World; the Glory of His Church; the only Hope, the fovereign Confolation of Sinners; and high, infinitely high, not only above. the nobleft Comparison, but even "above "all Biefling and Praife."- May I also make the fame Heavenly Ufe of all fublunary Enjoyments. Whatever is pleasurable or charming below, let it raife my Defires to those fublime Delights which are above: Which will yield, not partial, but perfect, Felicity; not tranfient, but never-ending, Satisfaction and Joy. - Yes, my Soul, let thefe Beauties in Miniature, always remind Thee of that glorious Perfon, in whom "dwells all the Fulness of the Godhead "bodily." Let thefe little Emanations teach thee to thirst after the eternal Fountain: O! may the Creatures be thy conftant Clue to the Creator! For this is a certain Truth, worthy thy moft frequent Recollection, and attentive Confideration, That the whole Compafs of finite Perfection is only a faint Ray, fhot from that immense Source; is only a small Drop, derived from that inexhauftible Ocean; of all Good. WHAT a furprising Variety is obfervable. among the flowery Tribes! How has the boun bountiful Hand of Providence diverfified thefe niceft Pieces of his Workmanship ! added the Charms of an endless Novelty to all their other Perfections! Because a conftant Uniformity would foon render the Entertainment tirefome or infipid; therefore every Species exhibits fomething intirely new. The Fashion fpreads not from Family to Family, but every one has a Mode of its own, which is truly original. The most curfory Glance perceives an apparent Difference, as well as a peculiar Delicacy, in the Airs and Habits, the Attitude, and Lineaments, of every diftinct Class. SOME rear their Heads with a majestic Mien, and overlook, like Sovereigns or Nobles, the whole Parterre. Others feem more moderate in their Aims, and advance only to the middle Stations; a Genius, turned for Heraldry, would term them, the Gentry of the Border; while others, free from all afpiring Views, creep un-ambitioufly on the Ground, and look like the Commonality of the Kind. Some are interfected with elegant Stripes, or ftudded with radiant Spots. Some affect to be genteelly powdered, or neatly fringed; while others are plain in their Afpect, unaffected in their Drefs, Drefs, and content to please with a naked Simplicity. Some affume the Monarch's Purple; fome look moft becoming in the Virgin's White; but Black, doleful Black, has no Admittance into the Wardrobe of Spring. The Weeds of Mourning would be a manifeft Indecorum, when Nature holds an univerfal Festival. She would now infpire none but delightful Ideas, and therefore always makes her Appearance in some *amiable Suit. Here ftands a Warrior clad with Crimson; there fits a Magistrate robed in Scarlet; and yonder ftruts a pretty Fellow, that seems to have dipped his Plumes in the Rainbow, and glitters in all the gay Colours of that refplendent Arch. Some rife into a curious Cup, or fall into a Set of beautiful Bells: Some fpread themselves in a fwelling Tuft, or croud into a delicious Clufter. In fome, the predominant Stain foftens by the gentleft Diminutions, till it has even stole away from itself. The Eye is amufed at the agreeable Delusion; and we wonder to find ourselves infenfibly de-coyed into a quite different Luftre. In others, you would think the fine Tinges were emulous Nune formofiffimus annus. VIRG. emulous of Pre-eminence; difdaining to mingle, they confront one another, with the Refolution of Rivals, determined to dispute the Prize of Beauty; while each is improved, by the Oppofition, into the higheft Vivacity of Complexion. * How manifold are thy Works, O LORD! Multiplied even to a Prodigy. Yet in Wisdom, confummate Wisdom, haft Thou made them all. How I admire the Vastness of the Contrivance, and the Exactness of the Execution! Poor Man with Difficulty accomplishes a fingle Work: Hardly, and after many Efforts, does He arrive at a tolerable Imitation of fome one Production of Nature. But the Almighty Artist spoke Millions of Subftances into inftantaneous Being; all wonderfully various, all completely perfect. Repeated Experiments generally discover Errors in our happiest Inventions. But these fine Structures have pleased, for almoft Six thousand Years; and not Fault been discovered in the original Plan, no Room for the leaft Improvement *Pfalm civ. 24. + Ecclef. iii. 14. I know that whatfoever GOD doth, it fhall be for ever: Nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it. 4 -- upon the first Model. All our Performances, the more minutely they are scanned, the more imperfect they appear. But, with regard to these delicate Objects, the more we search into their Properties, the more we are ravished with their Graces: They are fure to difclofe fresh Strokes of the most mafterly Skill, in proportion to the Attention with which they are examined. NOR is the Simplicity of the Operation lefs aftonishing, than the Accuracy of the Workmanship, or the Infinitude of the Ef fects. Should you ask, “Where, and What, te are the Materials that beautify the blooming World? What rich Tints, whatfplen"did Dies, what Stores of fhining Crions, "ftand by the Heavenly Limner, when he cr paints the Robe of Nature?" 'tis anfwered, His powerful Pencil needs no fuch coftly Apparatus. A fingle Principle, under his conducting Hand, branches out into an Im menfity of the most varied, and most frnifhed Forms. The Moisture of the Earth, paffed through proper Strainers, and dif pofed in a Range of pellucid Tubes: This one plain and fimple Caufe gives Birth to all the Charms, which deck the Youth |