if, with equal ardour, he delivers himself on creation and providence, on politics and morals,-I suspect his HEART! To such a preacher, the observation of a clergyman will apply :-" Sir, I thank you for your sermon; but I fear that your very great vehemence has injured yourself without affording any advantage to your hearers."

No. LXII. PEACEFULNESS.

How important is a peaceable disposition in society! A contentious one is fruitful of sin. The passionate are like a fleet of ships on a rough sea, in a dark night, in continual danger of running foul of each other; and no vessel can give a shock to another without receiving some injury.

In every society there are persons who wish to make themselves the rule of the rest: no coin must be current without their image and superscription. They give praise to that truth or virtue only, which they suppose reflects honour on themselves. Sobriety must never expect the good word of drunkenness; profligacy will condemn prudence; profaneness will mock piety; and the zealous christian be condemned by the lukewarm.

No. LXIII.-EDUCATION.

Who would think that burnished gold and polished steel, should have been in an obscure state, like the stones of the earth? The mind of man, improved by education, is just as different from the same mind in the state of nature.

No. LXIV. THE TRUTH OF BIBLE HISTORY.

The bones of animals, shells of fishes, fruits of trees, are found buried at all depths of the earth, and even in the midst of the hardest stone or marble. Whence argue:

1. The bodies were transported and deposited by a flood of waters; because most of them belonged to the sea.

2. That the matter of the earth must have been in a state of solution, when this happened; because it could not otherwise have inclosed sea-shells, and filled up their cavities through the smallest apertures.

3. That the flood was general or common to the whole world; because these monuments of it are found in all countries of the earth; on the highest mountain and in tracts most remote from the sea.

Such bodies must have been the remains of a former earth,— because they could not be the productions of the present. All former productions, of all climates, were floated on water, subject to wind, tides and currents, into one place!

Accordingly we find the fruits of the East and West Indies; bones, teeth, and shells from fish of different seas; the elephant of Africa, the tortoise of America, all near to one another in the same spot.

An instance to verify this fact has been found in the isle of Sheppey, in Kent.

What a burying place of a former earth! and what a testimony to the truth of Scripture!

No. LXV. THE OLD SERPENT.

The bite of the Serpent diffuses death so rapidly through the body, that he may be said to have "the power of death." He is double-tongued and insidious; often undiscovered, until he has given the fatal wound. Wicked men are vipers too.

What a just image of Satan, who bears his name, as a liar and a murderer.

No. LXVI. MISREPRESENTATION.

Truth misrepresented, answers all the purposes of defamation better than a lie; because there is some foundation of reason and fact, to build upon.

No. LXVII. ALL SHOULD BE TAUGHT.

All arguments against teaching the poor may be answered on one consideration:-That God has given to man, a revelation in writing-it must therefore be good for man to read. How read, unless taught? Is not ignorance dangerous? And children should patiently and perseveringly proceed to acquire by heart, as they glean corn, an ear at a time, until the amount is great.

No. LXVIII. SELF-DENIAL.

Self-denial is not peculiar to the Gospel. The merchant leaves his native country, his relations and friends, all his domestic comforts traverses 'the ocean at the hazard of his life, is scorched or frozen, for what?-Gain. The soldier for honour and promotion, endures the fatigues of a campaign, the discipline of a camp, and the dangers of a battle. Many subject themselves to the humours of the capricious and imperious,-in expectation of a legacy. The

physician for fame and profit, denies himself rest and leisure. The scholar sacrifices his rest, his sight, his health, to the advantages of learning; and for want of it, how many are now sick, who might have been well, how many are poor, who might have been rich, how many are in prison, who might have been free!

Self-denial, then, is a guard on our property, our liberty, our character, our health and our lives!

No. LXIX.-USE AND ABUSE.

THE happiness of man depends on the apostle's distinction being well observed," using the world, so as not to abuse it," for every creature of God is good as it is used;-but disappoints, if abused.

No. LXX. THE IMAGINATION.

THE Imagination forms and figures, as a potter does the clay, or as a seal gives the impression. The first motion of sin begins in the Imagination. The passions act to fulfil the visions it entertains. Love and hatred, hope and fear, envy, revenge and despair, operate according to the images the mind has formed of persons and things; of itself within and of the world without. The slightest affront gives unpardonable offence, to the man who has formed a great idea of himself. So our ideas of worldly wealth and fame

govern us.

On the stage, the self-murderer appears with dignity, the robber is merry and successful. What images! a sound imagination is like a mirror, plain and bright, and reflects all objects truly; but if its polish be injured, it reflects them imperfectly; and we conceive things slowly and obscurely. If the mirror have a false figure, it reflects the image wrong; it will make great things appear little and little things great, or even distorted.

