-
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
* THE
POIAR STAR,
AND
CENTRE OF COMFORT,
BFJOHN WILSON, 1). D.
CONTAINING
'Several very admirable Sermons, together with
the beautiful works o^ William M'Ewen f
I). 1). with a paraphrase on the book of
Job, and also a select private
Family Physician, which no
doubt, will be the means of
saving many lives in
the course of the
present age*
WITH BEx\UTIFUL, MORAL, HISTORY.
Jlnd also heavenly Sermons and Hymns far
children; in short, the calculation is to
suit from the learned philoso-
pher to the child.
PUBLISHED BY JAMES S
Price one dollar and twenty Jive cents.
.it ii v JouN LOW^
MDCCCXVI*
Southern District of New -York, ss>
y&t 1C Hemrmterrt), that on the twenty-sixth
day in ihiijy, hi the ibrty -first year of the Inde-
pendence of the United Stales of America,
James Sharan of the said District hath deposit-
ed in this office the title of a book, the right
whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words
following to wit: " The Polar Star, and Centre
of Comfort," by John Wilson, I). I), containing
several very admirable sermons, together with
the beautiful works of William M'Ewen, D. D.
with a paraphrase on the book of Job, and also
a select private family physiehin, which no
doubt will be the means of saving many lives in
the course of the present age with beautiful
moral History, and, also heavenly Sermons and
Hymns for children ; in short, the calculation is
to suit from the learned philosopher to the child.
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of
the United States, entitled "An Act for the en-
couragement of Learning? by securing the copies
of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and
proprietors of such copies, during the time
therein mentioned."' And also to an Act, en-
titled " an Act, supplementary to an Act, entit-
led an Act for the encouragement of Learning,
by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and
Books to the authors and proprietors of such
eopies, during the times therein mentioned, and
extending the benefits thereof to the arts of de-
signing, engraving, and etching historical and
ther prints." THERON KUDD,
Clerk of the Sotithmi District of New-fork,
THE PUBLISHER'S J1DDEES8.
I DO not think it expedient to detain the
ous reader with a long preamble of a preface, as
injustice, it can no more than represent the inte-
rior part of the work. As a preface is seldom
paid much attention to, till after the body of
the hook is read, I \vill observe by way of an
address, that I trust the learned, into whose
hands this work may come, will not think hard
of my inserting useful articles in the back part
of the work for the use of children, knowing
that the highest learned, and most illustrious,
kings, queens and emperors, were once little
children themselves* just progressing in the
first part of youthful literature, and no doubt
were oft times anxious of looking into books be-
longing even to the learned and accomplished
character. And if these children should find in
those books, such suitable information for their
young and tender minds as they will find in this,
the indulgence, no doubt in process of time*
would be well bestowed. As for my own part, I
have been remarkably fond of children ever
since I was one myself, and a partner with them
in their little innocent amusements throughout
the day, so may every parent show good ex-
amples to their children; and implant at an ear
VI..
ly period the tree of grace and liberty into their
youthful hearts* never more to he eradicated,
hut flourish in immortal bloom. And when it
falls, may it fall into that glorious assylum of
comfort, where we all hope to arrive at one time
or other.
The favourable patronage which this work has
met with, demands a grateful acknowledgment,
and I am happy to find so many, even of the
youthful part of the creation, so liberal in
patronising a religious work of this nature, and
it is remarkable to find so many religious fe-
males in one city as there is in New-York ; for
any thing that hears that name, of a book kind,
they are very anxious of having in their fami-
lies.
The number of subscribers obtained in New-
York for this book, is nine hundred, five hundred
of which are ladies ; eight hundred in Phila-
delphia, and seven hundred in Baltimore, for
which I return them my hearty thanks, and
sincerely hope that the medical part of this
work will be instrumental of saving many lives,
and the religious part many souls, for which it
is intended.
I am, gentlemen,
Your most grateful
And very humble servant,
JAMES SHARAN,
THE POLAR STAK, fijc,
A Prophecy of the Increase of Christ's
Kingdom.
SERMON I.
On JOHN iii. 30. He must increase.
THESE are the words of John Baptist con
eerning Jesus Christ, upon the occasion of his
disciples complaining of Christ's baptizing,
which drew great multitudes to him, whereby
they feared their master might come to be dark-
ened or deserted. But the humble man, instead
of resenting it as his disciples did, falls a com*
mending Christ, and abasing himself; yea, he
professeth the greatest satisfaction in the ad
vancement of Christ and his interest in the
world, and compareth himself to a friend of the
Bridegroom, ver. 26. that rejoiceth in the suc-
cess of the match, which he had been labouring
to promote : It being honour enough for the
most eminent minister of Christ, to bean instru-
A
8 THE POLAll STAR.
ment to recommend his glorious Master, and to
court and make ready a bride for him.
In ver. 30. where my text is, . John foretels
the increase of Christ's kingdom and glory, as a
thing highly just and equitable in itself, and most
agreeable and satisfying to him, and all other
friends of the Bridegroom, " He must increase ;"
that is, his interest shall grow in the world, his
name shall spread, his throne be raised, his
crown shall flourish, his dominion be enlarged
and his subjects multiplied. You think he hath
gained a great deal already, but this is nothing
to what he will gain : And all this in conse-
/juence of the decree of God, and the prophecies
recorded concerning the Messiah in Psalm ii.
and Isxii. &c. so that there is a necessity for it,
*' He must increase."
2. John foretels the consequence of this in-
crease to himself, " I must decrease ; that is, I
must be darkened and disappear. " He is not at
all displeased to see himself obscure and out-
shined by the blessed Messiah, whose servant
and forerunner he owned he was. No, no, says
he, Let him shine forth as the rising sun, and
let me disappear like the morning star : Let his
name be raised, and mine depressed, I cheerfully
submit to it, I am contented to be any thing, or
to be nothing, so that Christ may be All.
THE POLAR STAR.
Doc. The increase of Christ's kingdom and
glory in the world, is absolutely certain and ne-
cessary. It must infallibly be, for God hath
said it, Jer. xxiii. 5. " A king shall reign and
prosper in the earth," Psalms Ixxii. 8. * He
shall have dominion from sea to sea, Psalm
cxxxij. 18. "Upon himself shall his crown
flourish."
In discoursing from this subject, I shall,
I. Enquire what is that increase of Christ's
kingdom and glory, which we may warrantably
look for ?
II. What are the times and seasons of this in-
crease ?
III. What are the reasons why Christ must
thus increase ?
IT. Make application.
I. As to the first. What is the increase here
meant ?
First, Negatively, it is not to be understood,
1. Of any increase of Christ's essential glory
as God ; for this is impossible, he being infinite,
and therefore the same yesterday, and to-day,
and for ever, without any variableness or sha-
dow of turning.
2. It is not meant that Christ's kingdom shall
increase or flourish in outward splendour and
greatness, like one of the kingdoms of this world.
No, Christ* s kingdom being not of this
40 THE POXAK STAB*
its glory is of a spiritual and heavenly nature?
and peculiar to itself alone*
Neither is it to be thought that the increase
of Christ's kingdom is to be constant or alike at
all times, or without decay or diminution at any
time. No, no, for sometimes it seems to be
brought very low, yea, so low was it brought
under the Antiehristian apostacy, that it was
scarce visible.
Zdly. Positively, the increase spoke of in the
text, is to be understood of the flourishing of
Christ's mediatory kingdom, and of the spread-
ing of his manifestative glory in the world, which
doth consist chiefly in these things :
1. In the increase and spreading of gospel-
light through the world, so that the dark places
of the earth shall be enlightened with the knowl-
edge of Christ ; and those places which had but
twilight discoveries of him, shall attain to
brighter views of his excellency and usefulness,
and to a clearer insight into the gospel mys-
teries, and the way of salvation through Christ
and his righteousness imputed to the sons of
Adam. Then the Sun of righteousness shall
arise with more powerful beams of light and
heat upon his churches than before, and at
length with such clearness and efficacy, as to
scatter Antiehristian darkness, error, idolatry,
superstitions, dead forms and ceremonies of
THE POLAR STAK. 11
man's invention. For how is it else that the
man of sin shall be consumed by the Spirit of
Christ's mouth, and destroyed by the brightness
of his coming, 2. Thess. ii. 8. but by the out-
pouring of bis Spirit with his word preached,
and by the bright and convincing appearances
of the Redeemer in the glory of gospel-light I
Then is it that Christ shall increase, and his
kingdom be enlarged, when " the earth shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord, as the Maters cover the sea,'* according
to the prophecy of Habakkuk, Hab. ii. 1*.
2. This increase takes in the Lord's furnish-
ing his church with many " burning and shining
lights, able ministers of the New Testament, 5 '
to be eminent instruments of displaying his glory
in the world. When he is signally to increase
his kingdom, he will rise up and qualify minis-
ters for the work ; who shall be men of large
hearts, fluent tongues, and public spirits ; shin-
ing holiness and piety ; undaunted courage and
zeal for God ; inspired with a burning love to
Christ and the souls of men ; inclined to prefer
the good of Jerusalem to their chiefest joy ; and
willing to run all hazards by sea and land ; to ven-
ture all that is dear to them in the world, their re-
putation, life, and all the comforts of it, for Jesus
Christ ; and cheerfully content to spend and to
lie spent for the increase of his kingdom and
12 THE POrAR STAR.
glory, and the gathering of souls to him. And
particularly, it is a pledge and forerunner of
this happy increase, when the Lord sends down
his Spirit upon students and expectants of the
ministry ; graciously touches their hearts, and
works an inward change upon their souls ; ani-
mates them with sincere principles and ends.,
and gives them such iaipressions of the weight
of the pastoral office and the charge of souls,
that they will not run thereto unsent, nor have
an active hand in thrusting themselves into it,
or do any thing to heget prejudices, to mar their
success ; but will wait patiently upon the Lord,
till he shall open the door, and clear their call
to enter into his vineyard.
3. It imports the increase of the number of
Christ's subjects and followers. " As the king's
lionour is in the multitude of his people," Prov.
xiv. 2S. so Christ is glorified in the multitude
of his subjects. Thus shall Christ's kingdom
and glory increase in the latter days, when the
kingdoms of the earth shall become the king-
doms of the Lord ; then the Jews themselves
shall gather to Christ's standard lifted up in the
gospel, together with the fulness of the Gen-
tiles; they shall fly to it in clouds, like doves to
their windows, according to these promises*
Isaiah ii. 2. Micah iv. 1, 2. Jsa. Ix. 8. Rev. ii. 15
Souu xi. 25, 26. Plalm cii. 5, 16* 22. Now,
THE POLAR STAR. 13
what is it that will bring about this glorious in-
crease, but the ministration of the Spirit with
the gospel ? It is this that opens a great and
effectual doer, I. Cor. xvi. 9. a door of utterance
in ministers mouths, and a door of entrance in
hearers' hearts. Then ministers 5 spirits shall
be enlarged, and their tongues loosed in preach-
ing ; and hearers' appetites will be sharpened,
and their hearts melted in hearing. When the
Lord comes with his Spirit, and gives testimony
to the word of his grace, then the arrows of the
ii'ord shall pierce the conscience ; the wounded
shall cry, what shall we do to be saved? And
multitudes shall fall under ZIon's King, Psalm
xiv. 5.
4: Then Christ's kingdom doth increase,
when truth triumphs over error,' and pure doc-
trine and worship prevail against superstition
and delusion. There arc happy seasons when
the Lord doth magnify his power in binding up
the winds of heresy and false doctrine, and mak-
ing pure scripture truths to be relished and pre-
ferred to the vain opinions and false reasonings
of men. Then he causes Infidelity, Deism, So-
einianism, Arianistn, Popery, and Arminianism,
to be rejected and abhorred : And makes men
willing to subject their own reason to divine re-
velation, and to fall in with the plain truths of
the w r ord, and the gospel scheme of saving lost
14 THE POXAR STAR.
sinners by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and
through his death and purchase only. Then he
brings men to see their own natural impotency
and inability to do any thing for their own re-
covery and happiness: so that, instead of ascrib-
ing their good actions and attainments to the
good use of their own natural powers, they are
willing to acknowledge God in every thing that
is good in them, arid to ascribe all to the praise
and glory of his free grace, who, for Christ's
sake works in them both to will and io do. O
that Christ and his truth may thus increase in
the world !
5. This blessed increase of Christ's kingdom*
includes the downfall of its enemies, and espe-
cially the overthrow of Mahomet and Antichrist,
the ruin of Babylon, and the binding up of Satan^
that grand enemy which excites all the rest,
This is foretold. Rev. xx. 2. Now when once
that time comes, that Satan shall be restrained
and bound up from influencing rulers to perse-
cute or oppress the church : from instigating
seducers to prop'^gate errors; and from exciting
schismatieal and seditious persons to sow dis-
sension among the followers of Jesus ; then the
kingdom of Christ will greatly increase in the
world.
6. It imports the increase of true piety and
holiness among the subjects of Christ's king-
THE POLAR STAR. 15
dom ; when they shall study an universal con*
formity to their holy Lord and Master, and,
like him, make it their meat and drink to serve
God, and do his will : When their minds and
affections shall be greatly disengaged from the
world, and the strain of their conversation shall
be spiritual and heavenly : Their lives shall
shine in holiness and good works; and their
great study shall be to have their spirits and
tempers, their walk and carriage, in all respects
such as becomes the gospel of Christ : When
they shall be just, righteous and true, in all
their dealings, words, and actions ; when they
shall be meek and lowly, sober and temperate,
patient and peaceable, loving and forgiving,
harmless and inoffensive, in all the parts of their
conversation : and at the same time shall abhor
and depart from all lying and dissembling, in-
justice and intemperance, pride and ambition,
slandering and backbiting, malice and revenge,
discord and strife, and whatever else is contrary
to true godliness, and the pattern of the holy
Jesus : then it is that Christ's kingdom shall
greatly increase.
7. There is in it the increase of zeal and
public-spiritedness for promoting true religion,
and of Christian courage and magnanimity hi
owning and avowing of Christ and his cause
before the warW. When Christians shall not
16 , THE P01AR STAR.
be ashamed of a crucified Jesus, or of his truths,
ordinances or people, but shall openly profess
him, glory in him, and whatever belongs to him ;
and also bear testimony against every thing that
he hates or forbids ; and when a spirit of reforma-
tion shall be poured upon all ranks and degrees
of men ; so as e^ery one in their several sta-
tions and capacities slit 11 do tjheir utmost to
suppress sin, and recommend Christ and his
ways to all around them : then is it that Christ's
kingdom and glory will increase in the world.
HEAD II. I proposed next to enquire into the
times and seasons of this glorious increase. God
liath his set times for Zion's increase and glory,
which none can stop, Psalm cii. 13. The apos-
tolic age was the most remarkable set time for
it that ever was, when every sermon made new
conquests and additions to the church, till every
city and corner of the vast Roman empire "was
stored with Christians. But, besides this, we
have promises of a more full and ample increase
of Christ's kingdom in the latter days, or to-
wards the end of the world ; of which Daniel
speaks in his prophecy, Dan. ii. 28, 44. and Dan.
vii. 27. There he tells us that in these latter
days God will set up a great, large, and flourish-
ing kingdom* which will break all others in pie-
ces, and stand for ever. That he means the
flourishing state and glorious increase of Christ's
THE PCKEAK STAR. 17
kingdom towards the end of the world, is clear
from this, that he makes the latter days he
speaks of, to be the days of the kings which
should divide the south monarchy, or Roman
empire, among them. This empire was to he
divided into ten kingdoms, called in the Revela-
tion ten horns, and represented in Dan. ii. 41.
by the ten toes of the feet of the image. Now,
the stone cut out of the mouth, which is the
kingdom of Christ, is said to smite the image
upon its feet, and brake them in pieces, ver. 35,
which signifies Christ's conquering the Roman
empire, when divided into ten kings, or king-
doms, called ten horns, Rev. xvii, which division
toath happened in the latter clays. And these
horns, or kings and kingdoms, being joined to-
gether in giving their power to the beast, or
Roman Antichrist as their head, do preserve
some shadow of the ancient Roman empire or
monarchy, seeing Antichrist's power is almost
as extensive as the emperor's once was. Hence
Antichrist is sometimes called the image of the
beast, and is said to exercise the power of the
first beast, Rev. viii. 12. 14. as being set up at
Rome in place of the Roman empire in the west,
and ^bearing the likeness of the then emperor
that reigned there. For at the time the said
emperor lay dead and wounded by the sword, or
invasion of the Goths and Vandals, and in effect
18 THE POXAR STAR.
was not, the Pope got up and mounted the beast?
which the emperor had rode upon before him,
namely, the Roman state, for that is the body
of the beast, and so set up a new image of the
old Heathen empire at Rome. The papal power
may be well called its image, as being like it in
largeness of dominion, in form of government,
and in tyranny and idolatry.
When Christ's kingdom was first set up in
the apostles time, the Roman empire was on its
iron legs, as represented in Nebuchadnezzar's
image, that is, it was in its greatest strength.
But in the latter days, which Daniel speaks of,
Dan. ii. 28. 44. when Christ's kingdom is won-
derfully increased, the empire is in its feet and
toes, that is, in ten kingdoms subject to the beast,
as they are explained. Rev. xvii. 12, 13, 17, 18.
Now, as Daniel tells us, it is upon these that
the stone smites, and so it is among them that
Christ will make his glorious conquests in the
latter days. For it is said, These kings shall
make war with the Lau>b, and the Lamb shall
overcome thm, not only their power and ar-
mies, but he shall at length overcome their
hearts, so that they shall be brought to hate
the whore, and make her desolate, Rev. xvii. 14,
16. which time is yet to come.
Then it is that Christ's kingdom will receive
a glorious increase, and the kingdoms of this
THE POLA.R STATR.
become his, as Rev. ii. 15. Then the great
river Euphrates will he dried up for pre-
paring the way of the kings of the east, Lev.
xvi. 12. Then the blindness of the Jews shall
be removed and the fulness of the Gentiles shall
v-ome in, Rom* xi. 1, 25, 26. These and many
other famous prophecies about the increase of
Christ's kingdom and glory do remain to be
accomplished in the latter days, at least in the
extent ; such as those that foretel, That every
thing in Jerusalem shall be holy : the people
shall be all righteous : the sanctuary shall be
cleansed, and purity be both in the worship and
worshippers in the temple, and no more a Ca-
naanite in the house of the Lord : all nations
shall be gathered to see his glory : there shall
be no more war betwixt nations : the Jews shall
be gathered out of all the countries where they
are dispersed and brought to their own land :
they shall .bs no more separate kingdoms, &c.
For which see Isa. ii. 2, 3, i. Isa. xxvi. 2. Isa.
lii. 1. Isa. Ix. 5, 10, 12, 13, 21. Ezek. xxvi.
24, 28. Ezek. xxxv. 21. to 28. Dan. viii. 14.
Zech. xv. 21. Rev. xi. 1. e. Now, what a
glorious increase must it bring to the Media-
tor's kingdom and glory, when all these pro-
phecies and promises shall be fulfilled con-
cerning the overthrow of Babylon and Anti-
christ, the destruction of the Turkish empire,
B
THE POLAR STAB.
the in-bringing of the Jews, with (he fulness of
the Gentiles ?
In regard to the fall and destruction of Anti-
christ, or the papal power, is the great mercy
promised to the church in the latter days, and
with which all the other hlessings promised are
connected ; and that the scripture is more par-
ticular ahout the time of its being fulfilled, than
any other ; it is fit to enquire what is there said
about it. And, first, let us view the foregoing
signs and forerunners of Antichrist's fall, and of
Christ's coming to deliver his people from his
tyranny, which points out the times as near ;
such as,
First, Previous thereto, there \vill be a great
defection among all the churches of Christ.
Among God's people deadness and formality
shall so increase, that all the virgins shall seem
to fall asleep. Errors and false doctrines shall
greatly abound, the luminaries sha-i be darken-
ed, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Many ministers shall suck in corrupt principles
about the glorious doctrines of the gospel, par-
ticularly that of justification ; by which means
the earth shall be turned into blood and slaugh-
ter. Yea, in these last days, there shall be false
teachers, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them. There shall be many infidels, and pro-
THE POIAR STAR. 21
fane scoffers, who shall make a mock of serious
godliness, and the .Holy Spirit's operation ; and
scoff at the gospel-revelation, and the way of
saving sinners by Christ and his righteousness
imputed lo us. Also they will deride the pro-
mises of his coming to destroy Antichrist, to de-
liver his people, and to judge the world, saying,
*< Where is the promise of his coining ! for all
things continue as they were from the begin-
ning." Of these things the apostle Peter .speaks
in the 2d. and 3d. chapters of his 2d. epistle.
Nay, so general shall the defection and infidelity^
of the world at that time he, that our Lord him-
self tells us, that when he cometh, he shall scarce
find faith upon the earth, Luke xviii. 8. that is,
lie will find few that have the firm belief of the
gospel- truths, and few that have faith concern-
ing Christ's coming. So great have been the
reelings of the world, so long the delays of
Christ's coming, and so frequent their mistakes
who have fixed times for it, that there will re-
main but little faith in any about his glorious
appearance for his church, when behold he is
just at the door. As Atheists, Deists, and ad-
versaries of the truth have been much hardened
in their infidelity, by the mistakes of those who
have been too particular and peremptory in tim-
ing future events; so the godly themselves may
be sadly shaken and tempted to despair of
22 THE POLAR STAR.
Christ's coining, \vhen he so long passeth their
reckoning. Therefore, said lie, " When the
Son of man eometh, shall he find faith on the
earth ?" But glory to his name, "Hejs faith fill
and true," and will come at the appointed time,
and the unbelief of man shall not make the pro-
mise of God of none effect.
2. There shall he great trouble in the world,
and very great fear and distress in the church,
before help arise to her, Dan. xii. 1. Daniel is
certified, that when Christ is to stand up for the
church, "there shall be a time of trouble, such
as there never was since there was a nation even
to that same time, and at that time thy people
shall be delivered. 55 So in Mat. xxiv. and Luke
xxi. Christ saith, that before his coming, there
shall be strange signs in the heavens, and in the
earth, earthquakes, wars, and rumours of wars,
the rushing of nations one against another, and
such universal distress that men's hearts will be
failing them for fear ; and even then shall de-
liverance be at hand.
3. Christ will appear when his church's ene-
mies are most confident and secure, and particu-
larly when the Romish harlot is lifted up with
pride by her success in this or that kingdom, and
begins to say, * I sit as a queen, and shall see
no sorrow. w But then it is that her plagues
shall cemeia one day, Eev. xvii. 7, 8. How con-
THE POPLAR STAR. 23
iidfcnt was that cruel persecutor Dioelesian, of
liis success against the church, when he erected
pillars with that inscription, Deleta Superslitionc
Christiana % Then he thought he had got
Christianity extirpated, and the church ruined ;
when behold her glorious deliverance under
Gonstantine the Great was just at hand.
4. Before Antichrist's fall, one of the ten
kingdoms which supported the beast shall under-
go a marvelous revolution, Rev. xi. 13. The
same hour there was a great earthquake, and
the tenth part of the city fell. 5 ' By which tenth
part is to be understood one of the ten kingdoms
into which the great city Romish Babylon was
divided : this may take to be the kingdom of
France ; it being the tenth and last of the king-
doms as to the time of its rise, and that which
gave Rome the denomination of the beast with
ten horns ; and also it being the only one of the
ten that was never conquered since its rise.
However unlikely this and other prophesied
events may appear at the time, yet the Almighty
hand of the only wise God can soon bring them
about when least expected. Though the church
should be wrapt about with the blackest clouds
and thickest darkness, for a time, that will be
no stop to God's great designs. As a little be-
fore the break of day is the darkest time of all
the night ; so usually it is a dark hour before
& THE POLAR STAR.
the day break of the church's deliverance. Lef:
its not then be shaken in our minds, whatever
storm blows, but firmly believe the word of a
true and faifjiful God, That all his promises to
his church shall be exactly accomplished : That
lie will rise in due time and scatter all his enemies |
and that the set time to favour Zion will certain-
ly come. May we then behelped to look to heav-
en, and cry for a steady, fixed, and persevering
faith, that we may never be shaken, nor carried
away by the prevailing torrent of infidelity, but
may still be established upon the firm rock of.
5 for Christ's sake ! Amen,
THE POLAR STAK.
Of the Increase of Christ's Kingdom*
SERMON II.
On JOHN iii. 30. He must increase --
IN the preceding discourse, I was speaking of
the times and seasons of the increase of Christ's
kingdom and glory ; and seeing this increase in
the latter days is very much connected with
Antichrist's fall, I was enquiring a little into the
time of that fall, and mentioning some forerun-
ners of it. Rut to get a more certain view of it 9
it is fit to enquire into the scripture account of
the time and length of Antichrist's reign; which,
according to Rev. xi. 2, 3. and xii. 6, 14. and xiiL
5. doth amount to 1260 years, as is generally
agreed to. Now if we could hit upon the time
when these years began, we should certainly
know when his reign would end. But God, for
our trial and exercise, hath left us much in the
dark when to begin them. Thus also dealt God
with his people in ancient times ; for though he
told them of their bondage in Egypt would be
400 years, their captivity in Babylon would be
70 years ; and from the commandment to rebuild
the temple to the Messiah's death, there would
be 70 weeks of years, or &90 years : yet still the
26 THE POLAR
precise time when to begin these computations
was much questioned among them. So that
they never were perfectly certain about the ex-
act times of the church's deliverance, until the
glorious events happened ; and then every one
saw clearly when they should have dated the be-
ginning of these predicted years. Now the
same is the case with respect to Antichrist's
reign and downfall. Though now we be not
certain when to begin the 1290 years, which is
the duration of Antichrist's reign ; yet, after the
event of his fall, the time of its commencement
will be so plain, that after ages will be apt to
wonder that we fell into such mistakes about it.
Some in their calculations have begun Anti-
christ's reign too early : others again, perhaps,
begin it too late. Some of which I shall men-*
lion, with the grounds of their opinion.
I. Because Antichrist is called the beast with
ten horfis, Kev. xiii* 1. and the ten horns or
kings receive their power one hour with the
beast, and give their power and kingdom ta the
beast, Rev, xvii. 12,13,17. Many therefore,
did begin Antichrist's reign, as soon as the Ro-
man empire was broken, and divided into ten
different kingdoms ; to wit, when the tenth or
last horn appeared, which was the kingdom of
the Franks, now called the French, under Chil-
dericus their king, in the year of our Lord 456 |
THE POLAR STAB. 27
to which, if we add 1260 years, the lime of
Antichrist's reign, the end of it was to have
been in the year 1716, and accordingly many
did expect it that year : But the event hath
shewed that they began Antichrist's reign too
soon. And indeed the scripture doth not say
that his reign (though contemporary with the
tea horns) should begin as soon as the last of
them appeared ; and in the year 456, Anti-
christ was scarce discernible in the church.
But yet, in the year 1716, Antichrist got a se-
vere blow, when the Lord broke his interest in
Britain, by defeating the rebellion there in his
favour, and securing the Protestant succession
to the crown in the house of Hanover.
II. Others did begin Antichrist's reign 20
years after, viz. in the year 476 ; because till
then some shadow of the Roman empire remain-
ed. For it was not entirely dissolved, nor did
the ten horns appear formally in its room, till
the deposition of Augustulus, who was the last
of the Roman emperors that reigned over both
east and west. Now he was deposed in the year
476, after which time the very name of the Ro-
man empire in the west became extinct. Those
of this way of thinking did also strengthen their
opinion from that text in Thess. ii. 7, 8. He
who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out
of the way. And then shall that wicked one be
28 THE POLAR STAR.
revealed :" that is, Antichrist, who then was
Working under ground, would formally appear
until the removal of the Roman empire, whose
power in the west did greatly hinder the papal
tyranny and grandeur. Now, according to this
opinion. Antichrist's reign should have ended in
the year 1736. but the event also hath discover-
ed they began it too soon. For though the
bishops of Rome, upon the fall of the empire,
made great progress in their projected usurpa-
tion, yet Antichrist was not formally revealed so
soon as 476. Neither did the scripture say that
he would he immediately revealed, and begin his
reign upon the removing of the Roman empire.
But though the Lord did not overturn Antichrist
ia the year 1736, as some expected, yet I hope
he hath taken a remarkable step towards it,
and for the increase of his own kingdom in or
about that year, by raising up eminent instru-
ments for spreading his glorious gospel through
the world., such as the Moravian brethren, and
Oxford methodists; and particularly by sending
forth the Rev. Mr. Whitfield, that very year to
preach the everlasting gospel with wonderful
success. And now, both he and others whom
God hath excited, have, since that time, made a
noble progress in this work, both in Europe and
America, by preaching in the demonstration of
the Spirit, and with power, the doctrine of free
THE rOLiH STA1I. X$
grace, of original sin, of regeneration by the
holy Spirit, and of justification by Christ's
righteousness alone ; which doctrines had
been sadly buried before. And I verily believe,
that it is by the effusion of the Spirit with the
gospel, and the bright convincing appearances of
Christ, and free grace in the glory of gospel-
light, that Antichrist will be consumed and de-
stroyed ; and Christ's kingdom increased ; and
enlarged.
III. Some there are who are very late in
beginning Antichrist's reign, not before the
bishops of Rome turned grossly idolatrous, and
set up for the worship of images, and for ex-
communicating and deposing the emperors of
Constantinople, their civil rulers, because they
opposed them in their idolatry. This was first
attempted by Pope Constantine against the em-
peror Philippicus, in the year 713; and after-
wards practised with greater boldness and suc-
cess by Pope Gregory II. against the emperor
Leo, in the year 726. According to I his opinion
Antichrist's reign will not end before the year
1973.
IV. But the most probable time for commenc-
ing Antichrist's reign seems to be when Boniface
III. got himself declared universal bishop and
head of thf church, and assumed the title of
Pope, which was in the year 606. And, in this
30 THE POLAR STAR.
usurped supremacy, lie was then owned and sub-
mitted to by the ten horns or kings, who gave
their power to him. Then it was the Pope be-
came Christ's declared opposite, by usurping his
peculiar offices and titles, and so appeared for-
mally to be Antichrist. Now, if we add to 606,
the time of Antichrist's reign, 1260 years, his
dominion will not end till the year 1866 which is
124 years hence. Though none now living will
see this, yet we may Comfort ourselves, as once
a godly man did : I have had a longing desire,"
said he, to see or hear of the fall of Anti-
christ : but I check myelf, I shall go to heaven,
and there the news of it shall quickly arrive, for
both angels and saints will rejoice at it," Rev.
xviii. 20. Why, that will be the happy time of
the increase of Christ's kingdom and glory.
May God hasten it for Christ's sake.
The third Head. I propose next to give some
reasons why Christ must increase as above :
1. Because of the decree and pro raise of God,
which cannot fail. He hath promised this not
only to the church, Jer. xxiii. 5. but also to
Christ himself, Psalm ii. 8. and ex. 1, 2. And
surely he will not alter the thing that is gone
out of his lips, he will not lie unto David, Psalm
Ixxxix. 3-fc, 35.
2. Because it is for the sake of the kingdom
of Christ, and its increase, that God hath made
THE POLAJR STAR. 51
the world, and hath given the administration of
the kingdom of providence to Christ himself in
order to secure the accomplishment of all the
glorious promises made to him, the reins of go-
vernment are put in his own hand, Mat* xxviii.
18. Eph. i. 22. And, to he sure, the great Me-
diator will see to his own interest.
3. Because Christ is the darling of heaven,
dearly heioved of G >d for undertaking the re-
demption of a lost world, a work whereby God
is highly glorified* In this transaction he
cheerfully complied with the divine will, be-
came obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, and therefore his name must be exalted
above every name, and every knee must bow
before him, Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10.
APPLICATION.
I. Use may be of information :
1. We here see what encouragement we have
to fM-tiy as we are taught, Thy kingdom come,
and (hilt it may be increased and enlarged: see-
ing we pray for what God hath decreed, promis-
ed and foretold, and must certainly come to
pass.
2. It must then be great folly to oppose the
flourishing of Christ's kingdom ; they wbo do
it have a strong party to fight against, even the
omnipotent G<>d, who hath said of Christ and his
kingdom, lie must increase.
32 THE POLAR STAR.
II. Use may be of reproof and warning to all
\vbo would binder the increase of Christ's king-
dom and glory in the world ; such as,
1. Those who persecute and oppress his peo-
ple.
2. Those who promote the violent settlement
of ministers contrary to the will of congrega-
tions, and thereby put a stop to the conversion
and edification of souls.
3. Those who promote infidelity, error, or
any doctrine in the church, contrary to the sim-
plicity and purity of the gospel, and the scripture
scheme of salvation by Christ and his surety
righteousness, whereby free grace is exalted arid
self debased.
4. Those who fefuse to subject themselves to
the laws of his kingdom, and will rather obey
their own passions and lusts, saying in their
hearts, We will not have this man to reign
over us ;" if Christ be a king let him be a king
without a kingdom, subjects, or laws; if we
could, he should have none. O sinners, take
heed what you are doing : you directly oppose
the will of that God, who saith, He must in-
crease.
III. Use of lamentation. We may hear take
occasion to bewail the state of Christ's kingdom
in clivers places, in which it once flourished and
increased, but now, alas ! decreaseth $ as in
THE POLAR STAR. 33
France, Germany, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary,
Piedmont, and other foreign parts, and likewise
in Britain and Ireland, and particularly in em*
mother church of Scotland ! Oh ! what a dread-
ful flood of infidelity, atheism, irreligion, dam-
nable heresies, looseness of principle and of prac-
tice, contempt of God and religion, scofSngs at
the truths of God and serious godliness, hath
broke out in this age, and swelled to a greater
height than at any time since our blessed re-
formation. Our holy Christian religion, in its
firm foundations and infallible proofs, hath been
openly attacked and ridiculed by professed infi-
dels and pretenders to reason amongst us, and
that notwithstanding the strong obligations they
lie under by their baptism and education to
adhere to it. And many pretended friends have
been undermining and destroying it, by promot-
ing opinions and practices inconsistent with its
purity and interest. Yea, all ranks of us, whether
magistrates, ministers, nobility, gentry, citizens
and commons, are sadly chargeable with the
prevailing detections and declensions of the age*
Alas, we have left our first love, and have wo-
fully degenerated from our ancestors piety,
zeal, and solemn engagements to the Lord !
How lamentable is our neglect of family wor-
ship, secret prayer, sabbath-sanctification, ami
gospel holiness ! As also our losing our former
Si THE POLAR STAB.
liveliness and spirituality in God's worship and
service, and letting our devotion dwindle away
into a dead formality, and mere bodily service !
And, finally, how strong is the propensity of the
present generation to vanity, lightness, plays,
comedies, romances, idle diversions, contempt
of ordinances, lying, cheating, pergury, and all
sorts of immoral practices.
Upon account whereof God is provoked to
forsake his ordinances, and smite our church
with sore judgments, such as a spirit of division,
a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts, impeniten-
cy and hardness of Tieart, suspending the Spirit's
influences, so as hearts are not melted by the
\vord. The angel descends not to trouble the
waters, and the diseased step not in to be healed
as in former days. Our hearis do not burn
while Christ is talking with us ; the times of
refreshing come not from the presence of the
Lord. And, alas ! we who are in the ministry
\vant not reason to fear that we have a hand in
bringing oj the judgments, by our undertaking
the ministry for carnal ends, and without ex-
perimental knowledge of the Spirit's work in
regeneration ; helping in lax men to the minis-
try, and discouraging the more serious ; little
reading and studying the scriptures ; want of
zeal and concern for the conversion and edifica-
tion of souls ; Seeking ourselves in our public
THE POLAR STAR. 3#
appearances, more than the glory of our blessed
Master, not looking to him for furniture, and
depending on his presence and Spirit for success :
Not labouring more earnestly, and preaching
more rousingly for awakening and convincing of
souls : laying stumbling-blocks before hearers^
by sinful strifes, untender walking, and wrong
steps, whereby they are tempted to abhor the
offerings of the Lord ; not acting as faithful
stewards, by rightly dividing the word of truth,
and speaking to the different cases of the con-
verted and unconverted, saints and sinners ; and
not making it the great end of our sermons to
convince lost sinners of their misery, to exalt a
crucified Christ as their only remedy, and to lead
poor souls to him. O that all ranks were
brought to acknowledge their guilt, and to la-
ment tlie hand they have had in stopping the in-
crease of Christ's kingdom !
IV. Use may he of consolation to all the
friends of Christ. Though you have cause of
fear and trembling, because of the melancholy
view you have of the church's case at present,
her groans and grievances, defections, and baek-
slidings, and the power and success of enemies;
yet rejoice in the tidings my text brings, " Christ
must increase." The church shall arise and
sliine, her light shall come, and the glory of the
Lord shall rise upon her. It shall not be in the
36 THE POLAR STAK.
power ef all her enemies., though hell and Rome
be joined with them, to hinder this increase*
Antichrist must fall : He hath been in a dead-
]y consumption these 200 years, and will expire
at length. Whatever be the opposition, Christ
must overcome, triumph, and increase at last.
His church will certainly outlive all her enemies.
And although sometimes she may decrease in
some places, yet we should mind that Christ's
kingdom is like the sea, what it loseth in one
place it gaineth in another. If it lose in Europe*
and gain in America, Christ loseth nothing.
And though his church in our land be brought
low, yet her Head and King lives, and many of
his worthies have lived and died in the faith of
it, that he would not leave her, but return and
revive his work in her, with a powerful arm,
and spreading glory.
V. Use of exhortation. And here I exhort
and obtest all ranks, high and low, to do what
they can in their stations, by their prayers and
endeavours, for the coming and increase of
Christ's kingdom, as Christ directs, Mat. vi. 10.
O how concerned was David this way I Psalms
xxv. 22. and li. 18. And so were Asaph, Isaiah,
Daniel, Nehemiah, Paul, &c. Psalm Ixx. 14.
Isa. Ixii. 1. Dan. ix. 16, &c. Neh. ii. 3. Bom. x.
1. Consider also the woes and judgments de-
nounced against those who are unconcerned for
THE POLAR 9TAX2. 37
the interest of Christ's kingdom, Amos vi. 1, 6*
Esther iv. 14. Likewise take a view of the
blessings which would attend the increase of it.
The redeemer's glory would be magnified, the
church would become a fruitful mother of many
children, and many sons and daughters would be
born of God. Then light would spread, know-
ledge be increased, ignorance vanish, error be
abhorred, Satan restrained, vice forsaken, virtue
esteemed, love and peace cultivated* Then the
lives of Christiansvwould shine, sabbaths would
be days of heaven, sermons and sacraments would
be longed for, the friends of Christ valued as
the excellent ones of the earth, and all wisdom's
ways would be pleasant and delightful. And
what happy times would these be ?
Quest. What are those means and endeavours
we should use for the increase of Christ's king-
dom and glory in the world, according to our
several stations and capacities ?
JLns. . Let magistrates contribute to this
noble end, both by their authority and example,
discountenancing the immoral and vicious, and
putting respect upon the virtuous and godly.
Let them with zeal and impartiality execute
our good laws for suppressing open vice, such
as drunkenness, itncleanness, profaning of the
Lord's name, and of the Lord's day, &c. Let
them in their own lives be patterns to others in
38 THE POLAR STAtt.
justice, sobriety, family religion, and attending
upon public ordinances ; and no doubt their good
examples would have great influence upon those
around them.
2. Let ministers especially lay out themselves
for this increase, by making it the great scope
and end of their sermons to awaken secure sin-
ners, and lead them to Christ ; by diligent cate-
chizing of them, and dealing particularly with
young persons in private about their souls, and
taking great pains with them at their first ad-
mission to the Lord's table. Let them be care-
ful to keep back the ignorant and ungodly from
that holy ordinance ; and depend on the minis-
tration of the spirit for all the success of their
endeavours. Let them beware of licensing or
ordaining any to sacred functions, who are not
of good report for true piety and soundness $
and of imposing pastors upon congregations
without their consent or good liking. Let them
preach to their flocks by their good lives, as
well as their lips ; and in all things behave as
true friends to the Bridegroom, desiring (like
John Baptist) that their blessed Master may in-
crease, though they should decrease ; that his
name may be great, though theirs should sink
to nothing.
3. Let elders in their sphere contribute all
they can to the flourishing of Christ's kingdom.
THE POLAR STAR. 39
by their fervent prayers for it, and studying to
be exemplary in family religion, sobriety and
holiness of life: by reproving and admonishing
of those who walk disorderly, informing minis-
ters about them, and faithfully assisting them
in the exercise of discipline, and in ruling and
governing of the church.
4. Let teachers of youth assist in this work,
by labouring to instil the knowledge of God, and
the way of salvation through Christ, very early
into their scholars minds ; and to persuade men
of the necessity and advantage of prayer, anew
heart, godliness, meekness, chastity, sobriety,
and justice. And likewise to train them up in
the abhorrence of vice in all its kinds, and of
every thing that may prove an inlet or encour-
agement to it.
