taking, too, somewhat of the same cold stateliness,-noble, however, still and glorious, and ever pointing, as such poem does, to the stars,-" Sic itur ad astra." The life of Hamilton, on the other hand, broken and fragmentary, 5 begun in the darkness of romantic interest, running on into the sympathy of all high passion, and at length breaking off in the midst, like some half-told tale of sorrow, amid tears and blood, even as does the theme of the tragic poet. The name of Hamilton, therefore, was 10 a name to conjure with,--that of Jay's to swear by. Hamilton had his frailties, arising out of passion, as tragic heroes have. Jay's name was faultless, and his course passionless, as becomes the epic leader, and, in point of fact was, while living, a name at which frailty blushed, 15 and corruption trembled.

If we ask whence, humanly speaking, came such disparity of the fate between equals, the stricter morals, the happier life, the more peaceful death, to what can we trace it, but to the healthful power of religion, over the 20 heart and conduct? Was not this, we ask, the ruling secret? Hamilton was a Christian in his youth, and a penitent Christian, we doubt not, on his dying bed; but Jay was a Christian, so far as man may judge, every day and hour of his life. He had but one rule, the gospel of 25 Christ; in that he was nurtured,-ruled by that, through grace he lived, resting on that, in prayer, he died.

Admitting, then, as we do, both names to be objects of our highest sympathetic admiration, yet, with the name of Hamilton, as the master says of tragedy, the lesson is 30 given,-"with pity and in fear." Not so with that of Jay; with him we walk fearless, as in the steps of one who was a CHRISTIAN, as well as a PATRIOT.

As

LESSON XC.-ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.-DANIEL WEBSTER. Adams and Jefferson, I have said, are no more. human beings, indeed, they are no more. They are no more, as in 1776, bold and fearless advocates of independence; no more, as on subsequent periods, the head of the 5 government; no more, as we have recently seen them, aged and venerable objects of admiration and regard. They are no more. They are dead.

But how little is there of the great and good, which can

die! To their country they yet live, and live forever. They live, in all that perpetuates the remembrance of men on earth; in the recorded proofs of their own great actions, in the offspring of their intellect, in the deep 5 engraved lines of public gratitude, and in the respect and homage of mankind. They live in their example; and they live, emphatically, and will live, in the influence which their lives and efforts, their principles and opinions, now exercise, and will continue to exercise, on the affairs 10 of men, not only in their own country, but throughout the civilized world.

A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burning bright for a while, and then 15 expiring, giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind; so that, when it glimmers, in its own decay, and finally goes out in death, no night follows; but it leaves the world all 20 light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit.

Bacon died; but the human understanding, roused, by the touch of his miraculous wand, to a perception of the true philosophy, and the just mode of inquiring after truth, has kept on its course, successfully and gloriously. 25 Newton died; yet the courses of the spheres are still known, and they yet move on, in the orbits which he saw, and described for them, in the infinity of space.

No two men now live,-perhaps it may be doubted, whether any two men have ever lived, in one age,—who, 30 more than those we now commemorate, have impressed their own sentiments, in regard to politics and government, on mankind, infused their own opinions more deeply into the opinions of others, or given a more lasting direction to the current of human thought. Their work 35 doth not perish with them. The tree which they assisted to plant, will flourish, although they water it and protect it no longer; for it has struck its roots deep; it has sent them to the very centre; no storm, not of force to burst the orb, can overturn it; its branches spread wide; they 40 stretch their protecting arms broader and broader, and its top is destined to reach the heavens.

We are not deceived. There is no delusion here. No age will come, in which the American revolution will appear less than it is, one of the greatest events in human

history. No age will come, in which it will cease to be seen and felt, on either continent, that a mighty step, a great advance, not only in American affairs, but in human affairs, was made on the 4th of July, 1776. And no age 5 will come, we trust, so ignorant, or so unjust, as not to see and acknowledge the efficient agency of these we now honor, in producing that momentous event.

LESSON XCI.-THE DESTINY OF OUR REPUBLIC.-G. S. HILLARD.

Let no one accuse me of seeing wild visions, and dreaming impossible dreams. I am only stating what may be done, and what will be done. We may most shamefully betray the trust reposed in us, we may most miserably 5 defeat the fond hopes entertained of us. We may become the scorn of tyrants and the jest of slaves. From our fate, oppression may assume a bolder front of insolence, and its victims sink into a darker despair,

In that event, how unspeakable will be our disgrace,— 10 with what weight of mountains will the infamy lie upon our souls. The gulf of our ruin will be as deep, as the elevation we might have attained, is high. How wilt thou fall from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Our beloved country with ashes for beauty, the golden 15 cord of our union broken, its scattered fragments presenting every form of misrule, from the wildest anarchy to the most ruthless despotism, our "soil drenched with fraternal blood," the life of man stripped of its grace and dignity, the prizes of honor gone, and virtue divorced from half its 20 encouragements and supports, these are gloomy pictures, which I would not invite your imaginations to dwell upon, but only to glance at, for the sake of the warning lessons we may draw from them.

