Imatges de pàgina
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The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face,
They round the ingle form a circle wide;
The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace:

The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride:
His bonnet rey'rently is laid aside,

His lyart haffets, wearing thin an' bare;
Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And "Let us worship God!" he says, with solemn air.

They chaunt their artless notes in simple guise,
They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim:
Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name ;
Or noble Elgin beets the heav'nward flame,
The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays :
Compared with these, Italian trills are tame:

The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise;
Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page,
How Abram was the friend of God on high;
Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage

With Amalek's ungracious progeny;
Or how the royal Bard did groaning lie
Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire;
Or Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry,
Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire;

Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.

Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme,

How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed;
How He who bore in Heav'n the second name,
Had not on earth whereon to lay his head:
How his first followers and servants sped :
The precepts sage they wrote to many a land:
How he, who lone in Patmos banished,

Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand;

And heard great Babylon's doom pronounc'd by Heav'n's command.

Then kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King,

The saint, the father, and the husband prays:

X

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing,
That thus they all shall meet in future days:
There ever bask in uncreated rays,

No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear;
Together hymning their Creator's praise,

In such society, yet still more dear;

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.

Compared with this, how poor Religion's pride,
In all the pomp of method, and of art,
When men display to congregations wide
Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart!
The Pow'r, incensed, the pageant will desert,
The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole ;
But haply, in some cottage far apart,

May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul; And in his book of life the inmates poor enrol.

Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way;
The youngling cottagers retire to rest;
The parent pair their secret homage pay,

And proffer up to Heav'n the warm request,
That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride,
Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best,
For them and for their little ones provide ;
But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside.

O Scotia! my dear, my native soil!

For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent ; Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil

Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content!
And, oh, may Heav'n their simple lives prevent
From luxury's contagion, weak and vile!

Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent,
A virtuous populace may rise the while,

And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle.

O Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide

That stream'd through Wallace's undaunted heart; Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part; (The patriot's God, peculiarly thou art,

His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!) O never, never, Scotia's realm desert;

But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard,

In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard!

1. What are the signs of this chill November day's close?

2. Which day of the week is it?
3. Why is the cotter glad when

day night comes?

4. Where is his cot situated?
5. Who run to meet him?

Burns.

20. With what do they sing, which is better than the finest instrument?

21. Name these church tunes and char

Satur-acterize them.

6. What are the things that make him forget his cares and toil?

7. How are the elder bairns employed during the week?

8. Name the eldest daughter.

9. What may she be bringing with her? 10. Why is she so careful of her wages? 11. Describe the affectionate meeting of the brothers and sisters.

12. What thoughts fill the parents' minds at seeing them all around?

13. How is this good mother employed? 14. How is this christian father employed?

15. Repeat the several portions of the father's advice to them.

16. What is every one's duty morning and night?

17. After supper in what holy exercise do they engage?

18. Describe the father as he holds the Bible before him.

19. In what way do they sing God's praises?

22. What favourite portions may the father read in the Old Testament ?

23. What portions in the New Testament, here called christian volume ? 24. Which of the Apostles was banished to Patmos ?

25. Who is the saint, the father, and the husband?

26. What glorious hope fills the bosom of parents and children?

27. Is not true religion a matter of the heart?

28. How are the "parent-pair" employed when their family retire ?

29. What is the chief blessing they pray for to their children?

30. Repeat the warm wishes of the bard in regard to his dear native land.

31. Can there be a fairer sight on earth than a family joining in the worship of God?

32. May not those families expect a peculiar blessing that raise the family altar?

33. Who will quote Joshua xxiv. 15. to me?

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THERE is no flock, however watched and tended,

But one dead lamb is there!

There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,

But has one vacant chair!

The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead;

The heart of Rachel,1 for her children crying,
Will not be comforted!

Let us be patient! These severe afflictions
Not from the ground arise,

But oftentimes celestial benedictions

Assume this dark disguise.

We see but dimly through the mists and vapours;
Amid these earthly damps,

What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers,

May be heaven's distant lamps.

There is no Death!

What seems so is transition;

This life of mortal breath

Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,2

Whose portal we call Death.

She is not dead,-the child of our affection,-
gone unto that school

Bnt

Where she no longer needs our poor protection,
And Christ himself doth rule.

In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion,
By guardian angels led,

Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution,
She lives, whom we call dead.

Day after day, we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air;

Year after year, her tender steps pursuing,

Behold her grown more fair.

Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken

The bond which nature gives,

Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken,

May reach her where she lives.

1 Rachel, see Jeremiah xxxi, 15. and Matt. ii, 18.

2 Elysian, of or belonging to Elysium. Elysium, in ancient mythology, was a place assigned to the pious souls after death, furnished with rich fields, groves, shades, streams, &c.; the seat of happiness. Heaven.

Not as a child1 shall we again behold her,
For when with raptures wild

In our embraces we again enfold her,
She will not be a child;

But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion,
Clothed with celestial grace;

And beautiful with all the soul's expansion
Shall we behold her face.

And though at times, impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppressed,

The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean,
That cannot be at rest,

We will be patient, and assuage the feeling
We may not wholly stay;

By silence sanctifying, not concealing,
The grief that must have way.

1. Is there any family that escapes the visit of death?

2. What have you to tell me about Rachel ?

3. Who are represented by her? 4. What are severe afflictions to the believer in Christ?

5. Do we see things clearly in our present imperfect state?

6. What does the poet call Death? 7. What does he call our present state of existence ?

8. Where was his young daughter now, who had been snatched from them by the hand of Death?

9. What mean you by the great cloister?

Longfellow.

10. In what circumstances was she there?

11. Do the sorrowing parents ever think

about her?

12. What thoughts about their daughter often pass through their mind?

13. What mean you by the "bond which nature gives"?

14. What do the parents expect she will have become before they meet her in heaven?

15. Is there any word in Scripture to countenance such an idea?

16. Though a Christian feels deeply the loss of those he loves, need he despair? 17. What do you mean by "sleeping in Christ"?

LATIN.

XXXII.-THE VILLAGE PREACHER.

Scan, V..................
......scandĕre.

Dis-close', v..............claudere.

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1 "Not as a child,"-see, Isaiah lxv, 20. and 1 Cor. xiii, 11.

New-fledged', adj.
Will, n.

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