Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

126

REFLECTIONS ON THE BEATITUDES

Delightful scene! a world at rest,
A God all love, no grief nor fear,
A heavenly hope, a peaceful breast,
A smile unsullied by a tear.

If heaven be ever felt below,
A scene so heavenly sure as this,
May cause a heart on earth, to know
Some foretaste of celestial bliss.

Delightful hour! how soon will night
Spread her dark mantle o'er thy reign!
And morrow's quick returning light
Must call us to the world again.

Yet will there dawn at last a day;
A SUN that never sets shall rise;
Night will not veil his ceaseless ray;
The heavenly sabbath never dies.

REFLECTIONS ON THE BEATITUDES.

WHAT abundant reason have we to thank God, that this large and instructive discourse of our blessed Redeemer, is so particularly recorded by the sacred historian! "Let every one that hath ears to hear," attend to it for surely no man ever spoke as our Lord did on this occasion. Let us fix our minds in a posture of humble attention, that we may "receive the law from his mouth." He opened it with blessings, repeated and most important blessings. But on whom are they pronounced? And whom are we taught to think the happiest of mankind? The meek and the humble; the penitent and the merciful; the peaceful and the pure; those that hunger and thirst after righteousness; those that labour but faint not, under persecution. Lord! how different are thy maxims from those of the children of this world: They call the proud happy; and admire the gay, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. But let a vain world take

APPEARANCES OF NATURE IN JULY.

127

its gaudy trifles, and dress up the foolish creatures that pursue them. May our souls share in that happiness, which the Son of God came to recommend and to procure! May we obtain mercy of the Lord: may we be owned as his children: enjoy his presence; and inherit his kingdom! With these enjoyments, and these hopes, we will cheerfully welcome the lowest, or the most painful circumstances. Let us be animated to cultivate the amiable virtues which are here recommended to us; this humility and meekness; this penitent sense of sin; this ardent desire after righteousness; this compassion and purity; this peacefulness and fortitude of soul: and in a word, this universal goodness which becomes us, as we sustain the character of "the salt of the earth," and "the light of the world." Is there not reason to lament, that we answer the character no better? Is there not reason to exclaim, with a good man in former times, "Blessed Lord! either these are not thy words, or we are not Christians!" Oh, season our hearts more effectually with thy grace! Pour forth that divine oil on our lamps! Then shall the flame brighten; then shall the ancient honours of thy religion be revived; and multitudes be awakened and animated, by the lustre of it," to glorify our Father in heaven."

APPEARANCES OF NATURE IN JULY

JULY is the hottest month in the year. The direct influence of the sun, indeed, is diminishing; but the earth and air have been so thoroughly heated, that the warmth which they retain, more than compensates for the gradual diminution of the solar rays. The effects of this weather upon the face of nature soon become manifest. All the flowers of the former month lose their beauty, and the whole plant hastens to decay. Many plants, however, do not begin to flower till July. While the animal creation seem oppressed with languor during this hot season, and either seek the recesses of woods, or resort to pools

128

ON PROCRASTINATION.

and streams, to cool their bodies and quench their thirst, the insect tribe are peculiarly active and vigorous. These minute creatures are for the most part annual,-being hatched in the spring, and dying at the approach of winter. The excessive heats of this period of the year, cause such an evaporation from the surface of the earth and waters, that, after some continuance of dry weather, large heavy clouds are formed, which at length let fall their collected liquor in extremely copious showers, which frequently beat down the full-grown corn, and sometimes deluge the country with sudden floods. Thunder and lightning generally accompany these summer storms. The effects of the great heat on the human body are agreeably allayed, by the various wholesome fruits which Providence offers at this season for the use of man. Those which are now ripe are all of the most cooling and refreshing kinds; as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cherries. These are no less salutary and useful than the richest products of the warmer climates. The luxury of cooling shades is now pe culiarly grateful, and multitudes flock from all quarters to enjoy the invigorating effects of sea-bathing; while others of the debilitated and valetudinarian tribe assemble at the medicinal well, in order to allay the feverish heat in their blood, or improve their constitution, by drinking the cooling and reanimating draught at the spring.

ON PROCRASTINATION.

BE wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer:
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
Year after year it steals, till all are fled;
And to the mercies of a moment, leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene

ANECDOTE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. .*

Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears
The palm, That all men are about to live:
For ever on the brink of being born.
All pay themselves the compliment to think,
They, one day, shall not drivel; and their pride
On this reversion takes up ready praise;

At least their own; their future selves applauds :
How excellent that life they ne'er will lead !
Time lodg'd in their own hands is folly's vails;
That lodg'd in fate's, to wisdom they consign;
The thing they can't but purpose, they postpone.
'Tis not in folly, not to scorn a fool;

And scarce in human wisdom to do more.
All promise is poor dilatory man ;

129

And that through every stage. When young, indeed, i
In full content, we sometimes nobly rest,
Unanxious for ourselves: and only wish,
As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise.
At thirty, man suspects himself a fool;
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;
At fifty, chides his infamous delay;
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve;
In all the magnanimity of thought,

Resolves, and re-resolves, then dies the same.
And why? Because he thinks himself immortal.
All men think all men mortal, but themselves;
Themselves, when some alarming shock of fate
Strikes through their wounded hearts the sudden dread:
But their hearts wounded, like the wounded air,
Soon close; where, past the shaft, no trace is found.
As from the wing no scar the sky retains ;
The parted wave no furrow from the keel ;
So dies in human hearts the thought of death.
Even with the tender tear which nature sheds
O'er those we love, we drop it in their grave.

ANECDOTE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

WHEN the late President of the United States of America was about six years of age, some one made

130

DESCRIPTION OF A VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

him a present of a hatchet. Highly pleased with his weapon, he went about chopping every thing that came in his way; and going into the garden, he unluckily tried its edge on an English cherry-tree, stripping it of its bark, and leaving little hopes of its recovery. The next morning, when the father saw the tree, which was a great favourite, he inquired who had done the mischief, declaring he would not have taken five guineas for it: but no one could inform him of the offender. At length, however, came George, with the hatchet in his hand, into the place where the father was, who immediately suspected him to be the culprit. "George, (said the old gentleman), do you know who killed that beautiful little cherrytree yonder in the garden? The child hesitated for a moment, and then nobly replied, "I cannot tell a lie, papa,-you know I cannot tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet." Run to my arms, my boy, (exclaimed his father), run to my arms! Glad am I, George, that you have killed my tree-you have paid me for it a thousand fold! Such an act of heroism in my son, is of more worth than a thousand cherrytrees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of gold.

DESCRIPTION OF A VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

THIRTY-EIGHT eruptions of Vesuvius are recorded in history up to the year 1806. That of 1779 has been described by Sir William Hamilton as among the most remarkable from its extraordinary and terrific appearance. During the whole of July the mountain was in a state of considerable fermentation, subterraneous explosions and rumbling noises being heard, and quantities of smoke thrown up with great violence, sometimes with red hot stones, scoriæ, and ashes. On the 5th of August the volcano was greatly agitated, a white sulphureous smoke, apparently four times the height and size of the volcano itself, issuing from the crater, at the same time that vast quantities of stones,

2

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »