meadows. You was You was pleased with the lovely visitants, that brought beauty on their wings, and melody in their throats. But could you insure the continuance of this agreeable entertainment? no truly. At the least disturbing noise, at the least terrifying appearance, they start from their seats, they mount the skies, and are gone in an instant, are gone for ever. Would you choose to have a happiness, which bears date with their arrival, and expires at their departure? If you could not be content with a portion, enjoyable only through such a fortuitous term, not of years, but of moments; O! take up with nothing earthly, set your affections on things above; there alone is no variableness or shadow of turning."

Job is not a more illustrious pattern of patience than an eminent exemplification of this remark.View him in his private estate: he heaps up silver as the dust; he washes his steps in butter; and the rock pours him out rivers of oil.-View him in his public character. Princes revere his dignity; the aged listen to his wisdom; every eye -beholds him with delight, every tongue loads him. with blessings.-View him in his domestic circumstances. On one hand he is defended by a troop of sons, on the other adorned with a train of daughters, and on all sides surrounded by

very great household."-Never was human felicity so consummate, never was disastrous revolution so sudden. The lightning, which consumed his cattle, was not more terrible, and scarce more instantaneous. The joyful parent is bereft of his offspring, and his "children are buried in death." The man of affluence is stript of his abundance, and he who was clothed in scarlet, embraces the dunghill. The venerable patriarch is the derision of scoundrels, and the late darling of an indulgent Providence is become "a brother to dragons, a "companion of owls."-Nor need we go back to former ages for proofs of this afflicting truth. Iu

our times, in all times, the wheel continues the same incessant whirl: and frequently those, who are triumphing to-day in the highest elevations of joy, to-morrow are bemoaning the instability of mortal affairs in the very depths of misery.Amidst so much fluctuation and uncertainty, how wretched is the condition which has no anchor of the soul sure and stedfast. May thy loving kindness, O God! be our present treasure, and thy future glory our reversionary inheritance? Then shall our happiness not be like the full-orbed moon, which is "a light that decreaseth in its per"fection;" but like the sun, when he goeth forth in his strength, and knoweth no other change but that of shining more and more unto the perfect day.

Methinks, in this ever-varying sphere, I see a representation, not only of our temporal advantages, but also of our spiritual accomplishments. Such, I am sure, is what the kind partiality of a friend would call my righteousness; and such, I am apt to suspectt, is the righteousness of every

I believe, I may venture to apply, what the Temanite says of the affairs of the wicked, to all sublunary things; as a true description of their very great instability. Job xxii. 16. T1D py rendered by Schultens, Flumen fusum fundamentum corum: their foundation (or what they reckon their most solid and stable possession) is a flood poured out which is one of the boldest images, and most poetical beauties, I ever met with in any language, sacred or profane. In order to have a tolerable conception of the image, and a taste of its beauty, you must suppose a torrent of waters, rushing in broken cataracts, and with impetuous rapidity, from a steep and craggy mountain. Then, imagine to yourself an edifice, built upon the surge of this rolling precipice, which has no other basis than one of those headlong whirling waves. Was there ever such a representation of transitory prosperity, tending, with inconceivable swiftness, unto ruin? Yet such is every form of human felicity, that is not grounded on Jesus, and a participation of his merits, who is the Rock of Ages; on Jesus, and his image formed in our hearts, which is the hope of glory.

I would not be understood, as measuring, in this respect, others by myself; but as taking my estimate from the unerring standard of scripture. And indeed, proceed

man living. Now we exercise it in some few instances, in some little degrees. Anon, sin revives, and leads our souls into a transient, though unwilling captivity. Now we are meek; but soon a ruffling accident intervenes, and turns our composure into a fretful disquietude. Now we are humble; soon we reflect upon some inconsider able or imaginary superiority over others, and a sudden elatement swells our minds. Now, perhaps, we possess a clean heart, and are warm with holy love. But, O! how easily is the purity of our effections sullied! how soon the fervour of our gratitude cooled! And is And is there not something amiss even in our best moments? something to be ashamed of in all we are, something to be repented of in all we do?

