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THE SLOTHFUL MAN.

HIS SLUMBER.

Oн, what a world of curses the eaten of the forbidden fruit hath brought upon mankind, and unavoidably entailed upon the sons of men! Among all which, no one appears to me more terrible and full of sorrow, and betraying greater wrath, than that insufferable, that horrible punishment of labour; and to purchase bread with so extreme a price as sweat. But oh! what hap, what happiness, have they, whose dying parents. have procured a quiet fortune for their unmolested children, and conveying descending rents to their succeeding heirs--whose easy and contented lives may sit and suck the sweetness of their cumberless estates, and with their folded hands enjoy the delicacies of this toilsome world! How blessed, how delicious are those easy morsels, that can find their way to my soft palate, and then attend upon the wanton leisure of my silken slumbers, without the painful practice of my bosom-folded hands, or sad contrivement of my studious and contracted brows! Why should I tire my tender youth, and torture out my groaning days, in toil and travail-and discompose the happy peace of my harmonious thoughts with painful grinding in the common mill of dull mortality? Why should I rob my carving eyelids of their delightful rest, to cark and care and purvey for that bread which every work-abhorring vagabond can find of alms at every good man's

door? Why should I leave the warm protection of my care-beguiling down, to play the droyling drudge for daily food-when the young empty ravens (that have no hands to work, nor provi. dence, but Heaven) can call and be supplied? The pale-faced lily, and the blushing rose, neither spin nor sow; yet princely Solomon was never robed with so much glory. And shall E then afflict my body, and be-slave my heavenborn soul, to purchase rags to clothe my nakedness? Is my condition worse than sheep, ordained for slaughter, that crop the springing grass, clothed warm in soft arrayment, purchased without their providence or pains? Or shall the pampered beast that shines with fatness, and grows wanton through his careful grooms indulgence, find better measure at the world's too partial hands than I? Come, come, let those take pains. that love to leave their names enrolled in memorable monuments of parchment: the day has grief enough without my help; and let to-morrow's shoulders bear to-morrow's burdens.

BUT stay, my soul, oh, stay thy rash resolves! Take heed, whilst thou avoid the punishment of sin, labour-thou meet not the reward of idleness, a judgment.

Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Exod. xvi. 49.

Go to the pismire, a sluggard; behold her ways, and be wise.

For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler,

prepareth her meat in summer, and gathereth her food in harvest. Prov. vi. 6, 7, 8.

15.

The idle soul shall suffer hunger. Prov. xix.

By much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through. Eccles. x. 18.

HIS SOLILOQUY.

How presumptuously hast thou, my soul, transgressed the express commandment of thy God! How hast thou dashed thyself against his judgments! How hath thy undeserving hand usurped thy diet, and wearest on thy back the wages of the painful soul! Art thou not condemned to rags, to famine, by Him whose law commanded thee to labour? And yet thou pamperest up thy sides with stolen food-and yet thou deckest thy wanton body with unearned ornaments whilst they that spend their daily strength in their commanded callings (whose labour gives them interest in them) want bread to feed, and rags to clothe them! Thou art no young raven, my soul, no lily! Where ability to labour is, there Providence meets action, and crowns it. He that forbids to cark for to-morrow, denies bread to the idleness of to-day. Consider, O my soul, thy own delinquency, and let employment make thee capable of thy God's protection. The bird that sits is a fair mark for the fowler, while they that use the wing escape the danger. Follow thy calling, and Heaven will follow thee with his blessing. What thou hast

formerly omitted, present repentance may redeem; and what judgments God hath threatened, early petitions may avert.

HIS PRAYER.

MOST great and most glorious God, who for the sin of our first parents hast condemned our frail bodies to the punishment of labour, and hast commanded every one a calling and a trade of life; that hatest idleness as the root of evil, and threatenest poverty to the slothful hand; I, thy poor suppliant, convicted by thy judgments, and conscious of my own transgression, fly from myself to thee; and humbly appeal from the high tribunal of thy justice, and seek for refuge in the sanctuary of thy mercy. Lord, I have led a life displeasing to thee, and have been a scandal to my profession. I have slighted those blessings which thy goodness hath promised to a conscionable calling, and have swallowed down the bread of idleness. I have impaired the talent thou gavest me, and have lost the opportunity of doing much good. I have filled my heart with idle imaginations, and have laid myself open to the lusts of the flesh. I have abused thy favours in the mispending of my precious time, and have taken no delight in thy Sabbaths. I have doted too much on the pleasures of this world, and like a drone have fed upon the honey of bees. If thou, O God, shouldst be extreme to search my ways with too severe an eye, thou couldst not choose but whet thy indignation, and pour the vials of thy wrath upon me. Look, there

fore, not upon my sins, O Lord, but through the merits of my Saviour-who hath made a full satisfaction for all my sins! What through my weakness I have failed to do, the fulness of his sufferings hath most exactly done. In him, O God, in whom thou art well pleased, and for his sakę, be gracious to my sin. Alter my heart, and make it willing to please thee, that in my life I may adorn my profession. Give me a care and a conscience in my calling, and grant thy blessing to the lawful labours of my hand. Let the fidelity of my vocation improve my talent, that I may enter into my master's joy. dulness and deadness of my heart, those flames. of lust within me. God, in the redemption of my time, and deliver my soul from the evilness of my days. Let thy providence accompany my moderate endeavours, and let all my employments depend upon thy providence; that, when the labours of this sinful world shall cease, I may feel and enjoy the benefit of a good conscience, and obtain the rest of a new Jerusalem in the eternity of glory..

Rouse up the and quench Assist me, O

THE PROUD MAN.

HIS OSTENTATION.

I'LL make him feel the weight of displeasure, and teach him to repent his saucy boldness. How dare his baseness once presume to breathe so near my person, much more to take my name into his