5. Let parents and heads of families, do
what they can to se,t up and increase Christ's
kingdom in their families, by maintaining
the worship of God in them ; sanctifying the
sabbath in all their dwellings ; catechizing
and instructing children and servants, and re-
quiring an account of the sermons they hear ;
reproving and curbing sin wherever it appears ;
and earnestly recommending Christ and the new
birth, prayer, reading of the Bible, and holy
living, to all within their gates; and especially
to children, when their hearts are young and
tender : for these are the hope and seed of the
40 THE POLAR STAIL
next generation. Let us follow the example of
the Jews in Neheiniah's time, who repaired the
walls of Jerusalem, every one against their own
houses, Neh. iii. 10, &c. If every one would
sweep before their own door, it would soon make
a clean street. And if all, whether in public or
private stations, would diligently apply them-
selves to that part of reformation- work that lies
nearest to them, and within their reach, there
would soon be a happy change among us.
9. Let those whom God hath blessed with
worldly substance, employ part of it for the in-
crease and enlargement of Christ's kingdom, by
supporting charity schools, and encouraging
ministers, preachers and catechists, to travel in
dark places of the world, both at home and a-
broad, for propagating Christian knowledge, and
bringing precious souls to Jesus Christ : surely,
there is no better use that money can be put to ;
many of our fellow Christians have done worthily
this way before us, and the good effects thereof
are notorious; which should excite others to the
like acts of charity and beneficence, which have
such an evident tendency to save perishing souls,
and increase our dear Redeemer's kingdom and
glory.
Object. But (say some) we are poor and in low
stations, what can we do for Christ's kingdom?
Jlns. There are several things incumbent on
you for this noble end, be what you will.
THE P6IAK STAR. 41
1. Let every man, whatever his station he,
receive the gospel revelation with a firm unshak-
en faith as the very truth of God, and the way of
bringing men to eternal life, which God himself
hath devised. Ahhor the impious cavils of infi-
dels against it, and receive gospel truths with
warm love and affection. Love and hless God,
who, in his infinite love and wisdom, contrived
this scheme of salvation, and Jesus Christ that
executed it, hy shedding his blood on the
cross. Let each one by faith, put his finger in
the print of the nails, and cry with Thomas,
" He is my Lord, and my God."
2. Let every man study to recommend this ex-
cellent religion to the world, by conforming its
practice to its rules, and adorning his life with
shining holiness and virtue ; and by guarding a-
gainst all injustice and dishonesty, pride, pas-
sion, revenge, evil speaking, and every thing that
may stumble and beget prejudices in men against
Christianity, who are too apt to impute the faults
of its professors to the religion itself. If every
professed Christian would contribute, by per-
sonal reformation, to mend one, then we should
all be mended, and the increase of Christ's
kingdom would be glorious.
3. Let every one be searching diligently into
the thxie prefixed for the church's being in sack-
clot^ \ viz, the 1260 years. And when (like
42 THE POLAR STAR.
Daniel) \ve understand by books, that the time
of finishing them is near, let us with him, Dan.
ix. 2, 3. set our faces unto the Lord God, to
seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting,
that he may remove all hindrances, and hasten
the time of the church's liberty and increase.
If you can do no more for it, pour out earnest
prayers to God for fulfilling his promises of the
downfall of Antichrist ;tnd Mahomet, the inbring-
ing of the Jews, with the fulness of the Gentiles:
And that he would pour out a spirit of mourning
and repentance upon the church of Scotland, and
other reformed churches, for their decays and
hai-kslidings, put a stop lo infidelity and error,
maintain purity of doctrine and worship, remove
the causes of division and contention, heal
breaches, and restore peace: \nd that God may
grant a spirit of reformation, and of zeal for
Christ's kingdom to all men of p^wer and influ-
ence, that they may exert themselves for the en-
largement of Christ's dominions, and the dimi-
nishing of Satan's : and that he would send a
larg - effusion of his Holv Spirit to qualify in-
struments for spreading his gospel through the
world,
We are apt to be tliscouraged, when w^ see
not likely instruments to carry on the Lord's
work, and bring about the glorious things he
hath promised $ and to cry, By whom shall
TUB TOLAR STAR. *3
Jacob arise?" Not minding that God can raise
up children from stones, and instruments to serve
him where they were not expected. Though we
be oft at our wit's end, we should never be at
our faith's end. God can never be at a loss to
carry on his work, while he hath enough of clay
and spirit to form instruments for his purpose,
when the arm of the Lord doth once awake for
his church, no impediment can step him ; he
makes out that pleasant word in Psalm Ixviii.
11. The Lord gave the word, great was the
company of those that published it." The pour-
ing out of God's spirit from on high, doth an-
swer all objections, overcome difficulties, provide
supplies, and afford remedies in the most des-
perate cases.
O how desperate-like was Luther's attempt in
the year 1 517, when he a poor monk, set himself
against the torrent of idolatry and corruption
that prevailed under Antichrist at that time !
It seemed as ridiculous, as if a man had set his
shoulder to a great mountain on purpose to re-
move it. And so it was in the reckoning of the
wisest in that age ; and hence, when Luther
opened his designs to a great doctor, who disap-
proved of the Romish corruption as well as he,
lie bade Luther retire to his cell, and pray
Lord have mercy anus ; as if there was no reme-
dy. Yet how wonderfully did the purity of
*i THE POLAIl STAR.
doctrine and worship break forth and prevail to
amazement, among sundry nations, so as to
shake the foundation of Antichrist's throne, and
give him a deadly wound, under \vhich he hath
been languishing ever since ! There had been
several attempts for reformation made by others
long before Luther, as by Wiekliffe, Huss, and
Jerome of Prague ; but all were ineffectual, be-
cause God's time of reformation was not then
come. But we see when once that timecometh no
man is able to hinder it, more than stop the sun
from breaking out under a cloud. It becomes,
then, all the Lord's servants and people, to keep
in the way of duty, and wait patiently till his set
time to favour Zion doth come.
How patiently did Joshua and the priests wait
for the downfall of Jericho ! Amidst the insults
of enemies, they continued in their dutiful obedi-
ence to God, encompassing the city every day, and
blowing with trumpets of rams horns, carrying
the ark still along with them. Thus they did
six days, once every day ; and seven times upon
the seventh day. All the six days the walls
stood firm, not a stone moved, nor a pinning
in it loosed ; nor was there any alteration for
the most part of the seventh day, until the eve-
ning, when God's set time was come; and then
without difficulty, all came tumbling down at
o,nce. In like manner let us persevere with pa-
THE POLAR STAR. 45
tience in the way of duty, looking to God, and
Wowing with the gospel trumpet, which by many
is dospised as the sound of a ram's horn : but if
we hold on, carrying Christ (the blest antitype
of the ark) along with us, we shall come off
with triumph at last. One thing is sure. Anti-
christ must decrease 9 and Christ must increase.
Jericho must fall, and Zion must be built up.
And however dark and cloudy the present time
be, we are well assured from Psalm cii. 16*
" When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall
appear in his glory." The Lord in' mercy hasten
that time in Scotland, and all parts of the earth,
for Christ's sake Amen. Even so come Lord
Jesus, Amen and Amen.
THE rOIAK STAR.
SERMON III
On Female Virtue, with Domestic and Elegant
Accomplishments.
1. TIM. ii. 8, 9.
Iwilf that women adorn themselves with So-
briety.
PKOV. xxxi 10, 31.
Who can find a virtuous Woman $ For h$r
price is jar above rubies Give her of the
fruit of her hands, and let her works praise
her in the gates.
TO divert fancy, to gratify desire, and in gen-
eral to he a sort of better servants, -are all the
purposes for which some suppose your sex de-
signed. A most illiberal supposition ! The
least degree of refinement or candour will dis-
pose us to regard them in a far higher point of
light. They were manifestly intended to be the
mothers and formers of a rational and immortal
offspring ; to be a kind of softer companions,
who, by nameless delightful sympathies and en-
dearments, might improve our pleasures and
soothe our pains : to lighten the load of domestic
cares, and by that means leave us more at leisure
THE FOiAR STAB, 47
for rougher labours, or severer studies; and
finally, to spread a certain grace and embellish-
ment over human life. To wish to degrade them
from so honourable a station, indicates a mixture
of ignorance, grossness, and barbarity. But in-
deed the men who think in this manner, do
themselves irreparable wrong, by putting it out
of their power, even to enjoy the tcnderest and
most delicious feelings of the heart* He that
has a true taste of happiness will choose for his
own sake, to cherish the kindest opinion of the
female destination.
Yet what shall we say ? Are there not many
women who seem to have entirely forgotten it
themselves; to have relinquished at least the
most valuable part of their claim, and to have
conspired with those male tyrants in sinking
their own importance ? How often do we see
them disfigured by affectation and caprice!
How often disgraced and ruined by imprudence !
What shameful inattention to the culture of
their minds* in numberless instances ! What
perversion, in not a few, of excellent understand-
ings, through a levity that passes for innocent?
because not polluted by vice, nay for agreeable,
because accompanied with youth! Who that is
a well wisher to the sex, can forbear to be mor-
tified on finding such multitudes so ungainly is
their manners, so unentertaining in their dis*
D2
4$ THE POLAR STAtt.
course, so destitute of every solid and useful im-
provement, in a word, so totally devoid of all
that can confer significance, or beget esteem :
not to speak of downright worthlessness, pro-
ceeding from bad principles or wicked company ?
With respect to these indeed, as well as the
rest, I am willing to believe, that they are fre-
quently occasioned by vacancy of thought, and
want of occupation, which expose the mind to
every snare ; and that in many cases, all this evil
might, through God's blessing, be happily pre-
vented by an early and diligent application to
Female Accomplishments. Such therefore I
will proceed to recommend, as a farther means
of maintaining the sobriety enjoined by our
Apostle. Not that I suppose to confine myself
to this single view. Every other laudable and
beneficial purpose, which those accomplish-
ments are calculated to serve, will concur to
enforce them. They may be divided into three
classes, Domestic, Elegant, and Mental.
As to the first, I must remind you that, how
much soever they may be now neglected by ma-
ny women as below their notice, no height of
rank or affluence can justify such neglect. The
are of an household all ages and nations have
agreed to consider as an indispensible part ol"
female employment, in every situation that ad-
mits of it. The passage from which I have takea
THE POLAR STAR. 9
one of my texts deserves on this occasion, your
particular attention. As it exhibits perhaps the
most beautiful picture that was ever drawn of
the Virtuous Woman, in a sphere of activity
which you all hope to fill, and for which you
ought to qualify yourselves as much as possible
in your condition ; I will read the whole toge-
ther with a short paraphrase which I have bor-
rowed chiefly from the pious and learned bishop
Patrick, but without adhering to his diction.
Verse 10. Who* can find a Virtuous Woman ?
for her price is far above rubies. Such a per-
son, says the mother of Lemuel (a young Prince
for whose welfare she was most tenderly solicit-
ous) such a person as I would recommend for a
wife is hard to be found ; one endowed with true
worth and piety, who deems nothing beneath her
that can any way become her station ; one, in
short, possessed of those various and excellent
qualities that fit her for adorning it and render
her infinitely more valuable than all the pearls
or precious stones with which so many women
are fond of being decked.
11. "The heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her; so that he shall have no need of
spoil. 55 In her personal honour and fidelity, and
also in her (Economy and prudence with regard
to. all affairs at home, her husband reposes such
perfect confidence, that he can go abroad; and
50 THE POLAR STAB.
attend to public business, without the smallest
anxiety about his domestic concerns, or the least
temptation to enrich himself at the expence of
other men.
2. " She will do him good and not evil, all the
daj s of his life." She will not only return his Jove
with equal affection, but endeavour to ensure and
heighten his esteem by every engaging and re-
spectable virtue. She will not only avoid what-
ever might provoke or displease, but study to
deserve well of him by promoting his interest?
and raising his reputation ; and that not on'v by
starts, or transient fits of good humour, but uni-
formly and constantly every day of her life.
13. " She seeketh wool and flax, and uorketb
willingly with her hands. 5 ' To her idleness is
so hateful, that her husband has no occasion to
excite her to industry. Of her own accord she
sets up a linen and woollen manufacture, to which
she applies her hands so readily, as well as so
dexterously, that it is apparent she delights io
work,
14. She is like a merchant's ship: she bring-
cth her food from afar." Her application and
ingenuity enable her to maintain her family
without expence, by exchanging the product for
foreign commodities, when necessary, on terms
no less advantageous than if her husband fittest
THE POliAR STAR. 51
out a fleet of merchant ships to fetch them di-
rectly from distant countries.
15. She riseth also while it is yet night ; and
giveth meat to her household, and a portion to
her maidens.' 5 With such spirit and vigour
does stoe proceed, that instead of indulging her-
self in overmuch sleep, she rises before hreak
of day, to make provision for those who are to
go abroad to work in the fields, and to set her
maidens their several tasks at home.
16. " She considereth a field, and buyeth it :
with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vine-
yard." So far is she from wasting her husband's
estate, that by her frugality and capacity she is
continually improving it ; first purchasing a
field fit for corn, when she meets with one that
on due inspection she finds worth the price, and
then from the fruit of her w\VT labour adding to
it a vineyard, which she takes care to have well
planted.
17. <* She girdeth her Joins with strength, and
strengtheneth her arms.' 5 As she is quick in
her orders to those about her, so she bestirs her-
self with the utmost activity, declining no pains
or exertion proportioned to her strength, which
is increased by constant exercise, and which,
with the cheerfulness, expedition, and utility that
attend it, she prefers to all the decorations a de-
licacy of indolent beauty.
bft THE POL AH STAR.
18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is
good ; her candle goeth not out by night." Her
labour indeed she finds so wholesome, and her
traffic so profitable, that she does not always
conclude her work with the day; but often con-
tinues it through as much of the night, as can be
spared from necessary repose.
9. " She layeth her hands to the spindle, and
her hands hold the distaff." Such manual
operations as are suited to her sex, she reckons
not any disparagement to her quality. Her
fingers show a dexterity that is alike pleasing in
the performance, and beneficial in the effects.
20. " She stretcheth out her hand to the poor :
yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy."
Those hands, which she employs with so much
diligence for the advantage of her family, she
fails not to stretch out with equal alacrity for the
relief of the indigent. She is not so engrossed
by the cares of her own household, as to forget
the claims of those who have no habitation. In
her frugality she neve? degenerates into parsimo-
ny, but always ministers to munificence. The
poor, whether nearer or more remote, share
liberally in her bounty.
21. " She is not afraid of the snow for her
household: for all her household are clothed
\vith scarlet." Her bounty in the mean while
is accompanied with such discretion, that her
THE FOIUTI STAR. 55
own family and servants are in no danger of suf-
fering by it. They are provided against the
hardest winter ; they have changes of raiment
for the several seasons ; and when they are to
wait upon her, or to appear on any particular
occasion that requires it, she is careful to have
them clothed with a degree of splendor.
22. " She maketh herself covering of tapes-
try : her clothing is silk and purple.' 5 The fur-
niture of her house is noble. Her own apparel
corresponds with it. She is not ignorant of what
belongs to her rank ; and she supports it with
a magnificence so much the more conspicuous
for being principally her own handy-work.
23. " Her husband is known in the gates,
when he sitteth among the elders of the land."
Her attention to the appearance of her husband
is not less than to her o\vn. When he comes in-
to the court of judicature, and takes his place
among the senators of the country, he is dis-
tinguished by the richness and elegance of the
robes which she has prepared for him. The be-
holders pronounce him a happy man, in having
such a wife, as does him honour in public as well
as private, and who by easing him of all lesser
cares, leaves him at full liberty to devote him-
self to the most important transactions.
24. She maketh fine linen and selleth it, and
delivereth girdles unto the merchant." Her in-
5i THE POIAR STAR.
dustry to provide for her family is such, that
she follows more arts than one or two ; making?
for example, besides other articles already nam-
ed, fine linen, embroidered belts, and girdles of
different kinds, curiously wrought, which she
sells at a considerable price to the Phoenician
merchant.
25. " Strength and honour are her clothing ;
and she shall rejoice in time to come. 5 ' Al-
though in every thing she makes, whether for
sale or for use, she displays a just taste of what
is both beautiful and splended, still it must be
remembered, that her chief ornaments are a
firm and constant mind, a modest and becoming
deportment, a manner of dealing with all, that
is honourable, uniform, t,nd generous ; which
joined to her other qualities before mentioned,
free her from all fear about future events, and
prepare her to meet affliction, decay, and even
death itself, with serenity and hope.
26. She openeth her mouth with wisdom,
and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Add
to the rest this particular praise, that as she
preserves the due mean between taciturnity and
loquaciousness, so she loves not to talk on fool-
ish and frivolous subjects : but on such as are
serious and useful ; on which, when she can in-
troduce them with propriety, she is sure to de-
liver herself pertinently and gracefully. Her
THE VOI.AR -.STAK, ^
language on all occasions is soft and pleasing,
expressive of a gentle mind, and a tender heart.
From the same fund, she is led to embrace every
opportunity of inculcating on all around her,
kind affection, and mutual concord.
27. " She looketh well to the ways of her
household, and eateth not the hread of idleness."
In her own house most especially she is studious
of conveying edification. She observes the mo-
tions, and inspects the manners of every one
there, whom she neither suffers to go abroad at
their pleasure, nor to labour at borne without
proper instruction : a concern, which alone
might be thought sufficient to employ her ; in-
somuch that if she did nothing else she would
yet deserve the bread she eats.
28. ** Her children rise up and call her bles-
sed : her husband also, and he praiseth her."
Happy the children of such a mother, whose
niuternal care for their provision, but much
more for their education, cannot fail of exciting
their love and gratitude very early, and of dis-
posing them, when grown up, to honour her per-
son and venerate her virtues! Happy beyond
expression the husband of such a wife ! He can
never commend her sufficiently. While he at-
tempts the favourite subject, he is so struck with
her surpassing worth, that he cannot restrain
himself from crying out.
E
56 THE POXAR STAR.
2D. Many daughters have done virtuously
but thoii excellest them all. 5 ' The number of
those women who have acted worthily, who have
mightily advanced their families, and nobly
served the generations in which they lived, is not
small. They are well entitled to applause, and
I give it them with pleasure ; but there was
never any comparable to thee. Thy merits,
thon best of women, and most beloved, thy mer-
its far, far transcend them all !
30. " Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain :
but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be
praised." A good complexion and fine shape are,
no doubt, engaging* A graceful mien and love-
ly features are yet more s@. But as the greatest
beauty soon fades, and at last vanishes, so, alas !
many ill qualities may lie concealed under all
those fair appearances ; such, indeed, as utter-
ly to .disappoint every hope of happiness raised
from thence* ' $ truly pious woman, one who is
governed tltfoJTghout by a sense of duty, and who
to all her other excellent qualities adds that re-
verence for God, which gives them at once ele-
vation and stability she, and she alone, is the
completely amiable object, who will always im-
part delight, and always deserve approbation.
31. " Give her of the fruit of her bunds, and
let her own work praise her in the gates." Let
all conspire to extol her character ; for I cannot
TtIK POL IK STAK. 5
do it enough. Let her never want her just tri-
bute of commendation. While some are magni-
fied for their high birth, some prized for their
great fortune, others admired for their singular
beauty, and others cried up for attainments of
no intrinsic, or of no Considerable value ; let her
personal conduct, and her superior qualities, be
celebrated with peculiar honours in the largest
assemblies ; where, indeed, if all men should be
silent, that conduct and those qualities would re-
sound her praise.
What a description is here! Canyon attend
to it wi> fioat emotion? Or have modern man-
ners so warped your minds, that the simplicity
of ancient virtue, instead of appearing to jou an
object of veneration, looks romantic and ridicu-
lous ? Tell me then in good earnest, were the
women of those days the less estimable or the
less attractive, that they did not waste their
lives in a round of dissipalioa and impertinence,
but employed them in works of ingenuity and
usefulness, of piety and mercy ; that even women
of the first rank amongst them, as we are in-
formed by the oldest and best authors, held it
no diminution to apply their hands to different
kinds of manufacture ; that they took great de-
light in such occupations ; and finally, that good
housewifery, in all its extent, was reckoned an
essential qualification of every matron,
8 THE POL4H STAR.
I am sufficiently sensible of (he influence that
the customs of different ages and nations have on
the modes of thinking that successively ohtain 5
nor do I expect, that in this land called Chris-
tian, which ought to be unequalled on account
of its attainments, as much as it is on that of its
advantages, our mothers or our daughters, in
general, will be persuaded by any thing which
preachers can say, to emulate the humble grand-
eur of many a noble lady, of many a fair prin-
cess, in former generations. Yet 1 am not with-
out hope, that gome of them may be induced to
copy, though at a distance, those modest but ex-
alted originals.
I mentioned our daughters, as well as mothers ;
because I would not have them think that they
have nothing to learn from the picture we have
just surveyed. Would the Virtuous Women, so
sweetly pourt rayed by Lemuel's mother, and so
particularly marked by the characters of mar-
ried and maternal excellence, have been what
she was, if in her single state she had not studied
the necessary principles ?
After looking at so sublime a standard, I am
well aware, that any thing I can now offer on
this part of my subject will appear to sink. I
am sorry for it. But hence it must be so, let
the mortifying sentiment be felt by all, as a just
s.atire OH the declension of this age. The zeal
THE I J OLAU STAlt. $9
indeed of the preacher is too much depressed by
that consideration, to hear him out in urging
our young women to a close imitation of what
however he must always admire. In short,
when we speak of g/ood housewifery now-a-days.
we must submit to speak in a lower key. Would
to heaven, that of this science many mothers
would teach their daughters hut the common ru-
diments ; that they were unfashionable enough
to educate them to he fit for any thing but mere
show !
What do not great families suffer daily from
the incapacity, or inattention, of those mistresses
that leave all to house-keepers and othef ser-
vants ! How many large estates might be saved
from ruin by a wiser conduct ! I must say it
once more, that no woman in the world ought
to thing it beneath her to be an (Economist. An
(Economist is a character truly respectable, in
whatever station. To see that time which should
be laid out in examining the accounts, regulating
the operations and watching over the interests^
of perhaps, a numerous family to see it lost,
worse than lost, in visiting and gaming, in
chambering and wantonness,' 5 is shocking. It
is so, let the incomes be as certain, as consider-
able, or as immense as you will : though by the
way they are hardly ever so immense in reality
as they often appear. But where on the contra
tiO THE POAft STAft*
ry, they are both moderate and precarious, a
conduct of this kind we have no words to stig-
matize as it deserves.
Merchants and tradesmen that marry suck
women are surely objects of singular compas-
sion, if indeed they were deceived into an opin-
ion, that the women they have chosen for their
partners, were taught this necessary piece of
knowledge. But Tery seldom, as matters are
managed. at present, have they such deception to
plead for their choice. Is it possible they can
Jie ignorant in what manner young ladies are
fored at most of our boarding schools ? And do
they hot see in what manner they generally be-
have on coming home ? Seme of them I ac-
knowledged before, when placed in houses of
their own, appear to much more advantage than
4*ouid be reasonably expected. But I repeat the
question I then asked, is so great a chance, in an
affair of such consequence, to be relied upon ?
It must be owned also, that- in this age the
order or figure of a table is pretty well under-
stood, as far as relates to splendor and parade.
But would it not be worth your while to improve
upon the art, by learning to connect frugality
with elegance ; to produce a genteel, or how-
ever a good appearance, from things of less ex-
pence? I know it is difficult, especially in great
cities; but I am sure it is laudable^ and de~
THE POJDAH STAR> 01
serves to be attempted. This you may depent*
upon, that most men are highly pleased to ob-
serve such oeeonomical talents in a yonng wo~
man ; and those talents in one that is married
will scarce ever fail to animate the application ,
excite the generosity and heighten the confidence
of a husband. The contrary discourages and
disgusts beyond expression ; I mean, where the
husband has any sobriety, or any prudence.
The follies inseparable from profusion, and the
miseries daily produced by it, I do not pretend
to enumerate. A moment's consideration will
convince you that it is always unwise, and must
be generally destructive.
Next to direct profusion is that indisposition
to family affairs, which too commonly follows on
habits of dissipation contracted early. A young
woman who has turned her thoughts to those
matters in her father's house, or in any other
where Providence may have disposed her lot
and who has been accustomed to acquit herself
well in any lesser department entrusted to her
care, will afterwards, when her province is en-
larged, slide into the duties of it with readiness
and pleasure. The particulars have already
passed through her mind. The different scenes,
as they rise, will not disconcert her. Being
acquainted with the leading rules, and having
had some opportunities of applying them, or of
VX THE FOLA& STAR.
seeing them applied, her own good sense will dic-
tate the rest, and render easy and agreeable to
her that which, to a modish lady, is all strange,
perplexing, and irksome. How strong the con-
trast ! Who does not perceive, where the pre-
ference is due ?
Hear what a masterly writer who seems to
have been well acquainted with the world, and
particularly with the commercial part of it, has
advanced on this head in his advice to a son,
where he is directing him as to the choice of a
wife. " This bear always in mind, that if she is
not frugal, if she is not what is called a good
manager, if she does not pique herself on her
knowledge of family aifairs and laying, out her
money to the best advantage; let her be ever so
sweetly tempered, gracefully made, or elegantly
accomplished, she is no wife for a tradesman :
and " he even adds " all those otherwise amiable
talents will but open just so many ways to ruin."
After relating a little story, full of instruction,,
he thus goes on ; " In short, remember your
mother, who \vas so exquisitely versed in this art,
that her dress, her table, and every other par-
ticular, appeared rather splendid than other-
wise; and yet good housewifery was the founda-
tion of all ; and her bills to my certain knowL
edge, were a fourth less than most of her neigh-
bours, who had hardly cleanliness to boast^ in?
return for their aukward prodigality ,"
THE POLAR STAK. 63
But perhaps you will tell me, that you may
never have occasion to exert such qualities in
any sphere of consequence. The answer is ob-
vious. As the future is uncertain, you ought to
acquire them in case of need 5 besides that in
fact there is no situation* where the general
principles of frugality are not necessary, on the
score both of discretion and charity. In the
mean while, the acquisition will he honourable*
and the study useful. It not only becomes your
sex, but will employ your minds innocently, and
virtuously, at hours which you might be tempt-
ed to spend in a very different manner. The
subject is not intricate; yet it admits of a con-
siderable detail, and will take up some time.
The learning to write a fair hand, and to cast
accounts with facility ; the looking into the dis-
positions and practices of servants ; the inform-
ing yourselves about the prices of every thing
needful for a family, together with the best
methods, and properest seasons, for providing it ;
the observing whatever relates to cleanliness SUM!
neatness in the furniture and apartments of a
house ; the understanding how to deal with do-
mestics, tradesmen, and others; above all the
obtaining every possible life with relation to the
nursing, management, and education of children
these and such like articles will, if I mistake
not. furnish ample scope for the exercise of your
64 THE POL AH STAR.
faculties in (lie pursuit of what I have termed
Domestic Accomplishments. Nor would I have
you despise any one of them as trivial or dull?
if they should seem either, you must give me
leave to say the fault is in you. If on any pre-
tence whatever you should affect to call them so*
I should deem it a mark of Hut I forbear;
and for your encouragement to such application,
would take notice, that from what is thus neces-
sary and benefit-Id) you may, time after time,
pass with a transition often imperceptible, to
what is also pretty entertaining. Which leads
me to speak,
In the second place, of the Elegant Accom-
plishments 1 proposed to recommend. Of these
all will be found consistent with Christian sobri-
ety, and several conducive to it. Where morals
are not in some measure concerned, the peculiar
modes of an age can occasion no material differ-
ence. Some particulars, I am now to touch up-
on, might not suit that unsettled and persecuted
state which the first professors of Christianity
were in, nor that distinguished severity of man-
ners which would naturally arise out of such a
condition, as well as out of their late separation
from Paganism ; and yet those things may be
no way improper in a Christian woman of these
times, when religion is established, when pro-
perty is secured, and when the prevalence of a
THE POLAR STAR. 65
system supremely benevolent has nothing to fear
from a jealous policy, or a bigotted priesthood.
To begin with that exercise which women ap-
pear almost universally fond of, but which scru-
pulous minds have usually thought exceptionable.
For my own part, I must acknowledge, I can see
no reason against the moderate and discreet use
of dancing. To every thing," says Solomon,
" there is a season, and a time to every purpose
under heaven :" among (he rest <* a time
to dance." Even those pursuits which all ap-
prove, and approve most highly, may be abused.
Nothing is exempt from snares; but one of the
worst is a disposition to be peevish, illiberal, and
unsociable. In the Jewish institution, it is well
known, the exercise in question was adopted into
religious worship itself. It is yet more remark-
able, that in the parable of the prodigal son our
Saviour mentions dancing, as making a part of
the friendly and honest festivity indulged on Ins
return. The single instance recorded in the
New Testament, wherein it was perverted to a
pernicious purpose, has been weakly urged a-
gainst a practice that used with temperance and
prudence, is certainly adapted to promote health
and humour, a social spirit, and kind aff ctions
between the sexes, with that easy graceful car-
riage, to which nature has annexed very pleas-
ing perceptions in the beholders.
66 THE POLAR STAR.
With respect to this last, it seems to me, that
there can he no impropriety in it, any more than
in modulating the voice into the most agreeable
tones in singing ; which none, I think, \vill ob-
ject to. What is dancing in the best sense, but
the harmony of motion rendered more palpable ?
Aukwardness, rusticity, ungraceful gestures,
can never surely be meritorious. It is the ob-
servation of a celebrated philosopher, who was
deeply skilled on most subjects, that *< the princi-
pal part of beauty, is in a decent and gracious
motion." Here indeed one cannot help regret-
ing, that this which may be considered in some
measure as the virtue of the bod\, is not oftener
seen in our country, as if the sole design of danc-
ing was to supply the amusement of the heart.
A modest but animated mien, an air ;?t once un-
afft'C'ted and noble, arc doubtless circumstances
of great attraction and dr-Ji^ht.
I said a modes! mien ; for that must never be
given up : and on this account. 1 own, I cannot
much approve of a young lu'dy's dancing often in
public assemblies, which without a single guard,
must gradually wear off that lovely bashfulness
so largely inculcated in a former discourse. Pri-
vate circles consisting chiefly of friends and re-
lations, and where persons of more years than
the younger performers are present, 1 should
esteem in every respect the most eligible. Where
THE POLAR STAR. 6?
such precautions are observed, and tins diver-
sion is not suffered to interfere with health, reg-
ularity, modest apparel, and prudent expenee ; I
freely confess, that I am one of those who can
look on with a very sensible satisfaction, well
pleased to see a company of young people joyful
with innocence, and happy in each other. If an
exercise so sociable, and so enlivening, was to oc-
cupy some part of that time which is lavished
on cards, would the youth of either ^ex be losers
by it ? I thing not.
Having mentioned cards, I will use the fre-
dom, unpleasing as it may prove, or ill bred as
it may seem, to offer a few plain remarks ofi the
passion for them, which is now become so strange-
ly predominant, as to take the lead of every
thing else in almost every company of every
rank. With many indeed it seems to be a call-
ing, and, as a witty author has observed, a la-
borious one too, such as they toil night and day
at, nay do not allow themselves that remission
which the laws both of God and man have pro-
vided for the meanest mechanic. The sabbath is to
them no day of rest ; but this trade gi^es on when
all shops are shut, f know not," continues he,
how they satisfy themselves in such an habitual
waste of their time; but I much doubt that plea,
whatsoever it is, which passeth with them, will
scarce hold weight at his tribunal who hath
68 THE "POLAR STAll.
aomnianded us to redeem, not fling away our
time."
To the same occupation what numhers sacri-
fice their health and spirits, with every natural
pleasure that depends on these, not excepting
even the comforts of fresh air ; pursuing it in
the country with the same unahating ardour as
in town, and to all the heauty and sweetness of
rural scenes, in the finest season, preferring the
suffocating atmosphere of perhaps a small apart-
ment, where they regularly, every day if possi-
ble, croud round the card tahle for hours toge-
ther. What neglect of business and study, what
ruin of credit, of fortune, of families, of con-
nexions, of all that is valuable in this world, of-
ten follows the frenzy I speak of, who can ex-
press ?
I will suppose, my fair hearers, nay I do hope,
that the demon of avarice has not yet taken
possession of } our hearts. But do you know any
thing so likely to introduce him, as the spirit of
gaming ? Is not this last a kindred fiend ; and
does not he, like most other tempters, advance
by slow steps, and with a smiling aspect? Tell
me in sober sadness, what security can you have
tliat the love of play will not lead you to the love
of gaining?
Between those I know there is a distinction.
But it is but a distinction, at best, resembling
THE POL1R STAR. 69
that between twilight and darkness ; and does
not one succeed the other almost as naturally ?
The former at first is cheerful and serene, re-
taining some rays of pleasantry and good hu-
mour; but by little and little these disappear.
A deepening shade takes place ; till at last, every
emanation of mirth and good nature dying away,
all is involved in the gloom of anxiety, suspicion,
envy, disgust, and every dreadful passion that
lowers in the train of eovetousness. I say not,
that this always happens ; but I ask again, what
security is there that it will not happen to you ?
Did not every gamester in the world, whether
male or female, begin just where you do? And
is it not probable, that many of that infamous
tribe had once as little apprehension as you can
have, of proceeding to those lengths to which
they have since run, through the natural pro-
gress of vice, no where more infatuating or more
rapid than in this execrable one ?
But let us suppose the desire of winning*
should in you never rise to that rage, which
agitates the breast of many a fine lady, discom-
poses those features, and inflames those eyes,
where nothing should be seen but soft illumina-
tion. Are there not lower degrees in the thirst
of gain, which a liberal mind would ever care-
fully avoid ? And pray consider ; when either
by superior skill, or what is called better luck,
"0 THE POJ.AR STAR.
you happen to strip her of money, of that money
W'hieh it is very possible she can ill spare, an ac-
quaintance, a companion, a friend, one whom
you profess at least to love and honour, perhaps
Hi the very moment to entertain with all the sa-
cred rites of hospitality is there nothing un-
kind, nothing sordid, in giving way to that which
draws after it such consequences ? Is this the
spirit of friendship or humanity ? Blessed God !
how does the passion I condemn deprave the wor-
thiest affections of nature ,* and how does that
bewitching power, the fashion of the times, per-
vert even the best understandings, when resign-
ed to its impostures !
Nor is it the laws of humanity and friendship
only, that are transgressed by the lust of gam-
ing. The sweet emotions of love and tenderness
between the sexes are often swallowed up by
this all devouring appetite ; an appetite, which
perhaps beyond any thing else tends to harden
and contract the heart, at the same time that
the immoderate indulgence of it excludes a thou-
sand little reciprocations of sentiment and joy ?
which would serve to kindle and feed the flame
of virtuous affection, How much conversa-
tion suffers from it, who does not perceive ?
Here indeed, you will tell me with an air of
triumph, that it prevents a great deal of scandal.
\VJjat, then, are your minds so unfurnished, so
THE FOLAIt STATK. 71
vacant, that without cards you must necessarily
fly to that wretched resource ? Creation, pro-
vidence, religion, books, observation, fancy ; do
these present so narrow a field of entertainment,
as to force you on the alternative of preying ei-
ther on the reputation, or on the property of
others ? But, now I recollect, while you possess
an art of such utility as this last, for filling up
the blanks of discourse, as well as for repairing
the wastes of extravagance, why should you
give yourselves any trouble to read or think, to
enlarge your ideas or improve your faculties, be-
yond the usual standard? Surely the knowl-
edge of the most fashionable games, of the most
remarkable characters, of the reigning modes
and amusements of the season, with a few com-
mon-place compliments, remarks, and matters
of fact, but especially some passages of private
history, told by way of secret to all the world, is
quite sufficient, by the help of a little vivacity
which nature will supply, to accomplish you for
every purpose of modern society. Alas, how
poor is all this! How unworthy the principal
attention of beings made '-but a little lower than
the angels," and professing to believe in the
communion of saints !
But are there not many genera! companies in
vltiob it were impossible to spe*. d a long eve-
ning with any tolerable ease, or propriety, but
72 THE POLAR STAR.
by borrowing assistance from the card tnble ? I
grant it, as things are now ; and, when you are
so situated, your complying with the ^eeasion
may be both allowable and proper, provided the
stkes are but trifling, your tempers not ruffled*
and what you win or lose is agreed to be given
away in charity. By this means, perhaps, you
may make to yourselves friends of the mam-
mon of unrighteousness."
But tell me, I beseech you, where is the ne-
cessity of being very often in general companies.
Are these the scenes of true enjoyment ? What*
where the heart cannot be unfolded ; where the
understanding has little or no play ; where all
is reserve, ceremony show ; where the smile of
complaisance is frequently put on to deceive*
and even the warmest professions of regard are
sometimes made the " cloak of maliciousness I"
There is not, methinks, any thing more con-
temptible, or more to be pitied, than that turn of
mind, which finding no entertainment in itself,
none at home, none in books, none in rational
conversation, nor in the intercourses of real
friendship, nor in ingenious works of any kind,
is continually seeking to stifle reflection in a tu-
mult of pleasures, and to divert weariness in a
crowd.
But can it be supposed, that even in more
private meetings people should be always able to
THE FOI,Att STAB. 73
pass the time without cards?" You ought to
speak more plain* and say to kill the time ; for
that is commonly the ease. By the most favour-
able reckoning, the greatest part of those hours
they are devoted to play is lost. That which
was begun for amusement is lengthened out to
fatigue. No one improving or generous idea is
circulated ; no one happy or solacing recollec-
tion is secured. The whole is to be set down as
a large portion of the span of life cut off without
advantage, and without satisfaction, as far a&
virtue or reason is concerned.
" What then shall we do when together ?"
Do ! why, converse, or hold your tongues, as
good sense and unaffected nature prompt to ei-
ther. Do ! why, work* read, sing, dance, laugh,
and look grave by turns* as occasion serves j any
thing in the world that is innocent, rather than
eternal play. For persons in all the gaiety of
health, and sprightliness of youth ; persons not
relaxed by infirmity, or exhausted by business ;
persons with numberless sources of delight laid
open to them, and every natural relish lively and
strong. for them to be at a loss how to spend
a single evening without cards, what a degrada-
tion of the human mind I
Willing to corroborate an argument which to
me appears of such importance, I will avail my-
self of the words of a writer now living, who is
7<* THE FO!AH STAR.
not less respectable for the force than for the
morality of itis pen. Complaining of the fatal
passion for play, he mentions, amongst other
mischiefs to which it leads, its tendency to de-
stroy all distinctions both of rank and sex; to
crush all emulation, but that of fraud; to con-
fotmd the world in a chaos of folly ; to with-
hold youth from its natural pleasures, .deprive
wit of its influence, and beauty of its charms; to
extinguish the flames of the lover, as well as of
the patriot; to sink life Into a tedious uniformity^
and to allow it no other hopes or fears hut those
of robbing and being robbed." lie adds in (he
same animated style, " That if those of your
sex who have minds capable of nobler senti-
ments will unite in vindication of their pleas-
ures and their prerogatives, they may fix a
time at which cards shall cease to be in fashion,
or be left only to those who have neither beauty
to be loved, nor spirit to be feared ; neither
knowledge to teach, nor modesty to learn ; and
who, having passed their youth in vice, are just-
ly condemned to spend their age in folly."
But I preceed to a more agreeable task, that
of recommending, in the next place, those in-
genious works mentioned a little while ago.
As to needle work in particular, we find it
spoken of in scripture with c/mittendation. Its
beauty and advantages are universally apparent*
THE POLAR STAR. 7$
It was practised by ladies formerly, and ladies
of the first rank, much more than it is at present.
They indeed have much more leisure than most
of their posterity. They were simple enough, I
suppose, to be in love with home, and to seek
their happiness in their duty. Of that duty they
considered diligence as a part ; nor does it appear
to have in the least cramped their imaginations.
Of their skill in this way we have seen very
laudable monuments. They only wanted in-
struction in the principles of the fine arts, to
give their performances a juster taste. At any
rate, their tin^e would by such means pass away
more pleasantly. They would be under little
temptation of wandering abroad ; consequently
they would escape infinite snares and ineonve-
nieneies. Then too, private conversation would
be cultivated on a much more rational footing ;
and many a pleasing discussion would arise on
the subject of their various productions. Their
fancies called forth by a thousand prettinesses,
and kept up by the spirit of elegant emulation*
would of course be polished and exalted. This,
I believe, will be found true, that those females
of the present age, who have resolution enough
to copy so antiquated an example, seldom fail to
prove the most entertaining companions.
I once knew a lady, nob e by her 4 birth, but
more noble by her virtues, who never sut idle in
rS THE POLAH STAR,
company, unless when compelled to it by the
punctilio of ceremony, which she took care
should happen as rarely as possible. Being a
perfect mistress of her needle, and having an
excellent taste in that, as in many other things,
her manner, whether at home, or abroad with her
friends (for friends she had enough, though a lady
of fashion, and bred at court) was to be constant-
ly engaged in working something useful, or
something beautiful; at the same time that she
assisted in supporting the conversation, with an
attention and capacity which I have never seen
exceeded. For the sake of variety and improve^-
ment, when in her own house, some one of the
company would often read aloud, while she and
her female visitants werr thus employed. I
must add that during an intimate acquaintance
of several years, I do not remember to have seen
her at once driven to the polite necessity of
either winning or losing money at play, and
making her guests defray the expenee of the en-
tertainment.
