Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

happy, whose God is the Lord;-that the trees (for it was remarkably shady) seemed to clothe a deep hollow, on the top of which I stood, and on the other, they enrobed a nearly perpendicular height. This was the appearance of part of my way. In some places, however, the traveller emerged from a shady into an open and unconfined scene; and sometimes I was lifted so high as to behold the trees, and walks, and surrounding country beneath mewhilst a deep dell at others, solitary and gloomy, received my footsteps into its hollow.

in the keeping of God's commandments, there is great reward;-that godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come;-that wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace. And if the distinguished excellency of the Christian religion be so illustriously displayed, in producing this peace and happiness in the minds of those who cordially embrace it, we cannot but regard those as destitute of every legitimate pretension to genuine benevolence, who would endeavour to deprive us of that joy and peace which we feel in believing, by attempting to subvert that religion from which we derive our present happiness, and all our hopes of future felicity.

If, when strenuously contending for the excellency of the Christian religion, and when endeavouring to promote its interests in the world, we are labouring under the influence of some gross delusion, we can only say, it is an inconceivably delightful one; and we do not wish the enchantment dispelled. If the sources from which we derive our highest pleasures are imaginary, we know, from experience, that the pleasures themselves are real. If evangelical religion be error, we can only say, ,in the language of Dr. Young, O for error still!"

[blocks in formation]

(Continued from col. 895.) No. XXIV.-A Morning. "I'll tell your bonour," replied the corporal, "every thing straight forwards as I learnt it."" STERNE.

I ROSE from my bed rather early, dressed myself,-took a book in my hand, and resolved to have a walk before breakfast.

It was a morning in summer,-a beautiful one. The sun shone brilliantly,-powerfully, The earth was chastely clad with verdure, and seemed, when viewed in connexion with the variegated dew-drops which bespread the ground, as if smiling through her tears. The walk I had chosen was a narrow, winding, and uneven one, which bent part of its course round a steep hill. On one side of it,

--

The sun, as I said before, was shining brilliantly, and its rays had pierced through the openings among the leaves, which often spread themselves above my head, and shone indefinitely on the ground.-Every breath of wind altered the shadows beneath my feet, and I could not fail to remark the contrast existing between the powerfulness of the light itself, and the feeble manner in which it was exercised.Here and there, when an opening presented itself, a full blaze of light gleamed gloriously on the way. I had walked some time, admiring the objects above, and beneath, and around me, when at last I stayed, and sat down on a bench that stood in my path. The scene around my restingplace was of a woody character.There were trees behind and on each side of me; but before, they parted a space, to shew the prospect which stretched widely forth, in beautiful contrast to the scenery by which I was encompassed. I heard the birds singing in the trees, whose leafy branches formed a canopy over me. And on these things no human characteristic was impressed.-Not so the prospect upon which I was gazing. Scattered houses and barns, and other buildings, were resting on what, if they had not been there, would have been a regular plat of cultivated ground, stretching forward about a mile, and sloping upward toward the sky. About a hundred yards in front lay a small pool, and on the other side of it rose a large gothic window, nothing of which remained except the outside figure. It stood all alone, and a public road passed between it and a long tall thin tower, which peeped over the top of the window, and once held a convent bell. From where I sat, I saw a passenger ever and anon seeming to emerge from one side of the window,

and pass forward to the other, and | cheeks in matted flakes, which were that was all which could be perceived like strings suspended from an old of him. black-I could not distinguish its form sufficiently to call it-bonnet. Imagination, what canst thou do!-I never saw but one pretty milk-girl in my life; and yet, whenever I please, I feel justified in attaching the most lovely ideas to the character.

Behind the tower, a square range of buildings was observed, which had once formed a convent.-Upon the walls of these buildings, pig-sties and cow-sheds, and what not, were built. The melon-like shape of the top of the belfry was rudely broken, and I could see smoke issuing from a hole in it; and houses were spread in all directions, (the houses of the peasantry,) some of them with this wall made 700 years ago, and some formed within the last seven months; and the clank of hammers was sounding in a murderous manner in my ears.-A little ivy climbed up one side of the solitary window, (first mentioned,) but seemed as if disdaining to approach any other part of the polluted sanctuary, and left the other walls naked, and rudely destitute of grace.

