Am I bringing forth the fruits of love to him, more for what he is in and of himself, and what he hath done for me, than on account of what he hath purchased for me? and the fruits of love to men, and good works, as a test of this love to him, in a cheerful compliance with his authority in his commands, depending nothing on my own. righteousness for salvation, but entirely on his active and passive righteousness for that alone. If so, then I may conclude I am certainly in him.

Here and there are trees cut down, of various ages, kinds, and sizes: Here lies an aged elm, and there a young ash; in that place a small chesnut tree, and in this a lofty oak. So death is doing his work upon persons of all ranks and all ages, on our right hand and on our left, behind and before us every day, and yet how little are we concerned! almost as little attentive to those warnings of mortality as the insensible standing trees are to the fall of their neighbours, which know not how soon the axe will be laid to their own roots, nor we how soon we must die.

Strange stupidity! to be every day as it were in the midst of deaths, and yet think so little about our own! How many of us live here as if this world were to be our eternal home, and as if it had been the main end of our creation to indulge the flesh, and amass wealth together; scarcely ever considering that this world is only as an inn by the way to the next, and its good things conveniences of it; and we as travellers and way-faring men, who turn aside to tarry therein for a night, Jer. xiv. 8. and must quickly be gone: Therefore, as a traveller sets light by all that are in an inn, farther than what serves his own convenience while he lodges there; so ought we with respect to the things of this world.

There grow a few mulberry trees, the leaves of which are greatly esteemed in some places for feeding the silk-worm, and the berries for making a kind of wine; but for neither of these purposes do I so highly esteem those, as for that great deliverance and victory which the sound of a going on the tops of them was made a signal of to Israel's king, from and over his and Israel's enemies, 2 Sam. v. 23, 24.

If I were to hear such a going at present on the tops of these trees, how would it alarm me! but David, being forewarned of the sign, no doubt such a sound greatly rejoiced his heart, added swiftness to his feet, and strength to his arms, in pursuit of, and fighting with the Philistines. Ought not then the call of him, who is the Lord of hosts to us, to arise and fight against his and our enemies, and his promises of support and victory, to encourage our hearts, and strengthen our hands while we fight the spiritual combat against these worse than Philistines, sin, Satan, and the flesh?

The woods, now clothed in green, are filled with harmony, love, and care: while some of the feathered people distend their variegated throats in graceful vibrations, singing their artless tales of love to the gay charmers which they eye with desire on the neighbouring boughs; then having alighted on the verdant turf, and culled a little present for their plumy nymphs, approach them with eager wing, and they, though somewhat coy at first, at length joining beak to beak, accept the endearing food, and soon

retire amid the thicket to receive higher tokens of affection.

Others, busied in collecting materials for building their little matchless edifices, beat the air with active wings. Some, in a state of more forwardness, have hatched their little families, and now explore the fields in search of food for their tender offspring.

Come hither, then, ye faithless youths, who take pleasure in decoying innocents, and learn a lesson from the birds of the air! Shall not their constancy to their mates put you to shame, and in the day of judgment witness against you? You, who have not only nature, but also reason and divine revelation, for your direction.

And you, too, careless husbands and parents, learn from their feeding their mates, when brooding, and providing for their young, the duty which nature has taught you in providing for your families; for if any

provide not for his own, and especially for "those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel," 1 Tim. v. 8.

The crows have already formed their republics, and are repairing their old habitations on the branching firs; and now throughout their lofty towns, all is bustle and cawing noise. The sea-fowl have forsaken the shore, and are retired to their usual haunts in this season of love.

Pause a while, O my soul, and consider whence have the fowls that wisdom to choose the properest place to brood in: Is it not worthy of remark, that those which frequent the shore almost all the year round, sporting themselves in the tide, do not, as might naturally be supposed, build on the sand, as if sensible the swelling surge would render their labours abortive; neither on the adjoining open beach, lest their nests should quickly be discovered; nor on the inland, as that would be too far off when hatching to duck, or procure their scaly food; nor yet by the river's rapid stream, as that would render the obtaining of their provision precarious: but in the clifts of rocks which overhang the tide, or by the sides of lochs, where they can leave their eggs for a moment, immerse in the water, procure their subsistence, and return again