Permit me, before I dismiss this article, to
offer a hint or two, that may not be unworthy
your observation. Instead of that minute and
laborious kind of work, which is often practised
by young ladies, I should think that slighter and
free patterns v\ou!d for the most part he great-
ly preferable. The sight would be in 110 danger
THE POLAK STAH. 77
of being strained ; much less time would be re-
quired to finish them ; and* when finished, they
would produce a much better effect. They
would give, beyond comparison, more scope to
the imagination ; they would exhibit an ease, a
gracefulness, and a flow that ought to enter, as
much as possible, into all works of taste ; and as
they would admit a far greater multiplicity of
ornament, so likewise the purpose *of utility
would be promoted in a far higher degree,
The business of shading with the needle is now
comparatively, seldom thought of but at school,
where it is frequently taught in a paltry, and al-
ways in a defective manner, though certainly
deserving a particular attention. The disposi-
tion, harmony, and melting of colours in this
way, afford one of the finest exercises to female
genius, and one of the most amusing that can be
imagined ; besides that such productions are the
most permanent.
But the truth is, nothing complete or distin-
guished in those attempts can be expected, while
the proper foundation is so generally omitted to
be laid ; I mean drawing, which is
The third accomplishment I would take the
liberty to inculcate. That many more young
ladies would be found qualified for such a study
than is usually apprehended, I cannot doubt.
Several, I am certain, have applied to it with
78 THE POLAR STAR.
the greatest success and pleasure* who before
they began, did not promise themselves the least.
It is truly surprising, that so fe\v of our more
intelligible females should show a desire of be-
ing instructed in so pleasing an art, at a time
too when it is to be learnt with such advantage
and encouragement.
!None can be ignorant, that the principles and
practice erf drawing were never understood a-
mongst us to the height they are at present;
owing chiefly to the patronage of a society, that
reflects the greatest credit on this country, and
on this age. But here justice to your sex demands
an acknowledgement which we joyfully make,
that several honorary rewards have been most
deservedly gained by young Indies of rank and
character, for specimens of ingenuity, which it
is to be hoped their grand children will one day
mention and emulate with honest pride.
If such of you, my amiable hearers, as are in
a situation to try whether nature has given you
talents for this beautiful accomplishment, would
fairly mate the essay, \ou mi^lu very probably
open to yourselves, and to your friends, a spring
t)f entertainment that would never run dry ; that
would contribute to improve* while it delighted
you, by adding to your ideas of elegance and
grace ; that would prevent many a folly, and
many a sin, which proceed from idleness ; and
THE POLAK STAR. 7^
lie not hurt if I add, that would prove the means
of future support, should it please the su-
preme wisdom to reduce you to a state of de-
pendence.
There are other pretty works extremely pro-
per for female hands, which I need not specify
here, since several of the remarks already made
will, I presume, be applicable to them. Let it
suffice to say in general, that whatever is gen-
teel, and whatever is useful, in such occupations,
should always claim your regard, when you
have leisure ami capacity. The former you will
seldom want, if you have learnt to portion out
your time with judgment; and in the latter you
ought never to pronounce yourselves detective,
before you have honestly tried.
The last accomplishment of the "elegant kind,
which I shall mention, is music. This, I con-
ceive, is to be recommended with more discrimi-
nation than the rest, how much soever such a
notion may contradict the prevailing opinion.
There are young ladies indeed, who, without any
particular advantage of a natural air or good
voice, have by means of circumstances peculiarly
favourable, made great proficiency in music : but
then they have made it at a vast expence of time
and application ; such as no woman ought to be-
stow upon an object, to which she is not carried
by the irresistable impulse of genius.
, G
30 THE POLAR STAR.
In many other arts it is possible for original
talents to Jie dormant, till called up by assiduity
or accident ; but where there is a strong propen-
sion to this, it will, I imagine, hardly forbear to
burst out, by means of the trancendant pleasure
derived from it on all occasions. If it does not,
if even the beat music can be heard without a
degree of delight bordering on transport; either
the practice will never reward the pains neces-
sary for acquiring it ; or, there being no native
vein of excellence in that way, it will, as has
been commonly observed, be discontinued on a
change of condition 5 in which case you lose the
labour of years, that might have been directed
with lasting benefit into some other channel.
Be this as it may, you will readily allow, that
for a young lady who has no turn for the study I
am speaking of, to be condemned both to morti-
fy herself, and to punish her acquaintance, by
murdering every lesson put into her hands, is a
very auk ward situation, however much her mas-
ter may, for the sake of his craft, flatter her and
her friends ; assuring them, perhaps with an air
of great solemnity, that he never had a better
scholar in all his life. If she whose attainments
in this kind are but indifferent, could be content-
ed to amuse herself, and those of her own family
now and then, witli an air that happened to
please them, it were well ; but how does a judi-
THE POLA.R STAR.
cious hearer blush for the poor beginner, when
set down by the command of a fond parent to en-
tertain, performing that of which she scarce
knows the very rudiments; while all is disap-
pointment on their part, and, if she has any un-
derstanding, confusion on hers !
Is the preacher then an enemy to music ?
Much the reverse. Where there is a real genius
for it, improved by art, and regulated by sentiment,
nothing surely can be more charming or affect-
ing. Its importance in the ancient Jewish worship
is well known. Of its beauty and usefulness in our
churches, when conducted in a manner suitable
to its sacred purpose, and not prostituted to
levity, or perverted by ostentation, I am not in-
sensible its influence in all ages and nations
stands universally confessed. It is founded in-
deed in some of the strongest perseptions of na-
ture, wherever she has seen fit to confer a lively
sensibility to the melody of sounds.
JBut how much is it to be regretted, that this
wonderful charm of melody properly so called,
together with the whole merit of expression,
should be sacrificed, as we frequently find, to the
proud but poor affectation of mere trick and exe-
cution ; that, instead of rendering the various
combinations of sounds a powerful instrument of
touching i he hi art, exciting agreeable emotions,
or .allaying uneasy sensations, as in (he days of
#2 THE POLAH STAR.
old, it should be generally degraded into an idle
amusement, devoid of dignity, devoid of meaning,
absolutely devoid of any one ingredient that can
inspire delightful ideas, or engage unaffected ap-
plause ! What lover of this enchanting art but
must lament, that the most insipid song which
can disgrace it, is no sooner heard in places of
public entertainment, than every young lady who
has learnt the common notes, is immediately
taught to repeat it in a manner still more insipid i
while the most sublime and interesting composi-
tions, where simplicity and greatness unite, are
seldom or never thought of in her case ; as if the
female mind were incapable of relishing any
thing grave, pathetic or exalted !
!Let me here call on every musical spirit of
your sex, to assert the rjghts of good sense ; and
to insist that those, who are entrusted with this
branch of their education, shall not fail to intro-
duce them, as early as possible, into an acquain-
tance with whatever is most beautiful and noble
in the article of melody. The more thorough
knowledge of harmony may come afterwards, if
you are ambitious of advancing so far. In the
mean time, you will have the satisfaction of
pleasing the best judges, and of entertaining
yourselves with such pieces as, while the words
to which they are set convey no sentiments but
what are elevated or virtuous shall serve U re*
THE POL4T* S
fine and enliven your thoughts, to raise your
spirits iuto joy, or compose them into sweetness,
and on chosen occasions, by the diviner strains of
solemn music, to lift your hearts to heaven,
prove a kind of prelude to the airs of paradise,
And prepare you for joining the choir of angels*,.
84 THE POLAB STAR.
A
MEMOIR
OF THE
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE
EEV. WILLIAM
THE worthy author of the following Essay 8 9
wa?- desee ded from pious and respectable pa-
rents in 'the town of Perth, who spared neither
pai is or expense to give him a truly Christian
and liberal education. To this they were great-
ly encouraged by the early attachment which he
himself shewed, both to piety and learning.
His constitution of body was rather delicate
and weakly ; (hough in common he was toler-
ably healthy ; but his intellectual powers were
aound and strong. He had a penetrating and
comprehensive mind ; a fine perception ; and tin
elegant t*ste. These happy talents were attend-
ed with solidity of judgment, and a sense of the
truly beautiful and sublime, peculiar to himself;
and stiU farther heightened, by an imagmation
and invention equally lively, and a memory mi-
commonly capacious and retentive.
TUB POI.ATt STAR. 85
To cultivate and improve these admirable
natural endowments, he employed the most as-
siduous cure, and unwearied industry. By Lis
diligent study of the Roman and Greek classics;
of logic and philosophy; of (he best English
poets and historians : and, above all, the scrip-
tures of truth, in their originals, with the most
judicious and evangelical books of our own and
foreign divines; he collected a large stock of the
best ideas, and enriched his mind with a variety
.of select knowledge, arid suitable literature.
His studies in divinity were assisted for some
years by the advk-e of the late celebrated Mr.
Ebe.nezer Erskine of Stirling ; and finished un-
der the tuition of the Hev. James Fisher of
Glasgow.
He was in 1753 licensed to preaeb the gospel
by the associate presbytery of Dun term line ; aud f
in the beginning of the year 175*, he was ordain-
ed, by the same presbytery, minister ol the as-
sociate congregation in the town of Dundee.
Having in a solemn and public manner, devot-
ed himself to the more immediate service of the
blessed Jesus, in the ministration of bis gospel,
and had the charge 6f a particulaj flock com-
mitted to him ; he was earnestly de-sir out* to
have them grounded in the principles, and actu-
at M! by the true spirit of Christ's gospel."- En-
tirely satisfied, that the scriptural plan of re-
S6 THE POLAR STAK,
demption, by the blood of Christ, is divinely
calculated to draw men's affections from iniquity,
attach them to the blessed God; to sweeten
their tempers, and form them to true happiness;
it was his dajly endeavour, by the most easy and
engaging methods of instruction, to fill their
minds with the knowledge of these heavenly
doctrines, lie longed particularly to have a
lively sense of Ged Almighty's goodness, mani-
fested in freely offering pardon and peace to re-
bellious sinners in the gospel, impressed on their
souls ; because from this source, and the influ-
ences of the sanctifying spirit, he was persuaded,
that all the noble qualities, the amiable graces,
and the important duties, which constitute the
dignity or the happiness of our nature, could
only be derived.
Far from addressing his hearers in that flat-
tering and dangerous strain, which supposes
the powers of the human mind to be as per-
fect as ever ; or but vitiated in a small de-
gree ; or, that the soul of man is possessed of
such principles of virtue, as need only to be rous-
ed into action: he was solicitously concerned to
have them thoroughly < onvit ced, that they were
ignorant, guilty, impotent creatures. That from
such convictions they might perceive their in-
dispensible need of a saviour ; of a saviour in all
his mediatorial offices ; as a prophet lo instruct
THE POIAR STAR. 7
them, and, by his word and spirit, make them
wise unto salvation ; as a priest to make an a-
tonement and expiation for their sins, and make
their persons acceptable to that awful majesty,
who dwelleth in light inaccessable ; as a king to
subdue their iniquities, to write his laws in their
hearts, make them partakers of a divine nature,
and enable them to deny ungodliness and world-
ly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and
godly in this present world. Tit. ii, 12.
In fine, the point he chiefly laboured, was, to
beget in his people's minds a deep, and abiding
sense, that God was their chief good ; their on-
ly sufficient happiness and portion : that the
blessed Jesus was the foundation of their par-
don, acceptance, and salvation : that all their
dependance, for acquiring the beauties of holi-
ness, and tasting the consolations and pleasures
of a religious life, was to be placed in the ho!y
ghost, the comforter; whose office is to take the
things of Christ, and show them to sinful men,
John xvi. 14; and to gire them to know things
that are freely gwento them of God, . Cor. ii. J2.
Our author's talent of preaching was much
admired. The propositions he insisted on were
few ; but always of very weighty and edifying
import, and naturally resulting from the passage
of sacred writ under immediate consideration*
His explanations were clear and accurate ; his
38 THE POLAR STAB.
proofs plain and decisive; his illustrations beau-
tiful and entertaining; his applications close and
searching. All the heads of the discourse re-
markably distinct, yet connected in such regular
order, and in such pleasing succession, as gave
his instructions the greatest advantage : and
every part contributed to the strength and beau-
ty of the whole.
And indeed such was the depth of his thoughts;
such the propriety of his w r ords ; and such the
variety, force and fire of his style ; so remarka-
ble was the justness and solidity of his reasoning,
and so judicious the change of his method; that
notwithstanding he invariably pursued the ssme
end; yet proceeding by different paths, and vary-
ing his address, according as he meant to alai y -*a,
to convince, or comfort; lie was so far from
growing tedious, that he never -failsd to please
as well as to improve his audience.
In imitation of the great apostle of the Gen-
tiles, that most amiable and accomplished
preacher, he was peculiarly careful to cultivate
a spirit of zeal and devotion in all his discourses.
Accordingly he was fervent in spirit, as well as
cogent in argument. When he argued, convic-
tion flashed ; when he exhorted, pathos glowed.
And by distributing to each of his audience a
portion suitable to their several spates, hr en-
deavoured rightly to divide the word of truth.
THE POL1R STill. 9
The same zeal and fervor which influenced
and animated his puhlie addresses from the pul-
pit, appeared abo in the discharge of the mu?h
neglected duties of catechising; teaching from
house to house; and visiting the sick; as well
us in the administration of the holy sacraments.
In the most unaffected devotion towards God*
and in a diffusive love to all men ; in modesty,
humility, and candour; in a gravity of deport-
ment, tempered with becoming cheerfulness; in
purity of manners,, and integrity of conduct, Mr.
M*Ewen was a pattern to all around him. His
hearers had abundant reason afforded them to
believe that he lived above this sordid world,
even while he was in it : that he was no lover
of filthy lucre ; no hunter of carnal pleasures ;
but that his hopes, and all his views of happiness,
were hid with Christ in God : that he directed
all his aims to the glory of God ; and consider-
ed the honour of Jesus Christ as the final cause
of his existanee ; that he carried on no base and
sinister design ; that he had no separate interest
from the glory of his divine master, and the wel-
fare of his people ; but that the whole desire and
delight of his soul, was to. set forward their sal-
vation ; that by their being made meet to be par-
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
his exalted Lord might, see of the travail of his
soul, and be satisfied.
THE TOIAR STAK.
On the 29th December 1761, he came from
Dundee to Edinburgh ; and, on Sabbath follow-
ing, preached (his last sermon) in Bristo meet-
ing, from Isa. Ixiii. 4. For the day of Tcngeance
is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is
eome. On the Monday evening, he was married
at Dalkeith, to the oldest daughter of Mr. John
Wardlaw, late merchant of the same place. In
this important period of his life, when a variety
of temporary prospects ingross the attention of
the most part of mankind, it was observed, that,
in his social intereoiu'se with his friends, he dis-
covered a strong inclination to fix the conversa-
tion to that awful, yet delightful subject, the
eternal wo Id, into which all must soon enter*
Like one established iii the faith, he seemed dai-
ly to be looking for and hastening to the coming
of the Lord Jesus.
On Wednesday afternoon, attended by his
friends, he went to Lcith, in his way home to
Dundee ; and that same night he was suddenly
taken ill* owing as is supposed, to the cold and
^vet he Jhad suffered in his crossing the Frith the
preceeding week. His disorder soon issued in a
violent fever, which rendered him unfit for any
conversation, and on Wednesday night the 13th
of January 1762, put an end to all his labours, in
the 28th year of his age, and the 7th of his min-
istry. Cut down in the prime of life, and public
THE P0LAU STAR. 91
usefulness, his death was universally lamented
as a severe and afflicting loss to his friends, liis
congregation, and the church of God. His body
\vas interred in the church yard of Dalkeith.
In December 1758, he published a sermon
delivered at the ordination of the Rev. Alexan-
der Dick, in Aberdeen, entitled, The great mat-
ter and end of gospel preaching, from 2 Cor. iv,
5. This discourse was reprinted in 1764, and has
been much esteemed by the best judges, on ac-
count of the clear evangelical strain of doctrine,
together with the nervous and pathetic manner
of address, which runs through the whole of it.
It has now undergone live impressions.
In 1763, his meditations on the types and
figures of the,Old Testament were published in a
neat volume, 12 mo. The favourable reception
which this piece met with from the public,
shews, in a much stronger light, the distinguish-
ing excellency of it, than any thing else that
could be advanced. Five editions of this work
Laving been already sold, and the demand for it
still continues.
With regard to the following sheets, they con-
tain the substance of what the author originally
composed and delivered in the pulpet, in the
form of sermons, tlis heart, his time, his study,
were entirely devoted to the duties of his pro-
fession. To contract the force and spirit of a
H
92 THE FOLiR STAR,
subject into a small compass, and to exhibit it to
llie mind in one clear ahd easy view, was a study
he was remarkably fond of. And though he
prepared his discourses for the pulpit with great
diligence and accuracy, he frequently employed"
a leisure moment in digesting them, after they
had been preached, into the form of little es-
From his collection of manuscripts in this
kind, th following essays were selected. Each
of them was committed' to paper at one sitting*
without any design of publishing them ; and
none of them appear to have been written over
again, or revised by the author. It should not
then be thought strange, if, in some things, they
will not bear a critical examen with regard to
the minutioR of graceful composition. More
important matters engaged Mr. M'Ewen's atten-
tion ; nor \vas lame, as a writer, by any means
his aim.
But it is hoped the reader, who peruses them
with the humble ehild like spirit of a Christian,
and seeks religious advantage in all he reads,
will not lose his labour. He will find a just and
lively representation of true Christianity, in a
variety of its most important articles, and dis-
tinguishing peculiar! ties, enforced by a very
warm and pathetic mode of expression, happily
conspiring at once to enlighten the understand-
TtfE.POLAB STAR, S&
ing and persuade the heart. Apparent repeti-
tions will douhtless sometimes occur ; but this
will be chiefly in those things which lie at the
root of all vital religion, and evidently lay very
near the author's heart ; which is very different
from that thin starving common-place work that
flows from a barren head, or unfeeling hear!.
As these essays were the first effusion of thought,
they ought to be considered rather as the pro-
duction of the heart, than the head, which, it is
hoped, will be no disagreeable recommendation
of them to the sober Christian. From a few
cursory specimens, the reader could form no ad-
equate idea of a work replete with such a vast
variety of important subjects ; and, therefore, I
have only to add, that as no order has been ob-
served in writing these sheets, I have not at-
tempted to methodise their contents., r combine
them into a regular series*
THE POLAR STAI&
SELECT ESSAYS,
OX THE GREAT EV1I, OF SIN.
O SIN, then only evil in which there is no
good, thou superfluity of naughtiness, thou quin-
tessence of what is odious and execrable, whose
nature is entirely opposite to that of God, and
the reverse of his holy law, who elaSmest the
ilevil for thy sire, while death, and hell, and
misery, confess thee for their only parent ! how
Iiast thou troubled all the creation ! upon what
creatures hast thou not transmitted thy baleful
Influence !
Ye angels of darkness, once the angels of light,
how are ye fallen ! how changed ! how is your fine
gold become dim ! what plucked you from your star-
vy mansions where you did walk with God, high
n salvation, in the climes of bliss ! you were the
nngels that sinned; therefore you could not
keep your first and happy state, but were driven
out from God, flung from eternal splendours to
everlasting horrors. " The crown is fallen
from your head ; wo unto us, for you have sin-
ned."
THE POtAB STAR. $5
Ye sons of men, once were you blessed with
innocence and peace, in the morning of your ex-
istanee, when eur grand parents first lifted to
the heavens their wondering eyes, and reposed
themselves in the blissful bowers of paradise,
that happy garden, planted by the Lord and fit-
ted out for their reception. The understanding
was bright as the light. The will, all pure and
holy, reigned queen of the affections, and swayed
them with a golden sceptre. The memory was
faithful to his trust, being replenished only with
good things. And, O how peaceful was the con-
science ! how serene ! nothing unholy was hatch-
ed in his heart, or uttered by the lips, or mani-
fested by the actions. Disease had not invaded
our body ; death would not have dissolved our
frame. We should have been strangers to the
miseries of life, and to the dreary mansions of
the grave. But sin, that cursed monster, sin
liath quenched our intellectual light ; hath in-
thralled the will to vile unruly passions ; hath
vitiated the memory, tenacious now of evil ; hath
banished true peace from the conscience. Some
are harrassed with direful apprehensions, aud
consumed awny with fearful terrors. What
multitudes are stretched on the bed of pain ! it
was sin which bade the head ache, fevers to
revel through our veins, convulsions shake th
human frames, and agues agitate our bodies.
$6 THE POIAR STAR.
See there, in that house of mourning, the pat&
and ghastly corpse extended on the bed. De-
scend into the silent grave, and view the putri-
fving flesh, and the mouldering bones. Ah 1
where are \ve! to what are we reduced ? Is this
that heaven laboured form, which wore the di-
vine resemblam e ? Yes, yes ; sin entered into
the world, and death by sin ; and so death pas-
sed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
But can we venture lower still in our medita-
tions, into those dismal regions, where God's
mercies are clean gone, and where he will be
favourable no more ? Hear how they shriek and
roar; see how they toss in the lake that burn-
eth with fire and brimstone ! Unhappy beings,
what brought you to that place of torment?
" We are filled with the fruit of our own ways,
and are reaping the wages of sin." Yes ; it was
sin which laid the foundation stone of your prison,
and filled it with these inexhausted treasures of
wrath and indignation.
Not in the rational creation only we discern
the fatal evils of this accursed thing. The
whole creation groaneth and travailleth in pain
together until now." Once it died of a dropsy
of waters, in the days of Noah ; and shortly will
expire in a fever of flames, when * the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
Shall melt with fervent heaU" Even now the
THE POLAR STAB. $
husbandman, conscious of the sickliness of na-
ture, acts like physician to the earth. Sem-
tiraes he opens her veins with a plough, and
covers with soil, as with a strengthening plaister;
sometimes lays her asleep, by suffering her to lie
fallow for a time. Without these necessary
precautions, she would refuse to yield her in-
crease, and cleanness of teeth would be in all our
borders.
Is it a small thing for sin thus to affect the
whole creation ? The garden of Gethsemane
knows, and Calvary can tell, how sin hath affect-
ed even the great Creator. Bread of life, why
>vast thou hungry ? Fountain of life, why wast
thou thirsty? Why wast thou a man of stir-
rows, O thoa consolation of Israel ? Thou glory
of the human race, wherefore wast thou a re-
proach of men, and despised of the people ? Thy
yis*age was more marred than any man, and
thy form than the sons of men. Sin nailed thee
to the cross ; sin stabbed thee to the heart ; sin,
like a thick impenetrable cloud, eclipsed thy
father's countenance to thy disconsolate soul ;
sin laid thee in a grave, O thou resurrection and
the life!
Who would have believed, that the enemy
would have entered within the gates of the
Heavenly Jerusalem, pulled angels from their
thrones, and brought even God himself from his
$8 THE POLAR STAR.
high habitation, from excellent glory, from in-
effable jo.ys, to poverty and reproach, to sorrow
and tribulation, and to the most inglorious death !
O heavy burden ! under whose weight such
multitudes of creatures groan, which made the
mighty God, clothed with our flesh, to sweat
great drops of blood, though sinners walk lightly
on beneath the mighty load. O dreadful plague !
O formidable sickness ! not to he chased away
by a less costly medicine than the most precious
blood of Christ, by whose stripes we are healed.
O deadly poison ! even when presented in a gold-
en cup, and sweet unto the taste, it bitetli like a
serpent, and stingeth like an adder, and never
fails to prove bitterness in the latter end. Nor
can it be expelled by any other way than lifting
up the son of man, as Moses lifted up the ser-
pent in the wilderness. O mighty debt, whose
payments could impoverish him, whose is the
silver and the gold ; who, " though he was rich,
yet for our sakes became poor, that we through
his poverty might be made rich I" O ugly
stain ! O inveterate pollution ! not to be washed
away by all *he rivers that run into the sea.
In vain we take unto us nitre and much soap ;
in vain we use our most vigorous endeavours to
purge away our blot. Sooner might the Ethio-
pean change his skin, and the leopard his spots.
The only fuller that is equal to this mighty
TUB POLAR STAR, 99
work, is lie who purges the conscience from
dead works, to serve the living God. The blood
of the lamb is the only purgatory that makes
you \vhiter than the snow.
When, O when, shall I hate thee with a per-
fect hatred, thou worse than death ? When
shall I be afraid of thee alone, and be ashamed
of thee alone, ? thing exceeding sinful ! When
shall I be delivered from thy abhorred dominion ?
O when shall thy destructions have a perpetual
end?
On man's extreme misery by sin.
WHO can refrain from tears, whose eye of
reason hath snatched but a cursory glance of
mankind's numerous woes ? Who but he whose
heart is made of stone, and is lost to every im-
pression of benevolence ? As the dancing spark
ilies upward, so man is born unto trouble. Un-
happy creatures, that kept not your primeval
state ! Full early you revolted from your crea-
tor God, in whose smile alone your happiness
might dwell. The sparkling crown of inno-
cence is fallen from your head. Hence all these
fatal evils of your race. Ah me ! what ghastly
spectres are the^e ' See moon sfru k mad 'ess
replenishing the melancholy bedlam, and tortur-
100 THE J?01AK STAR.
ing despair, a terror to herself, and all around
her. See there oppression with iron hand, and
heart of steel ; poverty with her liollow eyes, her
tattered garmants, and sordid habitation ; and
all the family of pain, who tear the pillow from
beneath their head, while sleep affrighted flies
from our eye-lids. Shall I mention in the next
place, drudgery with her grievous looks, toiling
at the oar, or stooping under the burden ? Alas !
with what laborious efforts do mortals spend
their vitals, to gain a wretched sustenance for
themselves and their tender offspring, to be de-
fended from the gnawings of hunger, and the
power of chilling cold ?
What creatures are not armed against thee, O
man, who all espouse their maker's quarrel ?
There are, whom the angels of darkness harass
with dreadful temptations, and still more dread-
ful possessions. -The angels of light loathe and
detest such polluted beings, and frequently have
been the executioners of direful \engeance. I
might relate the numerous ills to which we are
exposed from the inhabitants of the air, the
beasts of the earth, and even the fishes of the
sea, How hateful to men the holiest race of
scaly serpents, hissing adders, ravenous lions,
prowling wolves, hideous and weeping erocka-
diles ? And even the puny race of locusts and
THE POLAR STAR. 101
caterpillars have scourged guilty nations for;
crimes.
How frequently have lire and water, these ser-
viceable elements, made horrid insurrections,
disastrous to the human race ? Populous cities,
with guilde palaces and lofty temples, have
smoked fiery ruins ; and, in old time, the dwil-
lings of sinful men were swept awa^ by a watery
inundation. -In vain the shrieking wretches
betook themselves for safety to the lofty battle-
ments of houses, the tops of highest trees, or
even the summits of the aerial mountains*
Hear how the earth groans under the burden of
thy sins! Here she spreads a barren wilder-
ness, and idle desert ; there lifts a frightful
ridge of rocks, whence in many places we look
down with giddy horror. In some countries she
belches fire and smoke from dreadful volcanoes,
tremendous indeed to all who hear, but ranch
more terrible to those who live in the neighbour-
ing city, or in the villages of the circum jacent
plain. Be it so that these awful phenomena of
nature* and others of the like threatening as-
pect, bespeak not this our globe to be the habi-
tation of an accursed race ; what shall we say to
useless choking weeds, and poisonous plants, of
which she is a willing parent, whilst she refuses
to produce the foodful grain, unless when much
fjarressed and importuned ? How frequently she
102 THE. POLAR STAR.
disappoints our fond hopes, and baulks our ex-
pectations !
When she refuses to yield her increase, then
it is that we have cleanness of teeth in all our
borders, while pale famine walks abroad with
her evil arrows. The staff of bread is broken,
and feble man totters, and falls, and dies. At
other times she expands her jaws, and swallows
up alive vast multitudes of rational beings.
Earthquake ! men tremble when thou art but
named! Who can think of thee without horror?
O what dire consternation in that dreadful mo-
ment ! Whither, ah! whither can we fly from
the doleful calamity ? Avert it, heaven. Exe-
cute not thy threatening vengeance upon these
guilty lands, and our proud metropolis. If thou
hast a mind to punish us, O visit with some
milder rod, some gentler minister of wrath.
Not the earth alone, on which we tread, but
the air in which, we live, and move, and have
our being, proves dreadful to our wretched race.
Sometimes she summoDS her stormy winds, her
roaring tempests, and bids them shake the walls
of stone, a r *d dash the wall-built vessel on the
rock. Tain is the help of tough cables and
tenacious anchors. The mighty waters at once
receive the valuable cargo, and the despairing
mariners. How often is she infected with the
wide-wasting pestilence? Then death's shaft*
THE POLAR STAR. 103
fiy thick, and the hungry grave rejoices at the
uncommon fare. Yet, ugly monster ! she never
says, it is enough. But, with no greater calami-
ty can you be visitetl, ye sons of men, than those
which claim your own species for their original.
Fell are the monsters of the Lybian deserts! but
not to be compared with the abhorred produc-
tions of the human heart. Hence matchless
killing envy, iilthy slander; hence persecution
with torturing engines, war with her odious din,
and bloody garments. How can you have peace
among yourselves, when warring with your
God ?
Nor is there any period of life wherein we are
exempted from wo. Not even the smiling infant
is secured against the most fatal disasters. The
miseries of childhood are apparent. Affliction
spares not the blooming youth, nor reverences
the venerable old man. Even age itself, what
is it ? An incurable distemper, always termi-
nating in death. See how the countenance is
shriveled up with wrinkles, the shoulders stoop,
the hands tremble, the strong men bow them-
selves, and they that look out of the windows are
darkened !
Neither can any station or condition rescue
from these incumbent miseries. The rich, the
honourable, and they who swim in tides of pleas*
ure, can bear witness. Why else would Ahab
i
THE POIAH STAR.
sicken for Nabotlrs vineyard, and Haman lay so N
sore to heart the refractory behavior of Mcrde-
cai ? If treasured riches, if sensual delights*
added even to knowledge and wisdom, could
satisfy the heart, then might tliou, Solomon, en-
joyed a heaven upon earth, nor complained of
Tanity and vexation, nor that he who encreaseth
knowledge, encreaseth sorrow. Alas ! even our
greatest comforts prove killing; and far from
issuing in contentment, we still complain even in
large abundance of worldly delights.
What shall we say then to the*e things ? Shall
wretched mortals abandon themselves to sullen
sorrow, and hopeless desparation ? Shall the
world be turned into a Bochim ? Is it a place
where his mercies are clean gone, and where he
will be favourable no more? Are there not
many footsteps of the divine benignity, even in
this our earthly mansion ? Doubtless there are ;
for he hath not left himself without a witness, that
goodness is essential to his nature ; he bids the
earth teem with plenty, and the clouds drop
with vegetable fatness. There are pleasures of
sight, of smell, of taste, peculiar to the various
seasons of the revolving year. Many creatures
are yet subservient to our interest, and all the
elements are made to contribute for our welfare.
Far be it from high-favoured men, to despise the
riches of the Almighty's goodness* But, O ye
THE POLAR STAB,
everlasting joys, which the glorious gospel re-
veals ! what thoughtful being would not he dis-
contented with such a world as this, without the
consideration of you ? The distant prospect of
life and immortality is able, and that alone, to
reconcile the heart to the visible (Economy of
God. Even great and sore affliction is deemed
but light and vain, because it lasts but for a mo-
ment. Eternity apart, the miseries of life would
swallow up the joys. But now even these de-
vo iirers are buried in the capacious wonib of
vast eternity.
Blessed be thy condescension, O patient son of
God, who disdained not to taste the bitter cup
of grief ; grief not thy own, but ours. And
blessed be that wisdom to whose glorious contri-
vance we are indebted for the cup of consolation
presented in the gospel, which we may drink,
and remember our misery no more* By vari-
ous ways the sons of men have tried to extricate
themselves from the lamented consequents of
their fall. Games and recreations, arts arid sci-
ences, yea, many false religions have been in-
vented for this end. Miserable comforters are
they all ! Christianity it is thine alone to chase
our gloom of thought, and wipe away our tears ;
while by thee we are directed to dart our
thoughts beyond this transitory world, this in-
considerable speck of time, unto the eternal
1Q6 THE POLAR S1FAR.
scene, which shall commence when the last (rui%-
pet shall be sounded $ we no more repine at the
appearance of wo, nor think " our light affliction
worthy to he compared with that glory that is to
be revealed : while we look not at the things
that are seen ; for the things that are seen arc
temporal, but the things that are not seen are
.eternal. 5 *
On the inevitable misery of the wicfced.
BUT there shall he no reward to the evil
man. No reward, did I say ? Nay, if God be
just, then he will render indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish, to every soul of man
that doth evil, without respect pf persons." To
him beloHgeth vengeance, Though patience
may delay, -though clemency may mitigate,
Uioush mercy, grace, and wisdom, may transfer
the punishment to the person of a surety; yet
still his wrath must be revealed against all un-
righteousness and ungodliness of men.
Doth not even nature herself teach us, that
sin and punishment are most inviolably connect-
ed ? For even barbarians could infer, when they
saw a viper fasten upon the hand of a person
whom they knew not, after he had escaped a
dismal shipwreck $ " Certainly this man was a
THE PCKLAR STAR. 107
smirderer; ftp vengeance suffereth him not to
live." How often are the wicked consumed with
fearful terrors, when they can be under no ap-
prehension of punishment from men? For they
know that it is the judgment of God, that they
who do such things are worthy of death. 55
Whence are we struck with trembling at any
uncommon appearances of nature ? If a storm
of thunder and lightning torments the air? If
the sun labours in an eclipse ? If a glaring
comet waves his banner over the nations ?
Whence the terror of apparitions? Whence the
forebodings of misery after death ? Whence the
prevailing opinion, even among the ancient Jews,
that death was to be the consequence of an ex-
traordinary appearance of the Deity ? Is it not
because we are insolvent debtors that we dread
the face of our injured creditors ? Is it not be-
cause we are traiterous rebels we abhor the pre-
sence of our offended sovereign ? Therefore,
with Adam, we hide ourselves from the presence
of the Lord. And with the widow of Zare-
phaih, we are ready to thing, that whatever is
more than common, is a messenger of the Lo;dL
of hosts to slay us, and bring our sin to remem-
brance.
Oft times the guilty conscience will create un-
to itself imaginary horrors, and sinners are in
great fears, where no fear is, while they are apt
10S THE TOLAK STAR.
to say with Cairt, Every one that ineeieth me, will
slay me, What nations under heaven have not
attested the truth of this, while they have ap-
peased their gods with bltfody expiatory -sacri-
fices ? And (horrid to relate !) their altars have
reeked even with human gore : the fruit of the
body has been given for the sin of the soul!
Whether the dreadful custom may be derived
from the mangled tradition of Abraham offering
up Isaac ; or, whether our adversary the devil
would, by stirring them up to such abomina-
tions, insult over the guilt of their consciences,
and blindness of their hearts, by aping the sacri-
fice of Christ, hereby intending to discredit the
glorious method of salvation : one thing is cer-
tain, that mankind, degenerate as they were,
did really judge, that an expiation was necessary
to be made, and that he will ly no means clear
the guilty.
And however much their foolish heart was
darkened, as to the manner of propitiating the
deity, yet certainly the necessity of it is one of
the dictates of nature. For, could we suppose,
that a sinning creature should escape the righte-
ous judgment of God> and feel no effects of his
displeasure j how could it appear that he were a
God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity!
Would there not be too much reason to sayy
" every one that doeth evil is good in the sight
THE POLAR STAR, 109
uf the Lord, and he delightcth in them, and
where is the God of judgment ?" How could his
lordship and dominion over the world be main-
tained, should he forbear to punish the violators
of his law? Is it impossible he can be divested
of his sovereign rule, or that his creatures can
throw off all mortal dependence upon him that
made them ? So it is impossible but the order
of punishment must succeed, when the order of
obedience is disturbed : anil they who burst the
bands of the law, must of necessity be bound iu
the chords of affliction. Consider this, and l)c
afraid, ye that forget God. While a method is
not fallen upon to appease'incensed justice, and
separate sin from your souls; if God be the
righteous judge of all the earth ; if God be the
Lord of the creatures ; if God be blessed, (O
tremble to think it !) you must be miserable.
As the fire devours the chaff, as the flame con-
sumes the stubble $ so must you perish at his
presence.
But let us hearken to the sacred oracles on
this interesting subject. " Search ye out of the
book of the Lord, and see that every disobedi-
snee receives a just recompence of reward."
The flames of Sodom, the waters of Noah, the
torments of hell, the sufferings of Christ, bear
witness unto this. O sin, thou hast kindled a
iire that will burn to the bottom of the moun-
110 THE POLAR STAB.
tains! "Behold, he will come with fire, and
with his chariots, as a whirlwind, to render his
anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of
fire : for, by fire, and with his sword, will the
Lord p'ead with all flesh ; and the slain of the
Lord shall he many." Nor can we reasonably
blame the bowels of the Deity because he takcth
vengeance ; for, according to Moses, it is a
branch of his goodness, that he will by no means
clear t lie guilty. According to Joshua, it is be-
cause he is a holy- God that he will not forgive
our transgressions. According to David, it is
because the righteous Lord loveth righteousness^
that he will rain upon the wicked snares. jire y
and brimstone, and a burning tempest, the portion
of their cup.
But, especially, had it been an indifferent thing
with God to punish or not to punish the guilty,
who can pursuade us that he who afflicts not
willingly nor grieves the children of men* would
take such pleasure in bruising his only begotten
SON, whom he loved ? Was he without necessity.
ex?>osed to such direful sufferings ? Nay : for
God hath set him forth lo be a propitiation, to
declare .his love. True : but to declare also
Ms righteousness in the remission of sin 9 and
that he may be just.
Blessed be that matchless grace and wisd<-nv
that has provided a lamb for a burnt sacrifice ;-~
THE POiAK STAB. Ill
that has found a ransom ; that has opened a
city of refuge ; that has reconciled mercy, and
truth, and righteousness with peace. O that
that gracious redeemer, without whose kindly
interposition we had better heen crushed in the
very hud of being might forever live in our
hearts, might forever be esteemed above all
other beloveds, might forever be the reigning
subject in our thoughts, both when we wake and
when we sleep ! " If we forget thee, O blessed
Jesus, then let our right hand forget her cun-
ning. If we do not remember thee, let our
tongues cleave to the roof of our mouths; if we
prefer not thee above our chief joy ;" O ! let us
never drinkf that as water, which cost the effu-
sion of thy blood ! Let us never have that sweet
in our mouth which tendered to thy lips the vin-
egar and gall ! Let us never rejoice in that
which made thee exceeding sorrowful ! nor bless
ourselves in that which subjected thee to the
curse ! nor live in that for which thou died !
On Christ's dying* in the stead of sinners, to
make full satisfaction for their transgressions.
THAT Christ died for his people, not merely
for their good, but in their reoui and plsue. is a
* -See. note in page
THE POLAR STAK.
fundamental article of our holy religion, arid a
grand peculiarity of the gospel ; though regard-
ed by many as only a speeu'ative point, and by
many traduced as a senseless absurdity, incon-
sistent with reason, and the yierfeetions of the
deity. And here I must confess, that if we WTC
not to attend to the sacred oracles as our rule ;
if we were not solely conducted in our researches
by the light of nature and reason, our cause is
lost. For, though the doctrine itself is not Con-
trary to sound reason, it is the mistry of his will,
which is hid from the wise and prudent, and
which would never have entered into our
thoughts, if God had not been pleased to reveal
it. Let us go to the law and testimony ; and,
according to the observation of a very eminent
divine, the death of Christ is exhibited in three
capital views; as a price, a punishment, and as a
NOTE.
* The death of Christ includes not only his
sufferings, but Ms obedience. The shedding of
Ills precious blood was at once ihe grand instance
of his suffering, and the finishing act of his obe-
dience. In this view it is considered) and thus
it is interpreted by his own ambassador, who,
speaking of his divine master, says, " he was
obedient unto death, even ihe death of the cross.'*
Phil, ii, 8. Hervey's Dial. vol. II. p. *7,
THE POLAIt STAR.
sacrifice. And it will, from every one of these,
appear, with the brightest evidence, that the
death of Christ was a true and proper satisfac-
tion in the room of his elect people.
Let us begin with it as a price. Now, what is
a price ? A price is a valuable compensation of
one thing for another. A slave is redeemed
from captivity, a debtor from prison, when some
gracious redeemer procures their liberty, by
giving some equivalent to the person by whom
they are detained. We are debtors ; we cannot
pay unto God what we are owing. We are cap-
tives, and we cannot hasten to be loosed. Jesus
Christ is the merciful redeemer, who pays the
sum we were owing, and says to the prisoners
Go forth. Will we not believe an apostle
when he tells us, ye are not your own ; ye are
bought with a priced Would you know what
this price is ? Another apostle will tell ; ye
are not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ." Now, though it be true that there is a
redemption by power mentioned in the scripture,
yet, redemption by price is the only proper re-
demption ; and we c*annot reasonably doubt but
redemption by price is the meaning of the most
remarkable texts of scripture, where Christ is
characterised by this lovely denomination. What
hath he obiuind for us by his death ? Eternal
lid THE rOlAK STAK.
redemption, Heb. ix. 12. What have we through
his blood ? Redemption and forgiveness of sin,
Eph. i. 7. What is Christ made unto us of
God ? Sanct(fication and redemption Cor. i.
