LESSON CVI.-REFORM IN MORALS.-DR. BEECHER. The crisis has come. By the people of this generation, by ourselves, probably, the amazing question is to be decided, whether the inheritance of our fathers shall be preserved or thrown away; whether our Sabbaths shal 5 be a delight or a loathing; whether the taverns, on that holy day, shall be crowded with drunkards, or the sanctuary of God, with humble worshippers; whether riot and profaneness shall fill our streets, and poverty our dwellings, and convicts our jails, and violence our land, or 10 whether industry, and temperance, and righteousness, shall be the stability of our times; whether mild laws shall receive the cheerful submission of freemen, or the iron rod of a tyrant compel the trembling homage of slaves. Be not deceived. Human nature in this state is like human 15 nature everywhere. All actual difference in our favor is adventitious, and the result of our laws, institutions, and habits. It is a moral influence, which, with the blessing of God, has formed a state of society so eminently desirable. The same influence which has formed it, is indis20 pensable to its preservation. The rocks and hills of New England will remain until the last conflagration. But let the Sabbath be profaned with impunity, the worship of God be abandoned, the government and religious instruction of children neglected, and the streams of intemperance 25 be permitted to flow, and her glory will depart. The wal! of fire will no more surround her, and the munition of rocks will no longer be her defence. If we neglect our duty, and suffer our laws and institutions to go down, we give them up forever. It is easy to 30 relax, easy to retreat, but impossible, when the abomination of desolation has once passed over New England, to rear again the thrown down altars, and gather again the fragments, and build up the ruins of demolished institutions. Another New England, nor we, nor our children, 35 shall ever see, if this be destroyed. All is lost irretrievably, when the land-marks are once removed, and the bands which now hold us, are once broken. Such institutions, and such a state of society, can be established only by such men as our fathers were, and in such cir40 cumstances as they were in. They could not have made a New England in Holland. They made the attempt, but failed. The hand that overturns our laws and altars, is the hand of death, unbarring the gate of Pandemonium, and letting loose upon our land the crimes and the miseries of hell. If the Most High should stand aloof, and cast 5 not a single ingredient into our cup of trembling, it would seem to be full of superlative woe. But He will not stand aloof. As we shall have begun an open controversy with Him, He will contend openly with us. And never, since the earth stood, has it been so fearful a thing for nations 10 to fall into the hands of the living God. The day of vengeance is in His heart, the day of judgment has come; the great earthquake which sinks Babylon is shaking the nations, and the waves of the mighty commotion are dashing upon every shore. Is this then a time to remove 15 foundations, when the earth itself in shaken? Is this a time to forfeit the protection of God, when the hearts of men are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth? Is this a time to run upon His neck and the thick bosses of His buckler, 20 when the nations are drinking blood, and fainting, and passing away in His wrath? Is this a time to throw away the shield of faith, when His arrows are drunk with the blood of the slain? To cut from the anchor of hope, when the clouds are collecting, and the sea and the waves are roar25 ing, and thunders are uttering their voices, and lightnings blazing in the heavens, and the great hail is falling from heaven upon men, and every mountain, sea, and island is fleeing in dismay, from the face of an incensed God? LESSON CVII.-THE CHILD OF THE TOMB;-A STORY OF NEW The following fact is found in Knapp's "Life of Lord Dexter." Where WHITEFIELD sleeps, remembered, in the dust, The lowly vault held once a double trust; And PARSONS, reverend name, that quiet tomb Possessed, to wait the day of weal and doom. 5 Another servant of the living God, PRINCE, who, (bereft of sight,) his way had trod, With Whitefield's," said he, yielding up his breath, Were all things done; the tomb was oped to ken And, lighted with a single lamp, whose ray It chanced, the plodding teacher of a school,— How far the fears of spirits might infest Both stood within the mansion of the dead, Must he be watcher with these corpses!-Who 35 His knees together smote, as first, in fear, 5 Most safely, humbly, on his Father's care,- Meanwhile, the recreant teacher,-where was he? With the lad's mother!-Supper done, he told 10 How showers that mother's scorn, rebuke, and shame 15 He would sustain himself, and she would find Him patient and possessed, she trusted well his mind. The boy yet lives,-and from that distant hour Dates much of truth that on his heart hath power;And chiefly this,-whate'er of wit is wed 20 To word of his, -to reverence the dead. 5 LESSON CVIII.-LOVE AND FAME.-II. T. TUCKERMAN. Give me the boon of Love! I ask no more for fame; Far better one unpurchased heart Than Glory's proudest name. Why wake a fever in the blood, Or damp the spirit now, To gain a wreath whose leaves shall wave The brilliant orbs that scatter light But in their very hearts enshrined, Keep e'er the holy flame, which once Give me the boon of Love! One wild flower from the path of Love, Is dearer than the wreath that waves Give me the boon of Love! The lamp of Fame shines far, But Love's soft light glows near and warm, A pure and household star. One tender glance can fill the soul With a perennial fire; But Glory's flame burns fitfully,— Give me the boon of Love! But Love's sweet lute breathes melody That lingers in the heart; And the scroll of fame will burn, When sea and earth consume; But the rose of Love, in a happier sphere 20* |