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LOVE, AND RELIGIOUS MELANCHOLY.

LOVE.

Love is perhaps the strongest of all the passions. At least whenit becomes violent, it is less subject to the control either of the un-derstanding or will, than any of the rest. Fear, anger, and sever-al other passions, are necessary for the preservation of the indi-vidual, but love is necessary for the continuation of the species it-self : it was therefore proper that this passion should be deeplyrooted in the human breast.

Though lore be a strong passion it is seldom so rapid in its prog-ress as several of the others. Few persons fall desperately in loveall at once. We would therefore advise every one, before he tam-pers with this passion, to consider well the probability of his beingable to obtain the object of his wishes. When that is not likely,he should avoid every occasion of increasing it. He ought imme-diately to flte the company of the beloved object ; to apply hismind attentively to business or study ; to take every kind of amuse-ment ; and above all, to endeavour, if possible, to find another ob-ject which may engage his affections, and which it may be in hispower to obtain.

There is no passion with which people are so apt to tamper as love,although none is more dangerous. Some men make love for amuse-ment, others from mere vanity, or on purpose to show their conse-quence with the fair.

This is perhaps the greatest piece of cruelty which any one canbe guilty of. What we eageriy wish for, we easily credit. Hencethe too credulous fair are often betrayed into a situation which istruly deplorable, before they are able to discover that the pretend-ed lover was only in jest. But there is no jesting with this passion.When love has got to a certain height, it admits of no other curebut the possession of its object, which in this case ought always, ifpossible, to be obtained.

RELIGIOUS MELANCHOLY.

Many persons of a religious turn of mind behave as if they thoughtit a crime to be cheerful. They imagine the whole of religion con-sists in certain mortifications, or denying themselves the smallestindulgence, even in the most innocent amusements. A perpetualgloom hangs over their countenances, while the deepest melan-choly preys upon their minds. At length the fairest prospects van-ish, every thing puts on a dismal appearance, and those very ob-jects which ought to give delight, afford nothing but disgust. Lifeitself becomes a burden, and the unhappy wretch, persuaded thatno evil can equal what he feels, often puts an end to his miserableexistence.

It is great pity that ever religion should be so far perverted, as tobecome the cause of those very evils which it was designed to cure.Nothing can be better calculated than True religion to raise andsupport the mind of its votaries under every affliction that canbefal them. It teaches that even the sufferings of this life are pre-paratory to the happiness of the next ; and that all who persist ina course of virtue shall at length arrive at complete felicity.

Persons whose business it is to recommend religion to others, should