39. What did they look for that expected the
coming of the Messias ? Redemption in Israel,
Luke ii. 28. Even Job could say, I know that
my redeemer liveth, chap. xix. 25. We sold our-
selves for nought, and we are redeemed with-
out mojiey of our own; The redemption of the
soul was too precious to be effected by our im-
poverished stock. But we are not redeemed
without money to the Lord Jesus, who gave him-
self for us 9 to redeem us from all iniquity. The
ransom was paid down, the price beyond all
price ; a sum too large for the arithmetic of
angels to compute.- Let the adversaries bring
forth their strong reasons. If, say they, the
death of Christ was a proper price, it was paid
to the devil, whose captives we were. No ; it
was paid to God, whose captives we were ; the
devil was only his slave, jailor, and executioner.
But, say they, if it was paid to God, it was paid
by Christ to himself. And where is the absurdity
here I It is true a man catmot satisfy himself
as to a money-debt, by giving money to himself
that another owes him; yet, as to a criminal
debt, there is nothing to hinder a just judge,
even among men* to satisfy his own law, by
THE POLAR StfAfc*
submitting to'what it requires. Nor does this
gospel doctrine calumniate the deity, as though
h^e was a greedy tyrant, that will let no prisoners
go, unless he can get great riches for their ran-
som. For, our price did not enrich him, hut only
paved the way for our being released to the hon-
our of his justice,
Next let us consider it as a Punishment. A
punishment is never inflicted by a just governor,
except upon transgressors of the law ; for, to
punish the just is not good.' 5 It is for the pun-
ishment of evil-doers that magistrates are set up
by God. Now, if the death of Christ was a pun-
ishment, it must unavoidably follow, that it was
vicarious. Why wouldst thou, O heavenly fa-
ther, command the sword of justice to awake
and smite the man that is thy fellow ! Surely
it was not for his own fault; for "he did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.'*
Even Pilate acquitted him, and Judas absolved
him. Why then did the almighty sovereign of
heaven permit such an innocent person to be put
to death ? Why did not the thunders awake ?
Lo! here the mystery is unfolded : he died, " the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God. He was cut off, but not for himself; for
the transgression of my people was he smitten/ '
Let insolent cavillers object, that it degrades
our Messiah, to regard him in the light of an
K
116 THE POLIU STAB.
executed felon : the lower the humiliation, the
deeper is the love.
Lastly, that Christ died in the room and stead
of his people, appears from its being called a
sacrifice. Who knows not that our redeemer is
often styled a high priest ? His human nature
was the victim, his divine nature the altar, his
body was the tabernacle. Who knows not, that
the legal high priests did hear the sins of the peo-
ple ? And because they could not atone for the
people, by laying down their own lives, they of-
fered bullocks, goats, lambs, and sheep. Whatevr
absurd accounts our ancient and modern hocinians
have invented of the meaning of sacrifices of
expiation, most certainly the language of them
tvas, O Lord, I have sinned ; I deserve to die ;
but, I beseech thee, let thine anger fall on this
my victim, or on that which is signified by it ;
and be merciful to me a sinner. Thus God was
ceremonially appeased, sin was expiated, and the
Israelite was forgiven.
The union letwixt Christ and lelievers.
THE suffering redeemer had now resigned his
breath, after he had implored the divine forgive-
ness to his bloody murderers, and with an a*
mazing loud cry. commending his departing spir*
THB POLAR STAR. 117
it into the hands of his heavenly father, who
shewed it the path of life. A scene it was,
which nature trembled to behold. The son
called in his rays, and mourned in sackcloth.
The pemple rent her veil, to testify at once her
indignation, and that the way into the holiest of
all was now made manifest. And even the rocks,
the flinty rocks, upbraided with the hardness of
their hearts the unpitying tormentors of the
L rd of glory. Lo! there he hangs a lifeless
corpse ! A wealthy disciple obtains a warrant
to perform the last kindly offices. The mangled
body is wrapped in fine linen, and decently in-
terred. Jn vain you seal the stone, and appoint
a watch : still these remains are the body of
Christ, and the peculiar care of heaven, which
shall not see corruption. For, the third day
shall ye see him arising from the bed of death ;
and what is now sown in dishonour, shall be rais-
ed in glory.
So. just so, the elect, who are chosen in Christ
from all everlasting, even while dead in tres-
passes and sins, and lying in the grave of the cor-
rupt natural state, are regarded by God as the
body to which he was federally united in the
council of peace. Was it impossible for the
fleshly part of the redeemer to see putrefaction
in the grave, and to remain under his gloomy
power forever ? Equally impossible it is those
il8 THE POLAR STAB.
should pine away in their iniquities, who are
Christ's dead men ; whom he has loved with an
everlasting love.
"Within two days he shall revive them, the
third day he shall raise them up, and they shall
live in his sight. According to the gracious
promise, hy the mouth of the prophet Isaiah,
they shall not always remain in the congregation
of the dead. " For thus saith the Lord, thy
dead men shall live, together with my dead body
shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust."
A federal union there is in scripture reckon-
ing, between the Lord Jesus, and those who are
predestinated unto life. An union which com-
mences not only before they are born into the
world of grace, but before they are born into
the world of nature. Before they were born, did
I say ? Nay, it is an union ancient as eternity it-
self ; and grace was given them in Christ before
the world began. With him they were crucified \
\\ithhimtheydied; with him they descended into
the grave: when he rose from the dead, they also
did arise ; when he ascended on high, they .a! so as-
cended, and sat down with him in heavenly places.
Yet still this blessed connection with the glorious
surety is a secret reserved in the breast of God $
and they are by nature the children of wrath,
ven as others, until; in the day of conversion,
THE yOlAR STAK. Hi*
they arc actually united unto Christ by a mysti-
cal implantation.
In the worlds of nature and art, there are
found many conjunctions ; and which of them is
not summoned by the spirit of God to shadow
forth this supernatural one ? As the body is
joined to the garments which it wears, to the head
with which it is adorned, to the soul wherewith
it is animated ; as the mother to the child con-
ceived in the womb ; as the root to the branches $
as the foundation to the superstructure ; as the
husband to the wife ; so is Christ unto believers.
They have put him on as a garment; they are
knit together, they are nourished, they increase
by him as a head, with the increase of God He
is their life ; it is not they that live, but Christ
liveth in them. He is formed in their
hearts. In him they are rooted as branches in
the vine, built up as lively stones upon a living
foundation. Great is the nearness of the hus-
band to the wife, when they are no more twain
but one flesh ; but still more close is this con-
nection ; for, he that is joined to the Lord, is
one spirit.
Does any one of these similitudes convey but
an imperfect idea of this mysterious unity, let
the remaining ones contribute their help to aid
your apprehensions. But, after all, they fall
short of the thing they are intended to
120 THE POXAR STAR.
adumbrate. And therefore the wisdom of God
compares it to an union, by which indeed it is
infinitely transcended. In behalf of his beloved
people, he prays the father that they may be owe,
saith he, in ns 9 as thon 9 father t art in me, and I
in thee; John xvii. 21, It is true, they are not
joined unto the redeemer by such an essential
conjunction as is betwixt the sacred persons of
the Godhead ; nor by such a personal union as is
between the eternal son and his temporal hu-
manity. It is not an unition of persons in one
nature, like the former ; nor of natures in one
person, like the latter ; but an union of a multi-
tude of persons, not merely unto the doctrine
of Christ, not merely unto the grace of Christ,
but the person of Christ, considered not as God
only, not as man only, but as God-man.
They are indeed linked together by the bonds
of government and subjection, and by the ties of
strongest friendship $ that, is of a political, and
this, of a moral kind. But shall we say the
mysterious expressions we mentioned above, de-
note no more but this ? Believers are joined to
Christ by the bands of government and friend-
ship. Does the spirit of God then wrap up the
plainest things in the darkest phraseologies ? Is
this to the honour of the scriptures ? No : that
be far from the spirit of wisdom and revelation ;
the perfections of the sacred oracles. It is not
THE POLAR fcTAii. 121
the dark phrases, but the sublime and heavenly
thing, of which the apostle of the Gentiles is dis-
coursing, when lie says, this is a great mystery ;
I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Christ Jesus and believers are the parties; the
spirit and faith are the bonds ; the law and the
gospel are the instrument ; the sacraments of di-
vine institution are the seals, in this mysterious
coalition. Mysterious indeed, which shall not
be thoroughly apprehended, but in the light of
glory. For thus the promise runs : " In that
day shall ye know that I am in the father, and
the father in me ; and I in you, and you in me."
A mystery this, worthy to be contemplated of
angels and arch angels. Angels see but saints
experience it. It is one of the deep things of
God, which the natural man receiveth not; and
even the spiritual man is unable to comprehend
it. But shall it therefore be rejected as incredi-
ble, when it is only incomprehensible ? Chris-
tians believe greater mysteries than this ; and
without all preadventure, the less is confirmed
by the greater. And philosophers acknowledge
the reality of unions, for which they cannot
account.
But, O ! thrice happy they who are thus join-
ed unto the Lord, and found in Christ, not hav-
ing their own righteousness ! They are called
by his name, they are partakers of his fulness^
THE POLAK STAR.
and in all their afflictions he is afflicted. Though
he resides in heavenly places, and they are so-
jourtiers on the earth ; yet are they blessed in
him with all spiritual blessings. You trample
upon the toe, the head cries out, ivhy persecutest
thou me 3 But when you clothe his naked and
feed his hungry members, he deems you did it
to himself. J was hungry, and ye gave me meet;
naked, and ye clothed me.
Let supercilious, puny mortals, regard with
contempt, or cold indifference, the saints of the
most high ; but, O ! let my delights be with you,
ye excellent of the earth. Christ is not asham-
ed to call you brethren ; God is not ashamed to
call himself your God. A more exalted honour
this, than to wear an imperial crown, and fill the
throne of the whole earth! To you there is no
condemnation, nor falling totally away ; you are
the members of Christ, therefore he knows your
wants ; you are the body of Christ, therefore he
'will supply them. Christ is your head, he will
cleanse your defilements ; Christ is your head,
he will cure your diseases. What though you
be in poverty ?- you are in Christ. What though
you be in reproach ? you are in Christ. Let
death divide your souls and bodies; let the
grave calcine your bones ; let the four winds
war for your dust ; your vital union with Christ
shall still remain* When you shall render up
1?HE POLAR STAK.
the ghost, you die in the Lord ; and \vhen yon
descend into the peaceful grave, your dust shall
sleep in Jesus. Can any force, can any fraud,
find means to enter into the heaven of heavens ;
and pluck an eye, or tear a limb from the glori-
fied humanity of the exalted redeemer? And
even in the days of his humiliation, the sol-
diers could not break his bones, because they
saw he was already dead. For so it was fore-
told, in ancient prophecy, a bone of Mm shall i?oi
be broken. But ye are kept as the apple of his
eye ; and are the members of his body, of his
flesh* and of his bones.
On trusting in God.
HE that trusts in the Lord with all his heart,
does not indeed expect, that God will do that fop
him which he has never promised ; far less that
he will be favourable unto him, in what is con-
trary to his revealed will. But, first, he sees
that liis matters are good and right ; and then
he commits the keeping of his soul unto the
faithful Creator; who is a buckler to them alone
that walk uprightly.
If he is called of God to any difficult duty, for
which he finds himself unequal, he persuades
himself that God will command his strength,
124 THE IOIAK STA.R.
and work in him both to will and to do of his
good pleasure ; and out of weakness he is made
strong.
He will not indeed presume on the divine pro-
tection, when rushing headlong into dangers*
evidently foreseen, without IHM essity ; as though
the Almighty were obliged to suspend for him
the laws of nature, and be prodigal of his mir-
aculous operations. For even the son of God
himself would not tempt his loving father, by
casting himself down from the pinnacle ; though,
as the bold impostor told him, the angels had
in charge to keep him in all his ways. Hut let
liim hear the voice of God and conscience; this
is the way 9 walk ye in it ; though he should pass
through fire and water, he laughs at fear; and
is not greatly moved by the most ghastly appear-
ances of danger, Though war should rise
against him ; and death, with sable wings,
should hover round his head ; yet will he fear
no evil. For thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, O God ! whose mind is stayed on thee, be
cause he trusteth in thee."
The perfections of the Godhead arc the cham-
bers of safety wherein he hides himself. That:
everlasting strength, for which nothing is too
difficult ; that matchless goodness that extends
itself even to the birds of the air, and lilies of the
field $ that perfect immutability that excludes
THE l'(ULAR STAR*
all variableness and shadow of turning ; that
Inviolable veracity by which it is impossible
for God to lie; that exact omniscience from
which no want can be hid ; that incornpreben-
sible wisdom which can make all things work
together for his own glory, and our good ;
the promises of the word, and all the experi-
ences of the saints ; these are his sure founda-
tions on which he builds his trust.
If he himself has found the eternal God hig
refuge, experience worketh hope. As he hath
delivered, and doth deliver, he trusts in God,
that he will yet deliver. If he has recourse to
his own experiences, and finds no light from that
quarter, he searches out of the book of the Lord,
and finds, that never were the righteous for-
saken. If friends proved faithless, or unable to
afford him any relief in the day of calamity, ene-
mies shall befriend. Even Philistines and Chal-
deans shall intreat him well in the evil day*
Did all human relief fail, and vain was the help
of man ; then God has made a friendly covenant
for him with the beasts of the field, the birds of :
the air, and the fishes of the sea. Ravens shall
feed him, bears shall avenge his quarrel, and
monsters of the deep afford a safe retreat.
Fishes have supplied his wants ; am! dogs have*
proved physicians to his sores. 4 f the animal
creation failed, the dead and liieless creatures
128 TIIE POLAR STAR.
worldly substance ; lie " will not say to gold, thon
art my bope ; nor to fine gold, thou art my con-
fidence $" as though the Almighty would esteem
his riches, or as though they could he profitable
in the day of his wrath. Though he should equal
Heman in the deepness of his exercise, and Paul
in the abundance of revelation; he would not
reckon it expedient for him to glory. Though.,
for the cause of Christ, he should even pour his
blood ; yet by the blood of the Lamb would he
overcome .; yet in the blood of the Lamb, (and
not his own) would he wash his robes, and make
them white. Though his gifts should be em-
inent, his knowledge clear and extensive : though
in the sweetness of his natural temper he should
be like a Moses ; and a Paul in the blameless-
ness of his life, touching the righteousness of the
law ; though his profession were ever so strict,
and his reputation ever so fair : in a word,
though he should shed many tears, pour many
prayers, endure many hardships, make many
YOWS, form many resolutions, and exert the most
vigorous endeavours in working out his own
salvation ; yet all these things he counts but loss
and dung, that he may win Christ, and be found
in him. Though the saving grace of G od should
be implanted in his heart, he is not strong in the
grace, that is in himself, but in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus* His Justifying merit is the
THE POLAR STAR.
alone ground of his confidence for the pardon of
his gilt; his sanctifying spirit, for the vanquish-
ing the power of his inbred corruption. All other
confidences he rejects, because the Lord hath,
rejected them. No tempest shall he able to bat-
ter down his walls; his foundation never shall
be razed ; his confidence shall never be rooted
out of his tabernacle, but shall have a great re-
eosiipence of reward. O blessed is the man
that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the
Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by
the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by
the river, and shall not see when heat cometb ;
but her leaf shall be green, and shall not wither
in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit."
On imitating Christ*
THE imitator of Jesus Christ is one, who,
being? interested in him as his propitiation, can-
not but choose to follow him as his pattern : for
lie knows, that though it be not the only principal
end why the son of God was manifested; it is,
however, a very considerable part of his errand,
in visiting these regions of mortality, to give us
a fair transcript, and a living copy of all those
graces and duties that are pleasing unto God,
128 TUB POLAR STAR.
worldly substance ; lie will not say to gold, thoti
art my hope ; nor to fine gold, thou art my con-
fidence f as though the Almighty would esteem
his riches, or as though they could he profitable
in the day of his wrath. Though he should equal
Heman in the deepness of his exercise, and Paul
in the abundance of revelation ; he would not
reckon it expedient for him to glory. Though,
for the cause of Christ, he should even pour his
blood ; yet by the blood of the Lamb would he
overcome.; yet in the blood of the Lamb, (and
not his own) would he wash his robes, and make
them white. -Though his gifts should be em-
inent, his knowledge clear and extensive : though
in the sweetness of his natural temper he should
be like a Moses ; and a Paul in the blameless-
ness of his life, touching the righteousness of the
law ; though his profession were ever so strict,
and his reputation ever so fair : in a word,
though he should shed many tears, pour many
prayers, endure many hardships, make many
YOWS, form many resolutions, and exert the most
vigorous endeavours in working out his own
salvation ; yet all these things he counts but loss
and dung, that he may win Christ, and be found
in him. Though the saving grace of God should
be implanted in bis heart, he is not strong in the
grace, that is in himself, but in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. His Justifying merit is the
THE POLAR STAK.
alone ground of his confidence for the pardon of
his giltj his sanctifying spirit, for the vanquish-
ing the power of his inbred corruption. All other
confidences he rejects, because the Lord hath,
rejected them. No tempest shall he able to bat-
ter down his walls ; his foundation never shall
be razed ; his confidence shall never be rooted
out of his tabernacle, but shall have a great re-
eompener- of reward. O " blessed is the man
that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the
Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by
the w.i(ers, and that spreadeth out her roots by
the river, and shall not see when heat cometh ;
but her leaf shall be green, and shall not wither
in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit."
On imitating Christ.
THE imitator of Jesus Christ is one, who,
being interested in him as his propitiation, can-
not but choose to follow him as his pattern : for
he knows, that though it be not the only principal
end why the son of God was manifested ; it is,
however, a very considerable part of his errand,
in visiting these regions of mortality, to give us
a fair transcript, and a living copy of all those
graces and duties that are pleasing unto God,
ISO THE POLAR STAR.
and. that are commanded in tin* law. lie rever-
ences, indeed (lie footsteps of the flock ; and
blesses Gori for the holy examples of living and
dead sainis ; which are noble incentives to piety,
and a devout conversation. But still he regards
the attest examples of living and dead saints,
as but imperfect mod* Is of duty; some of their
actions being evidently sinful, and others of
them doubt i'u! and suspicious. JVsus Christ he
considers as the only finished pattern of obedi-
ence ; in whose presence Moses is not meek,
Solomon is not wise, Job is not patient, David is not
upright. Abraham Ss not strong ift faith. Elijah 19
nor zealous, and i'uul. the labouring apostle, is
not diligent. His fellow- saints, and those who
have gone before him, nrny indeed surpass him
in what he actually attains unto, but not in what
he aims at. lie knows, that the finer the copy
is, the fiiirer will be the learner's hand ; there*
fore he sets the Lord a! way before him. To
f<-!ow the steps of Christ alone* is far more eli-
gible, in his esteem, than to go in thr way of the
vorlii. or follow the multitude to do evil. And
how ea ;i it be otherwise, when he considers,
th:** tin- example of Christ is the example of his
best friend, his glorious head, his great Lord
and master, his leader and commander, the
sh<M!ierd and hish op of his soul, the captain of
his Miivution. and the author of his high and
heavenly calling ?
THE POIiAR STAR. 131
He reckons it a far more glorious and honour-
able attainment to resemble bis blessed saviour
in holiness*' and obedience to the will of God,
than though he could be like him in the power
of working miracles ; a power which has been,
in some measure, imparted to the workers of ini-
quity.
These most invaluable books, the gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that contain
the sacred memoirs of the life of Jesus* he pre-
fers before all other biography. These venera-
ble histories he peruses night and day ; not
merely with the eye of a critic, that he may un-
derstand their sense and discover their beauties;
but, with the eye of a painter, who gazes at a
fine picture, that he may imitate the artist's deli-
cate designs, that he may go and do likewise.
In all places, companies, duties, and emergen-
cies, he labours to consider with himself, how
w r ould my Lord and saviour, were he in my
place, acquit himself on this occasion ? Would
he do this or that ? Would he allow it to be
done ?
There are many actions of the man Christ
Jesus which were performed by him, as a human
creature, in conformity to the moral law, which
are to be imitated in the letter of them. If he
obeyed his parents, prayed to his God, forgave
his enemies, paid tribute to Csesar, despised no
133 THE POLiK STAE e
jan for his poverty, esteemed no man for his
v/ealtli ; if he pleased not himself, nor sought
his own glory ; it" he was heavenly in his dis-
course, cheerful in his obedience, unwearied in
his application to his work, and mortified to the
world in the whole tenor of lib conversation :
these are branches of his behaviour, in which
the servant of Christ follows him in the most lit-
eral sense, though at a humble distance ; not as
Asahel followed Abner, but as Peter followed
his master, afar off. These duties are not only
incumbent upon him by the authority of the pre-
cept, but are sanctified unto him, are rendered
sweet and easy, by the example of the Lord.
But there are other actions of Christ, in which
lie acted as God : he fasted forty days, he judg-
ed the hearts of the Pharisees, he took the ass
of another man to ride upon, as if it had been his
own; he scourged the- buyers and sellers out of
the temple; he foretold future events, and per-
formed a great number of miracles. To imitate
these in the letter of them, the Christian knows,
very well, is utterly impossible : and ta attempt
it is absolutely unlawful. But, though the mat-
ter of them is only proposed to his faith, the
spirit of them or the mind with which he did
them, is also proposed to his imitation. His
taking upon him the form of a servant, when he
in th$ form of God, and his giving himself f*
THE POX.AK STAK. 13S
sacrifice unto God of a sweet smelling savour $
though for the matter of them, they an* actions
.utterly incapable ol imitation: yet, even these
high acts, in the true spirit of them, the Chris-
tian will endeavour to transcribe, by a humble
and condescending behavior, and by walking in
love, as Christ also loved him. As John the
baptist did go before the Messiah in the spirit
and power of Elias ; though there was a great
difference betwixt the individual actions of these
two great men : so he goes in the power and
spirit of Christ, notwithstanding the huge dis-
tance that must always be between the saviour
and the saint.
He may, as his Lord and master, be exposed
to calumnies of every kind : but at last his
righteousness is brought forth as the light ; and
even when he gains not the applause of the
tongue, he wins the approbation of the heart.
If any human thing could reclaim an ungodly
sinner, it would be the conversation of him who
imitates the life of Christ. Here even the ear-
nal man beholds the reality of religion brought
home to his very senses, and the power of his
lusts is assaulted with holy violence. As Christ
is the visible image of the invisible God : so i&
this man the visible image of Christ, whom the
"world seeth no more, because the heavens
jnust contain him until the time of the restitu-
tion of all things."
THE POLAR STAE.
On Faith.
HAPPY the man who lives in mortal flesh a
life of faith upon the son of God ; though he
dwells not in the gilded palace, he has the most
high for his habitation. Though his food he
homely, he fares deliciously every day upon the
hidden manna. For, O that nohle gift of God !
he in whose heart she dwells, is at once pos-
sessed of riches, and honours, and pleasures.
Let others curiously dispute where she resides,
in what faculty, in the understanding or the
will ; be it my exalted privilege to have her
formed in my soul. The mountains may depart;
the hills may be removed ; the solid earth, with
the surrounding heavens, may pass away : but
her foundations are everlasting. Sooner shall
chaos eome again* and God deny himself; sooner
shall the natural and the moral world be tossed into
confusion, than that should fail by which she is
supported. Great is that revenue of glory she
brings unto our God, whether she trembles at
the threatening, or relies upon the promise,
which he hath spoken in his holiness; but most
of all when her main object Christ is before her
eyes, as the saviour from sin and wrath. When
angels circle the throne of God with heavenly
anthems, and yield the most unspotted obedience
to the divine law* they glorify their
THE POUUt STAH. 135
But when by her the guilty self-condemned
wretch, devolves upon the Lord the burden of
innumerable sins, and (rusts for pardon of them
all, this is glory to God in the highest. Though
each obediential act is for the praise of God, and
glorifies some one perfection of his nature, it is
hers to render him the glory of them all.
As reason is superior to sense, so faith has the
pre-eminence over reason. Be reason rever-
enced in matters that fall within her sphere ;
but when she ventures into deeps of God, the
seas where faith has all the sovereignty, when
acting like herself, she loners her sails. As
sense would seem to tell us many things vrhh'h
reason contradicts, so faith will rectify the fond
mistakes of reason : nor ought she to be dissatisfi-
ed. Faith only shuts the eye of reason, not
picks it out- Nor these alone submit themselves
before this noble grace ; even others her feiio;y
virtues do cfbcisarsee. Though, as a gracious
quality, she stands upon a level with the rest ;
yet, as an instrument, she far excels in glory.
She cannot boast indeed of her intrinsic worth,
but of the post of honour which she fills by hea-
ven's appointment- She only is the general re-
ceiver of all the blessings of the gospel. By her
we call heaven's rich unfathomable mines our
own. Because she liumb'eth herself, therefore
hath God highly exalted Uer, and given her a
136 THE POLAR STAB.
name above every grace. Even charity herself
is only greater in duration : for, she abidHh
when Faith shull fail, as to its actings ; and die
like Moses, in the mount. Such is her bumble
nature, that even the jealous God, who will not
give his glory to another, even he is found to
give his giory unto her. We are sored byfailh;
we are justified byfm'th. Sh* faithfully returns
the glory to her object. lie has regarded tbp
low estate of his 'handmaid, because himself has
said, them that honour me, fwilljionwr.
Though weak in herself, she is strong in the
Lord ; her very weakness is her strength. She
overcomes the devil, and the world, and the flesh.
She binds up the arm of vengeance, and wields the
arm of omnipotence. The creature is not able
to irh'si her ; and the creator will not. -She
sa^s unto this mountain of difficulty, be fhou
removed, and cast into the sea/' She subdues
kit gdoms of lusts: quenches the violence of the
fire of wrath ; stops the mouth of the infernal
lion ; and escapes the edge of the sword of angry
justice. When other graces quit the field, her
own arm brings salvation. What slfall I say
more ? If thou canst heliere, all things are pos-
sible.
Such is her strength, no wonder she is as bold
as a lion ; though timorous and distrustful of the
creature. Confiding in the Lord, she is not
THE POLAR STAR. 137
afraid to venture into the holiest of all. She
plays upon (he hole of the asp, and thrusts her
hand into the cocatrice's den. death, where
is thy sling 1 she says with hold defiance. When
presumptuous believers are buried in the mighty
waters, like the Egyptian host, she passes
through the fouling waves triumphant. There
is none like her in all the earth ; who is made
without fear ?
Though poor in herself, she makes many rich
with the treasures of eternity. She is not afraid
of the snow foi* her household, for all her house-
hold are clothed in the scarlet robes of everlast-
ing righteousness. Justiy she is denominated
pi* ecious faith, when she interests us in precious
promises, and applies unto the conscience pre-
cious blood.
There are indeed who think her blind and
headlong ; yet is she a sharp sighted grace.
She comprehends the love of Christ that passelh
knowledge, doctrines which to the natural man
are foolishness, and events that have no present
existence, are realized by her. " She is the evi-
dence of things not seen, the substance of things
hoped for," though ever so remote in time
or place. She is a kind *f second sight, not
merely to behold spectacles of hovror, ghosts
and apparitions ; but the kii;g in his beauty, the
138 THE POLAR STAB.
land that is afar off, the things that are not seen*
that are eternal.
It is true, her strength is to sit still, to look
on while the Lord himself doth wonderousiy.
Like the lillies of the field, she toils not, neither
does she spin. And certain hold blasphemers
have talked of our most holy faith, as though
she were no friend to works of righteousness.
Impossible ! absurd ! for all good works, without
except ion, are her dear offspring, which issue
from her pregnant womh. These are her chil-
dren which praise her in the gates. And she
xnay say in truth with the apostle of the gentiles,
1 laboured more abundantly than all the other
graces. Do we make void the law through
faith ? God forbid : nay, we establish the law."
The law as a covenant she makes not void : for
she presents the perfect righteousness of Christ,
which answers every legal charge. And though
she strips the law, to all who have her, of
the old covenant-form, she turns it to a rule
of life, and supplies the believer with the most
effectual motives to all holy obedience. No
work of God can be acceptably performed, till
once you have believed. This is the prime com-
mand, and your most necessary duty. For with-
out faith it is impossible to please God, by any
doing, or by any suffering. By faith Abraham
offered up Isaac his iirst born son ; and by iaith
THE POL4K STAB, 139
ihe children of Abraham put the knife unto
the throat of their most favourite lusts.
But ah ! how few are there among the sons of
men who can lay claim to this invaluable grace!
Though all her ways are pleasantness and
peace, great is the opposition, by fc.H the powers
of corrupt nature, unto this heavenly viitue.
The bigotted papist will rather unergo the
drudgery of dismal superstition. The blinded
pagan will rather choose to imbrue his h *nds
in Ihe blood of his own -offspring. The perverse
jew, descended from Abraham* only according
to the flesh, will rather yield his servile neck to
the old galling yoke of antiquated ceremonies,
than be at all induced to submit unto the right-
eousness of faith. 'Iliey know not, nor will un-
derstand the nature of this exalted grace.
Though even in matters of this world, all know
that trust is no uncommon thing. The hus-
bandman, at the return of spring, is not afraid
to sow, in hope, when he commits the foodful
grain unto the furrows of the field : for his
God doth instruct to discretion." They who go
down to the sea in ships, repose such confidence
in their floating vessels as not to be afraid to
trust themselves, and all their worldly riches,
unto the boisterous waves. Why is it that so
few will venture their eternal all, and their tem-
poral felicity, unto the faithful word of promise ?
M
THE POLAR STAIU
TLe man who sows his grain in the furrow*
frequently disappointed of his hopes. And many
a time the loaded vessels heeome a prey to tho
unpitying element f water. But, he that be-
lieveth shall not be ashamed, world without
end."
On forgiveness of sin through faith in Chrfet*$
divine blood.*
"WHEN the guilt of innumerable evils stares
me in the face, and angry conscience rouses
from her slumber, where shall t fly for refuge ?
Where shall I hide my head ? How lay the grizly
spectres? Ye favourite lusts, ye pleasing com-
forts, ye amusing recreations, in vain ye lend
your aid. Let Cain, with his hands reeking in
Mood, betake himself to building cities ; let
Saul attempt to find relief from his unquiet
mind in the charms of music, while David
* By the Uovd of Christ is frequently signified
in scripture, the whole merit of his tife and death,
of his actions and sufferings, of his trials and
graces ; which satisfied God's justice, and mag-
nified God^ law ; which made propitiation for
iniquity, and brought in an everlasting righteous-
ness.
UERYEX'S Sermon on the means of safety*
THE POLin STAR. 144
touched the pleasant harp ; let the drunkard
seek for consolation in his flowing howl, and jol-
ly companions ; the sullen ghosts refuse still to
depart, when God calls, as in a solemn day, his
terrors round ahout. Even vows and resolutions,
prayers and tears, costly sacrifices, and solemn.
promises of future amendment, cannot recal the
departed peace. Let pagans with horrid rites,
seek reconciliation with their fancied gods, and
peace unto their consciences ; let carnal Jews
think to have matters adjusted hy their ceremo-
nial observances, being ignorant of the righte-
ousness of God; scourge yourselves to death*
ye blinded papists, and waste your carcases
to ghastly skeletons, by withholding sleep from
your eyes, and nourishment from your mouths 5
travel to the remotest climes in weary pilgrim,-
~ !s
think that you shall have peace, by walking after
the imagination of your own hearts. The
way of peace you have not known ; there is no
judgment in your goings."
For, unto whom should we go but unto thee,
thou bleeding saviour ! By thy blood hast
thou made peace betwixt an offended deity arid
offending mortals. No cause of death was
found in thee. For us thou drank the bitter cup,
Far be it from us to substitute our pretended
sincerity, our sorrowful repentance^ or even the
14*2 THE POLAR STAtf.
more noble grace ef faith, in the room of
satisfactory sufferings. O thou prince of peace ?
By thy seasonable interposition, his anger is
turned away; and now it is a righteous thing
Hvith God abundantly to pardon.
Happy, thrice happy, they w.ho come unto
God by him, whose iniquity is pardoned, whose
transgression is forgiven. Riches and honours,
thrones, crowns, and sceptres, cannot greatly add
to their bliss ; pain and poverty, ignominy and
reproach, cannot greatly diminish their happi-
ness. It is true, () ye favourites of heaven, the
fact of sin cannot be taken away, the desert of
sin cannot be removed ; yea, even its power and
dominion shall not be totally destroyed in your
present state of imperfection ; however, there
Is no condemnation to you that are in Christ
Jfc-S! l .s. No condemnation for your inherent cor-
ruption ; Done for your actual transgressions ;
none for your past, none for your futute provo-
cations. Chastised you may be with the rod of
a father, but iiot with the wounds of an enemy.
It is God that juslifidh, who is he that con-
dcmneih? TV hat though your sins are many ?
He multiplies to jjardon. What though youp
afflictions are great ? There is no wruth in the
portion of your cup. Though men should con-
demn you, God will not; though devils accurso
ibcy shall riot prevail, f* No weapon that is
143
formed against thee shall prosper, and every
tongue that riseth in judgment against thee, thou
shalt eondemn. This is the heritage of the ser-
vants of the Lord ; and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord/ 5
Fly, ye profane, who turn this grace of God into
laseiviousness. Be awakened ye presumptuous,
who fondly dream your sins are pardoned, be-
cause ye have forgotten them, or because
ye have felt some pangs of conviction, or be-
cause judgment is not speedily executed against
your evil works. How can ye be pardoned,
who have such slight thoughts of the God who
bestows, the saviour who procures it, the gospel
which reveals it ? Ye that are ready to perish
under the pressure of your iniquities, and ye
that are of heavy heart, on account of your in-
numerable transgressions, here is a strong cor*
dial, a refreshful draught from the wells of sal-
vation. O drink, and remember your misery no
more. " God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them."
Nor is it vain presumption in you to believe, that
he in Christ is, at this present hour, pacified to*
wards you for all that you have done. Though
you have been wicked and unrighteous, though
your sins have been of a crimson dye, scarlet-
coloured abominations, the blocj of Christ can
out the deadly tincture; and make
144 THE POLAR STAB,
>vhhe as <he finest wool, or virgin snow. Wa v s
it any difficulty for the Red sea to euver \vitii
its waves the numerous host of Egypt, when
Pharaoh, with his captains and common soldiers,
chariots and horses, did sink to the bottom as a
stone ? No more for the ocean of unbounded
love to subdue all your iniquities ; not the com-
mon soldiers only of ordinary provocations, but
the most grizly a ,d gigantic sins. In the presence
of his exalted majesty, your persons are but like
the small dust of the balance ; which is not con-
siderable enough to sway the scale, and which
the gentlest breath can blow away. Just as in-
significant are our sins, in presence of his pi-adon-
ing mercy.
JVor is it with a grudge and reluctance the
liberal God bestows this, perfect gift. Once he
delighted in wrath, wherait pleased him to bruise
his beloved son. That was his*, act* his strange
act; his work, hi* strange work. He has no
pleasure in the death even of the guilty sinner as
himself declares; why then in the death, the
eruet death, of the innocent Immanuel ? The
reason, the amazing reason is, because he de-
lighted in merey ; ia mercy ta the human race*
Therefore it pleased tlie father to bruise him.
Glorify God for this mercy, ye pardoned ones.
A distinguished blessing it is, which will not
accent the songs of angels, but of the redeemed
THE POL Alt STAK. 145
from among the human race. Rejoice not that
your wealth is increased, that your circumstances
are prosperous, hut that Your iniquity is pardon-
ed. Fear (he Lord and his goodness, and walk
humbly with thy God.
Reject not the council of God against your
own souls, you who have not yet iled for refuge
unto this hope set before you, as you would not
rob God of his glory, nor yourselves of peace.
Will you neglect this great salvation ? Will you
say unto the Almighty, depart from us ; thy gifts
be to thy self? Cursed shall ye be of the Lord,
>v hose glory it is to pass over a transgression.
The Lord Jesus Christ shall subscribe thy con-
demnation ; and all the holy angels shout their
applause. Amen, says the church militant :
Amen, the church triumphant. "In returning
and rest should you been saved ; in quietness
and confidence should have been your rest : but
you would not hear." Lo ! there the men who
made not the Lord their confidence ; who robbed
the Lord of his glory : and would not be behold-
en to him for the pardon of their iniquities. Be-
hold the time of their visitation is come ; and
nvhere shall they flj for help? If in this man-
ner a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat
for him ? They would not take hold of his
strength ; they would not make peace ; they
would not consider any of his ways, gee now
THE POLAK STAH.
the red right arm of vengeance takes hold of the
glittering sword of justice. A sword ; a sword
is furbished with the oil of mercy, that was des-
pised and aft routed. See how he cleaves their
reins asunder, and breaketh them with breach
upon breach. Merciful Lord ! it is a fearful
thing to fall into thy hands; when thou art
angry, the nations shall not be able to abide thy
indignation. Make us wise unto salvation, to
know the things that belong to our peace ; and
to fly to our strong hold while we are the prison-
ers of hope.
THE POLAR STAU^ 147
REFLECTIONS
ON TUB
THIRD HEAVEN.
1. I considered in my two lastletters, that aw-
ful and tremendous subject, the ubiquity or om-
nipresence of the Divine Being. I have shewn
that he is equally present in all places throngh-
out the whole extent 'of infinite space. This
doctrine is so agreeable to reason, that we meet
with it in the writings of the enlightened heath-
ens, as I might shew at large, were it not alrea-
dy done by other hands. But though the Deity
be thus essentially present through all the im-
mensity of space, there is one part of it in which
he discovers himself in a most transcendent and
Tisible glory.
2. This is that place which is marked out in scrip-
ture under the different appellations of Paradise,
the third heaven, the throne of God, and the habi-
tation of his glory. It is here where the glorified
body of oir saviour resides, and where all the
celestial hierarchies, and the innumerable hosts
of angels, arc represented as perpetually sur-
rounding the scat of God with hallelujahs and
148 THE J?OLAU STAR.
hymns of praise. This is that presence of God
which some of the divines call his glorious, and
others his majestic presence.
3. He indeed is as essentially present in all
places as in this; but it is here where he resides
in a sensible magnificence, and in the midst of alt
those splendors which can affect the imagination
of created beings.
It is very remarkable that this opinion of God
Almighty's presence in heaven, whether discover-
ed by the light of nature, or by a general tradi-
tion from our first parents, prevails among all
the nations of the world, whatsoever different no-
tions they entertain of the God-head,
4. If you look into Homer, that is, the most
ancient of the Greek writers, you see the su-
preme power seated in the heavens, and eneom-
passed with inferior deities, among whom the
muses are represented as singing incessantly
about his throne. Who does not here gee the
main strokes and outlines of this great truth we
are speaking of?
5. The same doctrine is shadowed out in many
other heathen authors, though at the same time,
like several other revealed truths, dashed and
adulterated with a mixture of fables r~id human
inventions. But to pass over the notions of the
Greeks and Romans, those more enlightened
parts of the pagan world, we find there is
THE POUK STAR.
a people among the lute discovered nations who
are not trained up in an opinion that heaven is
the habitation of the divinity whom they \vor-
ship.
6. As in Solomon's temple, there was a Sanc-
tum Sactorum, in which a visible glory appeared
among the figures of the chernbims, and into
which none but the high priest himself was per-
mitted to enter, after having n?ade an atonement
for the sins of the people ; so, if we consider
this whole creation as one great temple, tbere is
in it the Holy of Holies, into which the high
priest of our salvation entered, and took his place
among angels and arch angels, after having
made a propitiation for the sins of mankind.
7. With how much skill must the throne of
God be erected? With what glorious designs is
that habitation beautified, which is contrived
and built by him who inspired Hiram with wis-
dom ? How great must be the majesty of that
place, where the wh61e art of ci cation had been
employed, and where God has chosen to shew
himself in the most magnificent manner? What
'must be the architecture of infinite power under
the direction of divine wisdom ? A spirit can-
not but be transported after an ineffable mariner
tyhh the sight of those objects, which werfe
made to affect him by thai being who k*?o\vs the
iaward irajae of a soul, add liow to please and
150 THE POLAR STAR.
ravish it in all its most secret powers and facul-
ties.
8. It is to this majestic presence of God we
may apply those beautiful expressions in holy
writ : Sehold even to the moon, and it shineth
not ; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
The light of the sun, and all the glories of the
world in which we live, are hut as weak and sick-
ly glimmerings, or rather darkness itself, in com-
parison of those splendours which encompass the
throne of God,
9. As the glory of this place is transcendent
beyond imagination, so probably is the extent of
it. There is light behind light, and glory with-
in glory. How far that space may reach, in
which God thus appears in perfect majesty, we
cannot possibly conceive. Though it is not infi-
nite, it may be indefinite ; and though not im-
measurable in itself, it may be so with regard to
any created eye or imagination. If he has made
these lower regions of matter so inconceivably
wide and magnificent for the habitation of mor-
tal and perishable beings, how great may we
suppose the courts of his house to be, where he
makes his residence in a morf especial manner,
and displays himself in the fulness of his glory,
among an innumerable company of angels, and
spirit* of juht men made perfect !
