Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

honest industry, and, not content with dipping his tongue in perjury and blood, robs the poor man of two guineas! Can you wonder that he crept into the hole of the multitude, when the witness would have developed him? Do you wonder that he endeavoured to shun your eyes? At this moment, even the bold and daring villany of O'Brien, stood abashed; he saw the eye of Heaven in that of an injured and innocent man -his heart bore testimony of his guilt, and he fled from the same! Gracious God! have you been so soiled in the vile intercourse, that you will give him a a degree of credit, which you would deny to the candid and untainted evidence of so many honest men? But I have not done with him yet-while an atom of his vileness hangs together-I will separate it-lest you should chance to be taken by it.-Was there a human creature brought forward to say he is any other than a villain? No! By this time Mr. O'Brien is sick of investigation.

Do you feel, gentlemen, that I have been aspersing this man's character? Is he not a perjurer, a swindler, and that he is not a murderer will depend on you. I know, gentlemen, I would but insult you, if I were to apologise for detaining you thus long: if I have apology to make to any person, it is to my client for delaying his acquittal.-Sweet is the recollection of having done justice, in that hour, when the hand of death presses on the human heart! If ever you should be assailed by the hand of the informer, may you find

an all powerful refuge in the example which you shall set this day; earnestly do I pray that you may never experience what it is to count the hours of captivity, pining in the damps and gloom of a dungeon, while the wicked one is going about at large, seeking whom he may devour.-There is another than a human tribunal, where the best of us will have occasion to look back on the little good we have done. In that awful trial, may your verdict this day assure your hopes, and give you strength and consolation in the presence of an Adjudging God.

THE LAST DAY.

"YOUNG."

At midnight, when mankind is wrapt in peace
And worldly fancy feeds on golden dreams,
Man, starting from his couch, shall sleep no more,
Above, around, beneath, amazement all!

Terror and glory join'd in their extremes!
Our God in grandeur, and our world on fire!
All nature struggling in the pangs of death!
Dost thou not hear her? Dost thou not deplore
Her strong convulsions, and her final groan?
Where are we now? Ah me! the ground is gone,
On which we stood! Lorenzo! while thou may'st,
Provide more firm support, or sink for ever!

Where? how? From whence? vain hope! it is too

late!

Where, where, for shelter, shall the guilty fly,
When consternation turns the good man pale?
Great day! for which all other days were made,
For which earth rose from choas; man from earth;
And an eternity, the date of Gods,

Descended on poor earth created man!

Great day of dread, decision, and despair!
At thought of thee each sublunary wish
Lets go its eager grasp, and drops the world;
And catches at each reed of hope in heaven.
Already is begun the grand assize

In us, is all: deputed conscience scales

The dread tribunal, and forestalls our doom:
Forestalls; and by forestalling, proves it sure
Why on himself should man void judgment pass?
Is idle nature laughing at her sons?

Who conscience sent, her sentence will support,
And God above assert that God in man.

"EXODUS," XX.

God spake these words and said, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, or the likeness of any thing

that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneatli, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor serve them: For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.— Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou hast to do, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.-Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and

the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, and that ye sin not. And the Lord said unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel; ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me Gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you Gods of gold. An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen. In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

"SHERIDAN'S" SPEECH, ON THE TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS.

Should a stranger survey the land formerly Sujah Dowlah's, and seek the cause of its calamity-should he ask, what monstrous madness had ravaged thus, with wide spreading war and desolation—what foreign foe-what disputed succession-what religious zealwhat fabled monster has stalked abroad, and, with malice and mortal enmity to man, has withered, with the gripe of death every growth of nature and of humanity-all the means of delight, and each original, simple principle of bare existence? The answer will

« FöregåendeFortsätt »