GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

Virtuous and holy; chosen from above,

By inspiration of celestial grace.

First Part King Henry VI., Act v. Sc. 4, 1. 39.

KING RICHARD II. CARRIED CAPTIVE TO LONDON IN THE
TRAIN OF BOLINGBROKE, A.D. 1399.

SCENE, The Duke of York's palace.

Enter YORK and his DUCHESS.

Duch. My lord, you told me you would tell the rest, When weeping made you break the story off,

Of our two cousins coming into London.

York. Where did I leave?

Duch.

At that sad stop, my lord,

Where rude, misgovern'd hands from windows' tops
Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head.
York. Then, as I said, the Duke, great Bolingbroke,
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed

Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know,

With slow but stately pace kept on his course,

Whilst all tongues cried, 'God save thee, Bolingbroke!'

You would have thought the very windows spake,

So many greedy looks of young and old

Through casements darted their desiring eyes
Upon his visage, and that all the walls

With painted imagery had said at once,
'Jesu preserve thee! welcome, Bolingbroke!'
Whilst he, from the one side to the other turning,
Bareheaded, lower than his proud steed's neck,

II

Bespake them thus: I thank you, countrymen :'

And thus still doing, thus he pass'd along.

Duch. Alack, poor Richard! where rode he the whilst ?
York. As in a theatre, the eyes of men,

After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious, -

Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes

Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried, 'God save

him!'

No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home;

But dust was thrown upon his sacred head,

Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,

His face still combating with tears and smiles,
The badges of his grief and patience,

That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted
And barbarism itself have pitied him.

But Heaven hath a hand in these events,1

To whose high will we bound our calm contents.
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,

Whose state and honor I for aye allow.

King Richard II., Act v. Sc. 2.

1 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Psalm lxxv. 6, 7.

GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

Virtuous and holy; chosen from above,

By inspiration of celestial grace.

First Part King Henry VI., Act v. Sc. 4, 1. 39.

KING RICHARD II. CARRIED CAPTIVE TO LONDON IN THE
TRAIN OF BOLINGBROKE, A.D. 1399.

SCENE, The Duke of York's palace.

Enter YORK and his DUCHESS..

Duch. My lord, you told me you would tell the rest, When weeping made you break the story off,

Of our two cousins coming into London.

York. Where did I leave?

Duch.

At that sad stop, my lord,

Where rude, misgovern'd hands from windows' tops
Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head.
York. Then, as I said, the Duke, great Bolingbroke,
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed

Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know,

With slow but stately pace kept on his course,

Whilst all tongues cried, 'God save thee, Bolingbroke !'
You would have thought the very windows spake,

So many greedy looks of young and old
Through casements darted their desiring eyes
Upon his visage, and that all the walls
With painted imagery had said at once,
'Jesu preserve thee! welcome, Bolingbroke !'
Whilst he, from the one side to the other turning,
Bareheaded, lower than his proud steed's neck,

II

Bespake them thus: 'I thank you, countrymen :'
And thus still doing, thus he pass'd along.

Duch. Alack, poor Richard! where rode he the whilst?
York. As in a theatre, the eyes of men,

After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious, -

Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes

Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried, 'God save

him!'

No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home;

But dust was thrown upon his sacred head,
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,

His face still combating with tears and smiles,
The badges of his grief and patience,

That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted
And barbarism itself have pitied him.

But Heaven hath a hand in these events,1

To whose high will we bound our calm contents.
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,
Whose state and honor I for

aye

allow.

King Richard II., Act v. Sc. 2.

1 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Psalm 1xxv. 6, 7.

The Atonement.

One soul working in the strength of love

Is mightier than ten thousand to atone.

SOPHOCLES, Edipus at Colonos, 1. 498.

The great Swiss historian, John Von Müller, gives the result of his life-long labors, extracted, he says, from seventeen hundred and thirtythree authors, in seventeen thousand folio pages, in this striking confession, "Christ is the key to the history of the world. Not only does all harmonize with the mission of Christ; all is subordinated to it. When I saw this," he adds, "it was to me as wonderful and surprising as the light which Paul saw on his way to Damascus, the fulfilment of all hopes, the completion of all philosophy, the key to all the apparent contradictions in the physical and moral world; here is life and immortality. I marvel not at miracles; a far greater miracle has been reserved for our times, the spectacle of the connection of all human events in the establishment and preservation of the doctrine of Christ."

PROF. HENRY B. SMITH, Faith and Philosophy.

ALAS, alas!

1

Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy.2 How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should

1 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. —Rom. iii. 23. 2 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John iii. 16.