impassioned, what would become of you without hope? Pardon, O Master of the world, if not sufficiently sensible of my own weakness, and abandoning myself only to the emotions of my heart, I have undertaken to speak to men of Thy existence, Thy grandeur, and Thy goodness! Pardon me if, lately agitated by the tumultuous waves of passion, I dare to raise my thoughts to the realms of eternal peace, where Thou more particularly exhibits Thy glory and sovereign power. Ah! I know more than ever that we must love Thee, we must serve Thee. The powerful of the earth exalt and depress their favourites capriciously; there is no relying on them; after profiting by the talents devoted to them, they forsake the victim, or crush him like a reed. There is in the universe but one immutable justice, but one perfect goodness and consolatory thought: yet we go continually towards other coasts, where we call for happiness, but it is not to be found: there are phantoms accustomed to deceive men, who answer when they call: we run towards them, and pursue them, and we leave far behind religious opinions, which only can lead us back to nature, and elevate us to its author. The blind passions of the world, and the devouring desires of fame and fortune, only serve to harden us; every thing is selfish and hostile in them. Ambitious men, who only wish for a vain name, a childish triumph, acknowledge your features in this sketch; a single object engrosses you, a single end fixes your views: the heavens may be obscured; the earth covered with darkness; and the future annihilated before you; and you are satisfied if a weak taper still permits you to discern the homage of those who surround you; but how is it possible to expect thus to pass a whole life? how be able to retain that homage which appears so necessary to your dream of happiness? how can you make stationary what so many concur to demand? We have a more rational certainty of happiness, when a sentiment of piety, enlightened in its principle and action, softens all our passions, and bends them, in some measure, to the laws of our destiny. Piety, such as I form an idea of, may be properly represented as a vigilant friend, tender and rational. It lets us see the various blessings of life; but it recals us to the idea of gratitude, in order to augment our happiness, by referring it to the most generous of all benefactors: it allows us to exercise our faculties and talents; but recals us to the idea of morality and virtue, in order to assure our steps, and shield us from regret: it allows us to run the race of glory or ambition; but recals us to the idea of inconstancy and instability, to preserve us from a fatal intoxication: it is always with us, not to disturb our felicity, not to impose useless privations, but to blend itself with our thoughts, and to unite to all our projects those mild and peaceable ideas which attend wisdom and moderation: in short, in the day of