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 father endured for the death of a ſon, which wife ſuſtained for the loſs of her huſband, and all thoſe minor ties of conſanguinity and which were, at this unhappy and awful period, generally diſolved.

When we conſider how very ſoon the gay and flattering appearances of life are deſtroyed; how uncertain are our poſſeſſions, and  ſubject to hopes, and how embittered by diſappointments, are our purſuits; it is ſomewhat extraordinary, that we ſhould be ſo much attached  the world, ſhould entruſt the ſun-ſhine of our  and without ſuſpicion of a change, to every  ſhould commit our preſent happineſs to the inſtability of climate, to the viciſſitudes of cold and  to the terrors of the tempeſt, or the peſtilent dangers of the calm:-it is aſtoniſhing, I again, that we ſhould repoſe all our comforts,  all our expectations, upon a world ſo full of mortification, diſappointment, and affliction; when  muſt be conſcious that we muſt ſo ſoon leave  world and all its empty deluſions behind. we look around, and ſee people who thought themſelves above the reach of want, and reclining, a long apprenticeſhip of patient induſtry and perſevering toil, upon the lap of late-earned independency and honeſt repoſe; when we ſee them  the fruits of exertions thus made, and of  thus enjoyed, in one fatal and deſtructive our,-- an awful leſſon does this reflection awaken in  minds! and how much does it not warn us againſt building upon a foundation ſo very precarious beſt, and at the beſt deceitful! But then to them reduced to this ſituation, and ſtruggling  infirmities, without the vigour of youth, or  exertions of manhood-without ſhelter from  weather, protection from power, or meat