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350

AUTUMN SUNSET.

And therefore is my heart opprest
With thoughtfulness and gloom;
Nor can I hope for perfect rest,

Till I escape this doom

;

Help me! Thou Merciful and Just!

This fearful doom to fly :

Thou art my strength, my peace, my trust:

Oh help me, lest I die!

And let my full obedience prove

The perfect power of faith and love.

HENRY WARE Jr.

Autumn Sunset.

OH there is beauty in the sky-a widening of gold,
Upon each light and breezy cloud, and on each vapoury fold-
The Autumn wind has died away, and the air has not a sound,
Save the sighing of the withered leaves, as they fall upon the
ground.

A softened tint of gold is on the dark sky of the North,
And in the South the diamond stars are slowly coming forth:
Above the burning horizon-the radiance of the West

Is mellowed upon clouds that seem fit cars for angels' rest.
'Tis Autumn-but the forest-oak its summer greenness wears:
The crimson maple at its side, the spoiler's impress bears-
And on the tall hill's withered brow, the frost flower only blooms,
Above its fairer sister's grave-like "Age amid the tombs."

The earth looks sad-but in the sky, where, from its undimmed track,

The sun hath gone in brightness down, and cast his banner back,
A mystic glory lingers yet to trace the sunset hours—
A glory which the earth knows not, in its summer time of flowers.
E. H. WHITTIER.

A Fly in the Celescope.

1 REMEMBER reading, many years ago, a story of an astronomer who was viewing the sun through a telescope, and was surprised by the discovery of what seemed to be a monster on the face of that luminary. From the known dimensions of the sun, and the portion of its surface which was occupied by the newly discovered monster, it was not difficult to compute its magnitude, which appeared alarmingly great. As the creature, whatever it was, exhibited the appearance of life, the degree of heat which it was able to endure became a subject of calculation, and was found of course to be many times greater than that of red hot iron. Its translation from one part of the sun's disc to another, when viewed at the distance of ninety-four millions of miles, indicated an astonishing power of locomotion. This momentous discovery, with the results scientifically deduced from the phenomenon, being duly announced, numerous spectators were attracted to witness and admire the appalling appearAll was astonishment and fear; and none could question the reality of what was plainly visible to every eye whieh was applied to the telescope. At length one of the spectators, rather more shrewd than the rest, suggested the expediency of examining the interior of the instrument, when it was discovered that a small fly was lodged on one of the glasses.

ance.

Now before we laugh at the credulity of the astronomer, it would not be amiss to inquire whether we do not sometimes commit a similar or more important blunder. The supposed discovery, while admitted to be real, could hardly lead to any injurious practical results. The fly might have crawled out of the field of view, and the phenomenon have been considered as one of the inexplicable mysteries of nature.

But when we see persons viewing the conduct of others, apparently with critical accuracy, and discovering errors and faults

352

A FLY IN THE TELESCOPE.

which are not visible to common observers, we may very justly suspect that a fly has got into the telescope.

When we hear political opponents discussing the plans and designs of each other, and perceiving evidence of folly and knavery in all their measures, we naturally suppose that the instrument or the medium through which they are looking furnishes a distorted image which is not to be found in the object. We readily imagine there is a fly in the telescope.

When we find religious professors scrutinizing the opinions and practices of others with a zeal in which charity cannot mingle, and placing on their sentiments and actions the most unfavourable construction they can bear, we would do well to examine whether there is not a fly in the telescope.

In the opinions which we venture to form and promulgate respecting those with whom we are connected, either in social or religious communion, it is of incalculable importance to remember our own fallibility; and to be careful never to announce as blemishes in others what may possibly be nothing else than defects in the organ of vision; and to reflect that we only expose our own credulity if we mistake a fly in the telescope for a monster in the sun.

L.

THEY who have rarest joy, know joy's true measure;
They who most suffer, value suffering's pause;
They who but seldom taste the simplest pleasure,
Kneel oftenest to the Giver and the Cause.

NORTON.

Oн, rest not now, but scatter wide the seeds
Of faithful words, and yet more faithful deeds;
So shalt thou rest above eternally,

When God the harvest-fruit shall give to thee.

BETHUNE.

Christian Nurture.

WHAT motives are laid upon all Christian parents to make the first article of family discipline a constant and careful discipline of themselves? I would not undervalue a strong and decided government in families. No family can be rightly trained without it. But there is a kind of virtue which is not in the rod, the virtue, I mean, of a truly good and sanctified life. And a reign of brute force is much more easily maintained, than a reign whose power is righteousness and love. There are, too, I must warn you, many who talk much of the rod as the orthodox symbol of parental duty, but who might really as well be heathens as Christians; who only storm about their house with heathenish ferocity; who lecture, and threaten, and castigate, and bruise, and call this family government. They even dare to speak of this as the nurture of the Lord. So much easier is it to be violent than to be holy, that they substitute force for goodness and grace, and are wholly unconscious of the imposture. It is frightful to think how they batter and bruise the delicate, tender souls of their children, extinguishing in them what they ought to cultivate, crushing that sensibility which is the hope of their being, and all in the sacred name of Christ Jesus. By no such summary process can you despatch your duties to your children. You are not to be a savage to them, but a father and a Christian. Your real aim and study must be to infuse into them a new life, and,, to this end, the life of God must perpetually reign in you. Gathered round you as a family, they are all to be so many motives, strong as the love you bear them, to make you Christlike in your spirit. It must be seen and felt by them that religion is a first thing with you. And it must be first, not in words and talk, but visibly first in your love,-that which fixes your aims, feeds your enjoyments, sanctifies your pleasures,

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354

CHRISTIAN NURTURE.

supports your trials, satisfies your wants, contents your ambition, beautifies and blesses your character. No mock piety, no sanctimony of phrase will suffice. You must live in the light of God, and hold such a spirit in exercise as you wish to see translated into your children. You must take them into your feelings as a loving and joyous element, and beget, if by the grace of God you may, the spirit of your own heart in theirs. This is Christian education, the nurture of the Lord. Ah, how dismal is the contrast of a half-worldly, carnal piety, preposing money as the good thing of life, stimulating ambition for place and show, provoking ill-nature by petulance and falsehood, having now and then a religious fit, and, when it is on, weeping and exhorting the family to undo all that the life has taught to do, and then, when the passions have burnt out their fire, dropping down again to sleep in the cinders, only hoping still that the family will some time be converted! When shall we discover that families ought not to be nursed by such kind of training as this? BUSHNELL.

I COMPARE the world to a multitude of iron filings in a vessel, and the gospel to a magnet. The minister of the gospel must. bring the magnet into contact with them all the secret agency of God is to produce the attraction.

CHALMERS.

THOU of the gifted mind!

For all thy wealth, thou hast a debt to pay;
To aid the poor-to guide the weak and blind,
Who travel on thy way.

E. L. JR.

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