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terials, as by the manner of female dress; by what we call the fashion, and the eagerness with which every changing fashion, however improper, is adopted, by persons whose religious profession might lead us to hope they had no leisure to attend to such trifles. If some allowance is to be made for youth on this head, it is painful to see mothers, and possibly sometimes grandmothers, who seem, by the gaudiness and levity of their attire, very unwilling to be sensible that they are growing older.

It may be a sufficient censure of some fashions, to say they are ridiculous. Their chief effect is to disfigure the female form. And perhaps the inventors of them had no worse design, than to make a trial, how far they could lead the passive unthinking many in the path of absurdity. Some fashions, which seem to have been at first designed to hide a personal deformity, have obtained a general prevalence with those who had no such deformity to hide. We are informed, that Alexander had a wry neck, and therefore his courtiers carried their heads on one side, that they might appear to be in the king's fashion. We smile at this servility, in people who lived in Macedonia twenty centuries before we were born; yet it is little less general among ourselves in the present day.

Other fashions were doubtless contrived by persons, who, having not yet attained to glory in their shame, were desirous of concealing it as much, and as long, as possible. Yet these, likewise, are no less eagerly adopted. If I did not consider the tyranny of fashion, my compassionate feelings would often be excited for women who I should suppose were married, if I did not observe the wedding-finger destitute of a ring. hese improprieties are not simply ridiculous. They

are serious evils, in a religious view; and, to speak of them in the gentlest terms, they are signs of a careless, inconsiderate spirit, very unsuitable to a professed regard to the Gospel. We are required to attend to the things that are lovely and of a good report. Every wilful deviation from this rule is sinful. Why should a godly woman, or one who wishes to be thought so, make herself ridiculous, or hazard a suspicion of her character, to please and imitate an ungodly world?

But the worst of all the fashions are those which are evidently calculated to allure the eyes, and to draw the attention of our sex. Is it not strange that modest and even pious women, should be seduced into a compliance even with these? Yet I have sometimes been in company with ladies of whose modesty I have no doubt, and of whose piety I entertain a good hope, when I have been embarrassed and at a loss which way to look. They are indeed noticed by the men, but not to their honour nor advantage. The manner of their dress gives encouragement to vile and insidious men, and exposes them to dangerous temptations. This inconsiderate levity has often proved the first step into the road that leads to misery and ruin. They are pleased with the flattery of the worthless, and go on without thought, as a bird hastens to the snare, and "knoweth not that it is for its life." But honest and sensible men regard their exterior, as a warning signal, not to choose a companion for life, from among persons of this light and volatile turn of mind.

How far does the richest dress which studious vanity can procure from the spoils of birds, beasts, and insects, fall short of the delicate texture and elegance, and the beautiful tints, which we admire in a flower or a butterfly!" Even Solomon in all his glory was

"not arrayed like one of these!" The resemblance is chiefly in the frailty of the wearer. Soon, and perhaps suddenly, the body, now adorned with so much nicety and care, must be deposited in the vault or grave, and be food for worms.

An attention to ornament and dress is peculiarly unseasonable at present. The dark aspect of the times rather requires a spirit of humiliation and abasement. The judgments of God are abroad, his hand is lifted up. We know not what is before us, but we have reason to fear awful tokens of his displeasure for our national sins. Perhaps the day is coming when the words of the prophet, "Tremble, ye women that are "at ease, be afflicted ye careless ones," may be no less applicable to us, than they were to the Israelites of old. I earnestly request my fair readers carefully to persue the latter part of the third chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, from the sixteenth verse to the end. OMICRON.

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ON RELIGIOUS FEASTING,

Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. x. 31.

A SINNER, considered as such, is not only destitute

and incapable of spiritual blessings, but has forfeited all right to the comforts, and even the necessaries, of the present life. It is of mere mercy that he is permitted to breathe the air, or walk upon the ground.~~

But Jesus the Saviour has not only brought life and immortality to light, and opened the kingdom of Heaven to all who believe in his name; but he has removed, in their favour, the curse which sin had entailed upon the lower creation. And now, to them, every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thankfulness and moderation; for all is sanctified to their use by the word of God, and prayer. But these, which, in distinction from the communications of his grace, we call common mercies, are equally derived from his bounty, and the effects of his mediation.

"He sunk beneath our heavy woes,

"To raise us to a throne;

"There's not a gift his hand bestows,
"But cost his heart a groan."

We are therefore bound by gratitude, as well in the ordinary actions of life, as in those of the most importance, whether we eat or drink, to do all with a regard to his love, and with a view to his glory.

It is to be feared, that this apostolic rule is too much disregarded by many professors of the Gospel. However they may seem to differ from the world, by a stated and orderly attendance upon the ordinances, they are not easily distinguished upon many other occasions; particularly at their meals. The people of the world can scarcely exceed them in the cost, care, profusion, and variety with which their tables are covered. I am willing to allow some regard to a person's situation in life; but perhaps the excess is more frequently observable among people in trade, or, as we say, in middling circumstances, than at the

tables of the opulent. A friend of mine, since deceased, told me, that, when he was a young man, he once dined with the late Dr. Butler, at that time bishop of Durham; and though the guest was a man of fortune, and the interview by appointment, the provision was no more than a joint of meat and a pudding. The bishop apologized for his plain fare, by saying, “that "it was his way of living; that he had been long dis

gusted with the fashionable expense of time and money "in entertainments, and was determined that it should "receive no countenance from his example." The economy of this truly venerable prelate was not the effect of parsimony; for I have been assured, that though he was some time possessed of the princely revenue of Durham, he might be said to die poor, leaving little more money than was necessary to discharge his debts, and pay for his funeral. But we may accommodate to him, what the apostles said of themselves on another occasion, "He did not think it meet to leave the word "of God, and to serve tables." And at the tables of some gentlemen of very respectable characters and affluent fortunes, who do me the honour to notice me, I have often seen little more than I should have thought it right to have had at my own, if they had favoured me with their company. It is at least certain, that the waste and parade of which I complain, are by no means confined to those who, according to the common phrase, can best afford it.

When ministers of the Gospel are invited, they may sometimes have reason to suppose, that some part of the apparatus they meet with, may be intended as a mark of regard and attention to them; and it has the appearance of ingratitude to blame our friends for their kindness; but some of ns would be better pleased to

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