciousness of superiour or more fashionable accomplishments, so far possess your mind, and blind your understanding, as to induce you to treat your parents with inattention or disrespect. Always remember that your duty to them is inferiour only to that which binds you to the great Author of your being; and that neither the implicit submission of childhood, nor the return of affectionate offices in a more advanced age, can ever cancel your obligations for a father's protection, or repay the solicitudes of a mother's tenderness.

4. Reflect that time pursues his flight on rapid wings, and that the hours of youth, like the waters of an impetuous stream, roll on never to return. You must be sensible, that the portion of life appropriated to your education, is not, if duly considered, a season for pleasure and pastime alone; that the days will come, when you will have no leisure, from the engagements of the world, to increase your stock of knowledge by study, and to improve by regular application those talents which Providence has committed to your care, for the use of which you are accountable to conscience, to society, and to Heaven; from the abuse and neglect of which will spring sad regret and unavailing sorrow; but from the cultivation of which will arise the delights of a self-applauding mind, and the respect and honour of the virtuous and the wise.

5. In whatever station you may be placed, fail not to improve every opportunity, and to seek every means of acquiring knowledge, afforded by tutors and professors; cultivate the acquaintance of the learned, the accomplished, the serious, and well disposed; disregard the solicitations of the idle, and resist the allurements of the dissipated, the intemperate, and the irregular, who may urge you to drain the bowl of intoxication, and transgress the bounds of discipline. Look to the result of their misconduct, and you will remark, that far from affording any true pleasure to an ingenuous mind, it terminates in disgrace, punishment, and ruin.

6. Consider that no habit is so conducive to the accomplishment of the great ends of education, as a habit of diligence. Idleness is the parent of every vice; but well directed activity is the source of every laudable pursuit, and honourable attainment. It is peculiarly adapted to the frame and constitution of youth, promotes good humour, and is conducive to health. Indolence and inactivity are no less subversive of every purpose of mental improvement than of the general happiness of life. An idle boy will gradually lose the energy of his mind, will grow indifferent to the common objects of pursuit, except such as sti