Page images
PDF
EPUB

If some poor wandering child of Thine
Have spurn'd to-day the voice divine,
Now, Lord, the gracious work begin;
Let him no more lie down in sin.

Watch by the sick: enrich the poor
With blessings from thy boundless store:
Be every mourner's sleep to-night
Like infant's slumbers, pure and light.
Come near and bless us when we wake,
Ere through the world our way we take;
Till in the ocean of Thy love

We lose ourselves in heaven above.

SWEET is the smile of home; the mutual look
When hearts are of each other sure;

-Evening.

Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook,
The haunt of all affections pure.

THE SEA.

-1st Sun. in Lent.

Child. FATHER, what is that water there
That stretches out to meet the air?
Tell me, father, where it goes,

And whence it comes, and how it flows;
And, father, I should like to know,

If it was God that made it so ?

How big and deep, and then so wide,
I cannot see the other side;

It's longer than my ball of string,
A great, big, huge, unwieldy thing!

Father. 'Twas God, my child, who made the sea,
The same that made both you and me.
It is indeed a wondrous sight

To see it roll by day and night,

Its mountain waves the sand-banks over,
And such a wide expansion cover.
But Oh, my child, there's another sea,
A boundless, vast, eternity;

And all, whate'er their joy or care,
For that shoreless ocean should
prepare.

Child. Father, I think I see a boat
Smoothly on the water float;

How very bold the men must be
Who venture on the wide, wide sea!
If I should ever there be found,

I fear that I should soon be drown'd.

Father. My child, that boat securely rides,
And smoothly o'er the ocean glides,
Nor feel the seamen doubt or fear;
A skilful helmsman guides them there.
In sailing life's tempestuous sea
Let God alone your pilot be;

For while your Heavenly Father guides
You need not fear the winds nor tides.

The waves may rise, and the winds may sweep
The surface of the angry deep,

Yet shall He bid the thunders cease,
And hush the tempest into peace.

Child. Father, what is that building nigh,

With its blue and red taper of flame so high?
Why did they build it so narrow and tall?
It seems ready to tumble and bury us all.
And yet it appears a beautiful sight,
For its lantern is clear, and steady, and bright.
Perhaps you can tell me, my father, why
The builders have built it so very high?

Father. My child, they placed that beautiful light
To guide the ships in the gloom of night;
For there 's many a rock in the ocean bed
That the boldest seamen have cause to dread:
But when they gaze on that lantern there,
Burning and blazing up high in the air,
They turn their prows a different way,
Or wait the return of the dawning day.
The Bible, my child, is a beacon light,
And its lustre burns serenely bright;
It warns all sinners from evil and shame,
And holds up like a sunbeam the Saviour's name.
The word of God is a lamp of light,

And they by its beams who are guided aright
Will never be wreck'd on the rock of strife,
But enter the port of eternal life.
My child, may that lamp thy lantern be!
My God! may that beacon blaze for me!

Child. Father, what is that space so wide
That stretches itself to the ocean tide,

Where rocks, with a bold commanding face,
Stand round, as it were, to guard the place,
And seem to speak, in language clear,

To the winds and waves, "You must not come here."
Father. That space, my child, is a place secure,
A harbour of rest, and a haven sure,

Where the storm-beaten mariner gladly flies,
To 'scape from the tempest that frowns in the skies.
There is, my child, in the mansions above,
A heaven of bliss and boundless love.
That peaceful realm no storms deface,
For the Rock of Ages guards the place:
No tempests blow, no whirlwinds roar,
And sin and woe are known no more.
Then turn thy thoughts from the ocean wild,
And seek that heaven above, my child!
Where beams of love for ever fall,

And the Lord thy God is all in all.

ENOUGH has been given to the arts of controversy. Let something be given to the studies of piety and a holy life; if we can once unite in these, our tempers may be better disposed to unite in doctrine. When we shall be duly prepared to receive it, "God may reveal even this unto us."-Horne on the Psalms (Preface), 71.

ALL would secure themselves from the incursions of misery; but all do not consider that misery is the offspring of sin, from which it is therefore necessary to be delivered and preserved in order to become happy, or "blessed."―i. 1.

FEW, when they begin to "walk in the counsel of the ungodly, propose finally to sit down in the "seat of the scornful."

