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abide not at home, and her eyes rove with boldness on the faces of men, turn thy feet from her, and suffer not thy heart to be ensnared by thy fancy.

But when thou findest sensibility of heart, joined with softness of manners, an accomplished mind, and religion, united with sweetness of temper, modest deportment, and a love of domestic life; such is the woman who will divide the sorrows and double the joys of thy life. Take her to thyself; she is worthy to be thy nearest friend, thy companion, the wife of thy bosom.

Art thou a young woman, wishing to know thy future destiny? Be cautious in listening to the addresses of men. Art thou pleased with smiles and flattering words? Remember that man often smiles and flatters most, when he would betray thee.

Listen to no soft persuasion, till a long acquaintance and a steady respectful conduct have given thee proof of the pure attachment and honorable views of thy lover. Is thy suitor addicted to low vices? is he profane? is he a gambler? a tippler? a spendthrift? a haunter of taverns? has he lived in idleness and pleasure? has he acquired a contempt for thy sex in vile company? and above all, is he a scoffer at religion? Banish such a man from thy presence; his heart is false, and his hand would lead thee to wretchedness and ruin.

Art thou a husband? Treat thy wife with tenderness and respect; reprove her faults with gentleness; be faithful to her in love; give up thy heart to her in confidence, and alleviate her cares.

Art thou a wife? Respect thy husband; oppose him not unreasonably, but yield thy will to his, and thou shalt be blest with peace and concord; study to make him respectable, as well for thy own sake, as for his; hide his faults; be constant in thy love; and devote thy time to the care and education of the dear pledges of thy love.

Art thou a parent? Teach thy children obedience; teach them temperance, justice, diligence in useful occupations; teach them science; teach them the social virtues, and fortify thy precepts by thy own example: above all, teach them religion. Science and virtue will make them respectable in this life; religion and piety alone can secure to them happiness in the life to come.

Art thou a brother or a sister? Honor thy character, by living in the bonds of affection with thy brethren. Be kind; be condescending. Is thy brother in adversity? assist him; is thy sister in distress? administer to her necessities, and alleviate her cares.

Art thou a son or a daughter? Be grateful to thy father, for

he gave thee life; and to thy mother, for she sustained thee, Piety in a child, is sweeter than the incense of Persia; yes, more delicious than odors, wafted, by western gales, from a field of Arabian spices. Hear the words of thy father, for they are spoken for thy good: give ear to the admonitions of thy mother, for they proceed from her tenderest love. Honor their gray hairs, and support them in the evening of life: and thy own children, in reverence for thy example, shall repay thy piety with filial love and duty.

CHAPTER LXVI.

OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE OF GOD.

The substance of the following remarks is from Addison's writings.-Spectator, Volume 8.

1. Yesterday, about sunset, I was walking in the open field, till night approached. At first I amused myself with the richness and variety of colors, which appeared in the western parts of heaven: in proportion as they faded, several stars appeared, one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the sky was enlivened by the season of the year, and by the rays of the heavenly luminaries. The galaxy appeared in most beautiful white.

2. To complete the scene, the full moon rose at length in unclouded majesty, and opened to the eye a new picture of nature, which was more finely shaded, and disposed among softer lights, than that which the sun had before disclosed to us.

3. As I was surveying the moon, walking in her brightness, and proceeding among the constellations; a thought rose in me, which, I believe, very often perplexes and disturbs men of contemplative habits. David himself fell into it, in that reflection: "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou regardest him!"

4. In the same manner, when I considered that infinite host of stars, or rather suns, which were then shining upon me, with the innumerable planets, or worlds, which were moving round their respective suns, the centers of their systems; when I still enlarged the idea, and supposed another heaven of suns, rising still above this which we see, and these still enlightened by a superior firmament of luminaries, so distant that they may appear to the inhabitants of the former, as the stars do to us; I could not but reflect on that little, insignificant figure, which I myself bear amidst the immensity of God's works.

5. Were the sun, and all the host of planetary worlds that

move about him, utterly annihilated, they would not be missed, more than a grain of sand upon the sea-shore. The space they possess is so exceedingly small, in comparison of the whole, that their extinction would scarcely cause a blank in the creation.

6. The chasm would be imperceptible to an eye that could take in the whole compass of creation. We see many stars by the help of glasses, which we do not discover with the naked eyes; and the greater the magnifying powers of our telescopes are, the more worlds are brought within our view. Huygens, the astronomer, carries his ideas so far, as to think it not impossible there may be stars whose light has not yet traveled to this globe.

7. In contemplating this subject, I could not but consider myself as very insignificant, and not worthy of the smallest regard of that great Being who had so vast a work under his superintendence. I was afraid of being overlooked amidst the immensity of created things, and lost among that infinite variety of creatures, which, in all probability, swarm through the immeasurable regions of matter.

