only an indefeasible Privilege, but a kind of ambulatory Garrison. Thofe that make known their Requests unto Go D, and rely upon his protecting Care, he gives his Angels Charge over their Welfare. His Angels are commiffioned to escort them in their Travelling, and to hold up their Goings, that they dash not their Foot against a Stone. Nay, He Himself condefcends to be their Guardian, and "keeps all "their Bones, fo that not one of them is bro"ken." They are, according to the Certifi "cate of Revelation," in League with the "Stones of the Field." Though they fall headlong on the Flints, even the Flints, fitted to fracture the Scull, fhall receive them as into the Arms of Friendship; and not offer to hurt, whom the LORD is pleased to preferve.

MAY I then enjoy the Prefence of this gracious GOD; and Darkness and Light fhall be both alike. Let HIM whisper Peace to my Confcience, and this dread Silence fhall be more charming than the Voice of Eloquence, or the Strains of Mufic. Let HIM reveal his ravishing Perfections in my Soul, and I fhall not want the Saffron Beauties of the Morn, the golden Glories of Noon, or the impurled Evening Sky. I fhall figh only for thofe moft defirable and diftinguished Realms, where the Light of HIS Countenance

Job v. 23.

Countenance perpetually shines, and confequently there is no Night there."

How furprising are the Alterations of Nature! I left her, the preceding Evening, plain and unadorned. But, now, a thick Rime has fhed its hoary Honours over all. It has fhagged the Fleeces of the Sheep, and crifped the Traveller's Locks. The Hedges are richly fringed, and all the Ground profufely powdered. The downward Branches are toffeled with Silver, and the upright are feathered with the plumy Wave.

BUT, the Fine, are not always the Valuable. The Air, amidst all these gaudy Decorations, is charged with chilling and unwholesome Damps. The hazy Influence fpreads wide; fits deep; hangs heavy and oppreffive on the Springs of Life. A liftlefs Languor clogs the animal Functions, and the purple Stream glides but faintly thro' its Channel. In vain, the Ruler of the Day exerts his beaming Powers: In vain, He attempts to difperfe this Infurrection of Vapours. The fullen, malignant Cloud refufes to depart. It invelops the World, and intercepts the Profpect. I look abroad for the neighbouring Village; I fend my Eye in queft of the rifing Turret; but am fcarce able to discern the very next House, Where are the blue Arches of .2 Heaven;

* Rev. xxi. 25.

Heaven; where the radiant Countenance of the Sun; where the boundless Scenes of Creation? Loft, loft are their Beauties; quenched their Glories. The thronged Theatre of the Universe, seems an empty Void; and all its elegant Pictures, an undistinguished Blank.

Thus wou'd it have been with our intellectual Views, if the Gospel had not come in to our Relief. We fhould have known neither our true Good, nor real Evil. We had been a Riddle to ourselves; the present State all Confufion, and the future impenetrable Darkness. But the Sun of Righteoufnefs, arifing with potent and triumphant Beams, has diffipated the interpofing Cloud; and opened a Prospect, more beautiful than the Bloffoms of Spring; more chearing than the Treasures of Autumn; more enlarged than the Extent of the vifible System: which, having led the Eye, of the Mind, thro' Fields of Grace, over Rivers of Righteousness, and Hills crowned with Knowledge; terminates, at length, in the Heavens; fweetly losing itself in Regions of infinite Bliss, and endless Glory.

As I walk along the Fog, it seems, at fome little Distance, to be almoft folid Gloom; fuch as would shut out every Glimpfe of Light, and totally imprison me in Obscurity. But, when I approach, and enter it; I find myself agreeably mistaken, and the Mist much thinner,

than

than it appeared.-Such is the Cafe, with Regard to the Sufferings of the present Life; they are not, when experienced, fo dreadful, as a timorous Imagination furmised. Such alfo is the Cafe, with Reference to the Gratifications of Senfe; they are not so substantial, as a fanguine Expectation reprefented. In both Inftances, we are graciously disappointed: the Edge of the Calamity is blunted, that it may not wound us with incurable Anguish: The exquifite Relish of the Profperity is palled, that it may not captivate our Affections, and enflave them to inferior Delights.

SOMETIMES, the Face of Things wears a more pleasing Form; the very Reverse of the foregoing. The fober Evening advances, to clofe the fhort-lived Day. The Firmament, clear and unfullied, puts on its brightest Blue. The Stars, in thronging Multitudes, and with a peculiar Brilliancy, glitter thro' the fair Expanse. While the Frost pours its fubtle and penetrating Influence all around. Sharp and intenfely keen, all the long Night, the rigid Æther continues its Operations. When, late and flow, the Morning opens her pale Eye; in what a curious and amufing Disguise is Nature dreffed! The Icicles, jagged and uneven, are pendent on the Houses. A whitish Film incrufts the Windows, where mimic Landscapes rife, and fancied Figures

fwell

Iwell. The fruitful Fields are hardened to Iron; the moistened Meadows are congealed to Marble; and both resound (an Effect unknown before) with the Peafant's hafty Tread. The Stream is arrefted in its Career, and its everflowing Surface chained to the Banks. The fluid Paths become a folid Road; where the finny Shoals were wont to rove, the sportive Youth flide, or the rattling Chariots roll*, And (what would feem, to an Inhabitant of the fouthern World, as unaccountable as the deepest Myfteries of Religion) that very fame Breath of Heaven, which cements the Lakes into a crystal Pavement, cleaves the Oaks, as it were with invifible Wedges: "breaks in Pieces the north"ern Iron, and the Steel;" even while it builds a Bridge of Icy Rock over the Seas +.

THE Air is all Serenity. Refined by the nitrous Particles, it affords the most distinct Views,

Concrefcunt fubito currenti in Flumine crustæ.

Undaque jam tergo ferratos fuftinet orbes,
Puppibus illa prius patulis, nunc hofpita Plauftris.
Araque difiliunt vulgo. VIRG.

Job xxxviii. 30. The Waters are bid, locked up from the Cattle's Lips, fecured from the Fisher's Nets, and concealed from the human Eye, as Wells are with a ponderous and impenetrable Stone. And not only Lakes and Rivers, but the Surface of the great and boundless Deep, with its reftlefs and uncontroulable Surges, is taken captive by the Froft, and bound in fhining Fetters.