fhines around me.. I have daily experience that to do good and to bless is thy eternal employment.

10. And fhall I not love thee with all my heart, and foul, and mind, and ftrength? Shall not the idea of thy existence and amiable attributes become the most natural, and most delightful and confoling idea I am capable of forming.

11. Can I think of thee, O my God-of thee who art my Creator, my Benefactor, my Father, as well as of all other beings-without experiencing the moft delightful fatisfaction, without feeling the moft lively tranfports of gratitude and joy?

12. I rejoice in thee, O my God, I rejoice in thinking that thou existest, that thou art an eternal and infinitely perfect Being. I rejoice in thinking of the clofe relations which unite me to thee. I rejoice in thinking on the ways of thy providence, on the manner in which thou haft arranged all things in the natural and moral world.

13. I rejoice to think that every thing takes place by thy will, that it is thou who ordereft and directeft all things; that all is good and perfect in its kind; that all is the effect and proof of thine infinite love. It is in this light I would henceforward fee all things; bleffings and afflictions, pleasures and pains, all that befals others and myself.

14. I will not forget that all things come from thee, provided by thy wifdom and beftowed by thy love. My joy, my happinefs, fhall always confift in loving thee, in conforming my will to thine, in refigning myfelf entirely into thy hands as into the hands of the best of fathers, and hereby ftrengthening more and more the ties which unite me to thee.

15. It is true my grofs fenfes, and the different ties which unite me to the earth, do not permit me so often to elevate my foul to thee, nor to perceive thine adorable perfections and auguft prefence in that lively manner, my foul defires, in the moments confecrated to piety;

16. But I will cherish the hope that I fhall hereafter know thee better, adore thee more worthily, unite myself more closely to thee, and love thee with more ardor; and then fhall I experience, in contemplating thee, O my God, the most pure and most ravishing joy.

I

A SURE RULE IN THE CONDUCT OF Life.

1

1. WHAT is the wifeft ufe I can make of the prefent life? What road ought I to pursue, in order most safely to attain the end of my existence? How can I most fuccessfully prepare myself for a more perfect and happy state after death? How different are the paths in which men walk! How oppofite and contradictory are the maxims they adopt, and the ends they propofe to themselves!

2. Nothing is more common than to see them wandering into forbidden paths, and failing of the end they have in view! To avoid falling into the fame mistakes, I need a fure and fafe rule which I may follow without danger, and an enlightened guide in whom I may entirely confide.

3. But where fhall I find either the one or the other, unlefs in the heavenly doctrine of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and the example which he hath left us. Yes, he is the way, the truth, and the life. To him we must continually look, after him we must frame our lives; to his voice we must be attentive and obedient, and in his steps we must tread.

4. Whoever follows him with fincerity and perfeverance cannot go aftray; but will finally attain the highest degree of perfection of which he is capable. May it be my endea vor to become every day more like him, conformed to his example, and obedient to his precepts !

5. Grant me, O merciful God, thine affiftance, and the aids of that fpirit which thou didst fhed fo abundantly on thy well beloved Son. Thus fupported and protected, I fhall furmount the greatest difficulties, and fhall find my greatest happiness and glory in the practice of virtue, and the progrefs of holiness.

A PARENT'S REFLECTIONS ON HIS DUTY.

1. O GOD, the Creator of all inen, and the fource of all happiness, thou makest use of thy creatures as the inftrument by whom thou communicatest thy gifts, and even life

itself, to other beings of the fame fpecies; and by this plan thou makeft them partakers of thy fupreme felicity, in the divine and heavenly pleafures of making others happy.

2. Thou haft permitted me to tafte of this happiness, Thou haft given me children, and committed them to my direction and care. What a valuable prefent of thy bounty! What an abundant fource of pleasure and joy for me! Thou hast implanted in me the tenderest affection to my feeble offspring.

3.

Thou haft made me as feelingly alive to their pleafures and pains as to my own. Thou haft not left my children dependent on the cool dictates of reason, but haft urged me to the full discharge of my duty by the ftimulat ens of an instinct more fpeedy and forcible in its operations tran any deliberate arguments could poffibly be.

4.

Thou haft engaged and animated me to do them all the good in my power by every feeling of the heart. This affection which burns within me is a fpark of that love which thou bearest to all thy creatures. But this parental affection ought to be, like thine, a wife and enlightened principle. Its object should be, not an external and momentary happiness, but a true and permanent felicity.

