She could not bear to see my joy! And made me a poor orphan boy! My mother, shuddering, closed her ears; My mother answered with her tears! Cried I, “ while others shout for joy!” She called me her poor orphan boy! When suddenly she gasped for breath, But, ah! her eyes were closed in death! But now no more a parent's joy; What 'tis to be an orphan boy. EXERCISE 88. Christian Consolation. ANONYMOUS [The annexed feeling, and beautiful lines are said to have been written by a young English lady, who had experienced much affliction.] 1 Jesus—I my cross have taken, All to leave, and follow thee, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be! All I've sought, or hoped, or known, my condition Come disaster, scorn, and pain; With thy favor, loss is gain; I have set my heart on thee; Storms may howl, and clouds may gather All must work for good to me! 3 Soul! then know thy full salvationRise o'er sin, and fear, and care; Something still to do or bear! Think what heavenly bliss is thine; Child of Heaven-canst thou repine? Armed by faith, and wing’d by prayer- God's own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall pass thy pilgrim-days, Faith to sight, and prayer to praise. EXERCISE 89. Cruelty to Animals.-CowPER. I would not enter on my list of friends, (Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility,) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. 5 An inadvertent step may crush the snail, That crawls at evening in the public path; The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, 10 And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes A visiter unwelcome into scenes A necessary act incurs no blame. And guiltless of offence they range the air, There they are privileg’d. And he that hurts Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong; 20 Disturbs the economy of nature's realm, Who when she form’d, design’d them an abode. Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. As free to live and to enjoy that life, Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons 30 To love it too. The spring time of our years Is soon dishonor'd and defild, in most, If unrestrain'd, into luxuriant growth, 35 Than cruelty, most devilish of them all. Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule And he that shows none, being ripe in years, 40 And conscious of the outrage he commits, Shall seek it, and not find it in his turn. EXERCISE 90. Christianity.—Mason. The cardinal fact of Christianity, without which all her other facts lose their importance, is the resurrection, from the dead, of a crucified Saviour, as the prelude, the pattern, and the pledge of the resurrection of his 5 followers to eternal life. Against this great fact the “ children of disobedience,” have levelled their batteries. One assails its proof; another its reasonableness; all, its truth. When Paul asserted it before an audience of Athenian philosophers, some mocked” -a short 10 method of refuting the Gospel; and likely, from its convenience, to continue in favor and in fashion. Yet with such doctrines and facts did the religion of Jesus make her way through the world. Against the superstition of the multitude-against the interest, in15 fluence, and craft of their priesthood-against the ridi cule of wits, the reasoning of sages, the policy of cabinets, and the prowess of armies—against the axe, the cross, and the stake, she extended her conquests from Jordan to the Thames. She gathered her laurels alike 20 upon the snows of Scythia, the green fields of Europe, and the sands of Africa. The altars of impiety crumbled before her march—the glimmer of the schools disappeared in her light-Power felt his arm wither at her glance; and, in a short time, she who went, forlorn and 25 insulted, from the hill of Calvary to the tomb of Joseph, ascended the Imperial throne, and waved her banner over the palace of the Cæsars. Her victories were not less benign than decisive. They were victories over all that pollutes, degrades, and ruins man; in behalf of all 30 that purifies, exalts, and saves him. They subdued his understanding to truth, his habits to rectitude, his heart to happiness. The disregard which some of old affected to whatever goes by the name of evil; the insensibility of others 35 who yield up their souls to the power of fatalism; and the artificial gaiety which has, occasionally, played the comedian about the dying bed of “philosophy, falsely so called," are outrages upon decency and nature. Death destroys both action and enjoyment-mocks at 40 wisdom, strength, and beauty-disarranges our plans robs us of our treasures-desolates our bosoms--breaks our heart-strings-blasts our hope. Death extinguishes the glow of kindness—abolishes the most tender rela tions of man--severs him from all that he knows and 45 loves—-subjects him to an ordeal which thousands of millions have passed, but none can explain; and which will be as new to the last who gives up the ghost, as it was to murdered Abel-flings him, in fine, without any avail from the experience of others, into a state of un50 tried being. No wonder that nature trembles before ito Reason justifies the fear. Religion never makes light of it: and he who does, instead of ranking with heroes, can hardly deserve to rank with a brute. What have unbelievers to gild their evening hour, to 55 bind up their aching head, to soothe their laboring heart? What living hope descends from heaven to smile on the sinking features, whisper peace to the retiring spirit, and announce to the sad surrounding rela tives that all is well? There is none! Astonishment, 60 dismay, melancholy boding, are the “portion of their cup.” Sit down, ye unhappy, in the dosolation of grief. Consolation heard the voice of your weeping: she hastened to your door, but started back affrighted; her commission extends not to your house of mourning; ye 65 have no hope! Exercise 91, Character of Mrs. Graham.—Mason. Recall the example of Mrs. Graham. Here was a woman—a widow—a stranger in a strange land-without fortune-with no friends but such as her letters of introduction and her worth should acquire—and with a 5 family of daughters dependent upon her for their sub sistence. Surely if any one has a clear title of immunity from the obligation to carry her cares beyond the domestic circle, it is this widow; it is this stranger. Yet within a few years this stranger, this widow, with 10 no means but her excellent sense, her benevolent heart, and her persevering will to do good, awakens the chaiities of a populous city, and gives to them an impulse, a direction, and an efficacy, unknown before! What - might not be done by men; by men of talent, of stand15 ing, of wealth, of leisure? How speedily, under their well-directed beneficence, might a whole country change its physical, intellectual, and moral aspect; and assume, comparatively speaking, the face of another Eden-á second garden of God? Why then do they not diffuse, 20 thus extensively, the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of bliss? I ask not for their pretences; they are as old as the lust of lucre; and are refuted by the example which we have been contemplating-I ask for the true reason, for the inspiring principle, of their conduct. It 25 is this let them look to it when God shall call them to account for the abuse of their time, their talents, their station, their “unrighteous mammon.”—It is this: They believe not "the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." They labor 30 under no want but one-they want the heart! |