THUS will the Lord our Saviour provide for us on earth, and conduct us to heaven; where we shall dwell to "length of days," even the days of eternity, "one fold under one Shepherd:" a fold into which no enemy enters and from which no friend departs.-xxiii. 6.

THOU, O Christ, art the "mighty God;" and, therefore, thou art the" Prince of Peace." Isaiah ix. 6;-xxix. 11.

MUSIC, both vocal and instrumental, is of eminent use in setting forth the praises of God; but there is no instrument like the rational soul, and no melody like that of well-tuned

affections. When this music accompanies the other, the sacred harmony of the Church is complete.-xxxiii. 2.

66

"THOU lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue." As the Christian spirit delighteth itself in goodness, truth, and charity, so the antichristian spirit is here characterised by its offending, not out of ignorance, or inadvertence, but mere love of wickedness, falsehood, and malice. To this pitch many have arrived; and who, that enters upon a course of sin, can say that he shall stop short of it? -lii. 3, 4.

"TRUST not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery : if riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Of all things here below, wealth is that on which poor deluded man is chiefly tempted, even to the end of life, to place his confidence; and when "riches increase," it proves a hard task for the human heart to keep its affections sufficiently detached from them. But he who by injustice acquireth the earthly mammon, justly forfeiteth the treasures of heaven; and he who is made vain and covetous by money, however honestly gotten, renders that a curse to one which was designed as a blessing to many, and drowns himself in the spring which should have watered all around him.-lxii. 9, 10.

SIN darkens the understanding, taking from it that light, the direction of which it then stands most in need of. lxxiv. 9. "I WILL open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old." The Psalm, being in itself a plain narrative of facts, can contain nothing parabolical or enigmatical in it, unless those facts were what St. Paul affirms them to have been, "ensamples," types, or representations of other facts relative to the Christian Church.-lxxviii. 2.

"THEY shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." Happy the man whose goodness is always progressive, and whose virtues increase with his years; who loseth not, in multiplicity of worldly cares or pleasures, the holy fervours of his first love, but goeth on burning and shining more and more to the end of his days.-xcii. 14.

LUST in the heart, like vapour in the stomach, soon affects the head and clouds the understanding.-xcv. 10.

Of all birds it is known that they have yearly their moulting times, when they shed their old and are afresh furnished with a new stock of feathers. This is most observable of hawks and vultures, and especially of "eagles," which, when they are near an hundred years old, cast their feathers, and become bald and

like young ones, and then new feathers sprout forth.-Hammond.-ciii. 5.

FEAR puts out the light of faith, and hides the prospect of the promised land.-cvi. 7.

"FOR I am become like a bottle in the smoke." Bottles among the Jews were made of skins. One of these, if exposed to heat and smoke, would become shrivelled and useless.cxix. 83.

"THE proud have digged pits for me." The manner of taking wild beasts was by digging pits, and covering them over with turf, upon which, when the beast trod, he fell into the pit and was there confined and taken.-85.

"THE Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Be thou with us, thy servants, O Lord, in the world, as thou wast with Israel in the wilderness; suffer not our virtue to dissolve before the sultry gleams of prosperity; permit it not to be frozen by the chilling blast of adversity. cxxi. 5, 6.

66

"As ARROWS are in the hands of a mighty man, so are children of the youth." Children, when well educated, are like so many arrows in the hand of a strong man;" ready winged with duty and love to fly to the mark; polished and keen, to grace and maintain the cause of their parents, to defend them from hostile invasions, and instantly to repel every assailant. "Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." In a house full of dutiful children consisteth the happiness of their parents, who then can never want friends; friends that will at no time be ashamed, but will at all times rejoice to appear for them, to meet their enemies and accusers in the gate, or place of judgment, [Mr. Merrick observes that the gate was sometimes the seat of war, as well as the place of judicature. "Then was war in the gates."-Judges v. 8. He mentions a remarkable Chinese proverb: "When a son is born into a family, a bow and arrow are hung before the gate."] there to answer any charge against them, to vindicate them in their persons, their good name, or their property. It is a glorious sight to behold children thus standing forth in the defence of their parents.-cxxvii. 4, 5.

THOMSON.

OUR author himself hints somewhere in his works, that his

« PreviousContinue »