10. This is certain, that our imaginations can-
THE POLAR STAJR,
siot be raised too high, when we think on a place
where omnipotence and omniscience have so sig-
nally exerted themselves, because that they arc
able to produce a scene infinitely more great and
glorious than what we are able to imagine.
11. It is not impossible but at the consumma-
tion of all things, these outward apartments of
nature, which are now suited to those beings
who inhabit them, may be taken in and added to
that glorious place of which I am here speak-
ing ; and by that means made a proper habita-
tion for beings who are exempt from mortal if y,
and cleard of their imperfections : for so the
scripture seems to intimate, when it speaks of
new heavens and of a new earth, wherein. dwel
leth righteousness.
12. I have only considered this glorious place
"With regard to the sight and imagination, though,
it is highly probable, that our other senses nt y
here likewise enjoy their highest gratifications.
There is nothing which more ravishes and trans-
ports the soul, than harmony ; and we have
great reason to believe* from the description of
this place in holy scripture, that this is one of
the .entertain merits of it.
13. And if the sou! of man can be so wonder-
fully affected with those strains of music, which
human art is capable of producing, how much
iftorewillit be raised and elevated by those, in
N
POLAR STAK.
which is exerted the whole power of harmony!
The senses are faculties of the human soul,
though they cannot be employed, during this our
vital union, without proper instruments in the
body.
14. Why therefore should we exclude the sat-
isfaction of these faculties, which we find by ex-
perience are inlets of great pleasure to the soul,
from among those entertainments which are to
make our happiness hereafter? Why should we
suppose that our hearing and seeing will not be
gratified by those objects which are most agreea-
ble to them, and which (hey cannot meet with
in these lower regions of nature ; objects, which
neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor can it
enter into the heart of man to conceive !
5. I knew a man in Christ (says St. Paul,
speaking of himself,) above fourteen years ago,
("whether in the body. I cannot tell ; or whether
out of tlie body I cannot tell : God knowethj
such a one caught up to the third heaTen* Jlntl
I know such a man Cwhether in the body or out
of the body , J cannot tell : God knowelhj hoiv
that he was caught up into paradise, and heard
unspeakable words, which it is not possible for a
man to utter.
16. By this is meant that what he heard was
so infinitely different from any thing which he
hud heard in this world, that it was
THE POLAR STAR. 153
to express it in such words as might convey a
notion of it to his hearers.
It is very natural for us to take delight in in-
quiries concerning any foreign country, \vhere
we are some time or other to make our ahode ;
and as we all hope to be admitted into this glo-
rious place, it is hoth laudable and useful euri-
osity, to get what information we can of it>
while we make use of revelation for our guide.
17. When these everlasting doors shall he
opened to us, we may be sure that the pleasures
and beauties of this place will infinitely trans-
cend our present hopes and expectations, and
that the glorious appearance of the throne
of God will rise infinitely beyond whatever we
are able to conceive of it. We might here en-
tertain ourselves with many other speculations
on this subject, from those several hints which
we find of it in the holy scriptures ; as whether
they may not be different mansions and apart-
ments of glory, to beings of different natures;
whether, as they excel one another in perfection,
they are not admitted nearer to the throne of the
Almighty, and enjoy greater manifestations of
his presence.
18. Whether there are not solemn times and
occasions, when all the multitude of heaven
celebrate the presence of their maker, in more
extraordinary forms of praise and adoration $ as
THE FOtAR STAB.
Adam, though he had continued in- a state of in-
nocence, would, in the opinion of our divines,
have kept holy the Sabbath-day, in a more par-
ticular manner tha*? any other of the seven*
These, and the like speculations, we may very
innoci-ntly indulge, so long as we make use of
them to inspire us \rith a desire of becoming
inhabit ants of this delightful place.
19. I have in this, and in two foregoing let-
ters, treated on the most serious subject that can
employ the mind of nan, the omnipresence of the
Deity ; a subject which, if possible, should never
depart from our meditations. 'We have con-
sidered the Divine Being, as he inhabits infini-
tude, as he dwells among his works, as he is pre-
sent to the mind of man, and as he discovers
himself in a more glorious manner among the
regions of the blest. Such a consideration
should be kept awake in us at all times, and in
all places, and possess our minds with a perpet-
ual awe and reverence.
520. Jt should be interwoven with all our
thoughts and perceptions, and become one with
she consciousness of our own bring. It is not to
be reflected on ia the coldness of philosophy,
but ought to sink us into the lowest prcsU'&tiun
before him, who is so astoai shingly great; won?
derfu), ami holy.
THE FOLAK STAB.
MATURE.
1. I have always been a very great lover of
your speculations, as veil in regard to the sub-
ject, as to your manner of treating it. Human
nature I always thought the most useful object
of human reason, and to make the consideration
of it pleasant and entertaining, I always thought
the best employment of human wit : other parts
of philosophy may perhaps make us wiser, but
this not only answers that end, but makes us
better too.
2. Hence it was that the oracle pronounced
, Socrates the wisest of all men living,, because he
judiciously made choice of human nature for the
object of his thoughts; an enquiry into which as
much exceeds all other learning, as it is of more
consequence to adjust the true nature and meas-
ures of right and wrong, than to settle the dis-
tance of the planets, and compute the times of
their circumvolutions^
3. One good effect that will immediately arise
from a near observation of human nature, is,
that we shall cease to wonder at those actions-
which men are used to reckon wholly unac-
eountable ; for as nothing is produced without si
*ause, so by observing the nature and course of -
13 THE POLAR; STAR*
the passions, we shall be able to trace every ac-
tion from its first conception to its, death.
a. We shall no more admire at the proceed-
ings of Catiline and Tiberius, when we know
the or,e was actuated by a cruel jealousy, the
other by a furious ambition ; for the actions
of me follow their passions as naturally as light
does heat, or as any other effect Hows from its
cause ; reason must be employed in adjusting
the passions, but they must ever remain the
principles of action.
5. The strange and absurd va/iefy that is so
apparent in men's actions, shews plainly they
ean never proceed immediately from reason ; sa
pure a fountain emits no such troubled waters ;
they must necessarily arise from the passions,
which are to the mind as the winds to a ship ;
they only can move it, and they too ofieri destroy
it : if fair and gentle, they guide it into the har-
bour ; if contrary and furious, they overset it in,
the waves.
G. In the same manner is the mind assisted or
endangered by the passions ; reason must then
Hike the place of pilot, and can never fail of sc-
ouring her charge ifshe.be not wanting to her-
self ; the strength of the passions will never be
accepted as an excuse for complying with them :
they were designed for subjection ; and if a man
suffers them to get the upper hand, he then be^
trays the liberty of his own soul.
THE POLAR STAR* 157
7. As nature has framed the several species of
beings as it were in a chain, so rnan seems to he
placed as the middle link between angels and
brutes ; hence he participates both of flesh and
spirit by an admirable tye, which in him occa-
sions perpetual war of passions ; and as a man
inclines to the angelic or brute part of his con-
stitution, he is then denominated good or bad,
virtuous or wicked : if love, mercy, and good-
nature prevail, they speak him of the angel ; if
hatred, cruelty, and envy predominate, they de-
clare his kindred to the brute.
8. Hence it was that some ancients imagined;
that as men in this life inclined more to the an-
gel or the brute, so after their death they should
transmigrate into the one or the other ; and it*
would be no unpleasant notion to consider the
several species of brutes, into which we may
imagine that tyrants, misers, the proud, mail'
c'ious, and ill-natured, might be changed.
9. As a consequence of this original, all pas-
sions are in all men, but appear not in all : con-
stitution, education, custom of the country, rea-
son, and the like causes may improve or abate
the strength of them, but still the seeds remain,
which are ever ready to sprout forth upon the
least encouragement.
10. I have heard a story of a good religious
man, who having been bread with the milk of a
15S THE POLAR STAR.
gnat, was very modest in puMic, by a careful
reflection he made on his actions, hut he fre-
quently had an hour in secret, wherein he had
his frisks and capers ; and, if we Ir d an oppor-
tunity of examining the retirement of the strict-
est philosophers, no doubt hut we should find
perpetual returns of those passions they so art-
fully conceal from the public.
it. 1 remember Machiavel observes, that
every state should entertain a perpetual jralousy
of its neighbours, that so it should never be
unprovided when an emergency happens; in
like manner should reason be perpetually on its
guard against the passions, and never suffer
them to cary on any design that may be destruc-
tive of its security ; yet, at the same time, it
must be careful, that it don't so far break their
strength as to render them contemptible, and,
consequently, itself unguarded.
12. The understanding being of itself too slow
and lazy to exert itself into action, it is neces-
sary it should be put in motion by the gentle
gales of passions, which may preserve it from
stagnating and corruption ; for they are^ecessa-
ry to the health of the mind, as the circulation
of the animal spirits i to the health of the
body ; they kept it in life, and strength, and vi-
gour ; nor is it possible for the mind to perform
its offices without their assistance } these mo*
THE POLAR STAB. 15$
lions are given us with our being ; they are little
spirits, that are born and die with us ; to some
they are mild, easy and gentle ; to others way-
ward and unruly ; yet never too strong for the
reins of reason, and the guidance of judgment.
13. We may generally observe a pretty nice
proportion between the strength of reason and
passion ; the greatest geniuses have commonly
the strongest affections, as, on the other ha;*d.
the weaker understandings have generally the
weaker passions : and 'tis fit the fury of the
coursers should not be too great for the strength
of the charioteer.
1*. Young men, whose passions are not a lit-
tle unruly, give small hopes of their being con-
siderable ; the fire of youth will of course abate?
and is a fault, if it be a fault, that mends every
day ; but surely, unless a man has fire in youth?
he can hardly have warmth in old age.
15. We must therefore be very cautious, lest
while we think to regulate the passions, we
should quite extinguish them ; which is putting
out the ligfht of the soul ; for to be without pas-
sion, or to be hurried away with it, makes a
man equally blind. The extraordinary severity
used in most of our schools has this fatal effect $
it breaks the spring of the mind, and most cer-
tainly destroys mere good geniuses than it can
possibly improve,
160 THE POIAR STAR.
16. And surely tis a mighty mistake that the
passions should be so entirety subdued ; tor little
irregularities are sometimes not only to be bore
with, but to be cultivated too, since they are
frequently attended with the greatest perfec-
tions. All great geniuses have faults mixed with
their virtues, and resemble the flaming bush
which has thorns amongst lights.
17. Since therefore the passions are the prin-
ciples of human actions, we must endeavour to
manage them so as to retain their vigor, yet
keep them under strict command ; we must
govern them rather like free subjects than
slaves, lest, while we intend to make them obe-
dient, they become abject, and unfit for those
great purposes to which they were designed.
18. For my part, I must confess, I could never
have any regard to that sect of philosophers,
who so much insisted upon an absolute indiffer-
ence and vacancy from all passion ; for it seems
to me a thing very inconsistent for a man to di-
vest himself of humanity, in order to acquire
tranpuility of mind, and t eradicate the very
principles of action, because it is possible they
may produce ill effects.
THE POiAK STAB. 161
I gjod conscience the best security against
Calumny and Reproach.
1. A good conscience is to the soul what
health is to the body ; it preserves a constant
ease and serenity within us, and more than coun-
tervails all the calamities and afflictions which
can possibly befall us. I know nothing so hard
for a generous mind to get over as calumny and
reproach, and cannot find any method of quiet-
ing the soul under them, besides this single one,
of our being conscious to ourselves that we do
not deserve them.
2. I have been always mightily pleased with
that passage in Don Quixote, where the fantas-
tical knight is represented as loading a gentle-
man of good sense with praises aud elogiums.
Upon which the gentleman makes this reflection
to himself: how grateful is praise to human
nature !
3. I cannot forbear being secretly pleased
with the commendations I receive, though, I am
sensible, it is a madman who bestows them on
me. In the same manner* though we are often
sure that the sensures wbi;-h are passed u^on us,
are uttered by those who know nothing of us*
162 THE POLAR STAK.
and have neither means nor abilities to form a
right judgment of us, we cannot forbear being
grieved at what they say.
4. In order to heal this infirmity, which is so
natural to the best and wisest of men, I have
takesi a particular pleasure in observing the con-
duct of the old philosophers, how they bore
themselves up against the malice and detraction
of their enemies.
5. The way to silence calumny, says Bias, is
to be always exercised in such things as are
praise-worthy, fcoerates, after having received
sentence, told his friends that he had always
accustomed himself to regard truth and not
censure, and (hat he was i?ot troubled at his con-
demnation, because h^ kn^w himself free f om
guilt. It was in the same spirit that he heard
the accusations of his two great adversarie, who
hud uttered against him the most virulent re-
proaches.
6. Anytus and Melitus, says he, m^y procure
sentence against me, but they cannot hurt me.
This divine philosopher was so well fortified in
his own innocence, that he neglected all the im-
potence of evil tongues which were engaged in
his destruction. This was properly the support
of a good conscience, that contradicted the re-
ports which h?v f been raised against him, and
cleared him to himself.
POLAR STAR. 163
7. Others of the philosophers rather chose to
'retort the injury of a smart reply, than thus to
disarm it with respect to themselves. They
show that it stung them, though at the same?
time they had the address to make their aggres-
sors sufitT with them. Of this kind is Aristo-
tle's reply to one who pursued him with lor?g
and bitter* invectives. You, says he, who are
used to suffer reproaches, utter them with de*
light ; I who have not been used to utter them*,
take no pleasure in hearing them.
8. Diogenes was still more severe on one who
spoke ill of him : nobody will believe you when
you speak ill of me, any more than they would
believe me should I speak well of you.
In these and many other instances T could
produce, the bitterness of the answer sufficiently
testifies the uneasiness of mind the person was
under who made it.
9. I would rather advite my reader, if he has
not in this case the secret consolation, that he
deserves no such reproaches as are cast upon
him, to follow the advice of Kpictetust If any
one speaks ill of thee, consider whether he has
truth on his side ; and if so, reform thyself, that
liis censures may not aflfect thee.
10. When Anaximander was told that the
very hoys laughed at his singing: Ay, says he>
then I must learn to sing better. But if all the
THE POLAB STAB.
sayings of phylosophers which I have gathered
together for my own use on this occasion, there
are none which carry in them more candour and
good sense than the two following ones of Plato.
11. Being told that he had many enemies who
spoke ill of him ; it is no matter, said he, I will
live so that none shall believe them. Hearing
at another time, that an intimate friend of his
had spoken detractingly of him ; I am sure he
would not do it, says he, if he had not some rea-
son for it.
12. This is the surest as well as the noblest
way of drawing the sting out of a reproach, and
a true method of preparing a man for that great
and only relief against the pains of calumny,
a good conscience."
13. I designed in this essay, tor show, that
there is no happiness wanting to him who is pos-
sessed of this excellent frame of mind, and that
no person can be miserable who is in the enjoy-
ment of it : but I find this subject so well treated
in one of Dr. South's sermons, that 1 shall fill
this Saturday's paper with a passage of it, which
cannot but make the man's heart burn within
him, who reads it with due attention.
14. That admirable author, having shewn she
virtue of a good conscience, in supporting a man
the greatest trials and difficulties of life.
THE POLAft STAH. 165
concludes with representing its force and efficacy
in the hour of death.
15. The third and last instance, which above
all others this confidence towards God does most
eminently show and exert itself, is at the time
of death ; which surely gives the grand oppor-
tunity of trying both the strength and worth of
every principle.
16. When a man shall be just about to quit
the stage of this world, to put off his mortality,
and to deliver up his last accounts to God ; at
which sad time his memory shall serve him for
little else, but to terrify him with a frightful re-
view of his past life, and his former extravagan-
cies stripped of all their pleasure, but retaining
their guilt; what is it then that can promise
him a fair passage into the other world, or a
comfortable appearance before his dreadful
judge when he is there ?
17. Not all the friends and interests, all the
riches and honours under heaven can speak so
much as a word for him, or one word of comfort
to him in that condition ; they may possibly re-
proach, but they cannot relieve him.
18. No, at this disconsolate time, when the
busy temper shall be more than usually apt to
vex and trouble him, and the pains of a dying
body to hinder and discompose him, and the
settlement of worldly affairs to disturb and con-
166 THE FOtAJl STAB.
found him ; and in a word, all things conspire
to make his sick-bed grievous and uneasy: no-
thing can then stand up against all these ruins,
$nd speak life in the midst of death, but a clear
conscience.
19. And the testimony of that shall make the
comforts of heaven descend upon his weary head,
like a refreshing dew, or shower upon a parched
ground. It shall give him some lively earnests,
and secret anticipations of his approaching joy.
It shall bid his soul go out of the body undaunt-
edly, and lift up his head with confidence before
saints and angels. Surely the comfort, which
it conveys at this season, is something bigger
than the capacities of mortality, mighty and un-
speakable, and not to be understood until it
3omes to be felt.
20. And now who would not quit all the
pleasures, and trash, and trifles, which are apt
to captivate the heart of man, and pursue the
great rigours of piety, and austerities of a good
life, to purchase to himself such a conscience, as
at the hour of death, when all the friendship in
the world shall bid him adieu, and the whole
creation turns its back upon him, shall dismiss
the soul and close his eyes with that blessed sen-
tence, Well done thou good arid fait hftil stir-
vant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"
THE POXAR STAB. 107
OJV CONTENTMENT.
1. I was once engaged in discourse with a
Bosierucian about the great secret. As this
kind of men (I mean those of them who are not
pofessed cheats) are over-run with enthusiasm
and philosophy, it was .very amusing to hear this
religious adept discanting on his pretended dis-
covery. He talked of the secret as of a spirit
which lived within an emerald, and converted
every thing that was near it to the highest per-
fection it is capable of.
3. It gives a lustre, says he to the sun, and?
water to the diamond. It irradiates every
metal, and enriches lead with the properties of
gold, it heightens smoke into ilame, flame in-
to light, and light into glory. He further ad-
ded, that a single ray of it discipates pain, and
care, and melancholy, from the person on whom
it falls, in short, says he, its presence naturally
changes every place into a kind of heaven.
3. After he had gone on for some time in this
unintelligible cant, I found I hat he jumbled natural
and moral ideas together in the same discourse*
and that his great secret was nothing else but
content*
02
168 THE rOLAB STAR.
4. This virtue does indeed produce, in some
measure all those effects which the alchemist
usually ascribes to what he calls the philoso-
pher's stone ; and it" it does not bring riches, it
does the same thing, by banishing the desire of
them. If it cannot remove the disquietudes
arising out of a man's mind, body or fortune*
it makes them easy under them. It has indeed
a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect
of every being to whom he stands related. It
extinguishes all murmur, repining and ingrati-
tude towaids that being who has allotted him his
part to act in this world. It destroys all inor-
dinate ambition, and every tendency to corrup-
tion, with regard to the community wherein he
is placed. It gives sweetness to his conversation,
and a perpetual serenity to all his thoughts.
5. Among the many methods which might be
made use of for the acquiring of this virtue, I
should only mention the two following. First
of all, a man should always consider how much
lie has more than he wants : and secondly, how
much more unhappy he might be than he really is,
6. Frst of ail, a man should always consider
bow much more he has than he wants. 1 am
wonderfully pleased with the reply which Aristip-
pus made to one who condoled him upon the loss
of a farm : * Why, said he, I have three farms.
and ^ou have but one ; so that I ought
THE POLAR STAR.
rather to be afflicted lor you than you for me.' 5
On the contrary, foolish men are more apt to
consider what they have lost than what they pos-
sess ; and to fix their eyes upon those who are
richer than themselves, rather than on those
who are under greater difficulties.
7. AH the real pleasures and conveniencies of
life lie in a narrow compass; but it is the humour
of mankind to be always looking forward, and
straining after one who has got the start of them
in wealth and honour. For this reason, as
there are none can be properly called rich, who
have not more than they want ; there are few
rich men in any of the politer nations but among
the middle sort of people, who keep their wishes
within their fortunes, and have mope wealth
than they know how to enjoy.
8. Persons of a higher rank live in a kind of
splendid poverty ; and are perpetually wanting,
because, instead of acquiescing in the solid
pleasures of life, they endeavour to outvie one
another in shadows and appearances. Men of
sense have at all times beheld with a great deal
of mirth this silly game that is playing over
their heads, and by contracting their desires en*
joy all that secret satisfaction which others are
always in quest of.
9. The truth is, this ridiculous chase after im-
aginary pleasures cannot be sufficiently exposed,
170 TfTE POLAR STAR,
as it is the great some** of those evils which
generally undo a nation. Let a man's estate be
what St will, he is a poor man, if he does not live
within it, and naturally sets himself to sale to
any one that can give him his price*
10. When Pittictis, after the death of his
brother, who had left him a good estate, was
oflvred a greater sum of money by the king of
Lydia, he thanked him for his kindness, hut told
him he had already more by half than he knew
what to do with. In short content is equivalent
to wealth, and luxury to poverty ; or, to give the
thought a more agreeable turn, " content is
natural wealth,'' says Socrates ; to which I
shall add, " luxury is artificial poverty."
11. I shall therefore recommend to the con-
sideration of those who are always aiming after
superfluous and imaginary enjoyments, and will
not be at the trouble of contracting their desires,
an excellent saying ol Bion the philosopher 5
namely, " That no man has so much care as he
who endeavours after the most happiness."
12. In the second place, every one ought to
reflect how much more unhappy Me might be
than he really is. The former consideration
took in all those who are sufficiently provided
vrith the means to make themselves easy ; this,
rega;d HUC!I as actually lie under fcouie pressure,
or
<FIIE POLAR STAR. ( 171
IS* These may receive a great alleviation from
such a comparison as the unhappy person may
make between himself and otlu rs, or between,
the misfortunes which he suffers, and greater
misfortunes which might have befallen him.
14. I like the story of the honest Dutchman*
who, upon breaking his leg by a fall from the
main-mast, told the standers by, it was a great
mercy that it was not his neck. To which, since
I am got into quotations, give me leave to add the
saying of an old philosopher, who, after having
invited some of his friends to dine with him, was
ruffled by his wife that came into the room in a
passion, and threw down the table that stood
before them ; " Every one, says he, has his
calamity, and he is a happy man that Las no
greater than this*"
15. \Ve find an instance to the same purpose
in the life of Doctor Hammond, written by
Bishop Fell. As this good man was troubled
with a complication of distempers, when he had
the gout upon him, he used to thank God that it j
was not the stone ; and when he had the stone,
that he had not both these distempers on him at
the same time.
16. I cannot conclude this essay without ob-
serving, that there was never any system besides
that of Christianity, which could effectually pro-
duce in the mind of man the virtue 1 have been
172 THE POLAR STAR.
hitherto speaking of. In order to make us con-
tent with our present condition, many of the
present philosophers tell us, that our discontent
only hurts ourselves, without heing able to make
an alteration in our circumstances ; others, that
what evil befals us, is derived to us by a fatal
necessity, to which the gods themselves are sub-
ject ; while others very gravely tell the man
who is miserable, that it is necessary he should
be so to keep, up the harmony of the universe,
and that the scheme of Providence would be
troubled and perverted were he otherwise.
17. These and the like considerations, rather
silence than satisfy a man, They may shew him
that his discontent is unreasonable, but are by
QO means sufficient to relieve it. They rather
give dispair than consolation. In a word, a man
might reply to one of these comforters, as Au-
gustus did to his friend who advised him not to
grieve for the death of a person whom he loved,
because his grief could not fetch him again : " It
is for that very reason, said the emperor, that I
grieve/ 5
18. On the contrary, religion bears a more
tender regard to human nature. It prescribes
to a very miserable man the means of bettering
his condition ; nay, it shews him that the bear-
ing of his afflictions as he ought to do, will na-
turally end in the removal of them : it makes
TftE POLA11 STAB. 175
him easy here, Jbeeause it can make him happy
hereafter*
19. Upon the whole, a contented mind is the
greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world $
and if in the present life his Happiness arises
from the subduing his desires, it wKl arise ia the
next from the gratification of them.
Charity. Jl paraphrase on tlie 3th chapter of
the first epistle to the Corinthians.
DID sweeter sounds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronoune'd or angel sung ;
Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach, or sciefice can define ;
And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth,
In all the speeches of the babbling earth ;
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breast inspire.
To weary tortures, and rejoice in fire ;
Or had I faith like that which Israel saw,
When Moses gave them miracles, and law :
Yet, gracious charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breast ;
Those speeches would send up unheeded pray'r;
That scorn of life would be but wild despair;
A cymbal's sound were better than my voice ;
My faith were form ; my eloquence were noise
THE POLAK STAU.
Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject mind;
Knows with just reitis* and gentle hand, to guide
Betwixt viie shame and arbitrary pride.
Not soon provok'd she easily forgives;
And much she suffers, as she much believes.
Soft peace she brings wherever she arrives ;
Sue builds our quiet as ske forms our lives ;
Lavs the rough paths of peevish nature even;
And opens in each heart* a little heaven.
Each other gift, which God on man bestows*
Its proper bounds, and due restriction knows;
To one tix'd purpose dedicates its pow'r ;
And finishing its act, exists no more.
Thus, in obedieree to what Heaven decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease ;
But lasting charity's more ample sway,
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay,
In happy triumph shall for ever live,
And endless good diffuse, and endless praise re-
ceive.
As through the artist's intervening glass,
Our eye observes the distant planets pass ;
A little we discover ; but allow.
That move remains unseen, than art can show;
So whilst our mind its knowledge would improve,
(Its feeble eye intent on things alove,)
High as we may, we lift our re^on up,
By faith directed, ami couiu Wti by Lope ;
POLAR STAR. 175
Yet are we able only to survey,
Dawnings of beams, and promises of day;
Heaven's fuller effluence mocks our dazzl'd
sight ;
Too great its swiftness* and too strong its light.
But soon the mediate clouds shall be dispel I'd,
The sun shall soon be face to fuee beheld,
In all his robes, with all his glory on,
Seated sublime on his meridian throne,
Then constant faith, and holy hope shall die,
One lost in certainty, and one joy;
Whilst thou, more happy pow'r, fair charity,
Triumphant sister, greatest of the three,
Thy office, and thy nature still the same,
Lasting thy lamp, and unconsum'd thy flame s ,
Shalt still survive
Shalt stand before the host of heav'n confest,
For ever blessing, and for ever blest.
tfl paraphrase {on tlie look of Job Supposed %
historians to be as much greater than any other
verses composed on any part of the Scriptures
whatever as a clap of thunder is louder than
a whisper.
Thrice happy Job, long liv'd in regal state
Nor saw the sumptuous earth a prince so grealj
His worldly stores in such abundance flowed,
His heart with such exalted virtues glow'd.
176 THE POLAR STAB.
At length misfortunes took their turns to reign
Then ills on ills succeed a dreadful train $
What now but death and poverty and wrong,
The sword's wide wasting, the reproachful
tongue.
The spotted plagues that inark'd his limbs all
o'er,
So full of sores they wanted room for more.
A change so sad what mortal heart could bear,
^Exhausted wo had left him nought to fear;
But give him all o'er to grief, lo earth he pressed
Wept in the dust and sorely smote his breast,
His friends all round the deep affliction mourn'd,
Felt all his groans and pang for pang returned ;
In anguish of their breasts their mantles rent,
And seven long days in solemn silence spent;
A debt of reverence to distress so great,
Then Job contain'd no more but curs' d his fate.
His day of birth, its inauspicious light,
He wishes sunk in endless shades of night,
And blotted from the year nor fears to crave
Death, instant death impatient for the grave.
That seat of peace, that mansion of repose,
Where rest and mortals are no longer foes.
Where counsellors are hush'd and mighty kings
O happy turn no more are wretched things,
His words were daring and displeas'd his friends*
His conduct they reprov'd, still he defends
THE POLiR STAR. 177
Now they kindle into warm debate,
Their sentiments oppos'd with equal heat.
Fix'd in opinion both refuse to yield,
A;id summons all their actions to tbe field ;
Their arguments at length so far was brought.
They reached the last extent of human thought.
A pause ensu'd, at length heaven interposed,
And awfully the long contention clos'd
Full o'er their heads with terrible surprise*
A sudden whirlwind whieh blacken'd all the skies.
They saw and trembi'd and from the darkness
broke,
A voice of terror and thus the Almighty spoke.
[Now tfie Almighty speaks to Job out of the
whir wind as follows:]
Who gives his voice aloose so rude and vain,
Censures my conduct and reproves my reign,
Lifts up his feeble thought against me from the
dust,
And tells the world's creature what is just.
Where didst thou dwell at nature's early birth?
Who laid foundations for this spacious earth ?
W r ho on the centre did extend the line,
Its form determine and its bulk confine ?
Who laid that corner stone, what hand declare,
Fix'd it on nought and fastened it on air ?
Wlien shouting sons of God the triumph crowned.
And the wide coneave thunder'd with the sonn&l.
THE POXAR STAR.
Who beav'd that mountain which sublimely
stands,
Which casts its shadow into distant lands ?
When stretching forth my sceptre o'er the
deep,
Can this wild world in due subjection keep ?
I broke the globe and scop'd its hollow side,
And did a basin for the ilood provide.
I ch&in'd them fast, the boiling sea
Wrought up in tempest* here's my great decree.
So far thy floating tide shall be convey'd,
And here bold man be thy proud billows siaid.
Hast thou expior'd the secrets of the deep,
Where hid from use unnumbered treasures sleep ?
More than one thousand fathoms from the day,
Springs that great mother fountain of the sea.
Those gloomy mansions did thy bold foot e'er
tread
Whole worlds of water rolling o'er thy head.
Exercise and temperance the lest preservative
of health.
BODILY labour is of two kinds, either that
which a man submits to for his livelihood, or
that which he undergoes for his pleasure. The
latter of them generally changes the name of
labour for that of exercise, but differs only from
THE POLAR STAB* 179
ordinary labour as it rises from another motive*
A country life abounds in both these kinds of
labour, and for that reason gives a man a great-
er stock of health, and consequently a more per-
fect enjoyment of himself, than any other way of
life.
2. I consider the body as a system of tubes and
glands, or to use a more rustic phrase, a bundle
of pipes and strainers, fitted to one another after
so wonderful a manner, as to make a proper en-
gine for the soul to work with. This descrip-
tion does not only comprehend the bowels,
bones, tendons, veins, nerves and arteries, but
every muscle and every ligature, which is a com-
position of fibres, that are so many imperceptible
tubes or pipes interwoven on all sides with in-
visible glands or strainers.
3. This general idea of a human body, with-
out considering it in its niceties of anatomy, lets
us see how absolutely necessary labour is for the
right preservation of it. There must be fre-
quent motions and agitations, to mix, digest,
and separate the juices contained in if, as well
as to clear and cleanse that infinitude of pipes
and strainers of whieh it is composed, and to.
give their solid parts a more firm and lasting
tone. Labor or exercise ferments the h wsouis,
easts them into their proper channels, throws oli'"
^redundancies, and helps nature in those secret
180 THE POLAR STAR.
distributions, without which the body cannot
subsist in its vigour, nor the soul act with cheer-
fulness.
*. I might here mention the effects which this
has upon all the faculties of the mi ml, by keep-
ing the understanding clear, the imagination
untroubled, and refining those spirits that are
necessary for the proper exertions of our intel-
lectual faculties, during the present laws of
union between soul and body. It is to a neglect
in this particular that we must ascribe the spleen,
which is so frequent in men of studious and se-
dentary tempers, as well as the vapours to which
those of the other sex are so often subject.
5. Had not exercise Jjeen absolutely necessary
for OUT well-being, nature would not have made
the body so proper for it, by giving such an ac-
tivity to the limbs, and such a pliancy to every
part ? as necessarily produce those compressions^
extensions, contortions, dilatations, and all other
kinds of motions, that are necessary for the pre-
servation of such a system of tubes and glands as
lias been before- mentioned. And that we might
not want inducements to engage us in such an
exercise of the body as is proper for its welfare,
it is so ordered, that nothing valuable can be
procured without it. Not to mention riches and
honour, even food and raiment are not to be
THE POLAR 3TATI. 181
come at without the toil of the hands ami s^eat
of the brows.
6. Providence furnishes materials, but expect*
that we should work them up ourselves. The
earth must be laboured before it gives its in-
crease, and when it is forced into its several pro-
duets, how many hands must they pass through
before they are fit for use ? Manufactures,
trade, and agriculture, naturally employ more
than nineteen parts of the species in twenty ;
and as for those who are not obliged to labour,
by the condition in which they are born, they are
more miserable than the rest of mankind, unless
they indulge themselves in that voluntary labour
which goes by the name of exercise.
7. My friend Sir Roger hath been an indefatiga-
ble man in business of this kind, and has hung
several parts of his house with the trophies of
bis former labours. The walls of his great hall
are covered with the horns of the several kinds
of deer that he has killed in ihe chase, which he
thinks the most valuable furniture of his house,
as they afford him frequent topics of discourse,
and shew that he has not been idle*
8. At the lower end of the hall is a large ot-
ter's skin stuffed with hay, which his mother
oidercd to be hung up in that manner, and the
knight looks upon it with great satisfaction, be-
cause it seems he was but nine years old
IS 2 THE POLAR STAR.
his dog killed him. A little room adjoining to
the hail is a kind of arsenal filled with guns of
several sizes and inventions, with which the
knight has made great havock in the woods, and
destroyed many thousands of pheasants, pat-
ridges and woodcocks. His stable doors are
patched with noses that belonged to foxes of the
knight's own hunting down.
9. Sir Roger shewed me one of them that, for
distinction sake, has a brass nail struck through
it, which cost him about fifteen hours riding,
carried him through half a do^en counties, kil-
led him a brace of gildings, and lost about half
his dogs. This the knight looks upon as one of
the greatest exploits of his life.
10. The perverse widow, whom I have given
some account of, was the death of several foxes ;
for Sir Roger has told me, that in the course of
his amours he patched the western door of his
stable. Whenever the widow was cruel, the
foxes were sure to pay for it. In proportion as
his passion for the widow abated and old age
came on, he left off fox hunting ; but a hare is
not yet safe that sits within ten miles of his
house.
11. There is no kind of exercise which I would
so recommend to my readers of both sexes as
this of riding, as there is none which so much
to health; and is every way
THE POLAR STAR. 183
dated to the body, according to the idea which I
have given of it. Dr. Sydetiham is very lavish
in its praises ; and if the English reader will see
the mechanical effects of it described at length,
he may find them in a book published not many
years since, under the title of Medicina Gymnas-
tica.
12. For my own part when I am in town, for
want of these opportunities, I exercise myself an
hour every morning upon a dumb bell that is
placed in a corner of my room, and pleases me
the more because it does every thing I require
in the most profound silence. My landlady and
her daughters are so well acquainted with my
hours of exercise, that they never come into my
voosii to disturb me whilst I am ringing.
13. When I was some years younger than I
am at present I used to employ myself in a mere
laborious diversion, which I learned from a
Latin treatise of exercise, that is written with
great erudition : It is there called the sham ex-
ercise, or the fighting with a man's own shadow,
and consists in the brandishing of two short sticks
grasped in each hand* and loaded with plugs of
lead at either end. This opens tbc chest, exer-
cises the limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure
of boxing, without the blows.
14. I could wish that several learned men
would Jay out that time which they employ in
THE POLAR STAK.
controversies and disputes about nothing, in this
method of lighting with their own shadows. It
might conduce very much to evaporate the
spleen, which makes them uneasy to the public
as well as to themselves.
As I am a compound of soul and body, I con-
sider myself as obliged to a double scheme of du-
ties; and think I have not fulfilled the business
of the day when I do not thus employ the one in
labour and exercise, as well as the other in study
and contemplation,
15. There is a story in the Arabian Nights
Tales, of a king who had long languished under
an ill habit of body, and had taken abundance of
remedies to no purpose. At length, says the
fable a physician cured him by the following
method : he took an hollow ball of wood, and
filled it with several drugs \ after which he clos-
ed it up so artificially that nothing appeared.
He likewise took a mall, and after having hol-
lowed the handle, and that part which strikes
the ball, inclosed in them several drugs after
the same manner as in the ball itself.
16. He then ordered the sultan who was his
patient to exercise himself early in the morning
with these rightly prepared instruments, till
such time as he should sweat ; when as the story
goes, the virtue of the medicaments perspiring
through the wood, had so good an influence o^i
THE POL4R STAR- 185
the sultan's constitution that they ? cured him of
an indisposition which all the compositions he
had taken inwardly had not been able to re-
move.
17. This eastern allegory is finely contrived
to show us how beneficial bodily labour is to
health, and that exercise is the most effectual
physic. I have described in my hundred and
fifteenth paper, from the general structure and
mechanism of an human body, how absolutely
necessary exercise is for its preservation ; I ahall
in this place recommend another great preserva-
tive of health, which in many cases produces the
same effect as exercise, and may in some mea-
sure, supply its place, where oportunities of ex-
ercise are wanting.
18. The preservative I am speaking of is tem-
perance, which has those particular advantages
above all other means of health, that it may be
practised by all ranks and conditions, at any
season, or in any place. It is a kind of regimen
into which every man may put himself, without
interruption to business, expence of money, or
loss of time. If exercise throw s off all superflu-
ities, temperance prevents them : if exercise
clears the vessels, temperance neither satiates
or over-strains them : if exercise raises proper
ferments in the humours, and promotes the cir-
culation of the biood^ temperance gives nature
186 THE rOLAll STAH.
her full play, and enables her to exert herself
in all her force and vigour : If exercise dissi-
pates a growing distemper, temperance starves
it.
19. Physic, for the most part, is nothing else
but the substitute of exercise or temperance.
Medicines are indeed absolutely necessary in-
acute distempers, that cannot wait the slow
operation of these two great instruments of
health : but did men live in an habitual course
of exercise and temperance, there would be but
little occasion for them. Accordingly we fmtl
that those parts of the world are the most
healthy, where they subsist by the chase ; and
that men lived longest when there lives were em-
ployed in hunting, and when they had little food
besides what they caught.
20. Blistering, cupping, bleeding, are seldomof
use to the idle and intemperate ; as all those inward
applications, which are so much in practice
among us, are, for the most part, nothing else
but expedients to make luxury consistent with
health. The apothecary is perpetually employ-
ed in countermining the cook and the vintner.
It is said of Diogenes, that meeting a young man
who was going to a feast, he taok him up in the
street, and carried him home to his friends, as
one who was running into imminent danger, had
he not prevented him.
THE rOSdAIi STAfc.
21. "What would that philosopher have said,
fiad he been present at the gluttony 'of a modern
meal ? would not he have thought the master of
a family mad, and have begged his servant to tie
down his hands, had he seen him devour fowl,
fish, and flesh ; swallow oil and vinegar, vdnes
and spices ; throw down salads of twenty differ-
ent herbs, sauces of an hundred ingredients, con-
fections and fruits of numberless sweets and
flavours ? what unnatural motions and counter-
ferments must such a medley of intemperance
produce in the body? for my part, when I be-
liold a fashionable table set out in all its magnifi-
cence, I fancy, that I see gouts and dropsies,
fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable
distempers, lying in ambuscade among the
dishes.
22. Nature delights in the most plain and
simple diet. Every animal but man, keeps to
t>ne dish. Herbs are the food of this species,
fish of that, and flesh of a third. Man falls up-
on every thjng that comes in his way ; not the
smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce
a berry, or a mushroom, can escape him.
It is impossible to lay down any determinate
rule for temperance, because what is luxury in
one may be temperance in another; but there
are few that have lived any time in the world,
\vho are not judges of their own constitutions.?
188 THE POLAR STAR.
so far as to know what kinds and what propor-
tions of food do best agree with them,
23. Were I to consider my readers as ray pa-
tients, and to prescribe such a kind of temper-
ance as is accommodated to all persons, and such
as is particularly suitable to our climate and
way of living, I would copy the following rules
of a very eminent physician. Make your whole
repast out of one dish. If you indulge in a se-
cond, avoid drinking any thing strong till you
have finished your meal : at the same time ab-
stain from all sauces, or at least such as are not
the most plain and simple.
2*. A man could not be well guilty of glut-
tony, if he stuck to these few obvious and easy
rules. In the first case, there would be no va-
"riety of tastes to solicit hi& palate, and occasion
excess ; nor in the second any artificial provoca-
tions to relieve satiety, and create a false appe-
tite. Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it
should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir
"William Temple ; Tliejirst glass for myself, the
second for my friends, the third for good hu-
mour, and the fourth for my enemies. But be-
cause- it is impossible for one who lives in the
world to diet himself always in so philosophical
a manner, I think every man should have his
days of abstinence, according as his constitution
Tvill permit.
THE POLAR STAR.
25. These are great reliefs to nature, as they
qualify her for struggling with hunger and
thirst, whenever any distemper or duty of life
may put tier upon such difficulties ; and at the
same time give her an opportunity of extricat-
ing herself from her oppressions, and recovering
the several tones and springs of her distended
vessels. Besides that, abstinence well-timed
often kills a sickness in embryo, and destroys the
first seeds of an indisposition.
26. It is observed by two or three ancient au-
thors, that Socrates, notwithstanding he lived in
Athens during that great plague, which has
made so much noise through all ages, and has
been celebrated at different times by such emi-
nent hands ; I say, notwithstanding that he lived*
in the time of this devouring pestilence, he never
caught the least infection, which those writers
unanimously ascribe to that uninterrupted tem-
perance which he always observed.
