ftriking, fo important, and fo abundant in Love, that I cannot avoid repeating it over again :-If

a BIRD's NEST chance to be be

fore thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be Young Ones or Eggs, and the DAM fitting upon the Young, or upon the Eggs; Thou shalt not take the DAM with the Young; but Thou shalt in any wife let the DAM go;—that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayst prolong thy Days.

I am forry there should be any occafion, (though when I confider the remifsnefs of many Parents in not instructing their Children in the duty of mercy to BIRDS, I find myself neceffitated) T

to

to remind them, that the Bleffing annexed in this Commandment to this inftance of compaflion to the BIRD, is the very fame as the Bleffing fubjoined to the Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue, in which Parents are fo deeply interested. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, faith the Law of Sinai, that THY DAYS may be LONG in the land (Exod. xx. 12); or, as it is more fully expreffed in the Repetition of the Law, that THY DAYS may be PROLONGED, and that IT MAY GO WELL WITH THEE. (Deut. v. 16.) The words are fimilar to the words in the precept before us;-Thou shalt in any wife let the Dam go,- that IT MAY BE WELL WITH THEE, and that Thou mayft PROLONG THY DAYS.

DAYS. Length of Days, attainable by all men, is in the RIGHT hand of WISDOM: Riches and Honor, which can be the portion of but a few, are only the ornaments of her LEFT hand*. But it is her right hand gift, the most noble and venerable gift, which wisdom can beftow, that is promifed as the reward of Reverence to Parents, and yet not deemed mifplaced nor thrown away upon the Merciful and Compaffionate.

Thou shalt not take the DAM with the Young, fays the precept; but thou shalt in any wife let the DAM go. This may mean that, thou shalt take neither Dam nor Young, unless you find the NEST upon the Ground, in which cafe the Young.

Ones may be bruifed or hurt by the fall, or trodden under foot; and then it is a kindnefs to take them away, and dispatch them. But, whether you take the Young or not, Thou shalt in any wife let the Thou shalt not add

DAM go. one affliction to another. The tender mother is bereaved of her children, and is not this forrow fufficient? but wilt thou cruelly deprive her of her liberty likewife, and of the pleasure or poffibility of having other young in their ftead? No.-Thou shalt not take the DAM with the Young; but thou shalt in any wife LET THE DAM GO; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayst prolong thy days. Oh, that all Parents would duly and seriously reflect

upon this important precept, in which their own Honor as well as their children's Happinefs is fo much at ftake! The foolish Mother may think she is fecuring to herfelf the love and affection of her favorite child, when he is pleafing him with the fight of the BIRD fluttering in the CAGE; and may affectedly laugh at the impertinence and novel correction of any one that attempts to reprove her Folly or convince her of her Miftake; for like as a PARTRIDGE taken and kept in a CAGE, fo is the Heart of the Proud; (Ecclus. xi. 30.) The proud heart of the mother is as unwilling to bear reproof, as the partridge to be confined in a cage. But, for my

own part, I think, that both the