and happy is it that the best of characters is in every one's power to deserve.

II. Engage yourself cautiously, but ftay long in your place; for long fervice fhews worth, as quitting a good place through paffion is a folly, which is always repented of too late.*

III. Never undertake any place you are not qualified for; for pretending to do what you do not understand, expofes yourself, and what is ftill worse, deceives thofe whom you ferve.

IV. Preferve your fidelity; for a faithful servant is a jewel, for whom no encouragement can be too great V. Adhere to the truth, for falfhood is deteftable and he that tells one lie, muft tell twenty more to con⚫ ceal it.

VI. Be ftrictly honeft; for it is fhameful to be thought unworthy of trust.

VII. Be modeft in your behaviour; it becomes your ftation, and is pleafing to your fuperiors.

VIII. Avoid pert anfwers; for civil language is cheap, and impertinence provoking.

IX. Be clean in your bufinefs: for flovens and fluts are difrefpectful fervants.

X. never tell the affairs of the family you belong to: for that is a fort of treachery, and often makes mifchief; but keep their fecrets, and have none of your own. XI. Live friendly with your fellow fervants; for the contrary deftroys the peace of the house.

XII. Above all things avoid drunkenness; for it is an inlet to vice, the ruin of your character, and the deftruction of your conftitution.

XIII. Prefer a peaceable life with moderate gains, to great advantages with irregularity.

XIV. Save your money, for that will be a friend to you in old age; be not expefive in drefs, nor marry too foon.

*Every fervant, whether male or female, who attends to thefe rules, will be approved and refpected, by all whom they are called to serve.

XV. Be careful of your master's property: for wastefulness is a fin.

XVI. Never fwear, for that is a fin without excuse, as there is no pleasure in it.

XVII. Be always ready to affift a fellow-fervant; for good-nature gains the love of every one.

XVIII. Never stay when fent on a meffage; for waiting long is painful to a master, and a quick return fhews diligence.

XIX. Rife early; for it is difficult to recover lost time.

XX. The fervant that often changes his place, works only to be poor; for the rolling ftone gathers no mofs.

XXI. Be not fond of encreafing your acquaintance; for vifiting leads you out of your business, robs your mafter of your time, and puts you to an expence you cannot afford: and, above all things, take care with whom you are acquainted, for perfons are generally the better or the worle for the company they keep.

XXII. When out of place, be cautious where you lodge; for living in a difreputable house puts you upon a footing with those that keep it, however innocent you are yourself.

XXIII. Never go out on your own business without the knowledge of the family, left in your abfence you fhould be wanted; for leave is light; and returning punctually at the time you promife, fhews obedience, and is a proof of fobriety.

XXIV. If you are diffatisfied in your place, mention your objections modeftly to your mafter or mistress, and give a fair warning, and don't neglect your business, nor behave ill, in order to provoke them to turn you away; for this will be a blemish in your character, which you must always have from the last place you

ferved.

CHAP.

Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death,
To break the shock, blind nature cannot fhun!
And lands thought smoothly on the farther shore ;
Death's terror is the mountain faith removes :
That mountain barrier between man and peace.
'Tis faith difarms deftruction, and abfolves
From every clamorous charge the guiltless tomb.

YOUNG.

WHILE wrapt in the filence of the night, I take my folitary and contemplative walk in the church-yard, with what a feeling concern do I reflect on the living world around me! How ftriking the contraft! Here reft in peace the well nigh forgotten remains of those who once, it may be, filled up bufy spheres on the earth.* All thofe diftinctions which they fo anxiously courted, are now for ever done away: all thofe animofities which they fo warmly agitated, are now for ever hufhed and forgotten; and all thofe complainings and fighs which they fo mournfully uttered, are filenced, are filenced for ever, and heard no more-Yet on the great theatre of the world the fame parts are still acting, the fame ardour for place and pre-eminence; the fame propensity to malice and envy; the fame repinings and lamentations are found:-as if generations preceding, read no leffons of inftruction; as if men utterly forgot that their hour appointed was haftily advancing.

Oh that they were wife, that they understood these things, that they would confider their latter end!† Benevolent

Beneath thofe rugged elms, that yew-tree's fhade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell forgotten laid,

The rude forefathers of the hamlet fleep.

GRAY'S Elegy in a Country Church-yard.

+ Deuteronomy xxxii. 29.

wish!

with! for nothing fo powerfully, fo ftrongly teaches, as a confideration of that latter end-which is of general concern, for every fon of Adam is equally interested therein. Can we reflect upon the day of diffolution approaching, when every fublunary hope fhall ceafe, and every worldly project vanish as the fhadow? Can we furvey the folemn manfions of the dead, where the mingling duft befpeaks the folly of earthly pre-eminence and honour, and yet purfue, with unremitted chace, the fleeting vanities of life? and yet indulge, with unrelenting hearts, the burning paffions, which torture human peace, and murder man's beft felicity?-Nay, can it be poffible that we fhould look beyond the grave, and recollect that an exiftence everlasting awaits us, and not ufe every wife, every fcriptural method to fecure to our fculs the comforts of that exiftence, when time hath closed upon us, and we have bidden an eternal adieu to all things here below.†

Thrice awful meditation! May its powerful inftructions deeply imprefs my foul!--Nothing teaches like death. 'Tis indeed the wages of fin, and a fearful evil, we muft needs allow it! But then it is a perfuafive monitor, and fuperior to all things, convinces us of and leads us to combat and conquer fin.

The fting of death is fin. From thence we may plainly difcover what is the grand remedy against its fear and its power to do harm. Destroy fin, and death becomes no longer formidable; he cannot hurt or annoy,

* See Hervey's Meditations among the Tombs, page 6.

Since we can die but once, and after death

Our frate no alteration knows;

But when we have refign'd our breath,

Th' immortal fpirit goes

To endlefs joys or everlafting woes;
Wife is the man who labours to fecure,
That mighty and important take,
And by all methods tries to make

His paffage fafe and his reception fure.

POMFRET. for

for his fting is taken away. But how fhall we achieve this defirable enterprile, how deftroy the fting of death? 'Tis done, already done for us! Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. *

Here then, thou trembling mortal, who art every day diftreffing thy feeble foul with the fear of approaching. death,―here behold the first and greatest confolation under it: "Faith in Jefus Chrift," who through death deftroyed him who had the power of death; and will deliver thee from that fear of death, which all thy life time hath kept thee in bondage! Look to that triumphant conqueror, who died on the crofs, and lay in the grave, to fanctify it for us: fee in his precious redemption a full pardon for all thy offences; and with the eye of faith fteadily fixed upon him, thou also fhalt triumph over an enemy, already vanquished.†

This is the grand remedy againft, and chief confolation under, the fear of death, "the knowledge and love of Jefus Chrift:" which, properly understood, comprehends every other confolation. But that we may not be mifunderstood, let us, as a fecond confolation and remedy, recommend to the foul, defirous of victory over this fearful foe, "an earneft care to live a life of golpel obedience through that faith in Chrift; § which indeed, without fuch obedience, will be found too weak to support the firm ftructure of a joyful hope. Live as you would wish to have lived when your anxious head is laid upon the dying pillow :|| live as the Gospel of

* 1 Corinthians xv. 57.

Believe, and look with triumph in the tomb.

NIGHT THOUGHTS.
JOHN xvii. 3.

Whom to know aright is life eternal.

True faith works by love in the heart, to Chrift, his ways, ordinances and people; and obedience in the life to all his laws, precepts, and commands.

Repent, believe, and mourn your errors past,
And live each day as tho' it was your last.

RURAL CHRISTIAN.

that