II:

Oh, how fhall Words with equal Warmth
My Gratitude declare,

That glows within my ravish'd Heart?

But thou can't read it there.

III.

Thy Providence my Life fuftain'd,
And all my Wants redreft,
When in the filent Womb I lay,

And hung upon the Breast.

IV.

To all my weak Complaints and Cries,
Thy Mercy lent an Ear,

'Ere yet my feeble Thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in Pray'r.

V.

Unnumber'd Comforts to my Soul
Thy tender Care bestow'd,
Before my Infant-Heart conceiv'd

From whence those Comforts flow'd.

VI.

When in the flipp'ry Paths of Youth
With heedlefs Steps I ran,
Thine Arm, unfeen, convey'd me fafe,
And led me up to Man.

VII.

Thro' hidden Dangers, Toils, and Deaths,
It gently clear'd my Way,

And thro' the pleafing Snares of Vice,

More to be fear'd than they.

VIII. When

VIII.

When worn with Sickness, oft haft thou
With Health renew'd my Face ;
And, when in Sins and Sorrows funk,
Reviv'd my Soul with Grace.

IX.

Thy bounteous Hand, with worldly Blifs,
Hath made my Cup run o'er,
And, as a kind and faithful Friend,
Has doubled all my Store.

X.

Ten thousand thoufand precious Gifts
My daily Thanks employ;

Nor is the leaft a chearful Heart,
That taftes thofe Gifts with Joy.

XI.

Thro' ev'ry Period of my Life,
Thy Goodness I'll purfue,
And after Death in diftant Worlds
The glorious Theme renew.

XII.

When Nature fails, and Day and Night
Divide thy Works no more,

My ever-grateful Heart, O Lord,
Thy Mercy fhall adore.

XIII.

Thro' all Eternity to thee
A joyful Song I'll raife;
For, Oh! Eternity's too short
To utter all thy Praife.

There

here

There is nothing in itfelf more excellent than Religion; but to raife Quarrels and Difputes about it, is to difhonour it. It is admirable to me, that that which was defign'd to make us happy in another World, fhould, by its Divifions, make us moft miferable in this; and that what was ordain'd for the faving of Men's Souls, fhould be perverted to the taking away their Lives.

A found Faith is the best Divinity; a good Confcience the best Law, and Temperance the best Phyfick.

The best way to keep out wicked Thoughts, is, always to be employ'd in good ones: Let your Thoughts be where your Happinefs is, and let your Heart be where your Thoughts are; fo, tho' your Habitation be on Earth, your Conversation will be in Heaven.

Make use of Time, if thou lovest Eternity : Know, Yesterday cannot be recall'd; To-morrow cannot be affur'd; To-Day is only thine, which, if once loft, is loft for ever.

Confider. the Shortness of your Life, and Certainty of Judgment; the great Reward for the Good, and fevere Punishment for the Bad; therefore make even with Heaven by Repentance at the End of every Day, and fo you fhall have but one Day to repent of before your Death.

Honours may leave their Owners, Riches may
Affume fwift Wings, and quickly fly away:
Pleafure, like Lightning, but falutes our Eyes,
With one bright Flash, and then falls fick and dies;
But Learning, and the Knowledge of rare Arts,
That Man the most enjoys, that most imparts;
Endeavour, therefore, that your Breast and Brain
The best of Learning's Treasures may retain.

For a Man to be endowed with Learning, and
Knowledge in the useful Arts and Sciences, de-
G
ferves

ferves Commendation; but for a Man tò employ fuch Endowments to the Honour of God, and the Service of his Prince and Country, is highly commendable.

He that would be before hand with the World, must be fo with his Bufinefs; 'tis not only ill Management, but argues a great deal of Sloth, to defer that till To-morrow, which ought to be done To-day.

No Pleafure is deny'd to the painful Perfon. By Ufe and Labour a Man may be brought to a new Nature; for as the sweetest Rose grows upon the sharpest Prickle, fo the hardest Labours bring forth the fweetest Profit.

The Rudiments of Arithmetick are very fignificant Leffons to us; by our Birth we have our Being; Youth is Addition; Manhood, Multiplication; Old Age, Subftraction; and Death, Divifion.

We ought not to difcover the Imperfections of a Hufband before his Wife; of a Father before his Children; of a Lover in Company with his Miftrefs, nor of Masters in Prefence of their Scholars; for it touches a Man to the Quick, to be rebuked before those whom he defires fhould think honourably of him.

A constant and moderate Sobriety is much better than violent Abftinences, made by Fits, and mingled with many Intermiffions.

You will never better remember your felf, than when you fhall think that fome Day you must die. The Confideration of Death is admirably fruitful for it teaches us, what we are now; it fhews us, what we fhall be one Day, and inftructs us, what we ought to do during the Courfe of this Life: In fine, Death is the most exact Rule of Men's Lives, and the Contemplation thereof does them more good than they imagine to themselves. Learning

Learning is the only Ornament and Jewel of Man's Life, without which he cannot attain to any manner of Preferment in a Common-Wealth.

Antifthenes the Philofopher being asked, what he got by his Learning? Answered, That he could talk with himself; he could live alone, and needed not to go abroad,. and be beholden to others for Delight. It was juftly laid of Sir John Mason, that Serioufnefs is the belt Wifdom; Temperance the best Phyfick, and a good Confcience the best Estate.

When News came to King Anaxagoras of the Death of his Son, at which it was thought he would have been much troubled, he only calmly replied, I know that I begat him mortal.

King Artaxerxes being almoft ready to perifh for Thirft, was constrained to drink puddle Water, and protested, He never drank Wine with half that Delight, wherewith he now relished this filthy Water. To the hungry Soul every bitter Thing is fweet, in a Time of Neceffity, a little feems much, and that which is bad appears very good.

Cato was fo grave, fo wife, fo good a Man, that none durft commit any Sin in his Prefence, whence it grew to be a proverbial Caveat among the Romans one to another, Take heed what ⚫ you do, Cato fees you.' O how should Chriftians ftand in Awe of the all-feeing God, and fay to their own Hearts, and one to another, 'Take heed of your Ways, for the Lord looks on you!'

If any fpeak ill of thee, confider whether he has Truth on his Side; and if fo, reform thyself, that his Cenfures may not affect thee. The Way to filence Calumny, is to be always exercised in fuch Things as are Praife worthy.

Seneca mentions a noble Saying of Demetrius, That nothing would be more unhappy than a • Man that had never known Affliction; and comGa ⚫ pares