Remember, that we can have none of those consolations, 25 which sustain the patriot, who mourns over the undeserved misfortunes of his country. Our Rome cannot fall, and we be innocent. No conqueror will chain us to the car of his triumph,-no countless swarm of Huns and Goths will bury the memorials and trophies of civilized 30 life, beneath a living tide of barbarism. Our own selfishness, our own neglect, our own passions, and our own vices, will furnish the elements of our destruction. With

our own hands, we shall tear down the stately edifice of our glory. We shall die by self-inflicted wounds.

But we will not talk of themes like these. We will not think of failure, dishonor, and despair. We will elevate 5 our minds to the contemplation of our high duties, and the great trust committed to us. We will resolve to lay the foundations of our prosperity on that rock of private virtue, which cannot be shaken, until the laws of the moral world are reversed. From our own breasts shall flow the salient 10 springs of national increase. Then our success, our happiness, our glory, will be as inevitable, as the inferences of mathematics. We may calmly smile at all the croakings of all the ravens, whether of native or foreign breed.

The whole will not grow weak, by the increase of its 15 parts. Our growth will be like that of the mountain oak, which strikes its roots more deeply into the soil, and clings to it with a closer grasp, as its lofty head is exalted, and its broad arms stretched out. The loud burst of joy and gratitude, which this, the anniversary of our Independence, 20 is breaking from the full hearts of a mighty people, will never cease to be heard. No chasms of sullen silence will interrupt its course,-no discordant notes of sectional madness, mar the general harmony. Year after year will increase it, by tributes from now unpeopled solitudes. The 25 farthest West shall hear it and rejoice, the Oregon shall swell it with the voice of its waters, the Rocky mountains shall fling back the glad sound from their snowy crests.

LESSON XCII.-POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE OF THE WISE AND

GOOD.-ANDREWS NORTON.

The relations, between man and man, cease not with life. The dead leave behind them their memory, their example, and the effects of their actions. Their influence still abides with us. Their names and characters dwell in our 5 thoughts and hearts. We live and commune with them in their writings. We enjoy the benefit of their labors. Our institutions have been founded by them. We are surrounded by the works of the dead. Our knowledge and our arts, are the fruit of their toil. Our minds have 10 been formed by their instructions. We are most intimately connected with them, by a thousand dependencies. Those whom we have loved, in life, are still objects of our deepest and holiest affections. Their power over us re

mains. They are with us, in our solitary walks; and their voices speak to our hearts, in the silence of midnight. Their image is impressed upon our dearest recollections, and our most sacred hopes. They form an essential part 5 of our treasure laid up in heaven. For, above all, we are separated from them but for a little time. We are soon to be united with them. If we follow in the path of those we have loved, we too shall soon join the innumerable company of the spirits of just men made perfect. Our affections, 10 and our hopes, are not buried in the dust, to which we commit the poor remains of mortality. The blessed retain their remembrance and their love for us, in heaven; and we will cherish our remembrance and our love for them, while on earth.

15

Creatures of imitation and sympathy, as we are, we look around us for support and countenance, even in our virtues. We recur for them, most securely, to the examples of the dead. There is a degree of insecurity and uncertainty, about living worth. The stamp has not yet been put upon 20 it, which precludes all change, and seals it up, as a just object of admiration for future times. There is no service which a man of commanding intellect can render his fellow-creatures, better, than that of leaving behind him an unspotted example. If he do not confer upon them this 25 benefit; if he leave a character dark with vices, in the sight of God, but dazzling with shining qualities, in the view of men; it may be that all his other services had better have been forborne, and he had passed, inactive and unnoticed, through life. It is a dictate of wisdom, there30 fore, as well as feeling, when a man, eminent for his virtues and talents, has been taken away, to collect the riches of his goodness, and add them to the treasury of human improvement. The true Christian liveth not for himself, and dieth not for himself; and it is thus, in one respect, 35 that he dieth not for himself.

LESSON XCIII.-LOOK ALOFT.-J. LAWRENCE, JR.

In the tempest of life, when the wave and the gale Are around and above, if thy footing should fail, If thine eye should grow dim, and thy caution depart, "Look aloft!" and be firm, and be fearless of heart. 5 If the friend who embraced in prosperity's glow, With a smile for each joy and a tear for each woe,