Imatges de pàgina
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kindly chided him for remaining up so late, knowing himself to be unwell; to which Washington made this memorable reply :-"I came so soon as my business was accomplished. You well know, that, through a long life, it has been my unvaried rule, never to put off till the morrow the duties which should be performed to-day." Custis.

LESSON LXXXVIII.

The Art of Printing.-DICK.

THIS art appears to have been invented (at least in Europe) about the year 1430, by one Laurentius, or Lawrence Koster, a native of Haerlem, a town in Holland. As he was walking in a wood near the city, he began to cut some letters upon the rind of a beach tree, which, for the sake of gratifying his fancy, being impressed on paper, he printed one or two lines as a specimen for his grandchildren to follow. This having succeeded, he meditated greater things; and first of all, invented a more glutinous writing-ink; because he found the common ink sunk and spread; and thus formed whole pages of wood, with letters cut upon them.

I am aware that the honour of this invention has been claimed by other cities besides Haerlem, particularly by Strasburg, and Mentz, a city of Germany; and by other individuals besides Laurentius, chiefly by one Fust, commonly called Dr. Faustus; by Schoeffer, and by Gutenberg. It appears that the art, with many of its implements, was stolen from Laurentius by one of his servants, whom he had bound, by an oath, to secrecy, who fled to Mentz, and first commenced the process of printing in that city. Here the art was improved by Fust and Schoeffer, by their invention of metallic, instead of wooden types, which were first used.

When Fust was in Paris, disposing of some Bibles he had printed, at the low price (as was then thought) of sixty crowns, the number, and the uniformity of the copies he possessed, created universal agitation and astonishment. Informations were given to the Police against him as a magician, his lodgings were searched, and a great

number of copies being found, they were seized: the red ink with which they were embellished, was said to be his blood; it was seriously adjudged, that he was in league with the Devil; and if he had not fled from the city, most probably he would have shared the fate of those whom ignorant and superstitious judges, at that time, condemned for witchcraft.

and

By the gradual improvement of this art, and its application to the diffusion of knowledge, a new era was formed in the annals of the human race, and in the progress of science, religion, and morals. To it we are chiefly indebted for our deliverance from ignorance and error, for most of those scientific discoveries and improvements in the arts which distinguish the period in which we live. Without its aid, the Reformation from Popery could scarcely have been achieved; for, had the books of Luther, one of the first reformers, been multiplied by the slow process of hand-writing and copying, they could never have been diffused to any extent; and the influence of bribery and of power might have been sufficient to have arrested their progress, or even to have erased their existence.

But, being poured forth from the press in thousands at a time, they spread over the nations of Europe like an inundation, and with a rapidity which neither the authority of princes, nor the schemes of priests and cardinals, could counteract or suspend. To this noble invention it is owing that copies of the Bible have been multiplied to the extent of many millions-that ten thousands of them are to be found in every Protestant country-and that the poorest individual who expresses a desire for it, may be furnished with the "Word of Life" which will guide him to a blessed immortality.

That Divine light which is destined to illuminate every region of the globe, and to sanctify and reform men of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, is accelerated in its movements, and directed in its course through the nations, by the invention of the Art of Printing; and ere long, it will distribute among the inhabitants of every land, the "Law and the testimony of the Most High," to guide their steps to the regions of eternal bliss. In short, there is not a more powerful engine in the hand of Providence, for diffusing the knowledge of the nature and

the will of the Deity, and for accomplishing the grand objects of Revelation, than the art of multiplying books, and of conveying intelligence through the medium of the Press.

Were no such art in existence, we cannot conceive how an extensive and universal propagation of the doctrines of Revelation could be effected, unless after the lapse of an indefinite number of ages. But, with the assistance of this invention, in its present improved state, the island of Great Britain alone, within less than a hundred years, could furnish a copy of the Scriptures to every inhabitant of the world, and would defray the expense of such an undertaking, with much more ease, and with a smaller sum, than were necessary to finish the political warfare in which we were lately engaged.

These considerations teach us, that the ingenious inventions of the human mind are under the direction and control of the Governour of the World-are intimately connected with the accomplishment of the plans of his providence, and have a tendency, either directly or indirectly, to promote, over every region of the earth, the progress and extension of the kingdom of the Redeemer. They also show us, from what small beginnings the most magnificent operations of the Divine economy may derive their origin.

Who could have imagined that the simple circumstance of a person amusing himself by cutting a few letters on the bark of a tree, and impressing them on paper, was intimately connected with the mental illumination of mankind; and that the art which sprung from this casual process was destined to be the principal means of illuminating the nations, and of conveying to the ends of the earth, "the salvation of our God?" But, "He who rules in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth," and who sees (6 the end from the beginning," overrules the most minute movements of all his creatures, in subserviency to his ultimate designs, and shows himself, in this respect, to be "wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

LESSON LXXXIX.

Solitude.-HENRY K. WHITE.

It is not that my lot is low,
That bids this silent tear to flow :
It is not grief that bids me moan:
It is that I am all alone.

In woods and glens I love to roam,
When the tired hedger hies him home;
Or, by the woodland pool to rest,
When pale the star looks on its breast.

Yet, when the silent evening sighs,
With hallowed airs and symphonies,
My spirit takes another tone,
And sighs that it is all alone.

The autumn leaf is sear and dead :
It floats upon the water's bed :-
I would not be a leaf, to die
Without recording sorrow's sigh.

The woods and winds, with sudden wail,
Tell all the same unvaried tale :-

I've none to smile when I am free,
And, when I sigh, to sigh with me.

Yet, in my dreams, a form I view,
That thinks on me, and loves me too:
I start; and, when the vision's flown,
weep, that I am all alone.

I

LESSON XC.

Life is a Vapour.-ANONYMOUS.

I DREAMED :-I saw a rosy child,

With flaxen ringlets, in a garden playing;

Now stooping here, and then afar off straying,
As flower or butterfly his feet beguiled.

'Twas changed; one summer's day I stepped aside,
To let him pass; his face had manhood's seeming,
And that full eye of blue was fondly beaming
On a fair maiden, whom he called his bride.

Once more; 'twas evening, and the cheerful fire
I saw a group of youthful forms surrounding,
The room with harmless pleasantry resounding;
And, in the midst, I marked the smiling sire.

The heavens were clouded-and I heard the tone
Of a slow-moving bell: the white-haired man had gone!

LESSON XCI.

Dangers of Young Men.-HAWES.

THE time, during which we usually denominate one a young man, is the most important and perilous period of his whole existence. Then the passions, budding and hastening to ripeness, acquire new vigour, become impatient of restraint and eager for gratification. Then the imagination, unchecked by experience and unrestrained by judgment, paints the world in false and fascinating colours, and teaches the young bosom to sigh after its vain and forbidden pleasures.

Then springs up in the mind, the restless desire of independence and self-control;—a disposition to throw off the restraints of parental counsel and authority, and to think and act for itself. "Then the social impulse is felt, and the young man looks around for companions and friends;" then the calling for life is chosen, the principles of action adopted, habits acquired, and those connexions in business and society formed, which usually decide the character and fix the condition, both for this and the future world.

The present then, young men, is to you, a season of deep and everlasting interest. Consequences of infinite

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