rounded with delights, as much surpassing yours, as yours exreed the rugged desolations of winter.

Thou mantling vine, He, who hangs on thy slender shoots, the rich, transparent, weighty cluster; who, under thy unornamented foilage, and amidst the pores of thy otherwise worthless bough, prepares the liquor,-the refined and exalted liquor, which cheers the nations, and fills the cup of joy; trees, whose branches are elevated and waving in air; or diffused, in easy confinement, along a sunny wall: he, who bends you with a lovely burden of delicious fruits; whose genial warmth beautifies their rind, and mellows their taste; HE, when voluntarily subject to our wants, instead of being refreshed with your generous juices, or regaled with your luscious pulp, had a loathsome potion of vinegar, mingled with gall, addressed to his lips :-that we might sit under the shadow of his merits, with great tranquillity and the utmost complacency; that, ere long, being admitted into the paradise of GOD, we might eat of the tree of life,* and drink new wine with him in his Father's kingdom.

with

Ye luxuriant meadows, HE, who without the seedman's industry, replenishes your irriguous lap with never-failing crops of herbage; and enamels their cheerful green flowers of every hue ;- -ye fertile fields; He, who blesses the labors of the husbandman; enriches your well tilled plains with waving harvests, and calls forth the staff of life from your furrows: He, who causes both meadows and fields to Laugh and sing, for the abundance of plenty ;-He was no stranger to corroding hunger, and parching thirst; He, alas! ate the bitter bread of woe, and had " plenteousness of tears to drink ;"that we might partake of richer dainties than those which are produced by the dew of heaven, and proceed from the fatness of the earth; might feed on hidden manna,” and eat the bread which giveth life, eternal life, unto the world.

that we

"the

Ye mines, rich in golden ore, or bright with veins of silver; that distribute your shining treasures, as far as winds can waft the vessel of commerce, which bestow your alms on monarchs, and have princes for your pensioners ;-ye beds of gems, toy-shops of nature which form, in dark retire.

Rev. ii. 7.

ment, the glittering stone; diamonds, that sparkle with a brilliant water; rubies, that glow with a crimson flame; emeralds, dipped in the freshest verdure of spring; sapphires, decked with the fairest drapery of the sky; topaz, emblazed with dazzling yellow; amethyst, impurpled with the blushes of the morning;-HE, who tinctures the metallic dust, and consolidates the lucid drop! HE, when sojourning on earth, had no riches, but the riches of disinterested benevolence, had no ornament, but the ornament of unspotted purity. Poor he was in his circumstances, and mean in all his accommodations; that we might be rich in grace, and, ❝ obtain salvation with eternal glory;" that we might inhabit the new Jerusalem, that splendid city! whose streets are paved with gold, whose gates are formed of pearl; and the walls garnished with all manner of precious stones.*

Ye gushing fountains, that trickle potable silver through the matted grass; ye fine transparent streams, that glide in crystal waves along your fringed banks; ye deep and stately rivers, that wind and wander in your course, to spread your favors wider; that gladden kingdoms, in your progress, and augment the sea with your tribute;- -He who supplies all your currents, from his own over-flowing and inexhaustible liberality; He, when his nerves were racked with exquisite pain, and his blood inflamed by a raging fever, cried, I THIRST; and was denied (unparalleled hardship!) in this his great extremity, was denied the poor refreshment of a single drop of water;--that we, having all sufficiency in all things, might abound to every good work; might be filled with the fulness of spiritual blessings here, and hereafter be satisfied with that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand for evermore.

Ve birds, cheerful tenants of the boughs, gaily dressed in glossy plumage: who wake the morn, and solace the groves, with your artless lays; inimitable architects; who, without rule or line, build your pensile structures with all the nicety of proportion; you have each his commodious nest, roofed with shades, and lined with warmth, to protect and cherish the callow brood ;- -but HE, who tuned your throats to harmony, and taught you that curious skill; He was a man

Rev. xxi. 19, 21.'

of sorrows, and had not where to lay his head; had not where to lay his head, till he felt the pangs of dissolution, and was laid in the silent grave;-that we, dwelling under the wings of Omnipotence, and resting in the bosom of infinite love, might spend an harmonious eternity in " singing the song of Moses and of the LAMB."

Bees, industrious workmen, that sweep, with busy wing, the flowery garden, and search the blooming heath; and sip the mellifluous dews; strangers to idleness! that ply, with incessant assiduity, your pleasing task: and suffer no opening blossom to pass unexplored, no sunny gleam to slip away unimproved: most ingenious artificers: that cling to the fra grant buds; drain them of their treasured sweet; and extract (if I may so speak,) even the odoriferous souls of herbs, and plants, and flowers;-you, when you have completed your work, have collected, refined, and securely lodged the ambrosial stores; when you might reasonably expect the peaceful fruition of your acquisitions; you, alas! are barbarously destroyed, and leave your hoarded delicacies to others, leave them to be enjoyed by your very murderers. I cannot but pity your hard destiny!How then should my bowels melt with sympathy, and my eyes flow with tears, when I remember, that thus, thus it fared with your and our incarnate Maker! After a life of the most exemplary and exalted piety, a life filled with offices of beneficence, and labors of love: HE was, by wicked hands, crucified and slain: he left the honey of his toil, the balm of his blood, and the riches of his obedience, to be shared among others; to be shared even among those, who too often crucify him afresh, and put him to open shame.

