Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

16. "Live!-and repine not o'er his loss, A loss unworthy to be told:

Thou hast mistaken sordid dross

For friendship's gold.

17. "Whate'er thy lot-whoe'er thou be,—
Confess thy folly, kiss the rod,
And in thy chastening sorrows see
The hand of God.

18. "A bruised reed He will not break;
Afflictions, all His children feel;

He wounds them for His mercy's sake-
He wounds to heal.

19. "Humbled beneath His mighty hand,
Prostrate, His Providence we adore;
'Tis done! Arise! He bids thee stand,
To fall no more.

20. "Now, traveler in the vale of tears,
To realms of everlasting light,

Through time's dark wilderness of years,
Pursue thy flight.

21. "There is a calm for those who weep,
A rest for weary pilgrims found;
And while the moldering ashes sleep
Low in the ground—

22. The soul, of origin divine,

God's glorious image, freed from clay,
In heaven's eternal sphere shall shine
A star of day.

23. "The sun is but a spark of fire,
A transient meteor of the sky;
The soul, immortal as its Sire,

SHALL NEVER die.' "2

QUESTIONS.-1. What is found in the grave? 2. For what does the writer long? 3. What sound does he hear? 4. From what did it proteed? . By what is the rest of the piece represented as uttered?

With what modulation of voice should the fifth verse be read? Why the falling inflection at silent and pride, sixth verse? (Rule VII. Note I.) Are the questions, seventh, eighth, and ninth verses, direct or indirect? What inflection have the commands in this lesson? What inflexion unes

the answer to a question require? What pause should precede the utter ance of the last line? Can you point out other examples of rhetorica pause in this lesson? In what tone of voice should the last line be read 1 (Les. III. 3—also, Les. Xi. 4.)

out.

LESSON LX.

SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Intimately, very closely. 2. Countenance, the face; encouragement. 3. Precludes, prevents from taking place; shuts 4. Forborne, omitted; dispensed with. 5. Dictate, something commanded, or enjoined.--6. Vista, a pathway, literally, a view through an 7. Wayfaring, journeying; traveling. 8. Vibration, a rapid moving to and fro; a quivering.

avenue.

What general Rule should be regarded in order to secure a clear articulation? (Les. I. 4.) What occasion the chief difficulty in articulating distinctly (Les. II. Notes I. and II.)

Influence of the Wise and Good after Death.-NORTON.

1. THE relations between man and man, cease not with life. The dead leave behind them their memory, their example, and the effects of their actions. Their influence still abides with us. Their names and characters dwell in our thoughts and hearts-we live and commune with them in their writings. We enjoy the benefit of their labors-our institutions have been founded by them-we are surrounded by the works of the dead. Our knowledge and our arts are the fruit of their toil—our minds have been formed by their instructions—we are most intimately connected with them by a thousand dependencies.

2. Those whom we have loved in life, are still objects of our deepest and holiest affections. Their power over us remains. They are with us in our solitary walks; and their voices speak to our hearts in the silence of midnight. Their image is impressed upon our dearest recollections, and our most sacred hopes. They form an essential part of our treasure laid up in heaven. For, above all, we are sepa. rated from them but for a little time. We are soon to be united with them. If we follow in the path of those we have loved, we, too, shall soon join the innumerable com、 pany of "the spirits of just men made perfect." Our affec. tions and our hopes are not buried in the dust, to which we commit the poor remains of mortality. The blessed retain their remembrance and their love for us in heaven; and we will cherish our remembrance and our love for them whila on earth.

3. Creatures of imitation and sympathy as we are, we look around us for support and countenance, even in our virtues. We recur for them, most securely, to the examples of the dead. There is a degree of insecurity and uncertainty about living worth. The stamp has not yet been put upon it, which precludes all change, and seals it up as a just object of admiration for future times. There is no greater service which a man of commanding intellect, can render his fellow creatures, than that of leaving behind him an unspotted example.

4. If he do not confer upon them this benefit; if he leave a character dark with vices in the sight of God, but dazzling qualities in the view of men; it may be that all his other services had better have been forborne, and he had passed inactive and unnoticed through life. It is a dictate of wisdom, therefore, as well as feeling, when a man, eminent for his virtues and talents, has been taken away, to collect the riches of his goodness, and add them to the treasury of human improvement. The true Christian liveth not for himself; and it is thus, in one respect, that he dieth not for himself.

