"With a furious man thou shalt not go."-PROV. xxii. 24.
fimple pass on, and are punished."-PROV. xxii. 3.
PRECIPITATION, OR RASHNESS.
Behold the rafh, impetuous charioteer.
Who reckless urges on his wild career;
Dangers and darkness thick around him grow,
High cliffs above, and yawning gulfs below;
Yet much at eafe. In neither fear nor pain,
He fmacks his whip, and freely gives the rein;
Rocks, vaft, precipitous, he dashes by,
But frightful chafms now before him lie;
Down, down the dreadful precipice he flies,
And, dashed to pieces, for his rafhnefs dies.

"The

Thus wilful youth to paffion gives the reins,
And lengthen'd grief, for pleafures fhort, obtains;
By paffion drawn, before he's well aware,

He finks o'erwhelm'd in mifery and despair.

The youth above is feen driving furiously along paths replete with danger. The road, if road it

may be called, becomes more and more hazardous. He labours not to curb the fiery fteeds, whofe speed increases every moment. Inftead of reftraining them, he cracks his whip, and loosely gives the rein. He appears to be wholly unconscious of his imminent peril. Abrupt cliffs hang over his head, and deep, awful ravines open on each fide of his path. His fituation becomes ftill more dangerous; right a-head a frightful gulf presents itself to his eyes, now beginning to open. With the rapidity of lightning he approaches the dreadful brink; on the courfers Ay. Now he fees his danger, and strives to check them. It is in vain; they have had the rein too long; their blood is up. With a fearful bound, over the precipice they go; horses and driver are dashed to atoms against the rocks, and are seen no more.

Ancient philofophers used to compare human paffions to wild horses, and the reason of man to the driver, or coachman, whose business it was to control and guide them at his pleasure. But many men have more command over their horses than they have over themselves. This is a melancholy truth. Their proud chargers are taught to stand ftill, to gallop, to trot, and to perform, in fhort, all kinds of evolutions with perfect eafe; while the paffions run away with their rightful owners; they will not fubmit to be guided by reason. It is of far more importance that a man should learn to govern his paffions than his horses. Our paffions, like fire and water, are excellent fervants, but bad masters.

Horses, to be useful, must be governable; but to be governable, they must be broke in betimes, and thoroughly. So with the paffions, otherwise their power will increase over that of reason, and in the end lead to ruin.

Philofophy may do much in enabling us to govern the paffions; religion, however, can do more. It is faid of Socrates, who had a wretched fcold for a wife, that one day, when she was fcolding him at a great rate, he bore it very patiently, controlling himself by reason. His unruffled compofure enraged her still more, and fhe threw a bowl of dirty water in his face. Then he spoke. "It is quite natural," faid he fmiling, "when the thunder has spent its fury, and the lightning its fires, that the teeming fhower should defcend."

But religion is more easily obtained than philosophy, and it is far more powerful. It imparts a gracious, influential principle that enables whofoever fubmits to it to govern his paffions, and even to love his enemies, and thus to conquer them.

Many have conquered kingdoms, who could not conquer themselves. Thus Alexander, who, being a flave to his paffions, flew Clytus, his moft intimate friend. And, notwithstanding the laurels that have been woven for the conquerors of ancient and modern times, the Almighty himself has prepared a diadem of glory for the felfconquered, bearing in letters of heavenly light

M

this infcription: " He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city."

Madness by nature reigns within,
The paffions burn and rage;

Till God's own Son, with skill divine,
The inward fire affuage.

We give our fouls the wounds they feel,
We drink the poisonous gall,

And rush with fury down to hell,
But heaven prevents the fall.

DR. WATTS.

"Wherefore do ye fpend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which fatiffieth not?"-ISA. lv. 2.

VAIN PURSUITS.

The truant urchin has forfook the school,
To learn betimes how beft to play the fool;
O'er hedge and brake, beneath a burning fun,
With breathless hafte, he perfeveres to run;
His folly's caufe is pictured to the eye:
The object what?-A painted butterfly.

At length outfpent, he grafps the trembling thing,
And with the grafp, deftroys the painted wing;
Chagrined he views, for that once beauteous form,
Nothing remains, except a homely worm.

So larger children leave important deeds,

And after trifles oft the truant speeds;
And if by toil he gains the gaudy prize,
Alas! 'tis changed-it fades away, and dies.

THE foolish boy, leaving the useful and delightful pleasures of ftudy, runs after a pretty butterfly that has attracted his attention. On he