"Incentives to Gratitude, and Motives to Obedience."

HAVING gazed the fpacious Sky, and sent a Glance round the inferior Creation; 'tis time to defcend from this Eminence, and confine my Attention to the beautiful Spot below. Here Nature, always pleafing, every where lovely, appears with peculiar Attractions. Yonder, fhe feems dreffed in her Deshabille; grand, but irregular. Here, fhe calls in her Handmaid Art, and fhines in all the delicate Ornaments, that the niceft Cultivation can convey. Those are her Common Apartments, where fhe lodges her ordinary Guests: This is her Cabinet of Curiofities, where fhe entertains her intimate Acquaintance. My Eye fhall often expatiate over thofe Scenes of universal Fertility: My Feet fhall fometimes brush thro the Thicket, or traverse the Lawn, or ftroll along the Foreft Glade: But to this delightful Retreat fhall be my chief Refort. Thither will I make Excurfions; but Here will I dwell.

IF, from my low Procedure, I may form an Allufion to the most exalted Practices, I would obferve, upon this Occafion, That

the

"

the celebrated Erasmus, and our judicious Locke, having trod the Circle of the Sciences, and ranged thro' the whole Extent of buman Literature, at length betook themfelves folely to the Bible: Leaving the Sages of Antiquity, they fat inceffantly at the Feet of JESUS: Wifely they withdrew from that immense Multiplicity of Learning; from those endless Tracts of amufing Erudition, where noxious Weeds are mixed with wholfome Herbs; where is generally a much larger Growth of prickly Shrubs, than of fruitful Boughs: They spent their most mature Hours in thofe hallowed Gardens, which GOD's Own Wisdom planted; which God's own Spirit watçreth; and in which God's own Son is continually walking: Where He meeteth those that feek Him, and revealeth to them the Glories of his Perfon, and the Riches of his Goodness.

THUS Would I finish the Remainder of my Days: Having had a Taste of the politer Studies; may I devote my future Application to the lively Oracles! From other Purfuits, one may glean fome Fragments of fpecious Inftruction: From this I truft to

reap

reap a Harvest of the fublimest Truths*.Waft me then, O! waft my Mind, to Sion's confecrated Bowers. Let my Thoughts perpetually rove through the awfully-pleafing Walks of Inspiration. Here grow thofe Heaven-born Plants, the Trees of Life and Knowlege; whofe ambrofial Fruits we now may "take, and eat, and live for ever." Here flow thofe precious Streams of Grace and Righteousness; whofe living Waters "whofoever drinks, shall thirst no more." And what can the Fables of Grecian Song, or the finest Pages of Roman EloquenceWhat can they exhibit in any Degree, comparable to these matchless Prerogatives of Revelation? Therefore, though I should not dislike to pay a Vifit now-and-then to my Heathen Mafters, I would live with the Prophets and Apostles. With the one I would carry on fome occafional Correfpondence; but the others fhould be my BofomFriends, my infeparable Companions, " "Delight, and my Counsellors."

my

WHAT

Quicquid docetur, Veritas; quicquid præcipitur,

Benitas ; quicquid promittitur, Felicitas.

WHAT Sweets are thefe, that so agree ably falute my Noftrils? They are the Breath of the Flowers; the Incenfe of the Garden. How liberally does the Jeffamine difpenfe her odoriferous Riches! How deli ciously has the, Woodbine imbalmed this Morning-walk! The Air is all Perfume.

And is not this another most engaging Argument, to forfake the Bed of Sloth? Who would lie diffolved in fenfelefs Slum bers, while fo many breathing Sweets invite him to a Feaft of Fragrancy? Especially confidering, That the advancing Day will exhale the volatile Dainties. A fugitive Treat they are, prepared only for the Wakeful and Industrious: Whereas when the Sluggard lifts his heavy Eyes, the Flowers will' droop; their fine Scents be diffipated; and, inficad of this refreshing Humidity, the Air will become a kind of liquid Fire.

WITH this very Motive, heightened by a Representation of the most charming Pieces of Morning Scenery, the Parent of Mankind awakes his lovely Confort. There is fuch a Delicacy in the Choice, and so much Life in the Defcription, of these rural Images

Images, that I cannot excuse myself, without repeating the whole Paffage.

Whisper

it, fome friendly Genius, in the Ear of every one, that is now funk in Sleep, and loft to all these noble Gratifications!

Awake: The Morning fbines, and the fresh Field Calls you: Telofe the Prime, to mark bow Spring The tended Plants, bow blows the citron Grove; What drops the Myrrh, and what the balmy Reed; How Nature paints her Colours; how the Bee Sits on the Bloom, extracting liquid Sweets.

MILT.

Here Luxury itself is

How delightful is this Fragrance! It is distributed in the nicest Proportion; neither so strong, as to opprefs the Organs; nor fo faint, as to elude them. We often fit cloyed and fated at a sumptuous Banquet; but This Pleasure never lofes its Poignancy, never palls the Appetite. innocent and refined; or rather, in this Cafe, Indulgence is incapable of Excefs. This balmy Entertainment not only regales the Senfe, but chears the very Soul; and, instead of cloying, elates its Powers. It puts me in mind of that ever- memorable Sacrifice, which was once made in behalf of Ointment and Perfume rejoice the Heart.

Prov. xxvii. 9.