Satan presents images to the imagination for torment. This is the seat of madness!-it creates, magnifies and multiplies the evils. of life.

Let us, therefore, learn to govern the appetites, and avoid evil books-to study scriptures, where true images are found: let us not neglect the use of bodily exercise.-Faith and imagination began our conflict, and continue them. What imagination raises, faith throws down. Spirituality of mind is the best antidote against an evil imagination.

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No. LXXI. AMUSEMENTS.

BALLS, plays and cards, are not consistent with the principles, the spirit, nor the best examples of the New Testament. Would Jesus Christ have accepted an invitation to either? No: but this question will be thought too close.-Why should it? The scripture saith, "let the same mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus ;”—and declares, that " he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit; " he is united to Christ in judgment, affection, taste and design. “He hath left us an example, that we should follow his steps." In vain then I am told, that these fashionable amusements are esteemed by the best company; for Jesus Christ, and those who best imitate him, are the best company. It would be no difficult matter to prove, that these amusements are perfectly agreeable to the vain, the gay and the giddy; and equally pleasing to the infidel, the profane, the idle, and the debauchee. To call either the best company, is to "call evil good, and good evil." They are called diversions, and truly; for they divert the soul from its most valuable interests, nourish a corrupt and trifling habit, and render it disaffected to "salvation from its sins."

They are designed as "pastimes;" but can time so passed to the judgment seat, afford any thing else than a justification of their condemnation, when such deluded souls shall give an account of time so passed and abused? Such persons say, that pleasures help to kill time but will not such murdered time haunt them in sickness and kill them in turn, in body and soul. How many have been killed suddenly, in these exercises?-Many more by heating their blood, corrupting their passions,-by foul air, or cold air on their inflamed lungs, have lodged a mortal disease in their bodies! This is so striking a truth, that when Mr. Adair, a physician at Bath declared his intention of writing against such assemblies, the other physicians intreated him to desist from such a design, and asked him, if the assembly rooms were deserted, how twenty-six physicians then living in Bath, could be supported?

The affected lady says, after her ball, "I am so fatigued, that I am fit for nothing." Pray, madam, who required this at your hands? Had your maker recommended it, the duty would have been a burden; but he does not require you to exhaust your strength, waste your time, injure your health, disqualify your mind and body for personal and relative duties. This is your sin. You call such pleasures, relaxations; and truly your professed principles, your body and soul are relaxed with a witness; your soul is disqualified for religion. So true, so awfully true are the apostle's words, "She that liveth in (worldly) pleasure, is dead while she liveth!"

The divine command is, "Flee from all appearance of evil.”— And Phil. i., 27; Mat. v, 14.

To oppose these vanities may subject me to the charge of being an enemy to cheerfulness. What! can the devotion of the night to such dissipation, render you cheerful the next day? Can it cheer you under a diseased body, the death of your relatives, your own death, or the views of a Judgment Day? Is this consistent with your prayer "thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven?" Does the will of God promote melancholy? Are not men happy in proportion as they live in God's will? Does not that Gospel which charges you to redeem the time," cheer the soul with salvation, peace of conscience, faithful promises, and enlivening prospects? And dare you charge on God such an inference? Did you ever spend a night with half the exertion for the salvation of your soul, as you have at a ball? Go on, then, and in one of your delightful amusements, its tendency to afford you cheerfulness may be tried, by a mortal disease on your lungs, or an event more sudden and awful, which may speak our Lord's language forcibly to you,"Thou fool: this night thy soul shall be required of thee!"

No. LXXII. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

EVERY sinner will have "a refuge of lies,"proposed to him, adapted to his circumstances. To a rich man Satan proposes liberality, or charity, to procure divine favour. To a poor man in distress, -hearing, reading and praying. To one-great sorrow, fasting, and a repetition of prayer and reading. To another-honesty, sobriety and faithfulness. He suggests, that God is good, and cannot damn a creature; that is, he is neither holy, just nor true. Future repentance, is not unfrequently resolved on; or, if no delay be admitted, they think, talk, read, hear of Christ, and commend him, without actually believing in him for salvation from sin.

No. LXXIII.-SOCIETY.

MAN is a sociable creature, delighting in the society of his own species, and should desire their happiness next to his own. Instinct, the gift of reason, the faculty of speech, our necessities, and especially religion, are the sources of the sociable disposition.

No. LXXIV.-ANXIETY.

AN anxious regard to futurity, in this world, wastes our time, disturbs our peace, and obstructs the discharge of our duty.Through what glass can we look, but that of the imagination tinctured by the passions, which misrepresents every object; dazzling us by their brightness, or sinking us by their obscurity. Imagination magnifies little things, and diminishes great ones. Let us