Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/185



A BIRTH day, a new month, a new season, and a new journal, meet me at the same moment! Reflections press upon each other, and the spirit is solemnized. A few years since, and I was not: a few years to come, and I shall not be. "We receive daily conviction of the vanity of earthly enjoyments, the fallibility of our own powers, and the unstable character of our own hearts. Might I not apply to myself, what the dying Patriarch addressed to his first born Reuben?—"Unstable as water thou shalt not excell." While we are compelled to perceive our imperfections, we must acknowledge the constant watchfulness and love of that benevolent Being who dealeth not with us according to our sins. He is kind to us, while we are forgetful of him; he preserves us, though we see him not; he is near us when we sleep, when we wake, and when we wander. The past year has been marked with health, peace, and an employment which I love, and have often desired. My request is to be better prepared for its various duties, to be confirmed in it, as long as I shall be enabled to do good, and to have the affections