found, the most perfect fources are opened of joy and blifs. This earth was never intended for more than the outer court, the porch, through which the righteous were to pass into the temple and fanctuary of the Divinity. When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part fhall be done

away.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

WITH reverence we contemplate the hand of

God in the fignal difpenfations of Providence among men; deciding the fate of battles; raifing up, or overthrowing empires; cafting down the proud, and lifting the low from the duft. But what are fuch occurrences to the power and wifdom which He difplays in the higher revolutions of the univerfe; by his word, forming or diffolving worlds; at his pleasure, tranfplanting his creatures from one world to another; that he may carry on new plans of wisdom and goodness, and fill all space with the wonders of creation? Succeffive generations of men have arisen to poffefs the earth. By turns they have paffed away and gone into regions unknown. Us he hath raised up, to occupy their room. We too fhall fhortly disappear. But

human

Life only Creation is

human existence never perishes. changes its form, and is renewed. ever filling, but never full. When the whole intended courfe of the generations of men fhall be finished, then, as a fhepherd leads his flock from one pasture to another, fo the great Creator leads forth the fouls which he has made into new and prepared abodes of life. They go from this earth to a new earth, and new heavens; and till they remove only from one province of the divine dominion to another. Amidst all those changes of nature, the great Ruler himfelf remains without variableness or fhadow of turning. To him, these fucceffive revolutions of being are but as yesterday when it is paft. From his eternal throne he beholds worlds rifing and paffing away; measures out, to the creatures who inhabit them, powers and faculties fuited to their ftate; and distributes among them rewards and punishments, proportioned to their actions.What an astonishing view do fuch meditations afford of the kingdom of God; infinite in its extent; everlasting in its duration; exhibiting, in every period, the reign of perfect righteoufi.efs and wifdom!

INACTIVITY.

PERSONS in eafy circumstances, who are

not engaged in any of the laborious occupations of the world, and who are, at the fame tine, without energy of mind to call them forth into any other line of active exertion, have often fo many vacant hours, and are so much at a lofs how to fill up their time, that their spirits utterly fink; they become burdenfome to themselves, and to every one around them; and drag with pain the load of exiftence. What a convincing proof is hereby afforded, that man was defigned by his Creator to be an active being, whose happiness is to be found not merely in reft, but in occupation and purfuit? The idle are doomed to fuffer the natural punishment of their inactivity and folly; and for their complaints of the tirefomeness of life there is no remedy but to awake from the dream of floth, and to fill up with proper employment the miferable vacancies of their days. Let them ftudy to become useful to the world, and they fhall foon become lefs burdenfome to themselves. They fhall begin to enjoy exiftence, and fhall reap the rewards which Providence has annexed to virtuous activity.

CHA

CONST

CHARITY

ONSISTS not in fpeculative ideas of generai benevolence floating in the head, and leaving the heart, as fpeculations too often do, untouched and cold. Neither is it confined to that indolent good-nature, which makes us reft satisfied with being free from inveterate malice, or ill-will to our fellow-creatures, without prompting us to be of fervice to any. True charity is an active principle. It is not properly a fingle virtue; but a difpofition refiding in the heart, as a fountain whence all the virtues of benignity, candour, forbearance, generofity, compaffion, and liberality flow, as fo many native ftreams. From general goed-will to all, it extends its influence particularly to thofe with whom we ftand in neareft connexion, and who are directly within the sphere of our good of fices. From the country or community to which we belong, it defcends to the finaller affociations of neighbourhood, relations, and friends; andfpreads itself over the whole circle of focial and domeftic life.

[Charity is the comforter of the afflicted, the protector of the oppreffed, the reconciler of differences, the interceffor for offenders. It is

faithfulness in the friend, public fpirit in the magistrate, equity and patience in the judge, moderation in the fovereign, and loyalty in the subject. In parents it is care and attention; in children it is reverence and fubmiffion. In a word, it is the foul of focial life. It is the fun that enlivens and cheers the abodes of men. It is like the dew of Hermon, fays the Pfalmift, and the dew that defcendeth on the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.}

FAITH.

FAITH, when pure and genuine, fupplies to

every part of virtue, and in particular to the virtue of charity, many motives and affiftances, of which the unbeliever is deftitute. He who acts from faith, acts upon the high principle of regard to the God who hath made him, and to the Saviour who redeems him; which will often ftimulate him to his duty when other principles of benevolence become faint and languid, or are croffed by oppofite interests. When he confiders himself as pursuing the approbation of that Divine Being, from whom love defcends, a facred enthusiasm both prompts, and confecrates, his cha

ritable