Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

Queen Elizabeth.

QUEEN Elizabeth is said to have been at the head of the literary ladies of the age in which she lived, excelling even Lady Jane Grey, and the celebrated daughter of Sir Thomas More. She was familiar, in her sixteenth year, with Latin and Greek; and, like her royal predecessor, Alfred the Great, she made a complete translation into English of Boethius's Greek Consolations of Philosophy.' Her most amiable pursuits as a student, however, appeared from a memorial, under her own hand, of how she passed the period of her imprisoment at Woodstock, during the reign of her sister Mary. On a blank page of a New Testament which she then used, and which is still preserved, are written, in her beautiful autograph, the following words: "I walk many times into the pleasant fields of holy Scripture, where I pluck up goodly sentences by pruning, eat them by reading, chew them by musing, and lay them up at length in the high seat of memory, that, having tasted their sweetness, I may the less perceive the bitterness of this miserable life."

Adversity, which swept over the early years of Queen Elizabeth's womanhood, was all the more acute that she occupied the rank of a princess, and had been born to fill a throne. Well was it for the peace

of her heart, and even for her bodily health, that she had acquired a capacity for the enjoyments of literature, and especially a relish for the pure pleasures of studying the word of God. Little do women of high or low station imagine how vast are the resources for happiness of intellectual culture, and particularly of acquaintance with the living oracles of truth; else the low tone of female education which generally characterises our land would soon cease to exist, and every girl would be familiar with her Bible, and at least as many of the fair sex as of the other would become candidates for knowing the philosophy of ancient Athens, and the words of eternal life written by the apostles of Christ, in the original Greek.

Daily Devotion.

I WOULD persuade myself that all my readers will daily set apart some time to think on Him who gave us power to think: He was the Author, and he should be the object of our faculties. Beginning and closing the day with devotion, we shall better fill up the intermediate spaces. Each line of our behaviour will terminate in God, as the centre of our actions. Our lives, all of a piece, will constitute one regular whole, to which each part will bear a necessary relation and correspondence, without any bro

60

HELPS TO TRAINING-PRECEPTS.

ken and disjointed schemes, independent of this grand end, pleasing God. And while we have this one point in view, whatever variety there may be in our actions, there will be an uniformity too, which constitutes the beauty of life, just as it does of every thing else, an uniformity without being dull or tedious, and a variety without being wild or irregular. How would this settle the ferment of our youthful passions, and sweeten the last dregs of our advanced age! How would this make our lives yield the calmest satisfaction, as some flowers shed the most fragrant odours just at the close of the day! And perhaps there is not better method to prevent a deadness and flatness of spirits from succeeding, when the briskness of your passions goes off than to acquire an early taste for those spiritual delights, whose leaf withers not, and whose verdure remains in the winter of our days.

Friendship.

1. PROUD and contemptuous behaviour frights away friendship, and makes it stand off in dislike and aversion. Friendship, though not nice and exceptious, yet must not be coarsely treated, nor used with distance or disdain. 2. Friendship, to make it true, must have beauty, as well as strength-charms to endear, as well as power to supply. 3. Another advantage of friendship is the opportunity of receiving good advice. It is dangerous relying upon

our own opinion. Affection is apt to corrupt the judgment, and men, like false glasses, generally represent their complexion better than nature has made it; and as they are likely to overflourish their own case, so their flattery is hardest to be discovered. 4. Friendship is not confined to the consulting part, it comes in likewise at the execution. Some cases are so nice that a man cannot appear in them himself, but must leave the soliciting wholly to his friend. For the purpose, a man cannot recommend himself without vanity, nor ask many times without uneasiness. But a kind proxy will do justice to his merits, relieve his modesty, and effect his business; and all without trouble, blushing, or imputation 5. Friendship is one of those few things which are the better for wearing Alphorisus the Wise, king of Arragon, tells us, that all the acquisitions and pursuits of men, excepting four, were but baubles—namely, old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old books to read, and old friends to converse with. 6. There is nothing so agreeable to nature, or so convenient to our affairs, whether in prosperity or in adversity, as friendship.-Cicero. 7. A man has not every thing growing upon his own soil, and therefore is willing to barter with his neighbour. 8. Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and dividing of our grief.-Cicero. 9. Friendship is composed of a single soul inhabiting a pair of bodies.-Aristotle. Pearls of Great Price, edited by Mr. J. Elmes.

