THE YOUNG LADY'S BOOK OF PIETY. ON THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. How lamentable it is that so few hearts should feel the pleasures of real piety! that prayer and thanksgiving should be performed, as they too often are, not with joy, and love and gratitude; but with cold indifference, melancholy dejection, or secret horror !-It is true, we are all such frail and sinful creatures, that we justly fear to have offended our gracious Father; but let us remember the condition of his forgiveness; if you have sinned, sin no more.' He is ready to receive you whenever you sincerely turn to him ;—and He is ready to assist you, when you do but desire to obey him. Let your devotion, then, be the language of filial love and gratitude; confide to this kindest of Fathers every want and every wish of your heart: but submit them all to his will, and freely offer him the disposal of yourself, and of all your affairs. Thank him for his benefits, and even for his punishments,―convinced that these also are benefits, and mercifully designed for your good. Implore his direction in all difficulties; his assistance in all trials; his comfort and support in sickness or affliction; his restraining grace in time of poverty and joy. Do not persist in desiring what his Providence denies you; but be assured it is not good for you. Refuse not any thing he allots you, but embrace it as the best and properest for you. Can you do less to your heavenly Father than what your duty to an earthly one requires ?-If you were to ask permission of your father to do, or to have any thing you desire, and he should refuse it to you, would you obstinately persist in setting your heart upon it, notwithstanding his prohibition? Would you not say, My father is wiser than I am; he loves me, and would not deny my request, if it were fit to be granted; I will, therefore, banish the thought, and cheerfully acquiesce in his will?-How much rather should this be said of our heavenly Father, whose wisdom cannot be mistaken, and whose bountiful kindness is infinite!-Love Him, therefore, in the same manner as you love your earthly parents, but in a much higher degree,-in the highest your nature is capable of. Forget not to dedicate yourself to his service every day; to implore his forgiveness of your faults, and his protection from evil, every night; and this not merely in formal words, unaccompanied by any act of the mind, but in spirit and in truth;' in grateful love, and humble adoration. Nor let these stated periods of worship be your only communication with him; accustom yourself to think often of him, in all your waking hours; to contemplate his wisdom and power, in the works of his hands;-to acknowledge his goodness in every object of use or of pleasure; -to delight in giving him praise in your inmost heart, in the midst of every innocent gratification, -in the liveliest hour of social enjoyment. You cannot conceive, if you have not experienced, how much such silent acts of gratitude and love will enhance every pleasure; nor what sweet serenity and cheerfulness such reflections will diffuse over your mind. On the other hand, when you are suffering pain or sorrow, when you are confined to an unpleasant situation, or engaged in a painful duty, how will it support and animate you, to refer yourself to your Almighty Father!-to be assured that he knows your state and your intentions; that no effort of virtue is lost in his sight, nor the least of your actions or sufferings disregarded or forgotten!— that his hand is ever over you, to ward off every real evil, which is not the effect of your own ill conduct, and to relieve every suffering that is not useful to your future well-being. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. IF God be the author of our spiritual life, the root from which we derive the vital principle with daily supplies to maintain this vitality; then the best evidence we can give that we have received something of this principle, is an unreserved dedication of ourselves to the actual promotion of his glory. No man ought to flatter himself that he is in the favor of God, whose life is not consecrated to the service of God. Will it not be the only unequivocal proof of such a consecration, that he be more zealous of good works than those who, disallowing the principles on which he performs them, do not even pretend to be actuated by any such motive? The finest theory never yet carried any man to Heaven. A religion of notions which occupies the Can trials; his comfort and support in sickness or affliction; his restraining grace in time of poverty and joy. Do not persist in desiring what his Providence denies you; but be assured it is not good for you. Refuse not any thing he allots you, but embrace it as the best and properest for you. you do less to your heavenly Father than what your duty to an earthly one requires ?-If you were to ask permission of your father to do, or to have any thing you desire, and he should refuse it to you, would you obstinately persist in setting your heart upon it, notwithstanding his prohibition? Would you not say, My father is wiser than I am; he loves me, and would not deny my request, if it were fit to be granted; I will, therefore, banish the thought, and cheerfully acquiesce in his will?-How much rather should this be said of our heavenly Father, whose wisdom cannot be mistaken, and whose bountiful kindness is infinite!-Love Him, there. fore, in the same manner as you love your earthly parents, but in a much higher degree,—in the highest your nature is capable of. Forget not to dedicate yourself to his service every day; to implore his forgiveness of your faults, and his protection from evil, every night; and this not merely in formal words, unaccompanied by any act of the mind, but in spirit and in truth;' in grateful love, and humble adoration. Nor let these stated periods of worship be your only communication with him; accustom yourself to think often of him, in all your waking hours;- to contemplate his wisdom and power, in the works of his hands;-to acknowledge his goodness in every object of use or of pleasure; -to delight in giving him praise in your inmost heart, in the midst of every innocent gratification, -in the liveliest hour of social enjoyment. You cannot conceive, if you have not experienced, how much such silent acts of gratitude and love will enhance every pleasure; nor what sweet serenity and cheerfulness such reflections will diffuse over your mind. On the other hand, when you are suf fering pain or sorrow, when you are confined to an unpleasant situation, or engaged in a painful duty, how will it support and animate you, to refer yourself to your Almighty Father!-to be assured that he knows your state and your intentions; that no effort of virtue is lost in his sight, nor the least of your actions or sufferings disregarded or forgotten!that his hand is ever over you, to ward off every real evil, which is not the effect of your own ill conduct, and to relieve every suffering that is not useful to your future well-being. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. IF God be the author of our spiritual life, the root from which we derive the vital principle with daily supplies to maintain this vitality; then the best evidence we can give that we have received something of this principle, is an unreserved dedication of ourselves to the actual promotion of his glory. No man ought to flatter himself that he is in the favor of God, whose life is not consecrated to the service of God. Will it not be the only unequivocal proof of such a consecration, that he be more zealous of good works than those who, disallowing the principles on which he performs them, do not even pretend to be actuated by any such motive? The finest theory never yet carried any man to Heaven. A religion of notions which occupies the |