With what gladness, therefore, and adoring thankfulness, should we "submit to the righteous

ness of our incarnate God;" and receive as a divine gift what cannot be acquired by human works! A writer of the first distinction and nicest discernment styles the obedience of our glorious Surety an Surety an everlasting righteousness † ;

ing on this evidence, supported by this authority, I might have ventured farther than a bare suspicion. For, "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" says the Spirit of Inspiration by Solomon (Eccles. vii. 90.)-Nay, such is the purity, and so extensive are the demands, of the divine law, that an apostle makes a still more humbling acknowledgment; " In many things

we offend all." (Jam. iii. 2.)-And the unerring Teacher, who most thoroughly knew our frame, directs the most advanced, most established, and most watchful Christians, to pray daily for the forgiveness of their daily trespasses. To which testimonies, I beg leave to add an elegant passage from the Canticles; because, it not only expresses the sentiment of this paragraph, bat illustrates it by the very same similitude. She (the church) is fair as the moon; clear as the sun. Fair as the moon, the lesser and changeable light, in her sanctification; clear as the sun, the greater and invariable luminary, in ber justification: the inherent holiness of believers being imperfect, and subject to many inequalities; while their imputed righteousness is every way complete, and constantly like itself. Cant. vi, 10. Rom, v. 17-X, 3. ...t Dan, ix, 24,

such as was subject to no interruption, nor ob scured by the least blemish, but proceeded always in the same uniform tenor of the most spotless perfection. This righteousness, in another sense, answers the prophet's exalted description, as its beneficial and sovereign efficacy knows no end, but lasts through all our life; lasts in the trying hour of death, lasts at the decisive day of judg ment, lasts through every generation, and will last to all eternity.

Sometimes I have seen that resplendent globe stript of her radiance; or, according to the empha tical language of scripture," turned into blood." The earth, interposing with its opake body, intercepted the solar rays, and cast its own gloomy shadow on the moon. The malignant influence gained upon her sickening orb, extinguished more and more the feeble remainders of light; till at length, like one in a deep swoon, no comeliness was left in her countenance; she was totally overspread with darkness.-At this juncture what a multitude of eyes were gazing upon the rueful spectacle! Even of those eyes which disregarded the empress of the night, or beheld her with indifference, when robed in glory and riding in her triumphal chariot, she shed a softer day through the nations. But now, under these circumstances of disgrace, they watch her motions with the most prying attention. In every place her misfortune is the object of general observation, and the prevailing topic of discourse in every company.

Is it not thus with regard to persons of eminence in their respective spheres? Kings, at the head of their subjects; nobles, surrounded with their dependents; and (after names of so much grandeur, may I be allowed to add) ministers labouring among their people, are each in a con

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be lád, Mati, v. 14.

spicuous station. Their conduct in its minutest step, especially in any miscarriage, will be nar rowly surveyed, and critically scanned. Can there be a louder call, to ponder the paths of their feet, and to be particularly jealous over all their ways? Those who move in inferior life may grossly offend, and little alarm be given, perhaps no notice taken. But it is not to be expected that the least slip in their carriage, the least flaw in their character, will pass undiscovered. Malice, with her eagle eyes, will be sure to discern them; while censure, with her shrill trumpet, will be as far from concealing them, as calumny, with her treacherous whispers, from extenuating them. A planet may sink below the horizon, or a star, for several months, withdraw its shining, and scarce. one in ten thousand perceive the loss; but if the moon suffers a transient eclipse, almost half the world are spectators of her dishonour.

Very different was the case, when, at this late hour, I have taken a solitary walk on the western cliffs. At the foot of the steep mountain, the sea, all clear and smooth, spread itself into an im mense plain, and held a watery mirror to the skies. Infinite heights above, the firmament stretched its azure expanse, bespangled with unnumbered stars, and adorned with the moon, 66 walking in brightness." She seemed to contemplate herself with a peculiar pleasure, while the transparent surface both received and returned her silver image. Here, instead of being covered with sackcloth, she shone with double lustre, or rather with a lustre multiplied in proportion to the number of beholders and their various situations.

Such, methinks, is the effect of an exemplary behaviour in persons of exalted rank. Their course, as it is nobly distinguished, so it will behappily influential. Others will catch the dif

Job xxxi. 26.