27. And here I cannot but mention an obser-
vation which I have often made, upon reading
the lives of the philosophers, and comparing
them with any series of kings or great men of
the same number. If we consider these ancient
sages, u great part of whose philosophy consist-
ed in a temperate and abstemious course of iife>
one would think the life of a philosopher and the
life of a man were of two different dates. Foi
190 THE POLAR STAR,
\ve find, that the generality of these wise men
were nearer a hundred than sixty jears of age
at the time of their respective deaths.
28. But the most remarkable instance of the
efficacy of temperance towards the procuring of
long life, is what we meet with in a little book
published by Lewis Cornarothe Venetian; which
1 the rather mention, because it is of undoubted
credit, as the late Venetian ambassador, who
was of the same family, attested more than once
in conversation, when he resided in England*
Cornaro, who was the Author of the little trea-
tise I am mentioning, was of an infirm constitu-
tion, till about forty, when by obstinately pre-
sisfing in an exact course of temperance, he re-
covered a perfect stale of health ; insomuch
that at fourscore he published his book which has
been translated into English, under the title of
Sure and certain ui&ihods of attaining a long and
licaltltij life.
29. He lived to give a third or fourth edition
of it, and after having passed his hundredth year,
died without pain or agony, and like one who
falls asleep. The treatise I mention has been
taken notice of by several eminent authors, and
is written with such a spirit of cheerfulness, re-
ligion and good sense, as are the natural con-
comitants of temperance and sobriety, The
mix hire of the old man in it is rather a recom-
mendation than a discredit to it.
THE POLAR STAR. 491
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF A CHEER-
FUL TEMPER.
1. CHEERFULNESS is in the first place the
best promoter of health. Repining and secret
murmurs of heart give imperceptible strokes to
those delicate fibres of which the vital parts are
composed, and -wear out the machine so insensi-
bly ; not to mention those violent ferments
which they stir up in the bloody and those irregu-
lar disturbed motions, which they raise in the an*
imal spirits.
2. I scarce remember in my own observation^
to have met with many o'd m -n, or with such, who*
(to use our English phrase) were well, that had not
at least a certain indolence in their humour, if not
> more than ordinary gaiety and cheerfulness of
heart. The truth of it is, health and cheerful-
ness mutually beget each other; with this differ-
ence, that we seldom meet with a g/eat degree
of health which is not attended with a certain
cheerfulness*, but very oftozi scv, cheerfulness
\vliere there is no great degree of health.
3. Cheerfulness b^ars the saw frierul'y re-
gard to the mind as to the body : it b ; iishrs all
anxious care a J<1 discontent, sooths and co/ii*
po.s's i iie pa**itms, a.id keeps the soul in a per-
petual calm* iiut, having already
193 THE POIAR STAIt.
tliis last consideration, I shall here take notice*
that the world, in which we are placed, is filled
with innumerable ohjeets that are proper to raise
and keep alive this happy temper of mind.
&. If we consider the world in its subserviency
to man, one would think it was made for our use;
but if we consider It in its natural beauty and
harmony," one would be apt to conclude that it
was made for our pleasure. The him, which is
as the great soul of the universe, and produces
all the necessaries of life, has a particular influ-
ence in cheering the mind of man, and making
the heart glad.
5. Those several living creatures which are
made for our service or sustenance, at the same
time either fill the woods with their music, fur-
nish us with game, or raise pleasing ideas hi us
by the delightfulness of their appearance.
Fountains, lakes, and rivers, are as refreshing to
the imagination, as to the soil through which
they pass.
6. There are writers of great distinction, who
have made it an argument for Providence, that
the whole earth is covered with green, rather
than with any other colour, as being such a right
mixture of light and shade, that it comforts and
strengthens the eye instead of weakening or
grieving it. For this reason several painters
have a green cloth hanging near them, to case
THE POLAR STAR, 95
the eye upon after too great an application to
their colouring.
7. A famous modern philosopher accounts for
it in the following manner; all colours that arc
more luminous, overpower and dissipate the arn-
mal spirits which are employed in sight : on the
contrary, those that are more obscure do not
give the animal spirits a sufficient exercise;
whereas the rays that produce in us the idea of
green, fall upon the eye in such a due propor-
tion, that they give the animal spirits their pro-
per play, and, by keeping up the struggle in a just
balance, excite a very pleasing and agreeable
sensation. Let the cause he what it will, the
effect is certain ; for which reason the poets as-
eribe to this particular colour the epithet of
cheerful.
8. To consider flirt her this double end in the
works of nature, and how they are, at the same
time, both useful and entertaining, we find that
the most important parts in the vegetable world
re those whk'h are the most beautiful. These
are the seeds by which the several races of plants
are propagated and continued, and which are
always lodged in flowers or blossoms. Nature
seems to hide her principal design, and to be in-
dustrious in making the earth guy and delight-
ful, while she is carrying on h*r great work, and
upoaher own preservation. The bus-
194 THE POLAR STAR.
bandnian, after the same manner, is employed in
laying out the whole country into a kind of gar-
den or landscape, and making every thing smile
about him, whilst, in reality, he thinks of nothing
but the harvest and increase which is to arise
from it.
9. We may further observe how Providence
has taken care to keep up this cheerfulness in
the mind of man, by having formed it after such
a manner, as to make it capable of conceiving
delight from several objects which seem to have
very little use in them ;. as from the wildness of
rocks and deserts, and the like grotesque parts
of nature. Those who are versed in philosophy
may still carry this consideration higher by ob-
serving, that, if matter had appeared to us en-
dovved only with those r*eal qualities which it ac-
tually possesses, it would have made but a very
joyless and uncomfortable figure; and why has
Providence given it a power of producing in us
such imaginary qualities, as tastes and colours,
sounds and smells, heat and cold, but that man,
while he is conversant in the lower stations of
nature, might have his mind cheered and delight-
ed with agreeable sciibiuions ? In short, the
whole universe is a kind of theatre fi Jed with ob-
jects that either raise in us pleasure, amuse-
or admiration.
The reader's own thoughts- will s
THE POLAR STAR. 195
to him the vicissitude of day and night, the
change of seasons, with all that variety of scenes
whit h diversify the face of nature, and fill the
mind \vitha perpetual succession of beautiful and
pleasing images.
I shall not here mention the several entertain-
ments of art, with the pleasures of friendship*
hooks, conversation, and other accidental diver-
sions of life, because I would only take notice of
such incitements to a cheerful temper, as offer
themselves to persons of all ranks and conditions,
and which may sufficiently shew us, that Provi-
dence did not design this world should be filled
Avith murmurs and repinings, or that the heart
of man should be involved in gloom and melan-
choly.
11. I the more inculcate this cheerfulness of
temper, as it is H virtue in which our countrymen
are observed to be more deficient than any other
nation. Melancholy is a kind of demon that
haunts our island, and often conveys herself to us
in an easterly wind. A celebrated French nov-
elist, in opposition to those who begin their ro-
mances with a flowery season of the year, enters
on his story thus ; In the gloomy month of No-
vember, when the people of England hang and
drown themselves, a disconsolate lorer walked
out into thejield, &c.
12. Every one ought to fence agaiastthe tern-
196 THE POLAR STAR.
per of his climate or constitution, and frequently
to indulge in himself those considerations which
may give him a serenity of mind, arid enahle him
to bear up cheerfully against those little evils and
misfortunes which are common to human nature,
and which, by a right improvement of them,
will produce a satiety of joy, and an uninterrupt-
ed happiness.
13. At the same time that I would engage my
reader to consider the world in its most agree-
able lights, I must own there are many evils
which naturally spring up amidst the entertain-
ments that are provided for us; but these, if
rightly considered, should be far from overcast-
ing the mind with sorrow, or destroying that
cheerfulness of temper which I have been re-
commending.
14<. This interspersion of evil with good, and
pain with pleasure, in the works of nature, is fery
truly ascribed by Mr. Locke in his Essay upon
Human Understanding, to a moral reason, in the
following words :
Beyond all this, we may find another reason
why God hath scattered up and down several de-
grees of pleasure and pain, in all the things that
environ and affect us, and blended them togetltcr,
in almost all that our thoughts and senses hare
to do with : that we finding imperfection, dissat-
isfaction, and want of complete happiness in all
POLAR STAK, 197
the enjoyments which ih& creatures can afford us,
might he led to seek it in the rnjoyw.ini #f]iim 9
vt\ \\ whom there is fulness of joy, and at whose
right haud are pleasures for evermore.
OF CHEERFULNESS.
1. I HAVE always preferred cheerfulness to
mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the for-
mer as a habit of the mind. Mirth is short and
transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent.
Those are often raised into the greatest trans-
ports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest
depressions of melancholy: on the contrary,
cheerfulness though it does not give the mind
such an exquisite gladness* prevents us from
falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like
a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom
of clouds, and glitters for a moment ; cheerful-
ness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind,
and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
2. Men of austere principles look upon mirth
as too wanton and dissolute for a state of proba-
tion, and as filled with a certain triumph and in-
solence of heart that is inconsistent with a life
which is every moment obnoxious to the greatest
dangers. Writers of this complexion have ob-
198 THE POLAR STAU.
served, that the sacred person who was the great
pattern of perfection, was never seen to laugh.
3. Cheerfulness of mind is not liable to any of
these exceptions ; it is of a serious and compos-
ed nature ; it does not throw the mind into a
condition improper tor the present state of hu-
manity, and is very conspicuous in the charac-
ters of those who are looked upon as the greatest
philosophers among the heathens, as well as a-
jnong those who have been deservedly esteemed
as saints and holy men among Christians.
4. If we consider cheerfulness in three lights,
with regard to ourselves, to those we converse
with, and to the great Author of our being, it
will not a little recommend itself on each of these
accounts. The man who is possessed of this ex-
cellent frame of mind, is not only easy in his
thoughts, but a perfect master of all the powers
and faculties of the soul : his imagination is al-
ways clear, and his judgment undisturbed : his
temper is even and unruffled, whether in action
or solitude. He comes with a relish to all those
goods which nature has provided for him, tastes
all the pleasures of the creation which are pour-
ed about him, and does not feel the full weight
of those accidental evils which may befal him.
5. If we consider him in relation to the per-
sons whom he converses with, it naturally pro-
duces love and good will towards him. A cheer-
i'HB POLAU STAU. 19<J
ful mind is not only disposed to be affable and
obliging, but raises the same good humour in
those who come within its influence. A man
finds himself pleased he does not know why, with
the cheerfulness of the companion : it is like a
sudden sun-shine that awakens a secret delight
in the mind, without her attending to it. The
heart rejoices of its own accord, and naturally
flows out into friendship and benevolence towards
the person who has so kindly an effect upon it.
6. When I consider this cheerful state of mind
in its third relation, I cannot but look upon it as
a constant habitual gratitude to the great Author
of nature. An inward cheerfulness is an implicit
praise and thanksgiving to Providence under all
its dispensations. It is a kind of acquiescence
in the state wherein we are placed, and a secret
approbation of the Divine will in his conduct to-
\vards man.
7. There are but two things, which, in my o-
pinion, can reasonably deprive us of this cheer-
fulness of heart. The first of these is the sense
of guilt. A man who lives in a state of vice and
impenitence can have no title to that evenness
and tranquility of mind which is the health of
the soul, and the natural effect of virtue and in-
nocence. Cheerfulness in an ill man deserves a
harder name than language can furnish us with,
and is many degrees beyond what we commonly
eall folly or madness.
200 THE POLAR STAK.
8. Atheism* by which I mean a disbelief of a
Supreme Being, and consequently of a future
state, under whatsoever title it shelters itself,
may likewise very reasonably deprive a man of
this cheerfulness of temper. There is something
so particularly gloomy and offensive to human
nature in the prospect of non-existence, llir.t I
eannot but wonder, with many excellent writers,
how it is possible for a man to outlive the expec-
tation of it. For jny own part, I think the be-
ing of a God is so little to be doubted, that it
is almost the only truth we are sure of, and such
a truth as we meet with in every object, in every
occurrence, and in every thought.
9. If we look into the characters of this tribe
of infidels, we generally find they are made up
of pride, spleen, and cavil : it is indeed no won-
der, that men, who are uneasy to themselves,
should be so to the rest of the world ; and how
is it possible for a man to be otherwise than un-
easy in himself, who is in danger every moment
f .losing his entire existence, and dropping in-
to nothing?
10. The vicious man and Atheist have therefore
no pretence to cheerfulness, and would act very
unreasonably, should they endeavour after it,
It is impossible for any one to live in good hu-
mour, and enjoy his present existence, who is
apprehensive either of torment or of annihilati-
on ; of being miserable^ or of not being at all*
THE POLAR STAR. 201
After having mentioned these two great prin-
ciples, which are destructive of cheerfulness in
their own nature, as well as in right reason, I
cannot think of any other that ought to banish this
happy temper from a virtuous mind. Pain and
sickness, shame and reproach, poverty and old
age, nay death itself, considering the shortness
of their duration, and the advantage we may
yeap from them, do not deserve the name of
evils*
11 . A good mind may bear up under them with
fortitude, with indolence, and with cheerfulness
of heart the tossing of a tempest does not dis-
eornpose him, which he is sure will bring him to
a joyful harbour.
A man who uses his best endeavours to live ac-
cording to the dictates of virtue and right reason,
has two perpetual sources of cheerfulness, in
the consideration of his own nature and of that
Being on whom he has a dependence.
12. If he looks intahimself, he cannot but re-
joice in that existence, which is so lately be-
stowed upon him, and which after millions of
ages, will be still new, and still in its beginning.
How many self-congratulations naturally arise
in the mind, when it reflects on this its entrance
into eternity, when it takes a view of those im-
provable faculties, which in a few years, and
even at its first setting out, have made so consi
2 THE POLAR STAR.
derable a progress, and which will be still re-
ceiving an increase of perfection, and conse-
quently an increase of happiness ?
13. The consciousness of such a being spreads
a perpetual defusion of joy through the soul
of a virtuous man, and makes him look upon
himself every moment as more happy than he
knows how to j'oneeiver
The sec OIK] source of cheerfulness to a good
mind is, its consideration of that Being on whom
we have our dependence, and in whom, though
we behold him as yet but in the first faint disco-
veries of his perfections, we see every thing
that we can imagine as great, glorious, or ami-
able. We find ourselves every where upheld by
Lis goodness, and surrounded by an immensity
of love and mercy.
14. In short we depend upon a Being, whose
power qualifies him to make us happy, by an
infinity of means, whose goodness and truth en-
gage him to make those happy who desire it of
him, and whose unehaugeablenesfi will secure us
in this happiness to all eternity.
Such considerations, which every one should
perpetually cherish in his thoughts? will banish
from us all that secret heaviness of heart which
unthinking men are subject to when they lie un-
der no real affliction, all that anguish \vhi< h we
may IVcl from any evil that actually oppresses us*
THE POXAR STAR. 203
to which I may likewise add those little crack-
lings of mirth and folly, that are apter to hetray
virtue than support it; and establish in us such
an even and cheerful temper, as makes us pleas-
ing to ourselves, to those with whom we eon-
verse, and to him whom we are made to please*
BEJIUTF.
1. THOUGH the danger of disappointment
is always in proportion *to the height of expecta-
tion, yet I this day claim the attention of the la-
dies, and profess to teach an art by which all
may obtain what has hitherto been deemed the
prerogative of a few : an art by which their pre-
dominant passion may be gratified, and their con-
quests not only extended, but secured ; The
** art of bi'itig PIVETTX."
2. But though my subject may interest the la-
dies, it may, perbaps, offend those profound n o^
ralists, who have long since determined, that
beauty ought rather be despised than desired;
that, like strength, it is a mere natural excel-
lence, the effect of causes wholly out of our
power, and not intended either as the pledge of-
happiness or the distinction of meiit.
THE P01AR STAR.
3. To these gentlemen I shall remark, that
beauty is among those qualities, which no effort
of human wit could ever bring into contempt, it is
therefore to be wished at least, that beauty was
in some degree dependent upon sentiment and
manners, that so high a privilege might not be
possessed by the unworthy, and that human rea-
son might no longer suffer the mortification of
those who are compelled to adore an idol, which
differs from a stone or a log only by the skill of
the artificer: and if they cannot themselves be-
hold beauty with indifference, they must, surely,
approve an attempt to shew that it merits their
regard.
4. I -shall, however, principally consider that
species of beauty which is expressed in the coun-
tenance ; for this alone is peculiar to human be-
ings, and is not less complicated than their na-
ture. In the countenance there are but two re-
quisites to perfect beauty, which are wholly
produced by external causes, colour and propor-
tion : and it will appear, that even in common
estimation these are not the chief; but that
though there may be beauty without them, yet
there cannot be beauty without something more.
5. The finest features, ranged in the most ex-
act symmetry, and heightened by the most
blooming complexion, must be animated before
they can strike ; and when they are animated*
THE POLAK STAR. 20tf
generally excite the same passions which
they express. If they are fixed in the dead calm
of insensibility, they will be examined without
emotion ; and if they do not express kindness,
they will be beheld without love.
6. Looks of contempt, disdain or malevolence,
will be reflected, as from a mirror, by every
countenance on which they are turned ; and if a
wanton aspect excites desire, it is but like that
of a savage for his prey, which cannot be gratis
fled without the destruction of its object.
7. Among particular graces the dimple has
always been allowed the pre-eminence, and the
reason is evident; dimples are produced by a
smile, and a smile is an .expression of compla-
eency : so the contraction of the. brows into a
frown, as it is an indication of a contrary temper.
Las always been deemed a capital defect.
8. The /Joyer is generally at a loss to define
the beauty, by, which his passion was suddenly
and irresistibly determined to a particular object;
but this could never happen, if it depended u[>on
any known rule or proportion upon the shape or
disposition of the features, or the colour of the
skin : he tells you that it is something which he
cannot fully express ; something not fixed in any
part, but diffused over the whole ; he calls it a
sweetness, a softness, a placid sensibility, or
gives it some other appellation which connects
06 THE POI.AK STAK.
beauty with- sentiment, and expresses a eliarin
which is not peculiar to any set of features, but
is perhaps possible to all.
9. This beauty, however, does not always
consist in smiles, but varies as expressions of
meekness and kindness vary with their objects :
it is extremely forcible in the silent complaint of
patient sufferance, the tender solicitude of friend-
ship, and the glow of filial obedience ; and in
tears, whether of joy, of pity, or of grief, it
is almost irresistible.
10. TSiis is the charm which captivates with-
out the aid of nature, and without which her
utmost bounty is ineffectual. But it cannot be
assumed as a mask to conceal insensibility OP
malevolence ; k mast be the genuine effect of
corresponding sentiments, or it will impress up-
on the coun e iance a new and more disgusting
deformity, affectation : it will produce the grin,
the simper, the stare, the languish, the pout,
and innumerable other grimaces, that render
folly ridiculous, and change pity to contempt*
11. By some, indeed, this species of hypocrisy
has been practised with such skill as to deceive
superficial observers, though it can deceive even
these but for a moment. Looks which do not
correspond with the heart, cannot be assumed
without, labour, nt>r continued without pain ; the
motive to relinquish them must, tkeffe&re* soon
THE POLAR STAR* 207
preponderate, and the aspect and apparel of the
visit will be laid by together ; the smiles and
languishments of art will vanish, and the fierce-
ness of rage, or t3ie gloom of discontent wil
eiUier obscure or destroy all the elegance of sym-
metry and complexion.
12. The artificial aspect is. indeed, as
wretched a substitute for the expression of sen-
timent, as the smear of paint for the blushes of
health : it is not only equally transient, and
equally liable to detection ; but as paint leaves
the countenance yet more withered and ghastly,
the passions burst out with more violence after
restraint, the features become more distorted?
and excite more determined aversion.
13. Beauty, therefore depends principally up-
on the mind, and, consequently, may be influenc-
ed by education. It has been remarked, that
the predominant passions may generally be dis-
covered in the countenance ; because the muscles
by -which it is expressed, being almost perpetu-
ally contracted, loose their tone, and never to-
tally relax ; so that the expression remains when
the passion is suspended : thus an anerry, a dis-
dainful, a subtil and u suspicious temper, is dis-
played ia characters that are almost universally
understood.
14, It is equally true of the pleasing and the
softer passions, that they leave their signatures
208 THE POLAR STAR*
upon the countenance when they cease to act : the
prevalence of these passions therefore produces
a mechanical effect upon the aspect, and gives a
turn and cast to the features which makes
a more favourable and forcible impression upon
the mind of others, than any charm produced
by mere external causes.
15. Neither does the beauty which depends
upon temper and sentiment, equally endanger
the possessor : It is," to use an eastern meta-
phor, like the towers of a city, not only an
ornament but a defence :" if it excites desire,
it at once controuls and refines it ; it represses
\vith awe, it softens with delicacy, and it wins to
imitation. The love of reason and virtue is
mingled with a love of beauty ; because this
beauty is little more than the emanation of intel-
lectual excellence, whieh is not an object of cor-
poreal appetite.
16. As it excites a purer passion, it also more
forcibly engages to fidelity: every man finds him-
self more powerfully restrained from giving
pain to goodness than to beauty ; and every look
of a countenance in which they are blended, in
which beauty is the expression o goodness, is a
silent reproach of the first irregular wish : and
the purpose immediately appears to be disinge-
nuous and cruel, by which the tender hope of
ineffable affection would be disappointed, the
THE POLAR STA.K. 290
placid confidence of unsuspected simplicity abused,
and the peace even of virtue endangered by the
most sordid infidelity, and the breach of the
strongest obligations.
17. But the hope of the hypocrite must perish,
when the fictitious beauty has laid by her smiles,
wh*n the lustre of her eyes and the bloom of her
cheeks have lost their influence with their novelty;
what remains but a tyrant divested of power,
"who will never be seen without a mixture of in-
dignation and disdain ? The only desire which
this object could gratify, will be transferred to
another, not only without reluctance, but with
triumph.
48. As resentment will succeed to disappoint-
ment, a desire to mortify will succeed to a de-
sire to please : and the husband may be urged to
solicit a mistress, merely by a remembrance
of the beauty of his wife, which lasted only till
she was known,
Let it, therefore, be remembered, that none
can be disciples of the Graces, but in the school
of Virtue : and that those who wish to be lovely,
must learn early to be good.
19. A FRIEND of mine has two daughters,
whom I will call Lsetitia and Daphne. The for
mer is one of the greatest beauties of the age ia
which she lives, the latter no way remarkable for
THE rOLAU STAK.
any charms in her person. Upon this one cif
cumstance of their outward form, the good and
ill of their life seem to turn. Lsetitia has not
from her very childhood heard any thing else
but commendations of her features and complex-
ion* by which means she is no other than nature
made her, a very beautiful outside.
20. The consciousness of her charms has ren-
dered her insupportably vain and insolent to-
wards all who have to do with her. Daphne,
\vho was almost twenty before one civil thing
had ever been said to her, found herself obliged
to acquire some accomplishments to make up for
the want of those attractions which she saw in
her sister.
21. Poor Daphne was seldom submitted to in
a debate wherein she was concerned; her dis- .
course had nothing to recommend it but the good
sense of it, and she was always under a necessi-
ty to have very well considered what she was to
say before she uttered it ; while L^etitia was
listened to with partiality, and approbation sat
in the countenances of those she conversed with 5
before she communicated what she had to say.
22. These causes have produced suitable ef-
fects* and L&titia is as insipid a companion, as
Daphne is an agreeable one. Lretifia, confident
pf favour, has studied no arts to please : Daphne?
despairing of any inclination towards her person?
TH* POtAH STAH.
has depended only on her merit. Lsetitia has al-
ways something in her air that is sullen, grave,
and disconsolate.
23. Daphne has a countenance that appears
cheerful, open and unconcerned. \ young gen-
tleman saw L&titia this winter at a play, aod
became her captive. His fortune was such, that
he wanted very little introduction to speak his
sentiments to her father. The lover was admit-
ted with the utmost freedom into the family,
"Where a constrained behaviour, severe looks, and
distant civilities were the highest favours he
could obtain of Lsetitia ; While Daphne used
him with the good humour, familiarity, and in -
noce ice of a sister.
24. In so much that he would often say to her
D.-dP 'Daphne, wert you but as handsome as
Lie i ilia ! She received such language with,
that ingenuous and pleasing mirth, which is na-
tural to a woman without design. H still sighed
in vain for L&titia, but found certain relief in
the agreeable conversation of Daphne. At
length, heartily tired with the haughty imper-
tinence of L&titia, and charmed with the re-
peated instances of good humour he had observ-
ed in Daphne, he one day told the latter, that
he hail something to say to her he hoped she
would be pleased with.
35, Faith, Daphne, continued he, I am
THE FOIiAll STAR.
in love with thee, and despise thy sister sincerely,
The manner of his declaring himself gave his
mistress occasion for a very hearty laughter.
Nay, suys he, I knew you would laugh at me,
but Til ask your father. Fie did so; the father
received his intelligence with no less joy than
surprise, and was very glad he had now no care
left hut for his beauty, which he thought he
would carry to market at his leisure.
26* 1 do not know any thing that has pleased
me so much a great while, as this conquest of
my friend Daphne's. All her acquaintance
congratulate her upon her chance medley, and
laugh at that premeditating murderer, her sis-
ter. As it is an argument of a light mind, to
think the worse of ourselves for the imperfec-
tions of our persons, it is equally below us to
value ourselves upon the advantages of them.
27. The fern 'ale. world seem to be almost in-
corrigibly gone astray in this particular ; for
which reason, I shall recommend the following
extract out of a friend's letter to the professed
beauties, who area people almost as insufferable
as the professed wits.
Monsieur St. Evremont has concluded one of
his essays with affirming, that the last sighs of a
handsome woman are not so much for the loss of
her life as her beauty.
38 Perhaps this raillery is pursued too far,
TBE POLAR STAK.
yet it is turned upon a very obvious remark, that
woman's strongest passion is for her o\vri beauty r
and that she values it as her favourite distinc-
tion. From hence it is that all hearts, which
pretend to improve or preserve it, meet with so
general a reception among the sex.
29. To say nothing of many false helps, and
contraband wares of beauty, which are daily
vended in this great mart, there is not a maiden
gentlewoman, of a good family in any county of
South Britain, who has not heard of the virtues
of may-due, or is unfurnished with some receipt
or other in favour of her complexion; and I
have known a physician of learning and sense*
after eight years study in the university, and a
course of travels into most countries of Gurope*
owe the first raising of his fortune to a cosmetic
wash.
30. This has given me occasion to consider
how so universal a disposition in womankind,,
which springs from a laudable motive, the desire
of pleasing, and proceeds upon an opinion, not
altogether groundless, that nature may be help-
ed by art, may be turned to their advantage. And,
methiiiks, if would be an acceptable service to
take them out of the hands of quacks and pre-
tenders, and to prevent their imposing upon
themselves, by discovering to them the true se-
cret and art of improving beauty.
THE POI.AK STAR*
31. In order to this, before I touch upon it
directly, it will be necessary to lay down a few
preliminary maxims, viz.
Thai no woman can be handsome by the force
of features alone, any more than she can be wit-
ty only by the help of speech.
That pride destroys all symmetry and grace,
aud affV elation is a more terrible enemy to fine
faces than the small pox.
That no woman is capable of being beautiful*
who is not incapable of being false.
And, that what would be odious in a friend, is
deformity in a mistress.
32. Froru these few principles thus laid down>
it will be easy to prove, that the true art of as-
sisting beauty consists in embellishing the whole
person by the proper ornaments of virtuous and
commendable qualities. By this help alone it
is that tlose who are the favourite work of
uature, or, as Mr. Dry den expresses it, the por-
celain clay of human kind, become animated,
an<l are in a capacity of exerting their charms ;.
and those who se.pni to have been neglected by
her. like models wrought in haste, are capable, in
a great measure, of finishing what she has left
imperfect.
33 It is, tnethinks, a low and degrading idea f
of that sex, which was created to refine the joys,
and soften tiie cares of humanity, by the most
THE POLAK STAtt.
agreeable participation, to consider them merely
as objects of sight This is abridging them of
their natural extent of power, to put them upon
a level with their pictures at the pantheon.
How much nobler is the contemplation of beauty
heightened by virtue, and commanding our
esteem and love, while it draws our observation?
34. How faint and spiritless are the charm* of
a coquette, when compared with the real loveli-
ness of Sophronia's innocence, piety, good -hu-
mour, and truth ; virtues which add a new soft-
ness to her sex, and even beautify her beauty !
That agreeableness, which must otherwise have
appeared no longer in the modest virgin, is now
preserved in the tender mother, the prudent
friend and faithful wife.
35. Colours artfully spread upon canvass may
entertain the eye, but not affect the heart ; and
she, who takes no care to add to the natural
graces of her person, any excellent qualities,
may be allowed still to amuse as a picture, but
not to triumph as a beauty.
When Adam is introduced by Milton describ-
ing Eve in Paradise, and relating to the angel
the impressions he felt upon seeing her at her
first creation, he does not represent her like a
Grecian Venus, by her shape or features, but by
the lustre of her mind which shone in them, and
gave them their power of charming.
THE POI.AR STAK-
36. Graceivas in atther steps, heav'n in her eye,
In all her gestures dignity and love :
Without this irradiating power, the proudest
fair one ought to know, whatever her glass may
tell her to the contrary, that her most perfect
features are uninformed and dead.
I cannot hetter close this moral, than by a
short epitaph, written by Ben Jbhnson, with a
spirit which nothing could inspire, but such an
object as I have been desr ribing.
Underneath this stone doth lie,
*fl.s much virtue as could die:
Which when alive did vigour give
To as much beauty as could live.
I am. Sir,
Your most humble servant,
R. B,
.JILVJINTJIGES of PEACE.
OH, first of human blessings, and supreme !
Fair Peace ! how lovely, how delightful, thou
By whose wide tie, the kindred sons of men,
Like brothers live, in amity combined,
And unsuspicious faith : while honest toil
Gives ev'ry joy ; and, to those joys, a right,
"Which idle barbarous rapine but usurps*
THE POIAft STAR. 317
Pure is toy reign ; when, unaecurs'd by blood.
Nought, save the sweetness of indulgent show'rs,
Trickling, distils into the vernant glebe ;
Instead of mangled carcases, sad scene!
When the bly the sheaves lie scattered o'er the field ;
When only shining shares, the crooked knife,
And hooks imprint the vegetable wound ;
When the land blushes with the rose alone.
The falling fruitage, and the bleeding vine.
Oh, Peace ! thou source, and SQU! of social life !
Beneath whose calm inspiring influence,
Science his views enlarges, art refines,
And swelling commerce opens all her ports
Bless'd be the man divine, who gives us thee !
Who bids the trumpet hush his horrid clang,
Nor blow the giddy nations into rage ;
Who sheathes the murd'rous blade ; the deadly
gun
Into the well-pil'd armory returns ;
And, ev'ry vigour from the work of death?
To grateful industry converting, makes
The country flourish, and the city smile !
Unviolated, him the virgin sings ;
And him, the smiling mother, to her train*
Of him, the shepherd in the peaceful dale,
Chants ; and the treasures of his labour sure,
The husbandman, of him, as at the plough,
Or team, he toils. With him, the sailor soothes,
Beneath the trembling moon, the midnight wave ;
TUB 20XAR STAE.
And the full city, warm, from street to street,
And shop to shop, responsive, riogs of him,
Kor joys one land alone : his praise extends,
Far as the sun rolls the diffusive day ;
Far as the breeze can bear the gifts of peace ;
Till all the happy nations catch the song.
JQIGJVTTF o
1. A CERTAIN dignity of manners is abso-
lutely necessary to make even the most valuable
character either respected or respectable in the
world.
Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of
laughter, jokes, waggery, and indiscriminate
familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge
into a degree of contempt. They compose at
most a merry fellow, and a merry fellow was
never a respectable man. Indiscriminate fami-
liarity either offends your superiors, or else dubs
you their dependant and led captain. It gives
your inferiors just, but troublesome and impro-
per claims of equality. A joker is near a kin to
a buffoon ; and neither of them is the least re*
lated to wit.
2. Mimicry, the favourite amusement of little
minds, has been even the contempt of great ones*
Never give way to it yourself, nor ever eaeour-
THE POUR STAE. 219
age it in others ; it is the most illiberal of all
buffoonery ; it is an insult to the person you
mimic; and insults, I have often told you, are
seldom forgiven.
As to a mimic or a wag, he is little else than
a buffoon, who will distort his mouth arid his eyes
to make people laugh. Be assured, no one per-
son ever demeaned himself to please the rest,
unless he wished to be thought the Merry-An-
drew of the company, and whether this character
is respectable, I will leave you to judge.
3. If a man's company is coveted on any other
account than his knowledges, his good sense, or
his manners, he is seldom respected by those
who invite him, but made use of only to enter-
tain. " Let's have such a one, for he sings a
good song, or he is always joking or laugh-
ing ;" or, " let's send for such a one, for he
is a good bottle companion 5" these are de-
grading distinctions, that preclude all respect
and esteem. Whoever is had (as the phrase is)
for the sake of any qualifications, singly, is
merely that thing he is hod for, is never con-
sidered in any light, arid, of course, never pro-
perly respected, let his intrinsic merits be what
they will.
4. You may possibly suppose this dignity of
manners to border upon pride ; but it differs as
much from pride, as true courage from bluster-
ing-
220 THE POLAR STAR.
To flatter a person right or wrong, is abject
slavery, and to consent readily to every thing
proposed by a company, be it silly or criminal,
is fully as degrading, as to dispute warmly upon
every subject, and to contradict upon all occa-
sions. To preserve dignity, we should modestly
assert our own seatiments, though we politely
acquiesce in those of others.
So again, to support dignity of character, we
should neither be frivolously curious about tri-
fles nor be laboriously intent on little objects that
deserve not a moment's attention ; for this im-
plies an incapacity in matters of greater impor-
tance.
A great deal likewise depends upon our air,
address, and expressions; an aukward address
and vulgar expressions infer either a low turn of
mind, or a low education.
5. Insolent contempt, or low envy, is incom-
patible also with dignity of manners. Low-bred
persons, fortunately lifted in the world, in fine
clothes and fine equipages, will insolently look
down on all those who cannot afford to make as
good an appearance ; and they openly envy those
who perhaps make a better. They also dread
the being slighted ; of course are suspicious and
captious ; are uneasy themselves* and make
every body else so about them.
6. A certain degree of outward seriousness
in looks and actions gives dignity, while a een~
THE POLAR STAR. 221
stant smirk upon the face (with that insipid siHy
smile, Cools have when they would be eivil) and
whiffling motions, are strong marks of futility.
But above all, a dignity of character is to be
acquired best by a certain firmness in all our
actions. A mean, timid, and passive complais-
ance, lets a man down more tSia^i he is aware of:
but sti-1 his firmness or resolution should not ex-
tend to brutality, but be aecois-pa^ird with a
peculiar and engaging softness, or mildness.
7. If you discover any hastiness in your tem-
per, and find it apt to break out into rough and
unguarded expressions, watch it narrowly, and
endeavour to <-urb it ; but let no complaisance,
no weak desire of pleasing, no wheedling, urge
you to do that which discretion forbids ; but
persist and persevere in all that is right. la
your connections avid friendships, you will find
this rule of use to you. Invite and preserve
attachments, by your firmness; but labour to
k^ep clear of enemies, by a mildness of behaviour.
Disarm those enemies you may unfortunately
have, (and few are without them) by a gentle-
ness of manner, but make them f el the steadi-
ness of your just resentment ; for there is a wide
difference between bearing malice and a deter-
mined self defence; the one is imperious, but
the other is prudent and justifiable.
8. In directing your servants, or any person
you have a right to command $ if you deliver
THE POLAR STAIU
your orders mildly and in that engaging manner
which every gentleman should study to do, you
will be cheerfully, and consequently, well obey-
ed : but if tyranically, you would be very un-
willingly served, if served at all. A cool, steady
determination should shew that you will be
obeyed, but a gentleness in the manner of en-
forcing that obedience should make service a
cheerful one. Thus will you be loved without
being despised, and feared without being hated.
9. 1 hope 1 need not mention vices. A man
who has patiently been kicked out of company,
may have as good a pretence to courage, as one
rendered infamous by his vices, may to dignity
of any kind ; however* of such consequence are
appearances, that an outward decency, and an
affected dignity of manners, will even keep such
a man the longer from sinking. If therefore
you should unfortunately have no intrinsic merit
of your own, keep up. if possible, the appearance
of it ; and the world will possibly give you credit
for the rest. A versatility of manner is as ne-
cessary in social life, as a versatility of parts
in political. This is no way blameable, if not
used with an ill design. We must, like the
cameleon, then, put on the hue of the persons we
wish to be well with ; and it surely can never be
blameable, to endeavour to gain the good- will
or affection of any one, if, when obtained, we do
ti<n meau to abuse it.
THE POXAU STAK. 223
TRE CHOICE OF A RURAL LIFE:
A POEM.
Sy Wm. Fairjield, Esq.
THE ARGUMENT.
The subject proposed. Situation of the author's
house. His frugality in itsfurniture. The beau-
ties of the country. His love of retirement?
his choice of his friends. Ji description of
the morning. Hymn to the sun. Contempla-
tion of the heavens. The existence of God
inferred from a view of the beauty and har-
mony of the creation. Morning and evening
devotion. The vanity of riches and grandeur.
The choice of his books. Praise of the mar-
riage state, ti knot of modern ladies describ-
ed. The author's exit.
PHILOSOPHIC SOLITUDE, &c.
LET ardent heroes seek renown in arms,
Pant after fame, and rush to war's alarms $
To shining palaces let fools resort,
And dunces cringe to be esteemed at court,;
Mine be the pleasure of a rural life,
From noise remote, and ignorant of strife $
Far from the painted belle, and white-glov'cl
beau,
The lawless masquerade, and midnight show;
THE TOLAR STAfc.
From ladies, lap-dogs, courtiers, garters, stars,
Fops, fiddlers, tyrants, emperors, and czars.
Full in the centre of some shady grove,
By nature form'd for solitude and love ;
On banks array'd with ever-blooming flow'rs,
Near beauteous landscape, nor by rosiate bow'rs,
My. neat, but simple mansion I would raise,
Unlike the sumptuous domes of modern days ;
Devoid of pomp, with rural plainness formed,
With savage game, and glossy shells adorn'd.
No costly furniture should grace my hall $
But curling vines ascend against the wall,
Whose pliant branches should luxuriant twine,
While purple clusters swell'd with future wine:
To slake my thirst a liquid lapse distil
From craggy rocks, and spread a limpid rill.
Along my mansion spiry firs should grow,
And gloomy yews extend the shady row ;
The cedars flourish, and the poplars rise
Sublimely tall, and shoot into the skies ;
Among the leaves refreshing zephyrs play,
And crowding trees exclude the noon- tide ray 5
Whereon the birds their downy nests should form,
Securely sheltered from the battering storm ;
And to melodious notes their choir apply,
Soon as Aurora blush M along the sky :
While all around th f enchanting music rings,
And ev'ry vocal grove responsive sings.
THE POLAR STAR. 225
Me to sequestered scenes, ye muses guide,
Where nature wantons in her virgin pride ;
To mossy banks edg'd round with op'ningflow'rs,
Elysian fields and amarantian bow'rs ;
T 9 ambrosial founts, and sleep-inspiring rills,
To herbag'd vales, gay lawns, and sunny hills.
Welcome, ye shades ! all hail, ye vernal blooms !
Ye bow'ry thickets, and prophetic glooms !
Ye forests hail ! ye solitary woods !
Love whispering groves, and silver- streaming
floods !
Ye meads, that aromatic sweets exhale !
Ye birds, and all ye sylvan beauties hail!
O how I long with you to spend my days f
Invoke the muse, and try the rural lay !
No trumpets there with martial clangor sound,
No prostrate heroes strew the crimson'd ground ;
No groves of lances glitter in the air,
Nor thund'ring drums provoke the sanguine war ;
But white-rob'd peace, and universal love
Smile in the field, and brighten ev'ry grove.
There all the beauties of the circling year,
In native ornamental pride appear.
Gay rosy-bosom'd Spring, and Jlpril show'rs,
Wake from the womb of earth the rising flow'rs :
In deeper verdure Summer clothes the plain,
And Autumn bends beneath the golden grain ;
226 THE OLAR STAR,
The trees weep amber, and the whispering gales
Breeze o'er the lawn, or murmur through the
vales;
The flow'ry tribes in gay confusion bloom,
Profuse of sweets, and fragrant with perfume;
On blossoms blossoms, fruits on fruits arise,
And varied prospects glad the wand'ring eyes.
In these fair Seats I'd pass the joyous day,
"Where meadows flourish and where fields look
From bJiss to bliss with endless pleasure rove,
Seek crystal streams, or haunt the vernal grove,
Woods, fountains, lakes, the fertile fields, ov
shades,
Aeriel mountains, or subjacent glades*
There from the polish'd fetters of the great
Triumphal piles, and gilded rooms of state;
Prime ministers, and sycophantic knaves,
Illustrious villains, and illustrious slaves!
From all the vain formality of fools,
And odious task of arbitrary rules;
The ruffling cares which the vex'd soul annoy,
The wealth the rich possess, but not enjoy,
The visionary bliss the world can lend,
The insidious foe, and false designing friend,
The seven-fold fury of Xantippe's soul,
And S - 's rage that burns without controul ;
I'd live retir'd, contented, and serene,
Forgot, unknown, imeim'd and unseen.
