Prov. xxix. 23. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. 1. Pet. v. 6. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Prov. xv. 33. Before honour is humility. Job xxii. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up, and God shall save the humble person. His Soliloquy. "ALL virtues, as well theological as moral, are besieged with two vices; humility, the fundamental of all virtues, is not exempted. Some, puffed up with their own lowliness, grow proud, because humble, being high-minded by an antiperistasis; this is spiritual pride. Others, taking too single a view of their own corruptions, and more sensible of the disease than of the remedy, are cast into despondency of mind—and this is called dejection; the first froths up into presumption, the second settles down into a despair. How canst thou, O my soul, in this tempest, escape this Scylla, or avoid that Charybdis? Dost thou fear the tossing waves? Contract thy sails. Fearest thou the quicksands? Use thy compass. He that stills the waves will assist thee; He that commands the sea will advise thee: look not only on thy loadstone, for then thou wilt not see thy danger: nor only on thy misery, for then thou wilt not be sensible of thy deliverance. If thy humility puff thee up, thou art not fit for mercy. If dejection knock thee down, mercy is not fit for thee. Look up, O my soul, to God's mercy, so as thou mayest be sensible of thy own misery; and so look down on thine own misery, as thou mayest be capable of God's mercy. His Prayer. "ETERNAL God, who scatterest the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and givest grace to the humble and con trite spirit, bow down thy gracious ear to me, vile dust and ashes, whose misery thus casts itself before thy mercy. Lord, I am ashamed of mine own corruptions, and utterly loath mine own condition: I am not an object for mine own eyes without disdain, nor a subject for mine own thoughts without contempt; yet am I bold to prostrate my vile self before thy glorious eyes, and to present my sinful prayers before thy gracious ears. Lord, if thy mercy exceeded not my misery, I could look for no compassion; and if thy grace transcended not my sin, I could expect for nothing but confusion. O thou that madest me of nothing, renew me, that have made myself far less than nothing: revive those sparkles in my soul, which lust hath quenched: cleanse thine image in me, which my sin hath blurred: enlighten my understanding with thy truth: rectify my judgment with thy word: direct my will with thy Spirit: strengthen my memory to retain good things: order my affections, that I may love thee above all things. Increase my faith; encourage my hope; quicken my charity; sweeten my thoughts with thy grace; season my words with thy Spirit; sanctify my actions with thy wisdom; subdue the insolence of my rebellious flesh: restrain the fury of my unbridled passions: reform the frailty of my corrupted nature: incline my heart to desire what is good, and bless my endeavours that I may do what I desire: give me a true knowledge of mine own self, and make me sensible of mine own infirmities. Let not the sense of those mercies which I enjoy, blot out of my remembrance those miseries which I deserve; that I may be truly thankful for the one, and humbly penitent for the other. In all my afflictions, keep me from despair; in all my deliverances, preserve me from ingratitude; that, being timely quickened with the sense of thy good. ness, and truly humbled by the sight of mine own weakness, I may be here exalted by the virtue of thy grace, and hereafter advanced to the kingdom of thy glory." Printed by William Savage, Bedford Bury. THE DIRECTOR. No. 21. SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1807. Venimus ad summum fortunæ; pingimus atque HOR. EPIST. lib. ii. It is not perhaps generally known to our readers, that the great tragic writer Euripides, of whom it may be said, • Ex ore profusos Omnis posteritas latices in carmine duxit, is entitled to a place in our Catalogue of Antient Painters. We have the authority of Moschopulus, and indeed of Suidas, for asserting that before he wrote Tragedies, Euripides was by profession a PAINTER. |