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176 GOD GIVES ALL THINGS TO HIS PEOPLE

Then constant Faith, and holy Hope shall die,
One lost in certainty, and one in joy;
Whilst thou, more happy pow'r, fair Charity,
Triumphant sister, greatest of the three,
Thy office, and thy nature still the same,
Lasting thy lamp, and unconsum'd thy flame,
Shalt still survive

Shalt stand before the host of heav'n confest,
For ever blessing, and for ever blest.

GOD GIVES ALL THINGS TO HIS PEOPLE.

LET me imagine what possibly I can, in all the world, I may with the pen of reason, write under it, "This is God's ;" and if I take but the pen of faith with it, I may write with it, "This is mine in Christ Jesus." As, for example, Hath he a Son? He hath died for me. Hath he a Spirit? It shall live within me. Is earth his? It shall be my provision. Is heaven his? It shall be my portion. Hath he angels? They shall guard me. Hath he comforts? They shall support me. Hath he grace? That shall make me holy. Hath he glory? That shall make me happy. "For the Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly." And as he is nothing but what he is unto us, so he doth nothing but what he doth for us. So that whatsoever God doth by his ordinary providence or (if our necessity requires) whatsoever he can do by his extraordinary power, I may be sure, he doth and will do for me. Now he hath given himself to me, and taken me unto himself, what will he not do for me that he can? And what can he not do for me that he will? Do I want food? God can drop down manna from the clouds, or bid the quails come down and feed me with their own flesh, as they did the Israelites, or he can send the ravens to bring me bread and flesh, as they did the Prophet Elijah. Am I thirsty? God can break the rocks, and dissolve the flints into floods

MOTHER AND CHILD.

177

of water, as he did for Israel. Am I cast into a fiery furnace? He can suspend the fury of the raging flames, as he did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Am I thrown among the devouring lions? He can stop their mouths and make them as harmless lambs, as he did for Daniel. Am I ready to be swallowed up by the merciless waves of the tempestuous ocean? God can command a fish to come and ship me safe to land, and that in its own belly, as he did for Jonah. Am I in prison? God can but speak the word, as he did for St. Peter, and the chains shall immediately fall off, and the doors fly open, and I shall be set at liberty, as he was. And thus I can have no wants, but God can supply them; no doubts, but God can resolve them no fears, but God can dispel them; no dangers, but God can prevent them. And 'tis as certain that he will, as that he can, do these things for me,-himself having by covenant engaged and given himself to me.

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MOTHER AND CHILD.

HER, by her smile, how soon the infant knows!
How soon, by his, the glad discovery shows!
As to her lips she lifts the lovely boy,

What answering looks of sympathy and joy!
He walks, he speaks. In many a broken word,
His wants, his wishes, and his griefs are heard;
And ever, ever to her lap he flies,

When rosy sleep comes on with sweet surprise,
Lock'd in her arms, his arms across her flung,
(That name most dear for ever on his tongue,)
As with soft accents round her neck he flings,
And, cheek to cheek, her lulling song she sings;
How blest to feel the beatings of his heart,
Breathe his sweet breath, and kiss for kiss impart,
Watch o'er his slumbers like the brooding dove,
And, if she can, exhaust a mother's love!
But soon a nobler task demands her care;
Apart she joins his little hands in prayer,
Telling of him who sees in secret there.

178

ANECDOTE OF ROBERT BRUCE.

And now the volume on her knee has caught
His wandering eye--now many a written thought,
Never to die, with many a lisping sweet,

His moving murmuring lips endeavour to repeat.
Releas'd, he chases the bright butterfly;
Oft he would follow-follow through the sky!
Climbs the gaunt mastiff slumbering in his chain, on
And chides and buffets, clinging by the mane
Then runs, and kneeling by the fountain side,
Sends his brave ship in triumph down the tide,
A dangerous voyage; or, if now he can,

If now he wears the habit of a man,

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Flings off the coat so long his pride and pleasure,
And, like a miser digging for his treasure,
His tiny spade in his own garden plies,
And in green letters sees his name arise!
Where'er he goes, for ever in her sight,

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She looks, and looks, and still with new delight.ro

ANECDOTE OF ROBERT BRUCE.