THE POLAR STAR.
Yet not a real hermitage I'd choose,
Nor wish to live from all the world recluse ;
But with a friend sometimes unbend the soul
In social converse, o'er the sprightly bowl.
With cheerful W , serene and wisely gay,
I'd often pass the dancing hours away :
He skill'd alike to profit and to please,
Politely talks with unaffected ease ;
Sage in debate, and faithful to his trust,
Mature in science, arid severely just;
Of soul diffusive, vast and unconfin'd,
Breathing benevolence to all mankind;
Cautious to censure, ready to commend,
A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted friend :
In early youth fair wisdom's paths he trod,
In early youth a minister of God:
Each pupil lov'd him when at Yale he shone,
And ev'ry bleeding bosom weeps him gone.
Dear A too, should grace my rural seat,
Forever welcome to the green retreat :
Heav'n for the cause of righteousness designed,
His florid genius, and capacious mind.
Oft have I heard, amidst th' adoring ihrong,
Celestial truths devolving from his tongue ;
High o'er the list'ning audience seen him stand 7
Divinely speak, and graceful stretch his hand :
\Vith such becoming grace and pompous sound,.
With long-rob'd senators encircled round,
T 2
228 THE POLAR STAR*
Before the Roman bar, while Home was free>
Norbow'd to Csesar's throne the servile knee^
Immortal Tully plead the patriot cause,
"While ev'ry tongue resounded his applause.
Next round my board should candid S appear 9
Of manners gentle, and a friend sincere,
Averse to discord, party-rage and strife,
He sails serenely down the stream of life.
With these three friends 9 beneath a spreading
shade,
Where silt er fountains murmur thro* the glade |
Or in cool grots* perfum'd with native flovv'rs,
In harmless mirth I'd spend the circling hours $
Or gravely talk, or innocently sing,
Or, in harmonious concert, strike the trembling
string.
Amid scquester'd bow'rs, near gliding streanis>
Druids and Bards enjoyed serenest dreams.
Such was the seat where courtly Horace sung?
And his bold harp immortal Maro strung :
Where tuneful Orpheus* unresisted lay,
Made rapid tygers bear their rage away ;
While groves attentive to th* extatic sound
Burst from the roots, and raptur'd, danc'd around
Such seats the venerable Seers of old
(When blissful years in golden circles rolPd)
Chose and admir'd : e'en Goddesses and Gods
(As poets feign) were fond of .such abodes
THE POLAR STAH.
Th* imperial consort of fictitious Jove
For fount full Me forsor-k the realms above.
Oft' to Iclalia on a golden cloud,
Veil'd in a mist of fragrance, Venus rode ;
There num'rous altars to the queen were rear'd,
And love-sick youths their am'rous vows prefer ? d,
While fair-hair'd damsels (a lascivious train)
With wanton rites ador'd her gentle reign*
The silver-shafted Huntress of the woods,
Sought pendant shades, and bath'd in cooling
floods.
In palmy Delos, by Scamander's side,
Or where Cajister rolPd his silver tide,
Melodious Phoebus sang ; the muses round
Alternate warbling to the heav'nly sound.
E'en the feign'd monarch of heavVs bright abode,
High throned in gold, of Gods the sov'reign God,
Oft' time preferred the shade of Ma's grove
To all th' ambrosial feasts, and nectar'd cups
above.
Behold, the resy-finger'd morning dawn,
In saffron rob'd, and blushing o'er the lawn;
Reflected from the clouds, a radiant stream
Tips with etherial due the mountain's brim.
Th> unfolding roses, and the opening jftow'rs
Imbibe the due, and strew the varied bow'rs,
Diffuse nectareous sweets around, and glow
With all the colours of the show'ry bow.
230 THE POLAR STAR.
Th 5 industrious bees their balmy toil renew,
Buzz o'er the field, and sip the rosy dew.
But yonder comes th ? illustrious God of day,
Invests the east, and gilds th* etherial way ;
The groves rejoice, the feather' d nations sing,
Echo the mountains and the vallies ring.
Hail Orb ! arrayed with majesty and fire,
That bids each sable shade of night retire !
Fountain of light ! with burning glory crown'd,
Darting a deluge of effulgence round !
"Wak'd by thy genial and prolific ray,
Nature resumes her verdure, and looks gay :
Fresh blooms the rose, the drooping plants re-
vive,
The groves reflourish, and the forests live.
Deep in the teeming earth, the rip'ning ore
Confesses thy consolidating pow'r :
Hence labour draws her tools, and artists mould
The fusile silver and the ductile gold :
Hence war is furnish'd and the regal shield
Like lightning flashes o'er th* ill umin*d field.
If thou so fair with delegated light,
That all heav'n's splendors vanish at thy sight ;
"With what effulgence must the ocean glow !
From which thy borrow'd beams incessant flow !
Th* exhaustless source, whose single smile sup-
plies,
Th* unnumber'd orbs that gild the spangled skies f
THE POLAR STAR.
Oft* would 1 view, in admiration lost,
HeavVs sumptuous canopy, and starry host }
With level'd tube, and astronomic eye,
Pursue the planets whirling thro* the sky ;
Immeasurable vault ! where thunders roll,
And forky lightnings flash from pole to pole.
Say, railing infidel ! canst thou survey
Yon globe of fire, that gives the golden day,
Th' harmonious structure of this vast machine,
And not confess its architect divine ?
Then go, vain wretch ! tho' deathless be thy soulj
Go, swell the riot, and exhaust the bowl ;
Plunge into vice, humanity resign,
Go, fill the stie, and bristle into swine !
None but a pow'r omnipotent and wise
Could frame this earth, or spread the boundless
skies !
He made the whole ; at his omnific call *}
From formless chaos rose this spacious ball, $>
And one Almighty God is seen in all. J
By him pur cup is crown'd our table spread
"With luscious wine, and life- sustaining bread.
"What countless wonders doth the earth contain !
What countless wonders the unfathom'd main !
"Bedrop'd with gold, there scaly nations shine,
Haunt coral groves, or lash the foaming brine.
Jehovah's glories blaze all nature round,
In heaven* on earth, and in the deeps profound ;
232 THE FO!AR STAR.
Ambitious of his name, the warblers sing,
And praise their maker while they hail the
spring :
The zephyrs breathe it, and the thunders roar,
While surge to surge, and shore resounds to shore-
But man, endu'd with an immortal mind,
His maker's image, and for heaven design'd!
To loftier notes his raptur'd voice should raise,
And chant sublimer hymns to his creator's
praise.
"When rising Phoebus ushers in the morn,
And golden beams th' impurpled skies adorn :
"Wak'd by the gentle murmur of the floods,
Or the soft music of the waving woods ;
Rising from sleep with the melodious quire,
To solemn sounds Pd tune the hallow'd lyre.
Thy name, O God ! should tremble on my tongue,
Till ev'ry grove prov'd vocal to my song :
(Delightful task ! with dawning light to sing,
Triumphant hymns to heavVs eternal king.)
Some courteous angel should my breast, inspire,
Attune my lips, and guide the warbled wire,
While sportive echoes catch the sacred sound,
Swell ev'ry note, and bear the music round ;
"While mazy streams meand'ring to the main
Hang in suspense to hear the heav'nly strain,
And hush'd to silence, all the feather'd throng,
Attentive listen to the tuneful song.
THE POLAR STAB. 233
Father of light ! exhaustless source of good !
Supreme, eternal, self-existent God !
Before the beamy sun dispensed a ray,
Flain'd in the azure vault, and gave the day ;
Before the glimm'ring moon, with borrowed light,
Shone queen amid the silver host of night ;
High in the heav'ns, thou reign'dst superior lord,
By suppliant angels worshiped and ador'd.
With the celestial choir then let me join
In cheerful praises to the pow'r divine.
To sing thy praise, do thou, O God ! inspire
A mortal breast with more than mortal fire ;
In dreadful majesty thou sit'st enthroned,
"With light encircled, and with glory crown'd ;
Thro' all infinitude extends thy reign,
For thee, nor heav'n, nor heav'n of heav'ns con-
tain ;
But tho' thy throne is fix'd above the sky,
Thy omnipresence fills immensity.
Saints rob'd in white, to thee their anthems
bring,
And radiant martyrs hallelujahs sing :
Heaven's universal host their voices raise
In one eternal chorus, to thy praise ;
And round thy awful throne, with one accord,
Sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord.
At thy creative voice, from ancient night,
Sprang smiling beauty, and yon worlds of light:
THE P011K STAR.
Thou spak'st the planetary chorus roll'd,
And all th' expanse, was starr'd with beamy gold ;
Let there leiight, said God, Lightinstant shone,
And from the orient, burst the golden sun ;
Heav'n's gazing hierarchies, with glad surprise,
Saw the first inorn invest the recent skies,
And strait th' exulting troops thy throne sur-
round
With thousand thousand harps of heav'nly sound:
Thrones, powers, dominions, (ever shining
trains !)
Shouted thy praises in triumphant strains :
Great are thy worl$s 9 they sing, and, all around,
Great are thy works, the echoing heav'ns resound.
The effulgent sun, insufferably bright,
Is but a beam of thy o'erflowing light ;
The tempest is thy breath : the thunder hurPd,
Tremendous roars thy vengeance o'er the world ;
Thou bow'st the heav'ns, the smoking moun-
tains nod,
Rocks fall to dust, and nature owns her God ;
Pale tyrants shrink, the atheist stands aghast,
And impious kings in horror breath their last.
To this great God alternately Fd pay
The evening anthem, and the morning lay.
For sovereign gold I never would repine,
Nor wish the glittering dust of monarchs mine*
What though high columns heave into the skiesy
Gay ceilings shine, and vaulted arches rise $
THE POLAR STAE.
Tho' fretted gold the sculptured roof adorn,
The rubies redden, and the jaspers burn !
Or what, alas 1 avails the gay attire
To wretched man, \vho breathes but to expire !
O1V on the vilest, riches are bestow'd,
To shew their meanness in the sight of God.
High from a dung-hill, see a Dives rise,
And Titan-like, insult th* avenging skies :
The crowd, in adulation calls him Lord,
By thousands courted, flattered, and ador'd :
In riot plung'd, and drunk with earthly joys,
No higher thought his grov'ling soul employs 5
The poor he scourges with an iron rod,
And from his bosom banishes his God.
But oft* in height of wealth and beauty's bloom,
Deluded man, is fated to the tomb !
For, lo I he sickens, swift his colour flies,
And rising mists obscure his swimming eyes :
Around hife bed his weeping friends bemoan,
Extort th' unwilling tear, and wish him gone ;
His sorrowing heir augments the tender show'r,
Deplores his death yet hails the dying hour.
Ah bitter comfort ! Sad relief to die !
Tho' sunk in down, beneath the canopy !
His eyes no more shall see the cheerful light,
"Weigh'd down by death in everlasting night :
And now the great, the rich, the proud, the gay,
Lie breathless, cold unanimated clay !
He that just now was flatter'd by the crowd,
With high applause, and acclamations loud 5
236 THE POJLAR STAR.
That steel'd his bosom to the orphan's cries,
And drew down torrents from the widow's eyes)
"Whom like a God the rabble did adore
Regard him now and, lo ! he is no more.
My eyes no dazzling vestments should behold
With gems instarr'd, and stiff with woven gold;
But the tall ram his downy fleece afford
To clothe, in modest garb, his frugal lord.
Thus the great father of mankind was drest,
"When shaggy hides compos'd his flowing vest ;
Doom'd to the cumb'rous load, for his offence,
When clothes supply'd the want of innocence :
But now his sons (forgetful whence they came)
Glitter in gems, and glory in their shame.
Oft' would I wander thro' the dewy field,
Where clust'ring roses balmy fragrance yield;
Or in lone grots, for contemplation made,
Converse with angels and the mighty dead :
For all around unnumber'd spir its fly,
Waft on the breeze, or walk the liquid sky,
Inspire the poet with repeated dreams,
Who gives his hallo w'd muse to sacred themes^
Protect the just, serene their gloomy hours,
Becalm their slumbers, and refresh their pow'rs.
Methinks I see th* immortal beings fly,
And swiftly shoot athwart the streaming sky:
Hark ! a melodious voice 1 seem to hear,
And heav'nly sounds invade my list'ningear f
THE POLAR STAR.
Be not afraid of us, innoxious band,
Thy cell surrounding by divine command ;
" E'er while like thee, we led our lives below,
" (Sad lives of pain, of misery and woe !)
Long by affliction's boistVous tempests tost,
" We reachM at length the ever blissful coast:
" Now in th* embow'ring groves, and lawns
above,
We taste the raptures of immortal love,
66 Attune the golden harp in roseate bow'rs,
Or bind our temples with unfading flow'rs.
" Oft 5 on kind errands bent, we cut the air,
To guard the righteous, heavVs peculiar care !
Avert impending harms, their minds compose
*< Inspire gay dreams, and prompt their soft re-
pose.
" When from thy tongue divine hosannas roll,
" And sacred raptures swell thy rising soul,
" To heav'n we bear thy pray'rs like rich per-
fumes,
" Where, by the throne, the golden censer fumes
" And when with age thy head is silver'd o*er,
" And cold in death, thy bosom beats no more,
<* Thy soul exulting shall desert its clay,
And mount, triumphant, to eternal day."
But to improve the intellectual mind,
Reading should be to contemplation join'd*
First I'd collect from the Parnassian spring,
What muses dictate, and what poets sing.
238 TUB POLAR STAR.
Virgil, as prince, shou'd wear the laurel'd
crown.
And other bards pay homage to his throne $
The blood of heroes now effus'd so long,
"Will run forever purple thro' his song.
See ! how he mounts toward the blest abodes*
On planets rides, and talks with demi-gods !
How do our ravish'd spirits melt away,
When in his song Sicilian shepherds play !
But what a splendor strikes the dazzled eye*
"When 'Dido shines in awful majesty !
Embroidered purple clad the Tyriaii queen.
Her motion graceful, and august her mien ^
A golden zone her royal limbs embraced,
A golden quiver rattled by her waist.
See her proud steed majestically prance,
Contemn the trumpet, and deride the lance t
In crimson trappings, glorious to behold,
Confusedly gay with interwoven gold !
He champs the bitt, and throws the foam around,
Impatient paws, and tears the solid ground.
How stern jEneas thunders thro' the field!
With tow'ring helmet, and refulgentjfshield !
Coursers o'erturn'd, and mighty warriors slain,
'Deform'd with gore, lie weltering on the plain.
Struck thro' with wounds* ill-fated chieftains lie,.
Frown e'en in death, and threaten as they die.
Thro' the thick squadrons see the hero bound !
fjlis helmet Hashes, and his arms resound I)
THE POtAK STAR.
All grim with rage, he frown s o'er Turnus* head,
(Rekindled ire ! for blooming Pallas dead !)
Then in his bosom plung'd the shining blade !
The soul indignant sought the Stygian shade !
The far fani'd bards that grac'd Britannia's isle,
Should next compose the venerable pile.
Great Milton first, for towering thought renown'd.
Parent of song, and fam'd the world around !
His glowing breast divine Urania fir'd,
Or GOD himself th' immortal bard inspired.
Borne on triumphant wings he takes his flight,
Explores all heaven, and treads the realms of
light:
In martial pomp he clothes the angelic train,
While warring myriads shake th* ethenul plain.
First Michael stalks, high towering o'er the rest
"With heav'nly plumage nodding on his crest :
Impenetrable arms his limbs infold,
Eternal adamant, and burning gold !
Sparkling in fiery mail, with dire deligh| ?
Rebellious Satan animates the fight :
Armipotent they sink in rolling smoke,
All heav'n resounding to its centre shook.
To crush his foes, and quell the dire alarms
Messiah sparkled in refulgent arms,
In radiant panoply divinely bright
His limbs incas'd, he flashed devouring light :
On burning wheels, o'er heav'ns crystaline road!
Thunder'd the chariot of thejilial God $
40 THE FOLAK STAR.
The burning wheels on golden axles turn'd*
With flaming gems the golden axles burn'd.
Lo i the apostate host, with terror struck,
Eoll back by millions I Th' empyrean shook I
Sceptres, and orbit shields, and crowns of gold>
Cherubs and seraphs in confusion rolPd ;
Till from his hand the triple thunder huri'd,
Cotupeird them, headlong, to th* infernal world*
Then tuneful Pope, whom i^ll the nine inspire*
"With saphic sweetness, and pindaric lire.
Father of verse ! melodious and divine !
Next peerless Milton shou'd dtstinguish'd shine*
Smooth flow numbers whej, he paints the grove,
Th* inraptur'd virgins listing into Jove.
But when the night, and hoarse resounding
storm
Rush on the deep, and Neptune's face deform,
Rough runs the verse, the son'rous numbers roar
Like the hoarse surge that thunders on the
shore.
But when lie sings th' exh He rated swains,
Tli" emhofc'nng groves, and Windsor's blissful
plains,
Our eyes are ravish'd with the sylvan scene,
I mbroidev'd fio'ds, and groves in living green i
His lays the verdure of the meads prolong,
And v/ither'd forests blossom in his song.
Thame's silver streams his flowing verse admire*
And ecasc to murmur while he tunes his lyre.
THE P01AK STAK. 241
Next shou'd appear great Dryden's lofty muse*
For who would Dryden's polish'd verse refuse ?
His lips were moist'ned in Parnassus' spring,
And Phoebus taught his laureat son to sing.
How long did Virgil untranslated moan,
His beauties fading, and his flights unknown;
Till Dryden rose, and, in exalted strain,
He-sang the fortune of the god-like man ?
Again the Trojan prince, with dire delight,
Dreadful in arms, demands the lingering fight :
Again Camilla glows with martial fire,
Drives armies back, and makes all Troy retire.
With more than native lus|re, Virgil shines,
And gains sublimer heights in Dry den's lines.
The gentle Watts who strings his silver lyre
To saered odes, and heav'n's all-ruling fire ;
Who scorns th' applause of the licentious stage,
And mounts yon* sparkling worlds with hallow'd
rage,
Compels my thoughts to wing the heav'nly road.
And wafts my soul, exulting, to iny God ;
No fabled Nine, harmonious bard ! inspire
Thy rapt.ur'd breast with such seraphic fire ;
But prompting Angels warm thy boundless rage*
Direct thy thoughts, and animate thy page*
Blest man ! for spotless sanctity rever'd,
LovM by the good, and by the guilty fear'd:
THE POLAtt STAB*
Blest man ! from gay delusive scenes remov'tf*
Thy maker loving, by thy maker lov'd,
To God Ihou turn'st fhy consecrated lays,
Nor meanly blush to sing Jehovah's praise.
Oh ! did, like thee, each laurel'd bard delight
To paint religion in her native light,
Not then with plays the laboring press would
groan,
Nor vice defy the pulpit and the throne ;
No impious rhymers charm a vicious age,
Nor prostrate virtue groan beneath their rage :
But themes divine in lofty numbers rise,
Fill the wide earth, jjnd echo thro 9 the skies.
These for delight ;-*for profit I would read
The laboured volumes of the learned dead.
Sagacious Locke, by Providence designed
T' exalt, instruct, and rectify the mind.
r P unconquerable Sage* whom virtue fiVdj
And from the tyrant's lawless rage retir'
When victor Csesar freed unhappy Rome
From Pompey's chains, to substitute his OWE,
Longinus,Livy, fam'd Thueydides,
Quintillian, Plato, and Demosthenes^
Persuasive TuHy, and Corduba's sage,j
Who fell by Nero's unrelenting rage ;
Him} whom ungrateful Athens doomed to bleed.
Despis'd when living, and deplor'd when dead.
* Cato. Seneca. ^ Socrates.
THE POLAR STAR.
Raleigh I'd read with ever fresh delight,
While ages past rise present to my sight :
Ah man unblest ! he foreign realms explored?
Then fell a victim to his country's sword !
Nor should great Derham pass neglected by, "}
Observant sage ! to whose deep-piercing eye ^
Nature's stupendous works expanded lie. J
Nor he, Britannia, thy unmatched renown !
(Adjudged to wear the philosophic crown)
Who on the solar orb uplifted rode,
And scan'd th' unfathomable works of God !
Who bound the silver planets to their spheres,
And tvac'd th* elliptic curve of blazing stars !
Immortal Newton ; whose illustrious name
Will shine on records of eternal fame.
By love directed, I wou'd choose a wife,
T* improve my bliss and ease the load of life.
Hail Wedlock ! hail, inviolable tye !
Perpetual fountain of domestic joy !
Love, friendship, honour, truth, and pure delight
Harmonious mingle in the nuptial rite.
In Eden first the holy state began,
When perfect innocence distinguished man;
The human pair, th' Almighty Pontiff led,
Gay as the morning, to the bridal bed ;
A dread solemnity th 9 espousals graced,
Angels the witnesses, and God the priest !
AH earth exulted on the nuptial hour,
And voluntary roses deek'd the bow'r |
THE POLAR STAR.
The joyous birds on ev'ry blossomed spray*
Sung Hymeneans to th' important day,
While Philomela swell'd the spousal song,
And Paradise with gratulation rung.
Relate, inspiring muse ! where shall I find
A blooming virgin with an angel mind ?
Unblemish'd as the white-rob'd virgin quire
That fed, O Rome / thy consecrated fire I
By reason aw'd, ambitious to be good,
Averse to vice, and zealous for her God I
Relate, in what blest region can I find
Such bright perfections in a female mind ?
What Phw nix- woman breaths the vital air
So greatly good, and so divinely fair?
Sure, not the gay and fashionable train,
Licentious, proud, immoral, and profane;
Who spend their golden hours in antic dress,
Malicious whispers, and inglorious ease.
Lo ! round the board a shining train appears
In rosy beauty, and in prime of years!
This hates a flounce, and this a flounce approves,
This shews the trophies of her former loves ;
Polly avers that Sylvia drest in green,
When last at church the gaudy Nymph was seen
Chloe condems her optics, and will lay
'Twas azure sattin, interstreak'd with grey ;
Lucy invested with judical pow'r,
'twas neither and the strife is o'er.
THE POLAR STAR.
Then parrots, lap-dogs, monkeys, squirrels,
beaux,
Fans, ribbands, tuckers, patches, furbeloes,
In quick succession, thro' their fancies run,
And dance incessant on the flippant tongue.
And when fatigu'd with ev'ry other sport,
The belles prepare to grace the sacred court,
They marshal all their forces in array,
To kill with glances and destroy in play.
Two skilful maids with reverential fear
In wanton wreaths collect their silken hair;
Two paint their cheeks, and round their temples
pour
The fragrant unguent, and th' ambrosial shower;
One pulls the shape-creating stays and one
Encircles round her waist the golden zone ;
Not with more toil t' improve immortal charms,
Strove Juno, Venus, and the Qiieen of JLrms.
When Priam's sons adjudg'd the golden prize,
To the resistless beauty of the skies.
At length equip'd in love's enticing arms,
With all that glitters and with all that charms,
Th' ideal goddesses to church repair,
Peep thro' the fan and mutter o'er a pray'r,
Or listen to the organ's pompous sound,
Or eye the gilded images around ;
Or, deeply studied in coquettish rules,
Aim wily glances at unthinking fools;
Or shew the lily hand with graceful air,
Or wound the fopling with a lock of hair :
246 THE POIAK STAB.
And when the hated discipline is o'er,
And misses tortur'd with repent no more,
They mount .the pictured coach, and to the play*
The celebrated idols hie away.
Not so the lass that shou'd iny joys improve,
With solid friendship, and connubial love :
A native bloom, with intermingled white,
Should set her features in a pleasing light ;
Like Helen flushing with unrival'd charms,
"When raptur'd Paris darted in her arms.
But what, alas ! avails a ruby cheek,
A downy bosom, or a snowy neck !
Charms ill supply the want of innocence,
Nor beauty forms intrinsic excellence ;
But in her breast let moral beauties shine,
Supernal grace and purity divine :
Sublime her reason, and her native wit
Unstrain'd with pedantry, and low conceit :
Her fancy lively, and her judgment free
From female prejudice and bigotry :
Averse to idle pomp, and outward show,
The flatt'ring coxcomb, and fantastic beau.
The fop's impertinence she should despise,
Tho* sorely wounded by her radiant eyes ;
But pay due reverence th' exalted mind
By learning polish'd, and by wit retin'd,
Who all her virtues, without guile, commends*
And all her faults as freely reprehends.
THE POIAR STAR*
Soft Hymen's rites her passion should approve,
And in her bosom glow the flames of love:
To me her soul, by sacred friendship, turn,
And I, for her, with equal friendship burn :
In ev'ry stage of life afford relief,
Partake my joys, and sympathize my grief;
Unshaken, walk in virtue's peaceful road,
Nor bribe her reason to pursue the mode ;
Mild as the saint whose errors are forgiv'n,
Calm as a vestal, and composed as heav'n.
This be the partner, this the lovely wife
That should embellish and prolong my life ;
A nymph ! who might a second fall inspire,
And fill a glowing Cherub with desire,!
With her Pd spend the pleasurable day,
While fleeting minutes gayly danc'd away :
With her Pd walk delighted, o'er the green,
Thro' ev'ry blooming mead, and rural scene,
Or sit in open fields damask'd with flowr's,
Or where cool shades imbrown the noon-tide
bow'rs,
Imparadis'd within my eager arms,
Pd reign the happy monarch of her charms;
Oft* on her panting bosom would I lay,
And, in dissolving raptures, melt away ;
Then luil'd, by nightingales, to balmy rest,
My blooming fair shou'd slumber at my breast.
And when decriped age (frail mortal's doom !)
Should bend my wither'd body to the tomb,
THE TOLAll STAK.
N"o warbling Syrens should retard my flight
To heav'nly mansions of unclouded light.
Tho' death with his imperial horrors erown'd*
Terrific grinn'd, and formidably frown'd,
Offences pardon'd and remitted sin,
Should form a calm serenity within :
Blessing my n*tal and my mortal hour,
(My soul committed to th* eternal pow'r)
Inexorable Death should smile, for I
"Wiio knew to LIVE, would never fear to DIE.
Learning a necessary accomplishment in a woman
of quality or for tune.
I.I HAVE often wondered that learning is not
thought w. pro :*< r ingredient in the education of a
^\' man of cjci-^Hy or fortune. Since they have
the ^ame improvable minds as the male part of
the sper'ies, w!f* liould they not be cultivated by
the s'-i.me method? why should reason be left to
itsf-H'in one of t\*r* sexes, and be disciplined with
so nnjch care to the other ?
2. There are some reasons why learning seems
more ; adiipled to the female wor'd than to the
male. As in the first place, because they have
more svure time upon their hands, and lead a
move sedentary life. Their employments are of
THE rOLAB STAR. 249
a domestic nature, and ryit like those oF the oth-
er sex, which are often inconsistent with study
and contemplation.
3. The excellent lady, the lady Lizard, in the
space of one summer furnished a gallery with
chairs and couches of her own and her daugh-
ters' working; and at the same time heard ail
Dr. THiotsou's sermons twice over. It is always
the custom for one of the young ladies to read,
while the others are at work ; so that the learn-
ing of the family is not at all prejudicial to its
manufacturers.
4. I was mightily pleased the other day to find
them all husy in preserving several fruits of the
season, with the Sparkler in the midst of them,
reading over < The plurality of worlds.' It was
very entertaining to me to see them dividing their
speculations between jellies and stars, and ma-
king a sudden transition from the sun to an apri-
cot, or from the Copernican system to the figure
of a cheese cake.
5. A second reason why women should apply
themselves to useful knowledge rather than men,
is because they have that natural gift of speech
in greater perfection. Since they have so ex-
cellent a talent, such a Copia Verlorum, or plen-
ty of words, it is pity they should not put it to
some use. If the female tongue will be in mo~
tion, why should it not be set to go right? Could
250 THE POLAR STAK.
ihey discourse about the spots in the sun, it might
divert them from publishing the faults of their
neighbors: could they talk of the different as-
pects and conjunctions of the planets, they need
not be at the pains to comment upon oglings and
clandestine marriages. In short, were they fur-
nished with matters of fact, out of arts and sci-
ences, it would now and then be of great ease to
their invention.
6. There is another reason why those, espe
cially who are women of quality, should apply
themselves to letters, namely,, because their hus-
bands are generally strangers to them. It is great
pity there should be no knowledge in a family.
For my own part, I am concerned when I go into
a great house, where perhaps there is not a sin-
gle person that can spell, unless it be by chance
the butler, or one of the footmen. TVhat a fig-
ure is the young heir likely to make, who is a
dunce both by father and mother's side ?
7. If we look into the histories of famous wo-
men, we find many eminent philosophers of this
sex. Nay, we find that several females have dis-
tinguished themselves in those sects of philoso-
phy which seem almost repugnant to their na-
tures. There have been famous female Pytha-
goreans, notwithstanding most of that philosophy
consisted in keeping a secret, and that the disci-
ple was to hold her tongue five years together*
THE POiAR STAK. 251
8. Learning and knowledge are perfections ia
us, not as we are men, but as we are reasonable
creatures, in wbich order of beings the female
world is upon the same level with the male. We
ought to consider in this particular, not what is
the sex, but what is the species to which they be-
long. At least, I- believe every one will allow
me, that a female philosopher is not so absurd a
character and so opposite to the sex, as a female
gamester; and that it is more irrational for a
woman to pass away half a dozen hours at cards
or dice, than in getting up stores of useful learn-
ing.
9. This therefore is another reason why I
would recommend the studies of knowledge to
the female world, that they may not be at a loss
how to employ those hours that lie upon their
bands.
10. I might also add this motive to my fair
readers, that several of their sex, who have im-
proved their minds by honks and literature, have
raised themselves to the highest posts of honour
and fortune. A neighbouring nation may at this
time furnish us with a very remarkable instance
of this kind ; but I shall conclude this head with
the history of Athenais, which is a very signal
example to my present purpose.
11. The emneror Tkeodosius b?ing about the
age of one-and- twenty, and designing to take a
THE POLAE STAB,
wife, desired his sister Puleheria and his friend
Paulinus to search his whole empire for a woman
of the most exquisite beauty and highest accom-
plishments. In the midst of this search, Athe-
nars, a grecian virgin, accidentally offered herself*
Her father, who was an eminent philosopher of
Athens, and had bred her up in all the learning
of that place, at his death left her but a very
small portion, in which also she suffered great
hardships from the in justice of her two brothers.
12. This forced her upon a journey to Con-
stantinople, where she had a relation who repre-
sented her case to Pulcheria, in order to obtain,
some redress from the emperor. By this means
that religious princess became acquainted with
Athenais, whom she found the most beautiful
woman, of her age* and educated under a long^
course of philosophy in the strictest virtue and
most unspotted innocence.
13. Pulcheria was charmed with her conver-
sation, and immediately made her report to the
emperor her brother Theodosius. The charac-
ter she gave made such an impression on him,
that he desired his sister to bring her away im-
mediately to the lodgings of his friend Paulinus,
where lie found her beauty and her conversation
feeyowid the highest idea he had framed of them.
14. His friend Paulinus converted her to
and gave her the name of Eudosia |
THE POLAR STAR. 2%}
after which the emperor publicly espoused her,
and enjoyed all the happiness in his marriage
which he promised himself from such a virtuous
and learned bride. She not only forgave the
injuries which her two brothers had done her,
but raised them to great honours ; and by seve-
ral works of learning, as well as by an exem-
plary life, made herself so dear to the whole
empire, that she had many statues erected to hep
memory, and is celebrated by the fathers of the
church as an ornament of her sex.
$. life of virtue preferable to a life of pleasure?
exemplified in the choice of Hercules.
1. WHEN Hercules, says the divine Prodiews,
was in that part of his youth, in which it was
natural far him to consider what course of life
he ought to pursue, he one day retired into a de-
sert, where the silence and solitude of the place
very mueh favoured his meditations.
2. As he was musing on his present condition,
and very much perplexed in himself on the state
of life ho should choose, he saw two women of a
larger stature than ordinary approaching to-
wards him. One of them had a very noble air
and graceful deportment ; her beauty was natu-
ral and easy ; her person clean and unspotted;
25 i THE POLAR STAR,
her eyes cast towards the ground, with an agree-
able reserve; her motion and behaviour full of
modesty; and her raiment as white as snow.
3. The other had a great deal of health and
floriclness in her countenance, which she had
helped with an artificial white and red, and endea-
voured to appear more graceful than ordinary in
her mein, by a mixture of affectation in all her
gestures. She had a wonderful confidence and
assurance in her looks, and all the variety of co-
lours in her dress that she thought were the
most proper to show her complexion to an ad-
vantage. She cast her eyes upon herself, then
turned them on those that were present to see
how they liked her, and often looked on the
figure she made in her own shadow.
4. Upon her nearer approach to Hercules, she
stepped before the other lady, who came for-
ward with a regular composed carriage, and
running up to him, accosted him, after the fol-
lowing manner.
5. My dear Hercules, says she, I find you
are very much divided in jour own thoughts up-
on the way of life that you ought to chuse : be
my friend and fol'ow me; I will lead you into
the possession of pleasure and out of the reach
of pain, and remove you from ul I the noise and
disquietude of business. The affairs of either
war or peace shall have no power to disturb you.
THE POLAR STAR. 255
Your whole employment shall be to make your
life easy, and to entertain every sense with its
proper gratifications. Sumptuous tables, beds of
roses, clouds of perfumes, concerts of music,
crowds of beauties, are all inreadiness to receive
you. Come along with me into this region of
delights, this world of pleasure, and bid fare-
well for ever to care, to pain, and to busi-
ness.
6. Hercules hearing the lady talk after this
manner, desired to know her name ; to which
she answered, my friends, and those who are well
acquainted with me, call me Happiness ; but my
enemies, and those who would injure my reputa-
tion, have given me the name of Pleasure.
7. By this time the other lady was come up,
who addressed herself to the young hero in a
very different manner.
Hercules, says she, I offer myself to you, be-
cause I know you are descended from the gods,
and give proofs of that descent by your love to
virtue, and application to the studies proper to
your age. Tbis makes me liope you will gain
both for yourself and me an immortal reputa-
tion. But before I invite you into my society
and friendship, I will be open and sincere with
you, and must lay down this as an established
trutb, that there is nothing truly valuable which
can be purchased without pains and labour,
256 THE POLAR STAR.
8. The Gods have set a price upon every real
and noble pleasure. If you would gain the fa-
vour of the Deity, you must he at the pains of
worshipping him ; if the friendship of good men,
you must study to oblige them ; if you would be
honoured by your country, you must take care
to serve it. In short, if you would be eminent
in war or peace, you must become master of all
the qualifications that can make you so. These
are the only terms and conditions upon which I
can propose happiness. The goddess of pleasure
here broke in upon her discourse :
9. You see, said she, Hercules, by her own
confession, the way to her pleasure is long and
difficult, whereas that which I propose is short
and easy. Alas ! said the other lady, whose
visage glowed with a passion made up of scorn
and pity, what are the* pleasures you propose?
To cat before you are hungry, drink before you
are thirsty, sleep before you are tired, to gratify
appetites before they are raised, and raise such
appetites as nature never planted.
10. You never heard the most delicious music,
which is the praise of one's self, nor saw the
most beautiful object, which is the work of one's
own hands. Your votaries pass away their youth
in a drearn of mistaken pleasures, while they
are hoarding up anguish, torment, and remorse
for old age.
THE Pf^AR STAR. 257
11. As for me, I ani a friend of the gods and
of good men, an agreeable cortimmion to the ar-
tisan, a houshold guardian to the fathers of fami-
lies, a patron and protector of servants, an asso-
ciate in all (rue and generous friendships. The
banquets of my votaries are never costly, hut al-
\va\s delicious; for none eat or drink at them
\vJo are .not invited by hunger and (hirst. Their
slumbers are sound* and their wakings cheerful.
12. My young men have the pleasure of hear-
ing themselves praised by those who are in years,
of being honoured by those who are young. In
a wo*d. my followers are favoured by the gods,
beloved by their acquaintance, esteemed by their
country, and after the close of their labours,
honoured by posterity.
1.5. We know by the life of this memorable
hero, to which of these two ladies he gave up his
heart ; and I believe, every one who rends this,
\vi!) do him the justice to approve his choice.
li. I very much admire the speeches of these
ladies, as containing in them the chief arguments
for a life of virtue, or a life of pleasure, that
could enter into the thoughts of an heathen : but
am particularly pleased with the different figures
he gives the two goddesses. Our modern au-
thors have represented pleasure or vice with an
alluring face, but ending in snakes and monsters:
here she appears in ail the charms of beauty.
258 THE POLAR STAR.
though they are all false and borrowed ; and by
that means composes a vision entirely natural
and pleasing.
15. I have translated this allegory for the be-
nefit of the youth in general ; and particularly of
those who are still in the deplorable state of non-
existence* and whom 1 most earnestly intreat to
come into the world. Let my embryos shew the
least inclination to any single virtue, and I shall
allow it to be a struggling towards birth*
16. I do not expect of them that, like the hero
in the foregoing story, they should go about as
soon as they are born, with a club in their hands,
and a lion's skin on their shoulders, to root out
monsters and destroy tyrants ; but as the finest
author of all antiquity has said upon this very
occasion, though a man has not the abilities to
distinguish himself in the most shining parts of
a great character, he has certainly the capacity
of being just, faithful, modest, and temperate*
THE
FAMILY PHYSICIAN
Selected from the most emminent aulhorjjjn vari-
ous parts of the globe 9 of which Win. Buchan
is the chief. With preventatwes as well as
cure of diseases 9 with the most particular in-
structions in the administration of the differ-
ent medicines ; so that any person belonging to
the family may with the greatest safety admi-
nister any of the within medicine to any pa-
tient whatever.
TO PREVENT SICKNESS IS MUCH PRE-
FERABLE TO CUKE.
The best method of fortifying the body against
the changes of the weather, is to be abroad eve-
ry day. Those who keep most within doors are
most liable to catch cold* feud) persons general-
ly render themselves so delicate as to feel even
the slightest changes in the atmosphere, and by
their pains, coughs, and oppressions of the breast,
&c. they become a kind of living barometers.
Wet Clothes.
Wet clothes not only by their coldness ob-
struct the perspiration, but their moisture, by
being absorbed, or taken up into the body, great*
w
260 THE P01UR STAK.
]y increases the danger. The most robust con-
stitution is not proof against the danger arising
from wet clothes ; they daily occasion fevers,
rheumatisms, and other fatal disorders, even in
the young and healthy.
It is impossible for people who go frequently
abroad to avoid sometimes being wet. But the
danger might generally be lessened, if not wholly
prevented, by changing their clothes soon ; when
this cannot be done, they should keep in motion
till they be dry. So far are many from taking
this precaution, that they often sit or lie down
in the fields with their clothes wet, and fre-
quently sleep even whole nights in this condition.
The frequent instances which we have of the fa-
tal effects of this conduct, ought certainly to de-
ter others from being guilty of it.
Wet Feet.
Even wet feet occasion fatal diseases. The
tolic, inflammations of the breast and of the
bowels, the iliac passion, cholera tnorbus, &c.
are often occasioned by wet feet. Habit will,
no doubt, render this less dangerous ; but it ought,
as far as possible, to be avoided. The delicate,
and those who are not accustomed to have their
clothes or feet wet, should be peculiarly careful
in this respect.
THE POLAH STAK. 201
Night Jlir.
The perspiration is often obstructed by night
air; even in summer, this ought to be avoided.
The dews which fail plentifully after the hottest
day, make the night more dangerous than when
the weather is cool. Hence, in warm countries,
the evening dews ^are more hurtful than where
the climate is more temperate.
It is very agreeable after a warm day to be
abroad in the cool evening; but this is a plea-
sure to be avoided by all who value their health.
The effects of evening dews are gradual indeed,
and almost imperceptible ; but they are not the
less to be dreaded : we would therefore advise
travellers, labourers, and all who are much heat-
ed by day, carefully to avoid them. IVhen the
perspiration has been great, these become dan-
gerous in proportion. By not attending to this,
in flat marshy countries, where the exhalations
and dews are copious, labourers arc often seized
with intermitting fevers, quinseys, and other,
dangerous diseases.
Damp Beds.
Beds become damp either from their not be-
ing used, standing in damp houses, or in rooms
without fire. Nothing is more to be dreaded by
travellers than damp beds, ^which ace very etim-
THE POLAR
inon in all places where fuel Is scarce. When a
traveller, cold and wet, arrives tit an inn, he may
l>y means of a good fire, warm diluting liquor*
and a dry bed, have the perspiration restored;
but if he be put into a cold room, and laid on a
damp bed, it will be more obstructed, and the
worst consequences will ensue. Travellers
should avoid inns which are noted for damp beds,
as they would a house infected with the plague,
as no man, however robust, is proof against the
danger Arising from them.
But inns are not the only places where damp
beds are to be met with. Beds kept in private
families for the reception of strangers are often
equally dangerous. All kinds of linen and bed-
ding, when not frequently used, become damp.
How then is it possible that beds, which are not
slept in above two or three times a year, should
be safe? Nothing is more common than to hear
people complain of having caught cold by chang-
ing their bed. The reason is obvious : were
they careful never to sleep in a bed but what was
frequently use d, they would seldom find any ill
consequences from a change.