8. In order to correct this mortifying thought, I considered it as arising from the narrow conceptions which we are apt to entertain of the Divine Being. We are so imperfect, that we cannot attend to many different objects at the same time. Our views are limited, and our observations confined to a few objects. The widest sphere of our observations is very circumscribed.

9. To extinguish this melancholy thought of being overlooked by our Maker, in the multiplicity of his works, we must consider, in the first place, that God is omnipresent, and in the second place, that he is omniscient. He pervades, he actuates, he supports, the whole frame of nature. His creation, and every part of it, is full of his presence. His substance is within the substance of every being, material or immaterial. Nothing which he has made is so small, so distant, or so inconsiderable, that he does not essentially inhabit it.

10. The omniscience of God proceeds, by necessity, from his omnipresence. He cannot but be conscious of every motion that arises in the whole material universe, which he essentially pervades, and of every thought in the intellectual world, to every part of which he is intimately united. He cannot but know every thing in which he resides. Were the soul to leave the body, and start, in an instant, beyond the bounds of creation, and continue its progress for millions of ages, through infinite space; it would still find itself within the embrace of its Creator, and encompassed with the immensity of the Godhead. 11. In this view of God's omnipresence and omniscience,

every uncomfortable thought vanishes. The Creator cannot but regard every being he has made; he is privy to all their thoughts; he governs all their movements; he decides all their destinies. The minutest atom of created things is under his inspection and control. But he regards all his intelligent creatures with mercy, and never forsakes those who commend themselves to his notice and favor, by a humble confidence in his goodness, his power and his faithfulness.

12. How disconsolate must be that intelligent being, who knows that his Maker is present with him, but, wanting the love of his perfections, can derive no satisfaction from his presence! How deplorable must be the condition of such a being, when constantly exposed to the wrath of the Almighty! But how happy must be that intelligent being, who is sensible of his Maker's presence, by its effects in protecting him from evil, and giving peace to his soul!

CHAPTER LXVII.

ON THE COMMANDMENTS.

FIRST COMMANDMENT.

1. Supreme love to God.-The first and great commandment, Christ has informed us, is, to love the Lord our God, with all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mind. And why? For this obvious reason: that God is the greatest and best being, indeed the only perfectly good being in the universe. This command, then, is in accordance with our reason, for that which is the best is most desirable, and tends most to our happiness. But in addition to this fitness, gratitude to God, our creator and constant benefactor, demands our warmest affections, for having made us what we are, for giving us all we have, and for of fering us all we can desire, in a future life. Besides, supreme love to God leads or inclines us to love his works, his laws, and his intelligent creatures. In short, it is the source of all good motives and principles in the human heart; and the exercise of this supreme love is a perpetual source of happiness to us in this life. In demanding this love, then, from men, God has consulted our happiness no less than his own glory. Here the two things are in perfect harmony.

SECOND COMMANDMENT.

2. Love to our fellow-men.-Christ informs us that the second command is like the first, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The reasons are obvious: men are all one family, the children of the same father, formed with like capacities for improvement and enjoyment, and destined to the same end.

The individuals of this great family are more or less dependent on each other; and while each is bound to take care of himself and his own connections, he is bound so to conduct his own affairs, as not to injure or annoy his neighbors: on the other hand, he is bound, by the law of kindness, and the command of God, to do them good, whenever he can do it without injury to himself; and further, he is bound to relieve them in want and distress, even when such relief requires a sacrifice of time, labor or property. And the performance of these duties is accompanied with a reward, even in this life: for it gives us pain to see others in distress; we are always happier for making or seeing others happy. In this we observe, that God's command tends to advance our own happiness.

In the two commandments above mentioned, Christ has comprised the substance of the moral law, or the whole of religion. It is love to God and love to man.

3. Idolatry.-In the second commandment delivered to Moses on mount Sinai, the worship of images, pictures, statues, or the likeness of any created thing, is strictly prohibited. But a large portion of mankind have never known this prohibition, and they constantly worship images. This is idolatry, that abominable sin which God hates; the sin which often brought most terrible judgments upon the Israelites. And if any persons, professing to belong to the denomination of christians, adore images or pictures, or pay homage or divine honors, to any created being, they violate the express command of God. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," is the express command of God. Deuteronomy,

vi. 13: x. 20. Matt. iv. 10.

4. The adoration of images, whether made of wood, stone, silver, or gold, and of pictures on wood or canvas, is a mark of extreme stupidity, and shows the degraded state of human reason. Nor is it much less stupid to pray to saints or departed spirits. What can they do for men on earth? They cannot know who prays to them, nor what they pray for. They are not present with the worshiper; they are not omnipresent; and if they were, they could not help him. How degraded, how blind, and wretchedly ignorant, must be the persons who be lieve that pictures, or images, or departed souls, can afford them any assistance!

THIRD COMMANDMENT.

5. Profaneness.-Among the sins prohibited by God, is profaneness. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” This forbids all oaths and vain swearing, in which the name of the Supreme Being is used with levity and irreverence. Such use of God's name implies, in the guilty person,

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