KING Robert Bruce, the restorer of the Scottish monarchy, being out one day reconnoitring the enemy, lay at night in a barn, belonging to a loyal cottager. In the morning, still reclining his head on the pillow of straw, he beheld a spider climbing up the beam of the roof. The insect fell to the ground, but immediately made a second essay to ascend. This attracted the notice of the hero, who, with regret, saw the spider fall a second time from the eminence. It made a third unsuccessful attempt. Not without a mixture of concern and curiosity, the monarch twelve times beheld the insect baffled in his design; but its thirteenth essay was crowned with success; it gained the summit of the barn; when the king, starting from his couch, exclaimed, "This despicable insect has taught me perseverance! I will follow its example; have I not been twelve times defeated by the enemy's superior force?

ACCOUNT OF THE ECHO.T

179

On one fight more hangs the independence of my coun try." In a few days, his anticipations were fully realized, by the glorious result to Scotland, of the battle of Bannockburn. Let the Christian learn, both from the insect and the patriot, to persevere in his endea vours to overcome his spiritual enemies, and to gain the crown of glory. Constancy will issue in his reaching these objects of his holy ambition.

ACCOUNT OF THE ECHO.

SOUND is propagated successively from the sounding body to the places which are nearest to it, then to those more distant, and so on. Every observer knows that when a gun is fired at a considerable distance from him, he perceives the flash a certain time before he hears the report: and the same thing is true with respect to the stroke of a hammer or of a hatchet, the fall of a stone, or, in short, any visible action which produces a sound or sounds. In general, sound travels through the air at the rate of 1142 feet in a second, or about thirteen miles in a minute. This is the case with all kinds of sounds, the softest whisper flying as fast as the loudest thunder. Sound, like light, after it has been reflected from several places, may be collected into one point as 'a focus, where it will be more audible than in any other part; and on this principle whispering galleries are constructed. An echo is the reflection of sound striking against a surface adapted to the purpose, Las the side of a house, a brick wall, a hill, or a rock, and returning back again to the ear, at distinct intervals of time. If a person stand about sixty-five or seventy feet from such a surface, and perpendicular to it, and speak, the sound will strike against the wall, and be reflected back, so that he will hear it as it goes to the wall, and again on its return. If a bell situated in the same way be struck, and an observer stand between the bell and the reflecting surface, he will hear the sound going to the wall, and also on its return. Lastly, if the sound

180

THE WORLD RENOUNCED.

strike the wall obliquely, it will go off obliquely, so that a person who stands in a direct line between the bell and the wall will not hear the echo. According to the greater or less distance from the speaker, a reflecting object will return the echo of several, or of fewer syllables; for all the syllables must be uttered before the echo of the first syllable reaches the ear, to prevent the confusion which would otherwise ensue. In a moderate way of speaking, about three and a half syllables are pronounced in one second, or seven syllables in two seconds; therefore, when an echo repeats seven syllables, the reflecting object is 1142 feet distant; for sound travels at the rate of 1142 feet per second, and the distance from the speaker to the reflecting object, and again from the latter to the former, is twice 1142 feet. The most remarkable echo recorded is at the palace of a nobleman, within two miles of Milan, in Italy. The building is of some length in front, and has two wings jetting forward; so that it wants only one side of an oblong figure. About one hundred paces before the mansion, a small brook glides gently; and over this brook is a bridge forming a communication between the mansion and the garden. A pistol having been fired at this spot, fifty-six reiterations of the report were heard. The first twenty were distinct; but in proportion as the sound died away, and was answered at a greater distance, the repetitions were so doubled that they could scarcely be counted, the principal sound appearing to be saluted in its passage by reports on either side at the same time. A pistol of a larger calibre having been afterwards discharged, and consequently with a louder report, sixty distinct reiterations were counted.

THE WORLD RENOUNced.

I QUIT the world's fantastic joys:
Her honours are but empty toys,
Her bliss an empty shade:

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