your thoughts will wander upon every other subject; and while you kneel before the God of Heaven, if occupied by the vanities of earth, be assured, that from such prayers you can experience no satisfaction, nor hope to have them accepted by the Searcher of Hearts.

SUNDAY XI.

ON CHARITY.

SURROUNDED with all the comforts, sup plied with every necessary, and abounding with the superfluities of life, young persons are apt to forget the sufferings of those in a less happy situation. They know, indeed, that the poor and the unfortunate exist in some obscure dwellings; and when they behold the miserable objects, the sight of them may inspire some transient feelings of compassion. But, my young friend, a Chris. tian must do more than pity the wretched. If you would imitate the example of your Divine Master, you must relieve their distresses; you must alleviate their sorrows, and soften the rigours of poverty. Perhaps

you will think, that as you have but a small allowance at your age, the duty of charity may be excused. Yet consider, that if you can dispose but of a little, your own wants are all amply supplied; and you may surely spare from the gratifications of fancy to those who are destitute of every conveni

ence.

Consider how many worthy families eat to-day their scanty portion; and, when they rise from their unsatisfied meal, the cravings of hunger are hardly appeased; and yet they are uncertain where to find the next supply. How many, to the horrors of penury, add the bitter pangs of disease? Reflect for a moment, how hard you find it to suffer the agony of pain, although relieved by every art of medicine, and soothed by the kind endearments of every sympathizing friend! But if you could repair to the desolate mansion of poverty, you would behold none of these comforts to abate the anguish of the sufferer. Unknown to the world, the physician is not summoned to his assistance; those necessaries which might alleviate the distemper, he has no money to procure, Unable to rise, and

provide, by his usual labour, for his accustomed supply, he must lie there and perish, unseen, unattended, unassisted, and unlamented. Or, if he have the blessings of relations, his wife and children do but too often share the same unhappy fate. Shut up together in one small unwholesome apartment, they breathe the infectious air of sickness, till the like disorder extends to each of them, and they have only the additional misery of being the mournful witnesses of each other's sufferings.

Think not that I am speaking of imaginary woes; such scenes which I have mentioned are but too frequent and too real. The living and the dead are mingled together in the same contracted room and all the horrors of sickness and poverty are aggravated by the unwholesome connexion. Little do you think, while you are in a state so different, while you perhaps are vexed and provoked at every trifling disappointment, how many at this moment suffer the most heart-rending calamities! how many are confined in a loathsome prison, far from their wretched families, who are left to starve in their absence; confined for the want of a trifling sum, which they have

I dare say

not the ability to discharge. you will pity such distress; but what can you do? Can it be thought that the small share of riches you possess can any way assist such heightened calamity? Perhaps not; but in such a case God will accept the benevolent design, instead of the intended deed: for he accepteth "according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not."

But these pages may be read by some in more affluent circumstances: to all, however, the widow of Zarephath, and the poor woman who threw her two mites into the treasury, are held forth as an example. I do not mean that any are expected to make themselves poor by their donations to others; but that even those in indigent circumstances, by dispensing a little of their small store to those who are still lower than themselves, may be entitled to that providential care which or dained, "that the barrel of meal should not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail, till the Lord sent rain upon the earth."

I would wish, therefore, to persuade my young readers, instead of spending the whole portion allotted to their own disposal,

in baubles, trinkets, or whatever objects may engage their inclination, to reserve a part for the relief of the necessitous. And, if they have any sentiments of religion or duty, if they have any feelings of humanity, they will not esteem the sum which they so dedicate as productive of little pleasure. On the contrary, they will find, that to have contributed to stop the falling of one tear from the overcharged eye of affliction; to have fed, though but for one meal, the starving appetites of a hungry family; to have clothed, though but with a thin covering, the shivering body of the naked sufferer; will afford them more true satisfaction to reflect upon, than they could receive from the most elegant trinket which the hand of luxury might present. Such toys may be the occasion of present pleasure; but that gratification is soon past; the eye soon grows familiar to the most beautiful productions of art, and indifference will then succeed to desire. But in the exercise of duty, in promoting the happiness of others, there is an enjoy. ment which will last for ever; as every recollection of a good action is a return of the felicity which it first bestowed.

By a habit of prudent economy much may