I put the book, which I had hitherto held in my hand, by my side; and determined to employ myself in noticing the individuals who passed on the road, which I have said was seen through the Gothic window.-My determination was scarcely made, when a poor blind beggar passed before me. A little dog with a string fastened round his neck, which he held in his hand, led him along. I saw him only for a moment, but I noticed his faltering and hesitating step, and the humble and submissive look of his conductor, and thought that the miseries of the one were only proportioned to the calamities of the other. If the man was blind, and consequently deprived of numberless blessings, the dog was continually confined to the same unvaried life; and each of them was alike accustomed to bear the rebuffs, and kicks, and displeasure of an unfeeling world.

[ocr errors]

There appeared very shortly, walking the opposite way, a respectable looking, thin, old man-he stooped very much, and wore a brown wig, a black coat, and velveteen smallclothes. He seemed to be taking an accustomed morning walk, although he tottered along, scarcely supported by a stick, which, however, he employed as much as possible.

The moment I beheld him, I thought of the beggar. Has he given him any thing? His shrivelled and stooping figure, which time seemed bending towards the grave, and his unsteady pace, appeared to say that he had.But then he was a thin cold-looking man, his brown coat looked so formal, and his lips were so narrow-No-it cannot be, said I.

There came next a most fashionable young fellow, with a fishing-rod in his hand, and a basket at his side. Did he remember the beggar? Too much occupied with his angling.—Then a glazier passed along, with a wooden frame, in which was some windowglass, hanging at his back. He would pass heedlessly by the blind man, because he seldom thought of giving any thing away; the subject never came home to his heart. Perhaps he never observed either man or dog.—A fine elegant chariot drove furiously before me. As much too exalted to give, as the journeyman glazier was too low.-I am not uncharitable, so I drove the subject from my thoughts.

Among the individuals I saw, there was one who had a peculiar kind of jerk every step he took, which moved his body suddenly upward and downward, as he went along. He had on a black coat-his face was very white and his body very thin, and the jerking particularly affected the shoulders,

And then came a milk-maid with a pail on her head-far different from the pretty, neat, interesting individual, whom we are constantly accustomed to associate with our ideas of a milkmaid. A short thick-set woman, with fat red arms, and a face that seemed to have been burnished of a nasty—this, thought I, is a Methodist. dingy bronze colour; nose, forehead, cheeks, chin, all alike. A trolloping blue gown was loosely hanging about her, there was a large hole in a dirty pair of black stockings which she wore. Her hair had fallen down her

Another fellow looked, as he walked, like a poker; he had a blue coat on his back, was a short man, and had something peculiarly hard in his face. Oh, said I, that's an Independent.

The next man was a tall fat fellow,

with a very careless-looking red face. He was dressed in a white coat, and had a basket in one hand and a spade in the other.-He, I concluded, went to church, when he went any where. The world is an exhaustless subject, thought I, as I got up and walked home, and very soon lost sight of human beings,-enveloped again in the woody and beautiful scenery to which I alluded in a former part of this paper. If the reader be as tired as I was hungry, he will thank me for concluding.

(To be continued.)

APHORISMS FROM THE WRITINGS OF
THE REV. R. HALL, OF LEICESTER.

(Continued from col.834.)

43.- Or all the vices incident to human nature, the most destructive to society are vanity, ferocity, and unbridled sensuality; and these are precisely the vices which infidelity is calculated to cherish.

44.-The idea of a Supreme Being, attracts to itself, as to a centre, whatever bears the impress of dignity, order, or happiness. It borrows splendour from all that is fair, subordinates to itself all that is great, and sits enthroned on the riches of the universe.

45.- Of an accountable creature, duty is the concern of every moment, since he is every moment pleasing or displeasing to God. It is an universal element mingling with every action, and qualifying every disposition and pursuit.

46.-The scattered rays of an ideal excellence are concentrated, and become the real attributes of that Being with whom we stand in the nearest relation, who sits supreme at the head of the universe, is armed with infinite power, and pervades all nature with his presence.

47.-The truly good man is jealous over himself, lest the notoriety of his best actions, by blending itself with their motive, should diminish their value.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

sive: it communicates that just manner of thinking upon the most important subjects; which, extending its influence thence to every department of speculative and moral truth, inspires a freedom of inquiry, and an elevation of sentiment, which raises the disciples of Revelation immeasurably above the level of unassisted nature.