*

Shall I mention the animal,+ which spins her soft, her shining, her exquisitely fine silken thread? whose matchless

Canst thou, ungrateful man, his torments see,

Nor drop a tear for him that pour'd his blood for thee?

PITT's Poems.

introducing, on such Since, even the vosanction of their sa

† No one, I hope, will be offended at my an occasion, creatures of so low a rank. lumes of inspiration seem to lend me the cred authority. As they disdain not to compare the blessed JESUS to a door, a highway, &c. And perhaps, all compari

manufactures lend an ornament to grandeur, and make royalty itself more magnificent.-Shall I take notice of the cell, in which, when the gaiety and business of life are over, the little recluse immures herself, and spends the remainder of her days in retirement?-Shall I rather observe the sepulchre, which, when cloyed with pleasure, and weary of the world, she prepares for her own interment; or how, when a stated period is elapsed, she wakes from a death-like inactivity; breaks the inclosure of her tomb; throws off the dusky shroud; assumes a new form; puts on a more sumptuous array; and, from an insect creeping on the ground, becomes a winged inhabitant of the air?—No; this is a poor reptile; and therefore unworthy to serve as an illustration, when any character of the Son of GOD comes under consideration. But let me correct myself. Was not CHRIST (to use the language of his own blessed Spirit) a worm, and no man?* In appearance such, and treated as such.-Did not he also bequeath the fine linen of his own most perfect righteousness, to compose the marriage-garment+ for our dis

sons which respect a being of infinite dignity, are not only mean, but equally mean and unworthy.

I am sensible, likewise, that in this paragraph, and some others, all the circumstances are not completely correspondent. But if, in some grand particulars their addition answers to the description; this I trust, will be sufficient for my purpose, and satisfactory to my readers.Perhaps, it would be no mistaken caution, to apply the same observation to many of the beautiful similitudes, parables, and allegories used by our LORD; such as the brazen serpent, the unjust steward, the thief in the night; &c. which, scrupulously sifted, or rigorously strained, for an entire coincidence in every circumstance, must appear to great disadvantage, and lead into palpable inconveniencies. # Psal. xxii. 6.

†This, and several other hints, interspersed in the two volumes, refer to the active and passive righteousness of Christ, imputed to believers, for their justification. Which, in the opinion of many great expositors, is the mystical and the most sublime meaning of the wedding garment, so emphatically and forcibly recommended by the teacher sent from GOD, Matth. xxii. 11. A doctrine, which some of those who honour my Meditations with a perusal, probably may not receive with much, if any approbation. I hope, the whole performance will not be Cashiered, for one difference of sentiment; and I beg that the

arrayed and defiled souls? Did he not, before his flesh saw corruption, emerge triumphant from the grave; and not only mount the lower firmament, but ascend the heaven of hea

sentiment itself may not hastily be rejected without a serious hearing. For I have the pleasure of being intimately acquainted with a gentleman of good learning, and distinguished sense, who had once as strong prepossessions against this tenet, as can well be imagined. Yet now he not only admits it, as a truth, but embraces it, as the joy of his heart, and cleaves to it as the rock of hishope.

A clear and cogent Treatise, entitled, Submission to the righ. teousness of God, was the instrument of removing his prejudices, and reducing him to a better judgment,-in which he has been happily confirmed, by the authority of the most illustrious names, and the works of the most eminent pens, that ever adorned our church and nation,-in this number, are-Bishop Jewel, one of our great reformers; and other venerable compilers of our ho milies;-Archbishop Usher, that oracle of universal learning ;Bishop Hall, the devout and sprightly orator of his age; the copious and fervent Bishop Hopkins; the singularly good and unaffected Bishop Beveridge ;-that everlasting honour of the bench of judicature, Lord Chief Justice Hale;the ner vous, florid, and persuasive Dean Stanhope the practical and perspicuous Mr. Burkitt ;-and to summon no other evi dence, that matchless genius Milton; who, in various parts of his divine poem, inculcates this comfortable truth and in one passage, represents it under the very same image, which is made use of above, Book X. 1. 222.

I had almost forgot to mention that the Treatise, entitled Submission, &c. was written by Mr. Benjamin Jenks, whose book of devotions has deservedly passed through eleven editions; is truly admirable for the sublimity, spirituality and propriety of the sen timents; as well as for the concise form, and pathetic turn of the expression. Whose book of meditations, though no less worthy of general acceptance, has, for a considerable time, been almost unknown and extinct. But it is now revived, and is lately republished, in two octavo volumes, by Mr. James Rivington For which service he has my thanks: I flatter myself, he will have the thanks of the public: as I am persuaded, could religion and virtue speak, he would have their acknowledgements also. Since few Treatises are more happily calculated, to represent religion in its native beauty, and to promote the interests of ge nuine virtue. On which account, I trust the candid will excuse me, and the judicious will not condemn me, even though the recommendation of those devotions and of these meditations may appear to be a digression from my subject.