5. It is not merely to the fubfiftence of my children, to the growth and fhape of their bodies, that I would devote my chief attention, but, principally, to the culture of their minds and hearts.

6. It is my duty to form them to rational men, fincere christians, useful members of fociety, affectionate husbands and wives, tender parents, good masters, faithful friends, and virtuous citizens.

7. It is my duty to teach them to love their Creator above all, to love their fellow creatures as their brethren, and to rejoice in the perfuafion that thou art our common Father. I fhould form them not only for time, but for eternity.

8. This is one of the most noble and honorable employments, one of the most important and delightful duties which thou haft required of me. I will facrifice every thing, the flattering pleasures and the fweeteft enjoyments of life, to this important task.

9. No age, no state, no other relation of life can fet me free from fo facred an obligation. It is myself who must dif gation. It is myel

charge it; and I cannot, either wholly or in part, make over this duty to another; fince it is impoffible that an hireling fhould feel the same sentiments which animate the breast of a parent, and should be fufceptible of the fame zeal and the fame patience.

10. If I am obliged to have recourse, in this important office, to the affiftance and talents of others, they can act only under my direction, and as workers together with me.

11. This duty is undoubtedly difficult and laborious; but if, by thine affiftance, O my God, I acquit myself with fuccefs, what a train of pleasures and advantages will refult from it to myfelf and fociety.

12. To guide feeble and ignorant creatures in the road to happiness; to teach them to make a good ufe of their powers; to contribute to the unfolding of the faculties and difpofitions with which they are endued;

13. To guard innocent beings from error, vice and mifery, who are exposed to a thousand dangers and temptations; to throw the feeds of truth, wisdom and virtue into their young minds, as yet open to every impreffion; to cherish and strengthen more and more the good difpofitions which begin to fpring up in them;

14. To bring them acquainted with the defign of their being, both prefent and future; to keep them at a distance from the poisonous fources of vice and folly, and to open to them those of wisdom, contentment, and joy; to fit them for acting their part on the great theatre of the world, with credit to themfelves and fatisfaction to their fellow creatures.

15. What a noble and fublime employment! What a recompenfe will attend it in this world and another. May I be more penetrated with a fenfe of its dignity and importance, that I may acquit myself with a zeal that fhall enfure its fuccefs.

16. Yes, to give my children a liberal and chriftian education fhall be my principal and my fweeteft occupation. Every thing animates me to this duty-nature, religion, the happiness of my children, my own happiness, and that of fociety.

17. Am I not anfwerable for my conduct with respect to them, to the tribunal of my own confcience, to fociety,

and to God, who is the Father of my children? Do not their usefulness or unufefulness in the world; the good or evil they shall do; their happiness or misery, prefent or future-do they not depend in a great measure on the education and cultivation I shall have given them?

18. May I not form the moft delightful and rejoicing expectations with refpect to futurity if I have zealously endeavored to give them good inftruction? On the contrary, muft I not expect the most cutting forrow if I have neglected this duty, or have acquitted myself ill in it?

19. What wifh fhall I one day form, when death shall feparate me from them? What will then confole me, and enable me to go with tranquillity into the state of retribu. tion which awaits me in another world?

20. Will it fatisfy me to think that my children are fufficiently advanced to do without me; that I leave them a decent patrimony, or even confiderable riches; that they are allied to opulent families; that I have laid the foundation of their advancement; that I have fmoothed the way to important offices, dignities and fortune? Will all this make me easy respecting their future lot, and give me the confoling hope of meeting them again in the mansions of eternal felicity?

21. When the fplendor and pomp of this world shall van. ifh from my fight, what fhall I then wifh with the greatest anxiety? Will it not be that my children may be wife and virtuous men, and good chriftians; and that they may perfevere in the path of wisdom and virtue? In my last moments it will little concern me whether they be in other refpects rich or poor, elevated to the pinnacle of greatness, or loft in obfcurity.

22. With what tranquillity fhall I then be able to feparate from them, and leave them under the direction of their heavenly Father! And fhall I not at present afpire, fhall I not inceffantly ftrive to obtain this end? Shall I not do all in my power to attain it, and to procure for myself fo delightful a fatisfaction on the bed of death?

23. It is true the most careful education will not always fucceed. The most precious feed may be choked by bad examples, by the feduction of the corrupters of youth, or by the dominion of fenfual appetites and irregular paffions