50.-If existence be a good, the eternal loss of it must be a great evil: if it be an evil, reason suggests the propriety of inquiring why it is so.of investigating the maladies by which it is oppressed. Amidst the darkness and uncertainty which hang over our future condition, Revelation, by bringing life and immortality to light, affords the only relief.

the

51.-The extent to which we have the faculty of acquiring knowledge, forms the most obvious distinction of our species. In inferior animals, it subsists in so small a degree, that we are wont to deny it to them altogether; range of their knowledge, if it deserve that name, being so extremely limited, and their ideas so few and simple, whatever is most exquisite in their operations, is referred to an instinct, which, working within a narrow compass, though with undeviating uniformity, supplies the place, and supersedes the necessity, of reason. In inferior animals, the knowledge of the whole species is possessed by each individual of the species, while man is distinguished by numberless diversities in the scale of mental improve

ment.

52.-Religious toleration implies, not merely the freedom of thought, which no human power can restrain, and which equally subsists under the most tyrannical and the most enlightened governments; it comprehends also the freedom of communication, and the right of discussion within the limits of sober and dispassionate argument.

53. Some have objected to the instruction of the lower classes, from an apprehension that it would lift them above their sphere, make them dissatisfied with their station in life, and by impairing the habit of subordination, endanger the tranquillity of the state; an objection devoid surely of all force and validity. It is not easy Wherever Christianity pre- to conceive in what manner instructvails, mankind are uniformly progres-ing men in their duties can prompt

48.-Under the fostering hand of religion, reason will develop her resources, and philosophy mature her fruits; advancing mankind through an interminable series of social order and happiness.

49.

-

them to neglect those duties; or how that enlargement of reason, which enables them to comprehend the true grounds of authority and the obligation to obedience, should indispose them to obey.

54.-The true prop of good government is opinion; the perception, on the part of the subject, of benefits resulting from it; a settled conviction, in other words, of its being a public good. Now, nothing can produce or maintain that opinion but knowledge, since opinion is a form of knowledge. Of tyrannical and unlawful governments, indeed, the support is fear; to which ignorance is as congenial, as it is abhorrent from the genius of a free people.

ON THE UTILITY OF HISTORY AND
BIOGRAPHY.

HISTORY is the foundation of all useful and elegant knowledge; it makes us familiar with the transactions and characters of mankind, from the remotest periods of antiquity to the present time; and brings us acquainted with the most distant nations, as well as our own. It affords us also an extraordinary insight into the human mind, by shewing us character displayed in all circumstances, and on the widest scale, and developing the diversified motives by which men are actuated.

History is also of the utmost consequence to the morals of mankind. It exhibits, in its account of every nation, how essential morality and virtue are to the happiness of a state, how constantly vice and irreligion terminate in national ruin; and how numerous and tremendous are the evils produced by pride, ambition, envy, and revenge, when they are suffered to operate without resistance and control.

This is not only a useful lesson to communities, but to individuals; for every man is a little kingdom in himself, where, if the inferior faculties of his body are in due subjection to the superior powers of his soul, he is like a well-governed state; harmony, peace, and happiness reign throughout the soul. If, on the contrary, his inferior powers rebel against the superior, there is the same internal commotion in the individual, as there is in a nation when in a state of civil confusion. The same history, therefore, which shews us that the happiness of

a nation depends on its virtue, informs us, that the happiness of its inhabitants depends on the same principle, and that ruin will as certainly be the consequence of vice in an individual, as it is in the community at large.

The biographical part of history is peculiarly important. No species of composition is at once so interesting and edifying as the biography of eminent persons, whether distinguished for piety, learning, or active usefulness.

Well-written memoirs of good men, do more than merely teach goodness; they enforce, and persuade, with an energy most vehement and effectual. Virtue, when embodied in an amiable character, is a most illustrious and alluring object, which commands the silent admiration even of the most depraved. If it be reasonable to imagine that the devil, when rebuked by a holy angel,

"stood abashed, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely;" how much more captivating must the same object appear to a being who feels that it is within his reach, and that his own character may be beautified and ennobled by that which he perceives to ennoble others.