·WN the summer day of youth is slowly wasting away into he nightfall of age, and the shadows of past years grow dee er and deeper, as life wears to its close, it is pleasant to look back, through the vista of time, upon the sorrows and felicities of our earlier years. If we have a home to shelter, and hearts to rejoice with us, and friends have been gathered together around our firesides, then the rough place of our wayfaring will have been worn and smoothed away, in the twilight of life, while the sunny spots we have passed through, will grow brighter and more beautiful. Happy indeed are they, whose intercourse with the world has not changed the tone of their holier feelings, or broken those musical chords of the heart, whose vibrations are so melodious, so tender and touching, in the evening of age.-ANON.

QUESTIONS.-1. What do the dead leave behind them? 2. What benefits do we enjoy from their labors? 3. What is meant by the phrase, the voices of the dead speak to our hearts?' 4. What is the greatest service which a man of commanding intellect can render his fellow creatures? 5. What is said of him if he do not confer this benefit? 6. What is a dictate of wisdom, when those, eminent for their virtues and talents, are taken away?

LESSON LXI.

SPELL AND DEFINE--1. U surps', seizes and possesses without right 2. Verdure, green herbage. 3. Illuminating, making light. 4. Omnipo ence, infinite power. 5. Quickens, brings to life, or causes to grow 6. Exhilarate, to make cheerful. 7. Benignant, kind; gracious. 8. Ma terial, consisting of matter. 9. Extinguished, put out, as a fire.— 10. Shield, a large round piece of armor, held before the body for defense

The Sun.-STURM.

1. BEHOLD the sun just issuing from his chamber, spreading light and joy through all the realms of nature! What a prospect presents itself to the view! The sky is painted with the brightest azure-a variegated verdure clothes the plains the whole creation appears adorned with inexpressible loveliness. The ravished eye casts its glance around on every side, and is never satisfied with gazing. At the near approach of the star of day, the mountains lift up their heads-the earth exhibits a thousand testimonies of gratitude and satisfaction-from every meadow and out of every grove the voice of pleasure warbles.

2. Without the sun's genial fire, what would the world be but a dismal dungeon? All its charms would be hidden and lost, were they not revealed by the luster of this illuminating orb. An attentive mind discovers in the sun a vast fund of meditation. Its resplendency, its energy, par ake more of the divinity than does any other object. It constitutes the best image of the Creator, offered to the senses, and is well adapted to give us the most exalted ideas of lis omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness.

3. But it forms also a type of that Sun of righteousness, which arose for the salvation of mankind, and visited us while we yet sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. As often, therefore, O my soul, as thou praisest God for the return of day, revere Him, likewise, for the far more precious manifestation of the Luminary of salvation, and his glorious gospel.

4. If there were no sun, the trees would produce no fruits, the shrubs no flowers, the fields no grass, the valleys no harvest. The fig-tree would not bud; there would be no shoots on the vine; the tilled land would yield no food; the sheep would be snatched from the fold, and there would be no cattle in the stalls.

5. The sun awakens the spring, it quickens the roots of

[ocr errors]

the plants, it renders fluid the nourishing sap, it penetrates into the deepest recesses of the ground; and, widely as its rays are darted, it becomes the universal origin of animation, ornament, and beauty. If there were no Redeemer, how dead, how barren, how frightful, would be the rational world! He alone can refresh it, and give it life and blessed. ness. He is "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

6. The sun has a peculiar power to exhilarate the mind, and gladden the heart. If, in the morning, it shines with unclouded radiance, all creatures are buoyant in spirits, and rejoice; if, on the contrary, it is overcast only for a few minutes, the reign of sadness becomes equally general; the birds are mute; the sounds of transport cease; dejection usurps even the human breast, terror and gloom every where occupy the scene. If Christ hides his countenance, ah! what black obscurity envelops all that the soul beholds!' All that is around me, is then melancholy; all that is within me, comfortless.

7. Let, therefore, O benignant Savior, the brightness of thy face for ever shine upon me. Show thyself in my heart, and repeat to me that which nothing earthly can bestowthe light of the soul and the peace of the mind. Then the material sun may be extinguished, and the light of the earth darkened; all nature may mourn; the heavens may go down and disappear; thou wilt be my sun, and my light, and my joy, and my heaven. In thy splendor, thou immeasurable One, I shall see light and enjoy it for ever!

1. O THOU that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy bèams, O Sùn! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty, and the stars hide themselves in the sky: the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone: who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven; but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course.

2. When the world is dark with témpests; when thunders roll and lightnings fly'; thou lookest in thy beauty from the clrds, and laughest at the stò.m. But to Ossian, thou

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »