us, and in the most emphatical language, that our life is given for use, not for waste? That no por. tion of it is delivered, but under a strict account; that all of it is entered, as it passes, in the Divine register; and, therefore, that the stewards of such a talent are to expect a future reckoning ?-Behold! the very heavens are bidden to be the ac comptants of our years, and months, and days. O may this induce us to manage them with a vigilant frugality; to part with them, as misers with their hoarded treasure, warily and circumspectly; and, if possible, as merchants with their rich commodities, not without an equivalent, either in personal improvement or social usefulness!

How bright the starry diamonds shine! The ambition of eastern monarchs could imagine no distinction more noble and sublime, than that of being likened to those beaming orbs.-They form night's richest dress; and sparkle upon her sable robe, like jewels of the finest lustre. Like jewels! I wrong their character. The lucid stone has no brilliancy; quenched is the flame even of the golden topaz; compared with those glowing de corations of heaven. How widely are their radiant honours diffused! No nation so remote, but sees their beauty, and rejoices in their usefulness: they have been admired by all preceding generations; and every rising age will gaze on their charms with renewed delight.-How animating, then, is that promise, made to the faithful ministers of the gospel! "They that turn many to

righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever "and evert." Is not this a most winning encouragement, "to spend and be spent," in the service of souls? Methinks, the stars beckon, as they twinkle: methinks, they shew me their splendors, on purpose to inspire me with alacrity, in the race set before me; on purpose to enliven my + Dan, xii, 3.

Numb. xxiv. 17. Dan. viij. 10.

1

activity, in the work that is given me to do.-Yes, ye majestic monitors, I understand your meaning. If honour has any charms; if true glory, the glory which cometh from God, is any attractive; you display the most powerful incitements, to exercise all assiduity in my holy vocation. I will, hence forth, observe your intimation; and, when zeal becomes languid, have recourse to your heavenly lamps: if so be I may rekindle its ardor at those inextinguishable fires.

Of the polar star, it is observable, that, while other luminaries alter their situation, this seems invariably fixed: while other luminaries now mount the battlements of heaven, and appear upon duty; now retire beneath the horizon, and resign to a fresh set the watches of the night; this never departs from its station: this, in every season, maintains an uniform position; and is always to be found in the same tract of the northern sky.-How often has this beamed bright intelligence on the sailor, and conducted the keel to its desired haven! In early ages, those, who went down to the sea in ships, and occupied their business in great waters, had scarce any other sure guide for their wandering vessel: this therefore they viewed with the most solicitous attention; by this, they formed their observations, and regu lated their voyage: when this was obscured by clouds, or enveloped in mists, the trembling mariner was bewildered on the watery waste: his thoughts fluctuated as much as the floating surge; and he knew not where he was advanced, or whither he should steer: but when this auspicious star broke through the gloom, it dissipated the anxiety of his mind, and cleared up his dubious

I speak in conformity to the appearance of the ob ject: for, though this remarkable star revolves round the pole, its motion is so slow, and the circle it describes so small, as render both the revolution and change of si tuation hardly perceivable.

passage: he re-assumed, with alacrity, the manage ment of the helm; and was able to shape his course with some tolerable degree of satisfaction and certainty.

Such, only much clearer in its light, and much surer in its direction, is the holy word of God to those myriads of intellectual beings who are bound for the eternal shores; who, embarked in a vessel of feeble flesh, are to pass the waves of this tem pestuous and perilous world. In all difficulties, those sacred pages shed an encouraging ray; in all uncertainties, they suggest the right determination, and point out the proper procedure. What is still a more inestimable advantage; they, like the star which conducted the eastern sages, make plain the way of access to a Redeemer. They display his unspeakable merits; they discover the method of being interested in his great atonement; and lead the weary soul, tossed by troubles, and shattered by temptations, to that only harbour of peaceful repose.-Let us, therefore, attend to this unerring directory, with the same constancy of regard, as the seafaring man observes his compass: let us become as thoroughly acquainted with this sacred chart, as the pilot is with every trusty mark that gives notice of a lurking rock, and with every open road that yields a safe passage into the port. Above all, let us commit ourselves to this infallible guidance, with the same implicit resignation; let us conform our conduct to its exalted precepts, with the same sedulous eare, as the children of Israel, when sojourning in the trackless desart, followed the pillar of fire, and the motions of the miraculous cloud. So will it introduce us, not into an earthly Canaan, flowing with milk and honey; but into an immortal paradise, where is the fulness of joy, and where are pleasures for evermore. It will introduce us into those happy, happy regions, where our sun shall no more go down, nor our moon withdraw itself;

For the Lord shall be our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning, together with the fatigues of our pilgrimage, shall be ended.

I perceive a great variety in the size and splen dor of those gems of heaven: some are of the first magnitude; others of an inferior order: some glow with intense flames; others glimmer with fainter beams: yet all are beautiful; all have their peculiar lustre, and distinct use; all tend, in their different degrees, to enamel the cope of heaven, and embroider the robe of night.-This circumstance is remarked by an author, whose sentiments are a source of wisdom, and the very standard of truth: "one star," says the apostle of 'the gentiles, "differeth from another star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead."

In the world above, are various degrees of happiness, various seats of honour: some will rise to more illustrious distinctions, and richer joyst: some, like vessels of ample capacity, will admit more copious accessions of light and excellence: yet there will be no want, no deficiency, in any; but a fulness both of divine satisfactions, and personal perfections: each will enjoy all the good, and be adorned with all the glory, that his heart can wish, or his condition receive.-None will know what it is to envy. Not the least malevolence, nor the least selfishness, but everlasting friendship prevails, and a mutual complacency in each other's delight. Love, cordial love, will give every particular saint a participation of all the fruitions, which are diffused through the whole assembly of the blessed.-No one eclipses, but

Isa. lx, 20.

+1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. The great Mr. Mead prefers the sense here given; and the learned Dr. Hammond admits it into his paraphrase: whose joint authority, though far from excluding any other, yet is a sufficient warrant for this application of the words.

Tolle invidiam, & tuum est quod habeo. Tolle invidiam, & meum est quod habes, Augustine.

each reflects light upon his brother. A sweet interchange of rays subsists; all enlightened by the great fountain, and all enlightening one another. By which reciprocal communication of pleasure and amity, each will be continually receiving from, each incessantly adding to, the general felicity.

Happy, supremely happy, they, who are admitted into the celestial mansions. Better to be a door-keeper in those " ivory palaces," than to fill the most gorgeous throne on earth. The very lowest place at God's right-hand is distin guished honour, and consummate bliss.-O! that we may, in some measure, anticipate that beatific state, while we remain in our banishment below! May we, by rejoicing in the superior prosperity of another, make it our own! And, provided the general result is harmony, be content, be pleased, with whatsoever part is assigned to our share in the universal choir of affairs.

While I am considering the heavenly bodies, I must not entirely forget those fundamental laws of our modern astronomy, projection and attrac tion: one of which is the all-combining cement, the other is the ever-operative spring, of the mighty frame. In the beginning, the all-creating fiat impressed a proper degree of motion on each of those whirling orbs: which, if not controlled, would have carried them on, in strait lines, and to endless lengths, till they were even lost in the abyss of space: but the gravitating property, being added to the projectile force, determined their courses to a circular t form, and obliged the re

Psal. xlv. 8.

I am aware, the planetary orbe are not strictly cir cular, but rather elliptical: however, as they are but a small remove from the perfectly round figure, and partake of it incomparably more than the trajectories of the comets, I choose to represent the thing in this view: espe cially, because the notion of a circle is so much more intelligible, to the generality of readers, than that of an