Piety and virtue, in the disquisitions of moralists and the sermons of divines, may be made to assume a magnificent aspect; but, enthroned in their abstract existence, they seem to repel us from them, by producing the conviction of our vast and hopeless distance; we are intimidated by the obstacles which must be surmounted, and the efforts which must be made, before we can approach them. But when we see moral worth exhibited in real life; when we behold its actual influence on the tempers and conduct of its possessor, it becomes a more obvious, familiar, and engaging object; and when the biographer faithfully delineates the various gradations through which the person has passed, the steps he has taken, and the means he has adopted in order to arrive at his present eminence-we are compelled to feel the conviction, that it is an attainable object. We cannot, it is true, by one step, ascend to the excellence which we admire in him; but we can begin where he began-we can take the first step-then the second; nay, we can, perhaps, improve upon his plan, by

avoiding his errors and miscarriages. | blot. In short, we obtain all the benefits of his experience, without being exposed to any of its risks. Rainton.

H. ROBINSON.

[blocks in formation]

SHE was stretched on a bed superbly decorated, but though of rare and costly down, and in an apartment fashionably rich, to her, on whom disease had fastened with all its concomitant evils, it was comfortless. Obsequious to her desire, I drew back the curtain that hid from her disordered vision the smiles of day; and, regardless of the magnificent ornaments that made splendid the residence of pain, I fixed my eye on the object of my visit, when, to my utter astonishment, I beheld the visage of one, of whom I formerly had much personal knowledge. The tremor that | simultaneously stole through my frame, was inexpressible, as I had known her for many years. In early life, when all was gladness, I had been her co-partner in playful innocence, and had therefore seen her when fondly caressed by every domestic endearment, and when, in the radiant circles of genuine friendship, she breathed the odours of fragrant health. I had known her, when not even Cynthia, clad in her resplendent mantle, could surpass the lustre of her reputation, and, shall I add, when virtue dignified her every sentiment, and when the unsophisticated graces of her bosom shone brilliantly in the majesty of her actions. But, since that period of expanding innocence, she had suffered herself to be inflated with vanity, and her apparently guileless mind to be seduced by the artifices of a miscreant in the form of a man. Nor did she, by any vigorous effort, endeavour to penetrate the subtlety of his dishonourable fondness, until she had cast on the disk of her character an indelible

83.-VOL. VII.

It was then that the frigid hand of indigence untied the silken bandage, in which her sportive senses had long been enwrapped; while the vision of departed joys stole upon her soul, and caused her heart to beat with the most tumultuous palpitation.

Nor had this melancholy and mental anguish wholly subsided, though several years of shameful splendour had rolled away. For when compelled, from indisposition, to restrain her diminished beauty within the precincts of agony and pain, recollection furnished her with those illustrious precepts which parental fondness had deduced from scripture, and early engrafted on her mind. She had, indeed, laboured to expunge from the tablet of her memory, these lessons of wisdom; but before the eye of her soul appeared the whole process of her guilty career; and so strong was the grasp of conviction, that her eyes were compelled to emit the evidences of guilty sorrow.

To retard her step to the gate, which is narrow, or to darken her pathway to the cross, by a recital of sorrowful incidents, to me appeared palpably wrong. I therefore importuned with her to abandon all such conversation as that which had a tendency to disturb the repose of a praying spirit; and, as she was quickly verging towards an unseen world, to breathe the words of devout compunction, and to look with an eye of faith to the throne on which the Saviour sat, that she might obtain forgiveness and peace. I observed, that there were, already, instances on record to a vast amount, of the most profligate having found redemption in the blood of the Lamb; and that the all-wise and merciful Redeemer, who had suffered for sinners, could not possibly refuse to adopt into his favour all such as earnestly desired him. Her face, though imprinted with the hue of death, gave ine a smile of complacency, and her expressive eye seemed to steal from beneath the film of darkness, that was overspreading it, to glow with approbation at what I had said.

While thus conversing, I almost insensibly locked my hand of feebleness in her's; and then, as if mechanically nailed to the spot, in rapt amazement fixed my eye on the origin of my grief. We had long been separated; but, until this gloomy event,

3 s

« FöregåendeFortsätt »