frightens from its awful temple the young, the cheerful, and the gay, and teaches them to look with horror upon principles, which restrict their wishes, and thwart the natural feelings of their souls. A more acceptable service cannot be performed to religion, than to strip it of those sable weeds with which it is covered by superstition; to display it in unclouded loveliness; and represent it to the understanding and affections of mankind, as a system not only consistent with joy and cheerfulness, but as the only source from which they can steadily though softly flow into the heart. The spirit of christianity is a spirit of liberty and good-humour; and, extraordinary as it may appear, the wiser, the more virtuous, and the more pious a man is, the more he is animated by it. On the contrary, the farther a person is from such a wise and virtuous frame of mind; the more authority sensuality has obtained over him; the more licentiously apt is be to lose sight of God and his duty; so much the more dangerous and prejudicial may such pleasures and diversions prove to him; so much the more ought he to be upon his guard against them, and to watch with vigilance every suggestion of his mind. It is necessary, however, to be very cautious in the choice of our diversions. We should select such as are most innocent and profitable. I have not the least intention of forbidding amusement in general, or social amusement in particular; God and religion require no such thing. But they insist upon our making a prudent selection from among the various kinds of pleasures with which the world abounds. I will, however, propose a still nobler kind of recreation: visit occasionally the forlorn, the poor, the destitute, the widow, and the orphan, not for the purpose of satisfying your curiosity, but to furnish them with good advice and substantial succours. Mistake not this for a melancholy recreation. It affords, in most instances, to a generous and humane heart, far more pleasure than disquietude; and the recollection of the good we have done by it, of the comfort and joy we have thus dispersed abroad, will become a perennial fountain of the most agreeable emotions. Enjoy, therefore, all festivities, the comforts, the conveniencies, the goods of this life, acquired by lawful means, as far as they are innocent, that is, innoxious to yourself and to others, with a cheerful temper, and without anxious cares for the future. But enjoy them as wise men, as Christians, who understand their true worth, and who account them what they are; not ultimate objects, but means to attain superior ends. Enjoy them as men who are not to be controlled or fettered by outward objects, and who esteem reason and liberty the highest prerogative of their nature.So will you at the same time, and by the use of the same means, advance outward welfare and real happiness, and, in the enjoyment of both, be truly happy. CHAP. XXII. COUNTRY AND RETIREMENT. Come, dear Amanda, quit the town, 'Tis joy and music all we hear! "Tis love and beauty all we see ; And perfect May to spread the rose. And wisely crop the blooming day; THE pleasures of a country life have been a favourite topic with the poets of all nations, and in all ages of the world. Horace thus describes them : Like the first mortals, blest is he, From debts and mortgages, and business free; Around the dofty bridegroom elm he twines, His lowing herd safe wand'ring as they graze, Prest from the hive, or cheers his tender fold; The mellow autumn lifts her bounteous head His guardian gods on their own festal days; Or on the matted grass supinely laid, And feather'd warblers chant the soothing song; And with its murmurs courts him to repose. And wintry Jove loud thunders o'er the year, The foaming boar, and triumphs in his spoils; His nets, and with delusive baits betrays; To catch the stranger crane, or tim'rous hare: Assist him in the tender cares of life, Or in their folds his happy flocks confine, While unbought dainties crown the feast, Or fish, the luxury of foreign seas, (If eastern tempests, thund'ring o'er The wintry wave, shall drive them to our shore ;) From distant climates brought to crown the feast, A As olives gather'd from the unctuous tree, And herbs that love the flow'ry field, And cheerful health with pure digestion yield; Or failing, on the festal day, Or kid, just rescued from some beast of prey. His well-fed flocks home hasting to their fold; Their languid necks, and drag th' inverted plough, ? At night his num'rous slaves to view, 2. Round his domestic gods their mirth pursue. Theocritus, Virgil, and many other poets, down to the present time, have made rural pleasures the subject of their versification. And this pastoral poetry has been greatly admired. Cowper, our own poet, thus describes the pleasures of the Country: Not rural sights alone, but rural sounds, The tone of languid nature. Mighty winds, Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one Nice-fingered art must emulate in vain, The pensive wand'rer in their shades. At eve Without believing all the fictions of the poets, it must be admitted that the Country has charms peculiar to itself. In the Country, nature presents herself to us in her most beautiful forms, and our minds are raised to the great Creator of all. The blade of grass, the opening flower, the humble plant, the lofty tree, the hill and dale, the shady groves, the sunny plains, the murmuring streams, the evening gales, the verdant lawns, the flowery meads, the smiling fields, the rising and the setting sun, the ample sky, all call upon us to adore the majesty of God, and to rejoice in his existence :His work is seen in every blade of grass, His wisdom shines through every field I pass; Both heav'n and earth his pow'r and goodness show, Sun, moon, and stars, obey his awful nod, While all creation echoes, He is God! RURAL CHRISTIAN. |