fearch for the Sentence, which fell unfinished from those loved, thofe venerable, and pious Lips. They find it recorded by the Prophet Jeremiah, containing the Direction of infinite Wisdom, and the Promife of unbounded Goodness; Leave thy fatherless Children; I will preServe them alive; and let thy Widows trust in me*. This, now, is the Comfort of their Life, and the Joy of their Heart. They treasure it up, in their Memories. It is the best of Legacies and an inexhaustible Fund. A Fund, which will fupply all their Wants, by entailing the Bleffing of Heaven, on all their honest Labours.-They are rich; they are happy; in this facred Pledge of the Divine Favour. They fear no Evil; they want no Good; because Go D is their Portion, and their Guardian Go D. No fooner turned from one Momento of my own, and a Memorial of another's Deceafe, but a fecond, a third, a long Succeffion ofthefe melancholy Monitors, croud upon my Sightt. That which has fixed my Obfervation, is one of a more grave and fable Aspect than the former.. I suppose, it preferves the Relics of a more aged Perfon. One would conjecture, that he made fomewhat of a Figure, in his Station among the Living; as his Monument does, among the Funeral Marbles. Let me draw near, and inquire of this Stone; as "Who, or what, is "beneath *Jerem. xlix. II. +-Plurima Mortis Imago. Virg.. "beneath its Surface?" I am informed, He was once the Owner of a confiderable Eftate; which was much improved, by his own Application and Management: That, he left the World in the bufy Period of Life; advanced a little beyond the Meridian. PROBABLY, replied my mufing Mind, one of those indefatigable Drudges, who rife early; late take Reft; and eat the Bread of Carefulness; not to fecure the Loving-kindness of the LORD: not to make Provifion for any reasonable Neceffity: but only to amafs together ten thousand times more, than they can poffibly use.-Did he not lay Schemes for enlarging his Fortune, and aggrandizing his Family? Did he not purpofe to join Field to Field, and add Houfe to Houfe; till his Poffeffions were almost as vast, as his Defires? That, then, he would fit down and enjoy what he had acquired; breathe a while from his toilfome Purfuit of Things temporal, and, perhaps, think a little of Things eternal. BUT fee the Folly of worldly Wifdom! How filly, how childifh, is the Sagacity of (what is called) manly and mafterly Prudence; when it contrives more folicitoufly for TIME, than it provides for ETERNITY! How ftrangely infatuating are thofe fubtil Heads; which weary themselves, in concerting Measures for Phantom's of * -Hac mente laborem Sefe ferre, fenes ut in otia tula recedant, Hor. of a Day; and scarce beftow a Thought, on everlasting Realities! When every Wheel moves on fmoothly; when all the well-difpofed Designs are ripening apace for Execution; and the long-expected Crisis of Enjoyment seems to approach; behold! GOD from on high laughs at the Babel-builder. Death touches the Bubble, and it breaks; it drops into nothing. The Cobweb, most finely spun indeed, but more eafily diflodged, is fwept away in an Instant; and all the abortive Projects are buried, in the fame Grave with their Projector. So true is that Verdict, which the Wisdom from above paffes, on these successful Unfortunates: "They "walk in a vain Shadow, and difquiet them"felves in vain"." SPEAK, ye that attended fuch a one in his laft Minutes; ye that heard his expiring Sentiments; did he not cry out, in the Language of disappointed Senfuality? O Death! how "terrible is thy Approach, to a Man immersed in fecular Cares, and void of all Concern for "the never-ending Hereafter! Where, alafs ! is "the Profit, where the Comfort, of entering deep into the Knowledge, and of being dextrous in the Dispatch, of earthly Affairs; fince "I have, all the while, neglected the One Thing needful! Destructive Mistake! I have been at"tentive to every inferior Intereft; I have laid myfelf * Pfal. xxxix. 6. 66 66 "myself out on the Trifles of a Moment; but have difregarded Heaven; have forgot eternal Ages! O! that my Days"-Here, He was going on to breathe fome fruitlefs Wishes, or to form, I know not what, ineffectual Refolutions. But a fudden Convulfion fhook his Nerves; difabled his Tongue; and, in lefs than an Hour, diffolved his Frame. MAY the Children of this World be warned; by the dying Words of an unhappy Brother; and gather Advantage, from his Misfortune.-Why fhould they pant, with fuch impatient Ardour, after white and yellow Earth; as if the Universe did not afford fufficient, for every one to take a little? Why fhould they lade themfelves with thick Clay; when they are to "run "foran incorruptible Crown, and prefs towards "the Prize of their high Calling?" Why should they overload the Veffel, in which their everlafting ALL is embarked; or fill their Arms with Superfluities, when they are to swim for their Lives?--Yet, fo prepofterous is the Conduct of those Perfons, who are all Industry, to heap up an Abundance of the Wealth which perisheth; but are scarce so much as faintly defirous, of being rich towards GOD. O! THAT we may walk, through all these glittering Toys, at least with a wife Indifference, if not with a superior Disdain! Having enough for the Conveniencies of Life, let us only accom accommodate ourselves with Things below, and lay up our Treasures in the Regions above.Whereas, if we indulge an anxious Concern, or lavish an inordinate Care, or any tranfitory Poffeffions; we fhall rivet them to our Affections with fo firm an Union, that the utmost Severity of Pain muft attend the feparating Stroke. By fuch an eager Attachment, to what will certainly be ravifhed from us; we shall only infure to ourselves accumulated, Anguish, against the agonizing Hour. We shall plant, aforehand, our dying Pillow with Thorns*. SOME, I perceive, arrived at Threefcore Years and Ten, before they made their Exit; nay, fome few refigned not their Breath, till they had numbered Fourfcore revolving Harvests. Thefe, I would hope," remembered their Crea"tor in the Days of their Youth;" before their Strength became Labour and Sorrow:-Before that low Ebb of languishing Nature, when the Keepers of the Houfe tremble, and thofe that look out of the Windows are darkened when even *Lean not on Earth; 'twill pierce thee to the Heart ; A broken Reed at beft, but oft a Spear: On its fharp point Peace bleeds, and Hope expires. Night-Thoughts, No III. + Ecclef. xii. 3, 5. I need not remind my Reader, that by the former of thefe figurative, Expreffions, is fignified the enervated State of the Hands and Arms; by the latter, the Dimnefs of the Eyes, or the total Loss of |