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the foot of one of those clumsy cattle has trodden thee down.

From thy fate I learn that of many mortals; and, for ought I know, may soon be my own. How many, flourishing in all the gaiety of life, health of body, and vigour of youth, long ere ever the wintry blast of age foils beauty on the cheek, or begins to wither the features, are cut down like a flower, Job xiv. 2. by some fatal disease or unseen accident, and all their earthly glory laid low in the clay.

The sight of thee, O hapless flower! in a short time will rather create disgust than pleasure. But far, nay, very far more so would the sight of the fairest face of the most celebrated beauty, prove loathsome to that eye that once could delight in nothing so much as gazing upon its charms, if the covering of the tomb were removed, and the putrid carcase exposed. The lover who once with rapture beheld and praised its form and beauties, and thought himself happy no where else but in her presence, all aghast would turn from beholding so disagreeable a spectacle! Follow him to the tomb, my soul, and

learn the truth of what the wise man saith, "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain," Prov. xxxi. 30.

It is only grace and virtue that will outlive the ravages of the grave. Not despising the rose on the cheek, the flower of grace in the heart, is incomparably better: and where these two cannot be found together, but come in competition with each other, the latter be my choice; this will add a sweet fragrancy to domestic life, and leave a pleasant scent behind it, while the other lieth rotting in the tomb.

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CONTEMPLATION XII.

ON BEES.

THIS walk is truly delightful; nor would I exchange the pleasure it affords in solitude, for all the splendid entertainments and giddy amusements of public life; while I read only, or rather attempt to read, in the volume of nature, a few letters of the outlines of the wonderful works of that Almighty Being, who spake, and it was done, commanded and it stood fast, Psal. xxxiii. 9.

What an agreeable humming do these busy insects make, while they roam amid the sunny beams, through the fields and meadows, exploring every new-born herb, while from the heath, primroses, and violets, they chiefly extract their delicious loads, which they bear with joy to their common store.

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May I, like them, amid the cheering beams of the Sun of righteousness, in fancy roam through the works of creation, providence, and redemption, these fields of inexpressible delight, admiring with wonder and gratitude every work of God: but chiefly extracting from the precious promises,---these inestimable flowers of grace which grow the field of the scriptures,---soul-reviving sweets, not only for my present comfort and subsistence, but for a store against the winter of desertion, when no green thing may appear to me to flourish in all that precious field, owing to keen convictions under such darkness, which, like nipping frosts freeze up almost every comfort of the soul: The benefit of this David and Heman experienced in such a time.

They will also prove cordials in the mo ments of dissolution, when every thing else in the world is of no avail: An apostle calls such flowers exceeding great and precious, 2 Pet. i. 4., to which all the saints on earth, and all the redeemed in heaven, will put to their hearty Amen.

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