Sabbath-school Treasury.

Helps to Training-Precepts.

"REMEMBER that the soul of a child is a green, and not a withering thing; that it hath bud and blossom in itself, as well as the canker and the worm. As it is the surrounding atmosphere that developes the withering disease of the plant; so it is the moral atmosphere with which you surround the child's soul that must bring out the flower and the fruits, the mildew or the blight. Light and warmth are the two great agents in the natural world; intelligence and love are those of the moral world. The warmth of the Sun of Righteousness is Love-the frost that chills is selfishness and want of sympathy.

Recollect that you have to do with mind -with the immortal part of man: that whatever you do, or fail to do, stretches into eternity: that, through the mind you

operate on the spirit; and thus your deeds are immortal as the spirit upon which you act. As mind only can act on mind; so spirit can only act on spirit. Hence the importance of the teacher having vital religion in the heart-hence the influence of the spirit. If anything can dignify the office of the teacher, it is these reflections.

As the brain is the organ by which the soul holds converse and connection with the outward and visible' world; so the mind is the power by which it holds": 'mysterious converse' with the world of spirits. Conscientiousness, reason, and principle, are the attributes of the soul; those of the mind, perception, conception, and understanding. Hence the importance of moral, rather than intellectual instruction.

[ocr errors]

How beautiful and lovely is the confiding faith of a little one. Behold a little darling applying to his ear the convolutions of a

DR. OLIVER.

smooth-lipped shell.' He deems he hears the murmurings of the distant sea: with what rapture does he listen-how his little eyes gleam on you in surprise and wonder; how delightful is faith to him—so glad, so joyous, receives he the tidings of the unseen world. Call this not credulity; but a divinity that stirs within us the longings of the soul for its native home. Oh! damp not this pure faith, but use it as one of the first instruments of teaching.

Let a child know, from the earliest period, that he is to be a man; but do not attempt to make a man of him before his time. If you do, you will have to work against nature. His feelings, his sympathies, are your great principles of action. That water of love which overflows his eyes when you chide, or when you sorrow, speaks of the freshness of his soul's fount. Then, choke it not up with the dry lumber of grammar and mathematics too soon. Nature first developes the feelings: it is yours first to restrain, to cultivate, to train them. A child cries the moment he is born; he soon smiles your face, and shows that he is a divided being, between joy and sorrow. Associate with the former, all that is morally lovely; and with the other, moral deformity in its most gorgon face."-Mother's Mag.

in

Industry.

61

A NOBLE heart will disdain to subsist like a drone upon honey gathered by others' labour, like a vermin to filch its food out of the public granary, or like a shark to prey upon the lesser fry; but will rather outdo his private obligations to other men's care and toil, by considerable service and beneficence to the public; for there is no calling of any sort from the sceptre to the spade, the management whereof with any good success, any credit, any satisfaction, doth not demand much work of the head, or of the hands, or of both. Is a man a governor, or a superior in any capacity, what is he but a public servant doomed to continual labor, hired for the wages of respect and pomp to wait on his people; and he will find that to wield power innocently, to brandish the sword of justice discreetly and worthily, for the maintainance of right and encouragement of virtue, for the suppression of injury and correction of vice, is a matter of no small skill and slight care; and he that is obliged to purvey for so many, and so to abound in good works, how can he want business? how can he pretend to a writ of ease?—Barrow.

Sir John Mason.

Dying Hours.

SIR John Mason upon his death bed, said "I have lived to see five sovereigns upon the throne of Britain, and have been privycounsellor to four of them; I have seen the most remarkable things in foreign countries, and have been present at most state transactions for the last thirty years, and I have learned from the experience of so many years, that seriousness is the greatest wisdom, temperance the best physic, and a good conscience the best estate. And, were I to live again, I would change the court for a cloister, my privy-counsellor's bustle for a hermit's retirement, the whole life I have lived in the palace, for an hour's enjoyment of God in the chapel All things now forsake me, except my God, my duty, and my prayer."

Doctor Oliver.

Dr. OLIVER, the celebrated Bath physician, had been a very inveterate infidel, till within a short time before his death. Lady

Huntingdon coming to see him about two days before he died, he lamented not only his past infidelity, but, the zeal and success with which he had infected the minds of others; “O, that I could undo the mischief I have done. I was more ardent (said he) to poison people with the principles of irreligion and unbelief, than almost any christian can be to spread the doctrines of Christ." "Cheer up, (answered Lady Huntingdon) Jesus, the great sacrifice for sin, atoned for the sin against the second table, as well as those of the first." "God (replied he) certainly can, but I fear he never will pardon such a wretch as I." "You may fear it at present (rejoined she) but you and I shall most certainly meet each other in heaven." The doctor then said, "O Woman, great is thy faith. My faith cannot believe that I shall ever be there." Soon after this the Lord lifted up the light of his countenance on Dr. Oliver's soul, he lay the rest of his time triumphing and praising free grace, and went off at last quite happy.

62

Dr. Young.

EFFECTS OF DRINKING.

Dr. COTTON, who was intimate with him, paid him a visit about a fortnight before he was seized with his last illness. The old man was then in perfect health-the antiquity of his person-the gravity of his utterance, and the earnestness with which he discoursed about religion, gave him, in the doctor's eye, the appearance of a prophet. They had been delivering their sentiments upon Newton's prophecies, when Young closed the conference thus-"My friend,

there are two considerations upon which my faith in Christ is built, as upon a rock. 1. The fall of man-the redemption of man, and the resurrection of man. The three cardinal articles of our religion, are such as human ingenuity could never have invented; therefore, they must be divine." 2. The other argument is this, "If the prophecies have been fulfilled, (of which there is abundant demonstration,) the scriptures must be the word of God; and if the scriptures is the word of God, christianity must be true."

You ask me how I Live.

Living Friendly, feeling friendly, Acting fairly to all men; Seeking to do that to others

Poetry.

They may do to me againHating no man, scorning no man, Wronging none by word or deed; But forbearing, soothing, serving,

Thus I live-and this my creed.

Harsh condemning, fierce contemning,
Is of little Christian use,
One soft word of kindly peace

Is worth a torrent of abuse; Calling things bad, calling men bad, Adds but darkness to their night, If thou wouldst improve thy brother Let thy goodness be his light.

I have felt and known how bitter
Human coldness makes the world,
Ev'ry bosom round me frozen,
Not an eye with pity pearl'd:

Still my heart with kindness teeming
Glads when other hearts are glad,
And my eyes a tear drop findeth
At the sight of others sad.

Ah! be kind-life hath no secret

For our happiness like this; Kindly hearts are seldom sad ones, Blessing ever bringeth bliss; Lend a helping hand to others,

Smile tho' all the world should frown; Man is man, we all are brothers,

Black or white or red or brown.

Man is man through all gradations; Little recks it where he stands, How divided into nations,

Scattered over many lands; Man is man by form and feature, Man by vice and virtue too, Man in all one common nature Speaks and binds us brothers true.

Temperance

Getting Sober.

A MAN in Norridgewock, Maine, applied to a magistrate lately for permission to be put in a gaol for a few days. He said he had been tipsy for two or three weeks, and should be so for as long a time to come if he were not prevented. The justice introduced him to the goaler who locked him up on Saturday, and on Tuesday he came out a very sober-looking man.- -American Paper.

Advocate.

Effects of Drinking.