Nothing is more to be dreaded by a delicate
person when on a visit, than being laid in a bed
which is kept on purpose for strangers. That
ill judged piece of complaisance becomes a real
injury, All the bad consequences from this
TIMS ror, VR STAR. 263
quarter might easily be prevented in private fa-
milies, by causing their servants to sleep iq the
spare beds, and resign them to strangers- when
they come. In inns where the beds are used al-
most every night, nothing else is necessary than
to keep the rooms well seasoned by frequent
fires, and the linen dry*
That baneful custom said to be practised in
many inns, of damping sheets, and pressing them
in order to save washing, uud afterwards laying
them on the beds, ought, when discovered, to be
punished with the utmost severity. It is really
a species of murder, and will often prove as fa-
tal as poison or gun-shot. Indeed, no linen,
especially if it has been washed in winter, ought
to be used till it has been exposed for some time
to the fire ; nor is this operation less necessary
for linen washed in summer, provided it has Iain
by for any length of time. This caution is the
more needful, as gentlemen are often exceeding-
ly attentive to what they eat or drink at an inn,
yet pay no regard to a circumstance of much
more importance.*
* If a person suspccls that his bed is damp,
the simple- precaution of taking off the sheets and
lying in the blankets, with all, or most of his
clothes on, will prevent all the danger. I have
practised this for many years, and never have
been hurt by damp bi'ds, though no constitution?
without care* is proof against ilieir baneful influ-
ence.
#* THE POLAR STAR,
Damp Houyes.
Damp houses frequently produce the like ill
consequences; for this reason those who build
should be careful to choose a dry situation. A
house which stands on a damp marshy soil or
deep clay, will never be thoroughly dry. All
houses, unless where tF^e ground is exceeding
dry, should have the first floor a little raised..
Servants and others, who are obliged to live in
cellars and sunk stories, seldom continue long in
health ;. masters ought surely to pay some re-
gard to the health of their servants, as well a
to their own.
Nothing is more common than for people,
Hierely to avoid some trifling ineonvenieney, to
hazard their lives, by inhabiting a house almost
as soon as the masons, plasterers, c. have done
with it : such houses are not only dangerous
from their dampness, but likewise from the smell
of lime, paint, &e. The asthmas, consumptions,
and other diseases of the lungs, so incident to
people who work in these articles, are sufficient
proofs of their being unwholesome.
Rooms are often rendered damp by an unsea-
sonable piece of cleanliness ; I mean the pernici-
ous custom of washing them immediately before
company is put into them. Most people catch
oold, if they sit but a very short time in a room-
that has been lately washed ; the delicate ought
carefully to avoid such a situation, and even the
THE POI.AK STAR.
robust are not always proof against Us influ-
ence.*
Sudden transitions from Jieat to cold.
THE perspiration is frequently obstructed by
sudden transitions from beat to cold. Colds are
seldom caught, unless when people have been too
much heated. Heat rarities tbe blood, quickens
the circulation, and enereases the perspiration 5
but when these are suddenly checked, the conse-
quences must be bad. It is indeed impossible
for labourers not to be too hot upon some occa-
sions ; but it is generally in their power to let
themselves cool gradually, to put on their clothes
when they leave off work, to make choice efa
dry place to rest themselves in, and to avoid
sleeping in the open fields. These easy rules, if
observed, would often prevent fevers and other
fatal disorders.
It is very common for people, when hot, to
drink freely of eold water, or small liquors.
This conduct is extremely dangerous. Thirst
indeed is hard to bear, and the inclination to
gratify that appetite frequently gets the better
of reason, and makes us do what our judgment
disapproves. Every peasant, however, knows,
* People imagine if agoodjire is made in a
room after it has been washed, that there is no
danger from sitting in it; but they must give me
leave to say that this increases the danger. Tht
266 THE POLAR STAK.
if liis horse be permitted to drink his bellyful of
cold water after violent exercise, and be imme-
diately put into the stable, or suffered to remain
at rest, that it will kill him. This they take
the utmost care to prevent. It were well if they
were equally attentive to their own safety.
Thirst may be quenched many ways without
swallowing large quantities of cold liquor.
The iields afford variety of acid fruits and
plants, the very chewing of which would abate
thirst. Water kept in the mouth for some time,
and spit out again, if frequently repeated, will
have the same effect. If a bit of bread be eaten
along with a few mouth fuls of water, it will both
quench thirst more effectually and make the
danger less. When a person is extremely hot, a
mouthful of brandy, or other spirits, if it can be
obtained, ought to be preferred to any thing else.
But if any one has been so foolish, when hot, as
to drink freely of eold liquor, he ought to con-
tinue his exercise at least till what he drank be
thoroughly warmed upon his stomach.
It would be tedious to enumerate all the bad
effects whieli flow from drinking cold liquors
when the body is hot. Sometimes this has occa-
sioned immediate death. Hoarseness, quinseys,
and fevers of various kinds, are its common con-
sequences. Neither is it safe when warm to eat
freely of raw fruits, sallads, or the like. These
ernporation excited by the fire generates cold, and
renders tlie damp more active.
THE POLAR STAK. 267
indeed have not so sudden an effect on the body
as cold liquors, hut they are notwithstanding
dangerous, and ought to be avoided.
Sitting in a warm room, and drinking hot li-
quors till the pores are quite open, and immedi-
ately going into the cold air, is extremely dan-
gerous. Colds, coughs, and inflammation of the
breast, are the usual effects of this conduct : yet
nothing is more common than for people, after
they have drank warm liquors for several hours,
to walk or ride a number of miles in the coldest
night, or to ramble about in the streets*.
People are very apt, when a room is hot, to
throw open a window, and to sit near it. This
is a most dangerous practice. Any person had
better sit without doors than in such a situation,
as the courant of air is directed against one par-
ticular part of the body. Inflammatory fevers
and consumptions have often been occasioned by
sitting or standing thinly clothed near an open
window. Nor is sleeping with open windows
less to be dreaded. That ought never to be done,
* The tap-rooms in London and other great
towns, where such numbers of people spend their
evenings, are highly pernicious. The breath of
a number of people crowded iulo a low apartment,
with the addition of jires, candles, the smoke of
tobacco, and the fumes of hot liquor, &c. must
not only render it hurtful to continue in such
places, fiut dangerous to go out of them into a
cold and chilly atmosphere.
268 THE POLAR STAR.
evea in the hottest season, unless the window is
at a distance. 1 have known mechanics fre-
quently contract fatal diseases, by working stript
at an open window* and would advise all of them
to beware of such a practice.
Few things expose people more to catch cold
than keeping their own houses too warm ; such
persons may be said to live in a sort of hot-
houses; they can hardly stir abroad to visit a
neighbour, but at the hazard of their lives.
Were there no other reason for keeping houses
moderately cool, that alone is sufficient : but n$
house that is too hot can be wholesome ; heat
destroys the spring and elasticity of the air, and
renders it less fit for expanding the lungs, and
the other purposes of respiration. Hence it is,
that consumptions and other diseases of the lungs
prove so fatal to people who work in forges,
glass-houses, and the like.
Some are even so fool-hardy, as to plunge
themselves when hot into cold water. Not only
fevers, but madness itself, has frequently been
the effect of this conduct. Indeed it looks too
like the action of a madman to deserve a serious
consideration.
The result of all these observations is, that
every one ought to avoid, with the utmost atten-
tion, all sudden transitions from heat to cold,
and to keep the body in as uniform a temperature
THE FOIAK STAR. 569
as possible ; or, where that cannot be done, to
take care to let if. co?>l gradually.
People may imagine that too strict an atten-
tion to these things would tend to render them
delicate. So far however is this from being my
design, that the very first rule proposed for pre-
venting colds, is to harden the body, by enuring
it daily to the open air.
I shall put an end to what relates to this part
of my subject, by giving an abstract of the justly
celebrated advice of Celsus, with respect to the
preservation of health. " A man," says he
" who is blessed with good health, should con-
fine himself to no particular rules, either with
respect to regimen or medicine. He ought fre-
quently to diversify his manner of living ; to be
sometimes in town, sometimes in the country ;
to hunt, sail, indulge himself in rest, but more
frequently to use exercise. He ought to refuse
no kind of food that is commonly used, but some-
times to eat more and sometimes less ; some-
times to make one at an entertainment, and
sometimes to forbear it; to make rather two
meals a day than one, and always to eat heartily,
provided he can digest it. He ought neither too
eagerly to pursue, nor too scrupulously to avoid,
intercourse with the fair sex: pleasures of this
kind, rarely indulged, render the body alert and
active j but when too frequently repeated, weak
270 THE POLAR STAK.
and languid. He should be careful in time of
health not to destroy, by excesses of any kind,
that vigour of the constitution which should sup-
port him under sickness.' 9
DECOCTIONS.
Compound Decoction of the Bark.
Take of Peruvian bark and Virginian snake-
roof, grossly powdered, each three drachms.
Boil thern in a pint of water to one half. To the
strained liquor add an ounce and a half of aro-
matic water.
Sir John Pringle recommends this as a pro-
per medicine towards the decline of malignant
fevers, when the pulse is low, the voice weak,
and the head affected with a stupor but with lit-
tle delirium.
The dose is four spoonfuls every fourth or
sxth hour.
Decoction of sarsaparilla.
Take a fresh sarsaparilla root, sliced and
bruised, two ounces ; shavings of guaiacum
wood, one ounce. Boil over a slow fire, in three
quarts of water, to one ; adding towards the
end, half an ounce of sassafras wood, and three
drachms of liquorice. Strain the deeoction.
THE JPOLAR STAR.
This may either be employed as an assistant
to a course of mercurial alteratives, or taken
after the mercury has been used for some time.
It strenghtens the stomach, and restores flesh
and vigour to habits emaciated by the venereal
disease. It may also be taken in the rheuma-
tism, and cutaneous disorders proceeding from
foulness of the blood and juices. For all these
intentions it is greatly preferable to the <fcoe-
tion of woods.
This decoction may be taken, from a pint and
a half to two quurts in the day,
The following decoction is said to be similar to
that used by Kennedy, in the cure of the vene-
real disease, and may supply the place of the
Lisbon diet drink :
Take of sarsapariHa, three ounces ; liqmripe
and mezerion root, of each half an ounce ; shav-
ings of guaiacuni and sassafras wood, of each
one ounce ; crude antimony, powdered* an ounce
and a half. Infuse these ingredients in eight
pints of boiling water for twenty four hours,
then boil them till one-half of the water is con-
sumed ; afterwards strain the decoction.
This decoction may be used in the same man-
ner as the preceding.
Decoction of Seneka.
Take of seneka rattle-snake root, one ounce 5
x
THE POLAR STAK.
water, a pint and a half. Boil to one pint, and
strain.
This decoction is recommended in the pleu-
risy, dropsy, rheumatism, and some obstinate
disorders of the skin. The dose is two ounces,
three or four times a-day, or oftener, if the
stomach will bear it.
White Decoction.
Take of the purest chalk, in powder, two
ounces ; gum arabic* half an ounce ; water,
three pints. Boil to one quart, and strain the
decoction.
This is a proper drink in acute diseases, at-
tended with, or inclining to, a looseness, and
where acidities abound in the stomach or bowels.
li is peculiarly proper for children when afflict-
ed with soreness of the stomach, and for persons
who are subject to the heartburn. It may be
sweetened with sugar, as it is used, and two or
three ounces of simple eiananion-water added to
it.
An ounce of powdered chalk, m ; xed with two
pints of water, will occasionally supply the place
of this decoction, and aUo of the chalk julep.
DRAUGHTS;
Purging Draught.
Take of jalap in powder, a scruple ; common
water an ounce ; aromatic tincture, six drachms.
THE POLAR STAJU 273
Hub the jalap with twice its weight of sugar*
and add to it the other ingredients,
Sweating Draught,
Take spirit of Mindererus, two ounces; salt
of hartshorn, five grains simple cinnamon -
water, and syrup of. poppies, of each half an
ounce. Make them into a draught.
In recent colds and rheumatic complaints, this
draught is of service. To promote its effects,
however, the patient ought to drink freely of
warm water gruel, or of some ether weak dilut-
ing liquor.
Vomiting Draughts.
Take of ipecacuanha, in powder, a scruple ;
water, an ounce j simple syrup, a drachm. Mix
them.
Persons who require a strong vomit may add
to the above half a grain, or a grain, of emitic
tartar.
Those who do not chuse the powder, may take
ten drachms of the ipecacuanha wine ; or half an
ounce of the wine, and an equal quantity of the
syrup of squills.
ELECTUARIES.
Electuaries are generally composed of the
Ighter powders, mixed with syrup, honey, eon-
THE POIAH STAB.
serve, ov mucilage, into such a consistence thai
the powders may neither separate by keeping,
nor 'the mass prove too stiff for swallowing.
They receive chiefly the milder alterative medi-
cines, and such us are not ungrateful to the pal-
ate.
Astringent electuaries, and such as have pulps
of fruit in them, should be prepared only io
srruv!! quantities ; as astringent medicines lose
their virtues by being -kept in this form, and the
pulps of fruits are apt to ferment.
For the extraction of pulps it will be neces-
sary to boil unripe fruits, and ripe ones if they
arc dried,, in a small quantity of water till they
become soft. The pulp is then to be pressed
out through a strong hair sieve, or thin cloth*
and afterwards boiled to a due consistence, in an
earthen vessel, over a gentle fire, taking care to
prevent the matter from burning by continually
stirring it. The pulps of fruits that are both
ripe and fresh may be pressed out without any
previous boiling.
Electuary, for the Gonorrhoea.
Take of lenitive electuary, three ounces ; jalap
and rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms;
nitre, half an ounce $ simple syrup, enough to
make an electuary.
During the inflammation and tension of the
THE POLAR STAR. 27;;
urinary passages, which accompany a virulent
gonorrhoea, this cooling laxative may be used
with advantage.
The dose is a drachm, or about the bulk of a
nutmeg, two or three times a-day ; more or less,
as may be necessary to keep the body gently
open.
An electuary made of cream of tartar and simple
syrup will occasionally supply the place of this.
After the inflammation is gone off, the following
electuary may be used :
Take of lenitive electuary, two ounces ; bal-
sam of capivi, one ounce ; gum guaiacum and
rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms ; sim-
ple syrup, enough to make an electuary. The
<Jose is the same as of the preceding.
Electuary of the Bark.
Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, three oun-
ces ; cascarilla, bait* an ounce ; syrup of ginger,
enough to make an electuary.
In the cure of obstinate intermitting fevers,
the bark is assisted by the casearilia. In hec-
tic habits, however, it will be better to leave out
the cascarilla, and put three drachms of crude
sal ammoniac in its stead.
Electuary for the Piles.
Take flowers of sulpher, one ounce f cream of
x 2
476 THE POLAR STAR.
tartar, half an ounce ; treacle, a sufficient quan-
tity to form an electuary.
A tea spoonful of this may be taken three or
four times a- day.
Electuary for the Palsy.
Take of powdered mustard-seed, &nd conserve
of roses, each an ounce ; syrup of ginger, enough
to make an electuary.
A tea- spoonful of this may be taken three or
four times a-day.
'Electuary for the Eheumatism.
Take of conserve of roses, two ounces ; cin-
nabar of antimony, levigated, an ounce and a
half; gum guaiaeum, in powder, an ounce ; syrup
of ginger, a sufficient quantity to make an elect-
uary.
In obstinate rheumatisms, which are not ac-
companied with a fever, a tea- spoonful of this
electuary may be taken twice a-day with con-
siderable advantage.
EMULSIONS.
Camphorated Emulsion.
Take of camphor, half a drachm ; sweet al-
monds, half a dozen; white sugar, half an
mince ; mint water, eight ounces. Grind the
THE POLAR STAR, 277
camphor and almonds well together in a stone
mortar, and add by degrees the mint water ; then
strain the liquor, and dissolve in it the sugar.
In fevers, and other disorders which require
the use of camphor, a table spoonful of this
emulsion may be taken every two or three hours*
Emulsion of Gum Jlmmoniac.
Take of gum ammoniac, two drachms; water,
eight ounces. Grind the gum with the water
poured upon it by little and little, till it is dis-
solved.
This emulsion is used for attenuating tough 9
viscid phlegm, and promoting expectoration.
In obstinate coughs, two ounces of the syrup of
poppies may be added to it. The dose is two
table- spoonfuls three or four times a-day.
Purging Pills.
Take of succotorine aloes, and Castile soap,
each two* drachms ; of simple syrup, a sufficient
quantity to make them into pills.
Four or five of these pills will generally prove
a sufficient purge. For keeping the body gently
open, one may be taken night and morning.
They are reckoned both deobstruent and stom-
achic, and will be found to answer all the pur*
poses~4>f Dr, Anderson's pills, the principal in-
gredient of which is aloes.
2?T8 THE POLAR STAR.
Where aloetic purges are improper, the fol-
lowing pills may be used :
Take extract of jalap, and vitriolated tartar,
of eaeb two drachms ; syrup of ginger, as much
as will make them of a proper consistence fop
pills.
These pills may be taken in the same quantity
as the above.
Strengthening Pill.
Take soft extract of the bark, and salt of
steel, each a drachm. Make it into pills.
In disorders arising from excessive debility,
or relaxation of the solids, as the chlorosis, or
green sickness, two of these pills may be taken
three times a-day.
PLAISTERS.
Take of common plaister, half a pound ; Bur-
gundy pitch, a quarter of a pound. Melt them
together.
This plaister is principally used foj keeping
on other dressings.
Anodyne Plaister.
Melt an ounce of adhesive plaister, and, when
it is cooling, mix with it a drachm of powdered
opium, and the same quantity of camphor, pre-
viously rubbed up with a little oil.
THE POLAR STAR.
This plaister generally gives ease in acute
pains, especially of the nervous kind.
Blistering Plaister.
Take of Venice turpentine, six ounces ; yellow
wax, two ounces ; Spanish flies in fine powder,
three ounces ; powdered mustard, one ounce.
Melt the wax, and while it is warm, add to it the
turpentine taking care not to evaporate it hy too
much heat. After the turpentine and wax are
sufficiently incorporated, sprinkle in the powders,
continually stirring the mass till it be cold.
Though this plaister is made in a variety of
ways, one seldom meets with it of a proper con-
sistence. When compounded with oils and other
greasy substances, its effects are blunted, and it
is apt to run ; while pitch and resin render it too
hard and very inconvenient.
When the blistering plaister is not at hand, its
place may be supplied by mixing with any soft
ointment a sufficient quantity of powdered flies;
or by forming them into a paste with flour and
vinegar.
Gum Plaister*
Take of the common plaister, four pounds ;
gum ammoniac and gal bun urn, strained, of each
half a pound. Melt them together, and add, of
Venice turpentine, six ounces.
280 THE FOLAK STAB.
This plaister is used as a digestive, and like-
wise for discussing indolent tumours.
Mercurial Plaister.
Take of common plaister, one pound ; of gum
ammoniac, strained, half a pound. Melt them
together, and, when cooling, add eight ounces of
quick-silver, previously extinguished by triture,
with three ounces of hog's lard.
This plaister is recommended in pains of the
limbs arising from a venereal cause. Indurations
of the glands, and other violent tumours, are
likewise found sometimes to yield to it.
Stomctch Plaister.
Take of gum plaister, half a pound ; cam-
phorated oil, an ounce and a half; black pepper*
or capsicum, where it can be had, one ounce*
Melt the plaister, and mix with it the oil ; then
sprinkle in the pepper, previously reduced to a
fine powder.
An ounce or two of this plaister, spread upon
soft leather and applied to the region of the
stomach, Mill be of service in flatulencies arising
from hysteric and hypochondriac affections. A
little of the expressed oil of mace, or a few drops
of the essential oil of mint, may be rubbed upon
it before it is applied.
This may supply the place of the Antibysterle
Plaister.
THE POLAR STAR.
Warm Plaister.
Take of gum plaister, one ounce ; blistering
two drachms. Melt them together over a gentle
fire.
This plaistcr is useful in the sciatica find other
fixed pains of the rheumatic kind : it ought,
bow-ever, to be worn for some time, and to be
renewed, at least once a week. If this is found
to blister the part, which is-sometimes the case,
it must be made with a smaller proportion of the
blistering plaister.
POWDERS.
Ca rminative Pow der.
Take of coriander-seed, half an ounce ; ginger,
one drachm ; nutmegs half a drachm ; fine sugar,
a drachm and a half. Reduce them into powder
for twelve doses.
This powder is employed for expelling flatu-
lencies arising from indigestion, particularly
those to which hysteric and hypochondriac per-
sons are so liable. It may likewise he given in
small quantities to children in their food, when
troubled with gripes.
Diuretic Powder.
Take of gum arabic, four ounces; purified
nitre, one ounce. Pound them together, and di-
vide the whole into twenty -four doses.
During the iii'st stage of the venereal disease,
282 THE POtAR STAR.
one of these cooling powders may be taken three
times a-day, with considerable advantage.
Aromatic Opening Powder.
Take of the best Turkey rhubarb, cinnamon?
and fine sugar, each two drachms. Let the in-
gredients be pounded, and afterwards mixed
iveil together.
Where flatulency is accompanied with costive-
Bess, a tea-spoonful of this powder may be taken
once or twice a-day, according to circumstances.
Saline Laxative Powder.
Take of soluble tartar, and cream of tartar,
each one drachm : purified nitre, half a drachm*
Make them into a powder.
In fevers and other inflammatory disorders,
where it is necessary to keep the body gently
open, one of these cooling laxative powders may
be taken in a little gruel, and repeated occasion-
ally.
Steel Powder.
Take filings of steel, and loaf sugar, of each
two ounces ; ginger two drachms. Pound them
together.
In obstruction of the menses, and other cases
where steel is proper, a tea- spoonful of this pow-
der may be taken twice a day, and washed down
with a little wine or water.
Sudorific Powder.
Take purified nitre and vitriolated tartar, of
each half an ounce; opium and ipecacuanha* of
THE fOLAfc STAtt. 28$
each one drachm. Mix the ingredients, and re-
duce them to a fine powder.
This is generally known by the name of Do-
^vcr's Powder. It is a powerful sudorific. In
obstinate rheumatisms, and other cases where it
is necessary to excite a copious sweat, this pow-
der may be administered in the dose of a scruple
or half a drachm. Some patients will require
two scruples. It ought to be accompanied with
the plentiful use of some warm diluting liquor*
Worm-Powders.
Take of tin reduced into a fine powfler, aft
ounce; JEthiop's mineral, two drachms. Mix
them well together, and divide the whole into
six doses.
One of these powders may be taken in a little
syrup, honey, or treacle, twice a-day. After
they have been all used the following anthelmin-
tic purge may be proper*
Purging Worm-Powder*,
Take of powdered rhubarb, a scruple , scam*
mony and calomel, of each five grains* Rub
them together in a mortar for one dose.
For children the above doses must be lessened
according to their age.
If the powder of tin be given alone, its dose
S84 THE POLAR STAR.
may be considerably increased. The late Dr,
Alston gave it to the amount of two ounces in
three days, and says, when thus administered,
that it proved an egregious anthelmintie. He
purged his patients both before they took the
jowderand afterwards.
Powder far t he Tape- Worm.
Early in the morning the patient is to take in
any liquid, two or three drachms, according to
his age and constitution, of the root of the male
fern reduced into a fine :powder. About two
hours afterwards, he is to take of calomel and
resin of scammony, each ten grains ; gum gam-
boge, six grains. These ingredients must be
finely powdered and given in a little syrup, ho-
ney, treacle, or any thing that is most agreeable
to the patient. He is then to walk gently about*
now and then drinking a dish of weak green
tea, till the worm is passed. If the powder of
the fern produces nausea, or sickness, it may be
removed by sucking the juice of an orange or
lemon.
This medicine, which had been long kept a se-
cret abroad for the cure of the tape-worm, was
some time ago purchased by the French king,
and made public for the benefit of mankind
Not having had an opportunity of trying it, I can
say nothing from experience concerning its effi
THE TOLAR STAR. 285
eaey. It seems, however, from Us ingredients,
to be an active medicine, and ought to be taken
with care. The dose here prescribed is suffici-
ent for the strongest patient ; it must, therefore,
be reduced according to the age and constitution*
WHEYS.
Mum Whey.
Boil two drachms of powdered alum in a pint
of milk till it is curdled; then strain out the
whey.
This whey is beneficial in an immoderate flow
of the menses, and in a diabetes, or excessive dis-
charge of urine.
The dose is two, three, or four ounces, accord-
ing as the stomach will bear it, -three times a-
d ty^ If it should occasion vornitthig, it may be
diluted.
CURE FOR A WEN.
READING an account of a wen extracted,
a friend of mine, (Mr. William G. Forbes,)
mentioned a case wherein he had witnessed
an entire cure of one of the largest wens, by the
most simple means. His son was afflicted for
may years hy one of those tumours, when a very
respectable neighbor, (Mr. Samuel Hallock) told
the circumstance of a young school girl effecting
a cure of one, by rubbing i< every day as she
9FHE POLAR STAI*.
passed to and from school, with the Juice or mfffe
of wild cotton weeds, which finally destroyed the
-wen. This reinedy was then resorted to hy the
young man, and in the course of the summer the
tumour disappeared. This juice must he applied
several times a day for a length of time, and it
will give a happy result to all who may choose
to adapt it for a remedy.
Cure for the Quin&ey or Putrid Sore Throat.
Take a handful of hops, steep them in spirits
and apply a common funnel to the liquid. Let
the patient apply the funnel to his throat, and
thereby inhale the steam. Let the hops be ap-
plied as a poltiee to the throat, and occasional-
ly repeated.
Cure for the Me. of a Hattle Snake.
Take the roots of plantain or hoarhound, (in
summer roots and branches together,) in a suffi-
cient quantity; bruise them in a mortar and
squeeze out the juice ; of which, as soon as possi-
ble, take one spoonful ; if the patient is swelled,
you must force it down his or her throat. This
generally will cure ; but if the patient finds no
relief in an hour after, you may give another
spoanful ; which never fails. If the roots are
dried, they must be moistened with a little water.
To the wound may be applied a leaf of good
tobacco moistened with rum.
THE POLAR STAB.
Weak Eyes.
A piece of green glass laid flat on a book, will
fee of the utmost benefit to those who are trou-
bled with weak eyes. Some will say you might
as well wear green spectacles ; but I say no ! a
piece of fine clear glass, about the size of a roy-
al octavo page, will be found of infinitely more
assistance. A young gentleman about the age of
sixteen, was learning on the flute ; but before he
could play a note he was obliged to have the music
coloured, either green or blue. He tried green
spectacles (as his eyes were extremely weak,)
but they did not answer the end. Being one day
in the garden, he placed a piece of glass in his
book and found that he could bear to read with-
out the smallest inconvenience he procured a
fine piece, and now can play for an hour with
the greatest pleasure.
Cure for the Whooping Cough,
Take a wine glass of rum, and half as much of
spirits of turpentine, shake them well together,
and rub the child by the fire gontJy down the
neck and chin, night and morning. In a. few
days the cough will be cured.
TUB POLAR STAK.
A MORNING PRAYER,
to l)t used every day in the ivzcl;.
lei me hear thy loving kindness betimes in the
morning, for in thee is my trust : show tliou me
the way that I should walk in, for I lift up my
soul unto thee. Psal, cxliii. 8.
O Most mighty and gracious God, to whom
I am indebted for all the good things I enjoy 5,
for in thee I live, and move, and have my be-
ing; I desire to adore and bless thy glorious
name, humbly beseeching thee to accept this my
morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ior
the comfortable refreshment of the night past, for
thy preservation of me [and my family 9 and all
lhat belongs to me] from lire, robbery, and tem-
pest, and from all perils and dangers, and espe-
cially for bringing me in health and safety to the
beginning of this day ; in which I beseech thee,
O Lord, to keep me without sin.
Give me awful thoughts of thy Divne Majesty,
and such an humble, serious, and devout frame
of mind, that my adoration may not rest in a
mere outward form of godliness, but that I may
always offer unto thee a lively sacrifice, holy and
acceptable in thy sight.
Be with me, O Lord, this day in all places and
upon all occasions : direct and guide me, sancti-
fy and preserve me : keep me both outwardly in
jny body, and inwardly in my soul: defend rac
THE POLAR STAB. 289
from the power and malice of the devil, from the
corruptions of my own sinful nature, and from
those sins especially, that seem most habitual to
me. Pardon, I beseech thee, all the sins T have at
anytime committed. Grant that I may die unto
sin, and rise again unto righteousness; that
henceforth being freed from sin, all things be*
longing to the Spirit may live and grow in me.
AN EVENING PRAYER,
f o be used any day in the week.
Lord let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as
the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be
an evening sacrifice. Psal. cxli. 2.
O LORD ! thou hatest iniquity with a perfect
hatred, yet I am assured, that thou delightest in
the ways of mercy ; that thou art a tender lover
of souls, and not only permittest, but invitest us,
miserable creatures, to come unto thee. With
humble confidence, then, O Lord, I lift up my soul
unto thee, beseeching thee, in much mercy, to
look upon me, and to ease me of the burden of
my corrupt and sinful inclinations.
Forgive, I meekly beseech thee, whatever I
have done amiss this day, and all my life past,
either against thee, my neighbour, or myself; O
cleanse me from all my secret and unknown
transgressions and, O merciful Father, grant
that I may seriously consider and reflect upos
J290 THE TOXAK STAK.
the foulness and deformity of sin, and what
dreadful threatenings thou hast denounced
against it : that I may become a true and sincere
mourner for my past sins ; and, as far as is pos-
sible, redeem my mispent time* hy employing the
remainder of my days in thy service, and to thy
glory.
Give me, O Lord, anew heart, new affections,
r and new desires ; that I may love thee with more
sincerity, and serve thee with greater faithful-
ness than I have ever yet done.
Teach me, () Lord, so to number my days r
that I may apply my heart unto true wisdom.
Let me never he separated from thee ; but
grant that I may be of the number of thy faith-
ful and obedient servants, who are united to thee
by grace and good works in this life, and will
hereafter live with thee in endless bliss and hap-
piness. And,
Grant that in the days of health and prosperity,
I may consider my latter end, and remember and
provide for that great account, which I must
one day give before the judgment seat of Christ;
that when the hour of my departure shall come,
I may meet death without fear and amazement ;
and with a well grounded hope of thy mercy and
goodness, may cheerfully resign up my soul into
thy hands ; and may be willing and even desirous
to leave this world, when thou, my God, in thy
great wisdom, shall see it fitting.
THE FOIAR STAB.
Be mindful, O Lord, of all that are in any af-
fliction or distress. Relieve and comfort those
that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience,
or that labour under the torments of a wounded
spirit. Let the sorrowful sighing of the afflicted
come before thee ; and deliver thorn, in thy good
time, out of all their troubles.
A SERMON FOR CHILDREN.
Isaiah, chap. xl. verse 11.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall
gather the lambs with his arms, and carry
them in his bosom.
MANY of you, my little friends* have spent
your pleasantest hours amidst the beauties of the
garden, and the flowers of the field : and have
you not, in your little rambles, seen the skipping
lambs looking innocently gay, and sporting by
the side of their dams? It delighted you to see
them thus happy, and enjoying themselves in the
cheerful sunshine ; but, perhaps, at other times,
you have seen the tender creatures exposed t.o
stormy winds, or pinching frost ; your little
hearts have pitied them, and been ready to fear
that the severity of the winter would destroy
them. In this distressed situation, how delight-
ful to see the kind shepherd come to their
292 THE POLAR STAH.
gather them together, and lead them to a pi ee
of shelter and safety !
Delightful indeed! to see him take up the
tender and feehle in his arms, and carry them in
his bosom, till the little creatures are revised
and cherished ; but children, I can tell you a
more pleasing and wonderful thing than this.
You have heard of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
\vho came down from heaven to save sinners.
You have heard hov great and glorious a per-
son he was before hecnuoe into our world. And
will it tiot surprise you to lu-ar, that this Jesus
calls himself a shepherd? liis- people, those who
love and serve him* he calls his sheep; and the
you g and tender, such as you are, he calls his
laiiibs.
He calls you lambs, because like them you are
young, innocent, and helpless; and like them
you Hy to others for safety and protection.
You are but of yesterday, and know but little :
little indeed of the God that made you, of the
Saviour who came to redeem you. You know
liUle of the world in which you live, or of that
Avorld in which you are to live for ever. You
stand in need of daily instruction, both in the
concerns of your soul and body ; but your com-
passionate shepherd has promised that he will
feed his flock; he will feed you with ^he sincere
milk of his word, that you may grow thereby.
THE POLAR STAB.
He has said, Ask and ye shall receive, seek
and ye shall find.
Are you at a loss what to ask? Ask, above all
things, his favour, which is life; and his loving-
kindness which is better than life. Ask him to
teach you more of himself, of his greatness, and
his goodness, that you may love him more,
and serve him better.
You are not only ignorant, but like the feeble
lamb, you are helpless, and can do but little for
your own safety and protection. You are expos-
ed to many dangers that you know nothing of:
there are many disorders to which your infant
years are liable, and a thousand accidents to
which your tender frames are exposed.
II w happy, amidst all this weakness and dan-
ger, to reflect, that your kind shepherd has pro-
mised to gather you in his arms, and carry you in
his bosom.
Your parents do much for you, and you have
reason to thank God for them. But Jtsus, your
kind shepherd, can do much more, he can supply
all you need ; in sickness he can save you, and in
death deliver you ; he can make you happy in
this world, and happy for ever.
Often think, children, hew much love and com-
passion are contained in those delightful words:
He shall gather them in his arms, and carry
them iu his bosoai. You Know what it is to be
THE -POLAR STAH.
folded in the fond arms of a compassionate fa-
ther, and to hang on the breast of a tender mo-
ther.
How often have they wiped away your tears*
and eased the little sorrows ef your hearts! and
while you are -enjoy ing their love and affection,
think, thus has my kind shepherd promised ta
fold me in his arms. How condescending in him
to notice such an ignorant and helpless creature
as I am! What an honour to be called one of his
lambs ! How safe I am under his protection ! He
is almighty, and none can pluck me out of his
hands. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want any thing that is good for me.
Blessed Jesus* I desire to be one of the lamhs
that thou wi't gather in thy arms, and carry in
thy bosom. I am ignorant, but I come to thee
that I may be taught I am weak and helpless,
but I fly to thy arms for safety and protection.
Make me one of thy lambs, in love, in meek-
ness, and humility ; let me never wander from
thee, or provoke thee to east me out of thy fold.
Keep me from every danger in tins world, and
fit me to dwell with thee for ever, in thy heaven-
ly kingdom. Amen.
THE POXAR STAB, 295
A HYMN
tin the nature of the Sermon before ft.
SEE the kind shepherd, Jesus, stands,
And calls his sheep by name;
Gathers the feeble in his arms,
And feeds the tender lamb.
He'll lead us to the heavnely streams?
Where livi ig waters flow,
And guide us to the fruitful fields,
Where trees of knowledge grow.
When wandering from the fold, we leave
The strait and narrow way,
Our faithful shepherd still is near,
To guide us when we stray.
The feeblest lamb amidst the (lock,
Shall be its shepherd's care ;
W bile folded in our Saviour's arms,
"We're safe from ev'ry snare.
SERMON II.
John, chap. xxi. verse 15.
Feed my Lambs*
YOU Have heard, Children, that Jesus, yotij?
kind shepherd, while he was here upon
206 THE POLAR STAR.
folded the lambs in his arms, and carried them
in his bosom ; and as he was now about to leave
this world, and go to his Father, it was natural
he should be concerned about his flock what
would become of his sheep and his lambs? he
was going to leave them in a world full of diffi-
culties and dangers ; he was afraid they might
meet with strange shepherds who would not care
for the flock, nor lead them into good pastures ;
and that they would be like sheep having no shep-
herd.
As Jesus was thus caring for his sheep, he
looked around upon his disciples, and fixing his
eyes upon Peter* who had professed to love him
better than the rest, he said unto him, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him,
Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I lo-'e thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Jesus said
unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me ? Peter was grieved, because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me,?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all
things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said
unto him, Feed my sheep.
Why, my little friends, does Jesus so often
question Peter about his love to him ? he knew
that Peter did indeed love him ; but he \*as wil-
ling to try Peter's love, and to show how much
he loved you, the lambs of his flock. Dost thou
THE POLAK STAR.
indeed love me, Peter? show thy love to me by
feeding my sheep ; feed my lamhs ; feed them
with the sincere milk of my word, that they may
grow thereby ; tell them, though I leave tltis
world, and go to the Father, that I still love
them ; that I go to prepare a place for them,
that where I am, there they may he also ; that I
will come again, and receive them unto myself,
that they shall never perish ; and that none shall
pluck them out of my hands. Not only Peter
but all the ministers of the gospel, are shep*-
herds, sent by Jesus Christ, to take care of hi&
flock : and he says to them, as well as to Peter,
Feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
Though your ministers are wise and learned,
they are ready to instruct the young and igno-
rant ; they are content to leave their studies and
their learning, that they may teach you the first
principles of religion, and the love of God ; how
you may be happy in this world, and happy for
ever in heaven. And will you not oblige them
by seriously attending to their instruction, and
endeavouring to grow wise unto salvation ? And,
they not only instruct you, but they pray for you,
they often bear you upon their hearts before
God \ they pray that you may grow in grace, as
well as in stature, and in favour with God and
man ; they pray, that the love of God may be
slied abroad in your hearts, and that you may
know and love the God of your
THE POLAH STAB*
And if they thus kindly pray for you, will you
:ty for them, that while they are teaching
, '3 diey may be themselves taught of God,
and that -they may be blessed with every spiritual
Messhig in Christ Jf sits ?
^ u;w amiable to see the minister and his flock
praying for eat h other.
But .:''*> vv? a ), Cin.idre*u pray for yourselves,
AH? God would enlighten \ouv mi <ds to under-
lie Scriptures,, wi/ic-h are abk to make
MJ u'v-'to salvation, IhAt you may grow iti
;; in xhe knowledge of our I^ord n id
'OIT Jesus Chi'ist 9 b^> whom ^Jone you t*an
1 ; that when Jesus the great shepherd*
r,.,'.ill come at the k^s day to gather his sheep, to-
gethetv you raay appear at his right band with
joy
A HYMN.
COME, Children, 'tis Jesus that calls,
The voice of jour Saviour oheyi
When Jesus invites you to come,
No disciple shall turn you away.
The children he folds in his arms,
Must surely be blest indeed;
For Jesus alone can bestow.
The spiritual blessings they need*
THE POLAR STAH.
Let parents' with thankfulness own,
The encouragement Jesus has given.
Delighted to hear him declare,
Of such is the kingdom of heaven*
JBF THE PUBLISHER.
A PRAYER FOR CHILDREN.
O MOST infinitely wise, glorious, and ever
to be admired. Lord our God. Look down upon
us thy unworthy children ; we humbly beseech
thee with an eye of love and compassion. In-
graft in our young and tender hearts true reli-
gion. Help us, we pray thee, to express ourselves
as become disciples of Christ, to supplicate thy
throne of mercy. And as we are now upon our
little feeble bended knees, with hearts of praise,
and thanks for thy innumerable mercies, but
destitute of words to express them. Without thy
heavenly aid, which we earnestly pray, O Lord,
that thou wouldst furnish us with heavenly ex-
pressions, in order truly to perform our duty to
thee the living and true God.
We thank and praise thee, most merciful God,
that there are still some of thy glorious creation
that delighteth in our welfare, by inserting such
300 THE POL4R STAB,
heavenly matters as these, in books that are in-
tended for the more aged and learned character*
May also the owners of these books be as good as
the publisher, to glory in the interest of us lit-
tle children, and take pride in our periling them ;
particularly those parts that make for our soul's
salvation. Lord bless all our friends and rela-
tions. Heaven be with the ministers of the gos-
pel inspire their hearts with heavenly language,
gloriously to perform their duty to a poor and
need> congregation. Lord grant that all our
teachers may be inspired with heavenly wisdom
from thy shining courts above, which may en-
able them the better to shew us little innocent
creatures good examples. Lord grant us health
of body and brightness of mind, so that we may
progress rapidly in our learning, that we may at
length become a glorious ornament to all that
behold us ; so that our aged parents, when the
Almighty is pleased to call them, can cheerfully
depart this life under the blessed consolation of
leaving dutiful children behind them.
And O Lord, that we may in this life givethee
reason to say as thou didst of old, Come unto
me ye little children, of such is the kingdom of
God, and inherit the joys prepared for you
from the foundation of the world."
THB PCKL4R STAR. 301
Obedience to Parents.
LET children that would fear the Lord,
Hear what their teachers say,
With rev'rence meet their parents' word.
And with delight obey.
Have we n<t heard what dreadful plagues
Are threatened by the Lore),
To him who breaks his fathsr's law?
Or mocks his mother's word ?
What heavy guilt upon him lies !
How cursed is his name !
The ravens shall pk-k out his eyes>
And eagles eat the same.
But those that worship God, and give
Their parents honour due,
Here on this earth they long shall live,
And live hereafter too.
O may these lines my children dear.
Which I to you have given ;
Be instrumental of your good,
And stear you safe to heaven.
SHARAN.
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