But for one end, one much neglected use,
Are riches worth our care; (for nature's wants
Are few, and without opulence supplied;)
This noble end is to produce the soul;
To show the virtues in their fairest light;
And make humanity the minister
Of bounteous Providence.

LESSON FIFTY-EIGHTH.

Boerhaave.

Herman Boerhaave, one of the greatest physicians, and best of men, was born in Holland, in the year 1668. This illustrious person, whose name has spread throughout the world, and who left, at his death, above two hundred thousand pounds sterling, was, at his first setting out in life, obliged to teach the mathematics to obtain a necessary support. His abilities, industry, and great merit, soon gained him friends, placed him in easy circumstances, and enabled him to be bountiful to others.

The knowledge and learning of this great man, however uncommon, hold, in his character, but the second place; his virtue was yet more uncommon than his literary attainments. He was an admirable example of temperance, fortitude, humility, and devotion. His piety, and a religious sense of his dependence on God, formed the basis of all his virtues, and the principle of his whole conduct.

He was too sensible of his weakness, to ascribe any thing to himself, or to conceive that he could subdue passion, or withstand temptation by his own natural power; he attributed every good thought, and every laudable action, to the Father of Goodness.

Being once asked by a friend, who had often admired his patience under great provocations, whether

he had ever been under the influence of anger, and by what means he had so entirely suppressed that impetuous and ungovernable passion; he answered, with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that he was naturally quick of resentment, but that he had, by daily prayer and meditation, at length attained to this mastery over himself.

As soon as he rose in the morning, it was, through life, his daily practice to retire for an hour to private prayer and meditation; this, he often told his friends, gave him spirit and vigor in the business of the day, and this he therefore recommended as the best rule of life; for nothing, he knew, can support the soul, in all its distresses, but confidence in the Supreme Being; nor can a steady and rational magnanimity flow from any other source than a consciousness of the divine favor.

He asserted, on all occasions, the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures. The excellency of the Christian religion was the frequent subject of his conversation. A strict obedience to the doctrine, and a diligent imitation of the example of our blessed Saviour, he often declared to be the foundation of true tranquillity. He was liberal to the distressed, but without ostentation. He often obliged his friends, in such a manner, that they knew not, unless by accident, to whom they were indebted.

He was condescending to all, and particularly attentive in his profession. He used to say, that the life of a patient, if trifled with or neglected, would one day be required at the hand of the physician. He called the poor his best patients; "for God," said he, "is their paymaster.

He never regarded calumny and detraction, (for Boerhaave himself had enemies,) nor ever thought it necessary to confute them. "They are sparks," said he, "which, if you do not blow them, will go out themselves. The surest remedy against scandal, is,

to live it down by perseverance in well doing; and by praying to God, that he would cure the distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us."

About the middle of the year 1737, he felt the first approaches of that fatal disorder which brought him to the grave. During his afflicting and lingering illness, his constancy and firmness did not forsake him. He neither intermitted the necessary cares of life, nor forgot the proper preparations for death.

He related to a friend, with great concern, that once his patience so far gave way to extremity of pain, that, after having lain fifteen hours in exquisite tortures, he prayed to God that he might be set free by death. His friend, by way of consolation, answered, that he thought such wishes, when forced by continued and excessive torments, unavoidable, in the present state of human nature; that the best men, even Job himself, were not able to refrain from such starts of impatience. This he did not deny, but said, "He that loves God, ought to think nothing desirable, but what is most pleasing to the Supreme Good

Such were his sentiments, and such his conduct, in this state of weakness and pain. As death approached nearer, he was so far from terror or confusion, that he seemed even less sensible of pain, and more cheerful under his torments. He died, much honored and lamented, in the seventieth year of his age.

LESSON FIFTY-NINTH.
Human Frailty.

Weak and irresolute is man;

The purpose of to-day,

Woven with pains into his plan,
To-morrow rends away.

The bow well bent, and smart the spring,
Vice seems already slain;

But passion rudely snaps the string,
And it revives again.

Some foe to his upright intent
Finds out his weaker part;
Virtue engages his assent,
But pleasure wins his heart.

'T is here the folly of the wise,
Through all his art, we view;
And while his tongue the charge denies,
His conscience owns it true.

Bound on a voyage of awful length,
And dangers little known,
A stranger to superior strength,
Man vainly trusts his own.

But oars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the distant coast;

The breath of heaven must swell the sail,
Or all the toil is lost.

Catharina Alexowna, born near Derpat, a little city. in Livonia, was heir to no other inheritance than the virtues and frugality of her parents. Her father being dead, she lived with her aged mother, in their cottage covered with straw; and both, though very poor, were very contented.

Here, retired from the gaze of the world, by the labor of her hands, she supported her parent, who was now incapable of supporting herself. While Catharina spun, the old woman would sit by, and read some

book of devotion. When the fatigues of the day were over, both would sit down contentedly by their fireside, and enjoy their frugal meal.

Though Catharina's face and person were models of perfection, yet her whole attention seemed bestowed upon her mind. Her mother taught her to read,

and an old Lutheran minister instructed her in the maxims and duties of religion. Nature had furnished her, not only with a ready, but a solid turn of thought; not only with a strong, but a right understanding.

Her virtues and accomplishments procured her several solicitations of marriage, from the peasants of the country; but their offers were refused; for she loved her mother too tenderly to think of a separation.

Catharina was fifteen years old when her mother died. She then left her cottage, and went to live with the Lutheran minister, by whom she had been instructed from her childhood. In this house she resided, in quality of governess to his children; at once reconciling, in her character, unerring prudence with surprising vivacity.

The old man, who regarded her as one of his own children, had her instructed in the elegant parts of female education, by the masters who attended the rest of his family. Thus she continued to improve, till he died; by which accident, she was reduced to her former poverty.

The country of Livonia was at that time wasted by war, and lay in a miserable state of desolation. Those calamities are ever most heavy upon the poor; wherefore, Catharina, though possessed of so many accomplishments, experienced all the miseries of hopeless indigence. Provisions becoming every day more scarce, and her private stock being entirely exhausted, she resolved, at last, to travel to Marienburgh, a city of greater plenty.

With her scanty wardrobe, packed up in a wallet, she set out on her journey, on foot. She was to walk