siasm to which the congregation were raised; and then, the few minutes of portentous, death-like silence, which reigned throughout the house; the preacher, removing his white handkerchief from his aged face, (even yet wet from the recent torrent of his tears,) and slowly stretching forth the palsied hand which holds it, begins the sentence: "Socrates died like a philosopher," then pausing, raising his other hand, pressing them both, clasped together, with warmth and energy to his breast, lifting his "sightless balls" to heaven, and pouring his whole soul into his tremulous voice "but Jesus Christlike a God!' If he had been in deed and in truth, an angel of light, the effect could scarcely have been more divine. LESSON XC. CHRISTIAN CONSOLATION. [The reader may scan the following piece, and tell to what kind of verse it belongs. See Construction of Verse, p. 68.] 1. JESUS, I my cross have taken, Thou, from hence, my all shall be! All I've sought, or hoped, or known, Yet how rich is my condition,- 2. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure; I have set my heart on thee; Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,- 3. Soul! then know thy full salvation, 4. Haste thee on, from grace to glory, Armed by faith, and winged by prayer, God's own hand shall guide thee there. LESSON XCI. / BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. CHALMERS. 1. Ir is saying much for the benevolence of God, to say, that a single world, or a single system, is not enough for it; that it must have the spread of a mightier region, on which it may pour forth a tide of exuberancy throughout all its provinces; that, as far as our vision can carry us, it has strewed immensity with the floating receptacles of life, and has stretched over each of them the garniture of such a sky as mantles our own habitation; and that, even from distances which are far beyond the reach of human eye, the songs of gratitude and praise may now be arising to the one God, who sits surrounded by the regards of his one great and universal family. 2. Now it is saying much for the benevolence of God, to say, that it sends forth these wide and distant emanations over the surface of a territory so ample; that the world we inhabit, lying imbedded as it does, amidst so much surrounding greatness, shrinks into a point that to the universal eye might appear to be almost imperceptible. 3. But does it not add to the power and to the perfection. of this universal eye, that at the very moment it is taking a comprehensive survey of the vast, it can fasten a steady and undistracted attention on each minute and separate portion of it; that at the very moment it is looking at all worlds, it car. look most pointedly and most intelligently to each of them; that at the very moment it sweeps the field of immensity, it can settle all the earnestness of its regards upon every distinct hand-breadth of that field; that at the very moment at which it embraces the totality of existence, it can send a most thorough and penetrating inspection into each of its details, and into every one of its endless diversities? You cannot fail to perceive how much this adds to the power of the all-seeing eye. 4. Tell me, then, if it do not add as much perfection to the benevolence of God, that while it is expatiating over the vast field of created things, there is not one portion of the field. overlooked by it; that while it scatters blessings over the whole of an infinite range, it causes them to descend in a shower of plenty on every separate habitation; that, while his arm is underneath and round about all worlds, he enters within the precincts of every one of them, and gives a care and a tenderness to each individual of their teeming population. 5. O! does not the God, who is said to be love, shed over this attribute of his, its finest illustration! when, while he sits in the highest heaven, and pours out his fullness on the whole subordinate domain of nature and of Providence, he bows a pitying regard on the very humblest of his children, and sends his reviving spirit into every heart, and cheers by his presence every home, and provides for the wants of every family, and watches every sick-bed, and listens to the complaints of every sufferer; and while, by his wondrous mind, the weight of universal government is borne, O! is it not more wondrous and more excellent still, that he feels for every sorrow, and has an ear open to every prayer! LESSON XCII. 2 DECISIVE INTEGRITY. WIRT. 1. THE man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions, as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of heaven. While he who is conscious of secret and dark designs, which, if known, would blast him, is perpetually shrinking and dodging from public observation, and is afraid of all around, and much more, of all above him. 2. Such a man may, indeed, pursue his iniquitous plans steadily; he may waste himself to a skeleton in the guilty pursuit; but it is impossible that he can pursue them with the same health-inspiring confidence and exulting alacrity, with him who feels at every step that he is in the pursuit of honest ends by honest means. The clear, unclouded brow, the open countenance, the brilliant eye which can look an honest man steadfastly, yet courteously, in the face, the healthfully beating heart, and the firm, elastic step, belong to him whose bosom is free from guile, and who knows that all his motives and purposes are pure and right. 3. Why should such a man falter in his course ? He may be slandered; he may be deserted by the world; but he has that within, which will keep him erect, and enable him to move onward in his course, with his eyes fixed on heaven, which he knows will not desert him. 4. Let your first step, then, in that discipline which is to give you decision of character, be the heroic determination to be honest men, and to preserve this character through every vicissitude of fortune, and in every relation which connects you with society. I do not use this phrase, "honest men," in the narrow sense merely of meeting your pecuniary engage ments, and paying your debts; for this the common pride of gentlemen will constrain you to do. 5. I use it in its larger sense of discharging all your duties, both public and private, both open and secret, with the most scrupulous, Heaven-attesting integrity; in that sense, further, which drives from the bosom all little, dark, crooked, sordid, debasing considerations of self, and substitutes in their place a bolder, loftier, and nobler spirit; one that will dispose you to consider yourselves as born, not so much for yourselves, as for your country and your fellow-creatures, and which will lead you to act on every occasion sincerely, justly, generously, magnanimously. [The following dialogue is founded upon the fact that Christiern, or Christian II., king of Denmark, attempted to make himself master of the throne of Sweden, but was defeated and expelled from the country by Gustavus Vasa, a Swede, of royal descent, who after wards became king of Sweden.] Gustavus disguised as a peasant. Gustavus. Ye men of Sweden, wherefore are ye come? To drink the fountains of your And leave your hills a desert? honor up, Wretched men! Why came ye forth? Is this a time for sport? Or are ye met with song and jovial feast, To welcome your new guests, your Danish visitants? To stretch your supple necks beneath their feet, And fawning, lick the dust? - Go, go, my countrymen, Each to your several mansions, trim them out, Cull all the tedious earnings of your toil, a Fictitious names for men of Sweden. b Dalecarlians; citizens of Dalecarlia, a province of Sweden. |