ticular kindreds and people, he can devise, with judgment and discrimination, schemes for carrying the "Salvation of God" into effect, he can realize, in some measure, to his mental sight, the glorious and happy scenes which will be displayed in the future ages of time, when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ," and when the "everlasting gospel" shall be published, and its blessings distributed among all who dwell upon the face of the earth. He can bound from this earth to the planetary worlds, and survey far more spacious globes, peopled with a higher order of intelligences, arranged and superintended by the same Almighty Sovereign, who "doth according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth." He can wing his way beyond the visible region of the sky, till he find himself surrounded on every hand with suns and systems of worlds, rising to view in boundless perspective, throughout the tracts of immensity-diversified with scenes of magnificence, and with beings of every order—all under the government and the wise direction of Him who "rules among the armies of heaven," and who " preserveth them all," and whom the "host of heaven worship" and adore. He can soar beyond them all to the throne of God, where angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, celebrate the praises of their Sovereign Lord, and stand ready to announce his Will, by their rapid flight to the most distant provinces of his empire. He can descend from that lofty eminence to this terrestrial world, allotted for his temporary_abode, and survey another unbounded province of the Empire of God, in those living worlds which lie hid from the unassisted sight, and which the microscope alone can descry. He can here perceive the same Hand and Intelligence which direct the rolling worlds above, and marshal all the angelic tribes-organizing, arranging, and governing the countless myriads of animated existence which people the surface of a muddy pool. He can speed his course from one of these departments of Jehovah's kingdom to another, till, astonished and overwhelmed with the order, the grandeur and extent of the wondrous scene, he is constrained to exclaim, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty!" "Thine understanding is infi nite!" The limits of thy dominions are "past finding out!" 1 LESSON LXVIII. Elegy written in a Country Churchyard.-GRAY. THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure : The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud! impute to these the fault, Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart, once pregnant with celestial fire; But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Chill penury repressed their noble rage, Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Some village-Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. The applause of listening senates to command, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their history in a nation's eyes, Their lot forbade; nor circumscrib'd alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, With incense kindled at the muse's flame. Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, They kept the noiseless tenour of their way. Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect, With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse, And many a holy text around she strews, For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, On some fond breast the parting soul relies, For thee, who, mindful of the unhonoured dead, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, Flaply, some hoary-headed swain may say, Oft have we seen him, at the peep of dawn, "There, at the foot of yonder nodding beach, "Hard by yon wood, now smiling, as in scorn, Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove; Now drooping, woful wan! like one forlorn, Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. "One morn I missed him on the accustomed hill, Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood, was he : "The next, with dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the churchway-path we saw him borne : Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay There scattered oft, the earliest of the year, By hands unseen, are showers of violets found; The redbreast loves to build and warble there, And little footsteps lightly print the ground. THE EPITAPH. HERE rests his head upon the lap of earth, Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere ; Heaven did a recompense as largely send gave to misery all he had, a tear; He He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wishe d)- a friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his Father and his God. |