WINE, and other physical exhilarants, during the treacherous truce to wretchedness which they afford, dilapidate the structure, and undermine the very foundation of happiness. No man, perhaps, was ever completely miserable until after he had fled to alcohol for consolation. The habit of vinous indulgence is not more pernicious, than it is obstinate and pertinacious in its

A POINTED BLOW.

hold, when it has once fastened itself upon the constitution. It is not to be conquered by half measures. No compromise with it is allowable. The victory over it, in order to be permanent, must be perfect. As long as their lurks a relic of it in the frame, there is imminent danger of a relapse of this moral malady, from which there seldom is, as from physical disorders, a gradual convalescence. The cure, if at all, must be effected at once; cutting and pruning will do no good: avail short of absolute extirpation. The man who has been the slave of intemperance, must renounce her altogether, or she will insensibly re-assume her despotic power. With such a mistress, if he seriously mean to discard her, he should indulge himself in no dalliance or delay. He must not allow his lips to taste of her former fascination. Webb, the noted pedestrian, who was remarkable for vigour both of body and mind, lived wholly upon water for his drink. He was one day recommending his regimen to one of his friends who loved wine, and urged him with great earnestness to quit a course of luxury by which his health and intellects would equally be destroyed. The gentleman appeared convinced, and told him, "that he would conform to his counsel, and though he could not change his course of life at once, he would leave off strong liquors by degrees." "By degrees!" says the other with indignation, "if you should unhappily fall into the fire, would you caution your servant to pull you out by by degrees?"

Indian Determination.

A MISSIONARY, at a town on the river Thames, in Upper Canada, had induced the Indians to give up drinking the fire water. On hearing that they had refrained from tasting it, the trader with whom they generally dealt became very angry. He went to them with a bottle in his pocket, and reasoned with them on their stupidity. He held up the bottle before them, poured out a glass of it, tried them one by one to taste it, and used all the arts he could command to get them to do so, but without success. "Well, then," said he, "when the missionary's back is about, (for the missionary was going to leave a short time after it,) when the missionary's back is about, you'll be at your old trade again;" and seeing no further reasoning of any avail, with that he left. The missionary did leave, and soon after this fire-water dealer got hold of four of these men, and, taking them to his own house, went

63

through all his arts of entreaty to get them to taste; but no. "Well," said he to himself, "if I can't get them to drink it before me, I'll go and place a keg in the track they have to go through the woods; they'll drink it privately among themselves, and I'll soon get a visit from them after they do so." He lost no time in carrying out his plan. The keg was placed in the path, and by-and-by the men set out through the woods, one after the other, for the foot paths there do not admit of their going two abreast. They had not gone far when they came upon the keg, and the first who did so exclaimed, "Oh! my friends, the devil is here!" The second who came up rejoined, "Oh! yes, for me smell him!" The third, shaking it with his foot, said, “Oh! yes, for me hear him, too!" and the fourth, having more nerve than any of them, gave the keg a kick with his foot, and knocked it down the hill, and the four marched off like brave warriors after having vanquished their enemy.-Jones, the Indian Chief.

A Criterion.

A MAN of much travel and observation and of eminent genius, the celebrated Goldsmith, nearly a century ago, penned the following remarks:-"In the towns and countries I have seen, I never saw a city or village yet, whose miseries were not in proportion to the number of its publichouses. In Rotterdam you may go through eight or ten streets without finding a public-house. In Antwerp almost every second house seemed an ale-house. In the one city all wears the appearance of happiness and affluence-in the other,We need not proceed with the description.

A Pointed Blow.

An invalid sent for a physician, the late Dr. Wheelman; and after detaining him for some time with a description of his pains, aches, &c., he thus summed up:"Now, Doctor, you have humbugged me long enough with your good-for-nothing pills and worthless syrups; they don't touch the real difficulty. strike the cause of my ailment, if it is in your power to reach it." "It shall be done," "said the Doctor," at the same time lifting his cane, and demolishing a decanter of gin that stood upon the sideboard!

I wish you to

« PreviousContinue »