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ciples with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend their influence still more widely; in the full conviction that that. is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity.

The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this occasion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can expect to behold its return. They are in the distant regions of futurity, they exist only in the all-creating power of God, who shall stand here, a hundred years hence, to trace, through us, their descent from the pilgrims, and to survey, as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country during the lapse of a century. We would anticipate their concurrence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the pleasure with which they will then recount the steps of New-England's advancement. On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the rock of Plymouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the pilgrims, till it lose itself in the murmurs of the Pacifick seas.

We would leave, for the consideration of those who shall then occupy our places, some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government, and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understandings and improve the hearts of men. And when, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed affections, which, running backward, and warming with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them with cordial salutation, ere yet they have arrived on the shore of Being.

Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the Fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies, and the verdant fields of New-England. We greet your

accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government, and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendant sweets of domestick life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting Truth!

LESSON CL

Effects of Education upon individuals.-Its importance to the publick.-WORDSWORTH.

ALAS! what differs more than man from man!
And whence this difference ?-whence but from himself?
For, see the universal race, endowed

With the same upright form! The sun is fixed,
And the infinite magnificence of heaven,
Within the reach of every human eye:
The sleepless ocean murmurs in all ears;
The vernal field infuses fresh delight

Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense
Even as an object is sublime or fair,
That object is laid open to the view

Without reserve or veil; and as a power

Is salutary, or its influence sweet,

Are each and all enabled to perceive

That power, that influence, by impartial law.

Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all ;

Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears;

Imagination, freedom of the will,

Conscience to guide and check; and death

To be foretasted,-immortality presumed.

Strange then, nor less than monstrous might be deemed

The failure, if the Almighty, to this point

Libera! and undistinguishing, should hide

The excellence of moral qualities

From common understanding; leaving truth
And virtue, difficult, abstruse and dark;

Hard to be won, and only by a few :

Strange, should he deal herein with nice respects,

And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not:
The primal duties shine aloft-like stars;
The charities, that sooth, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man-like flowers.
The generous inclination, the just rule,

Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts—
No mystery is here; no special boon

For high and not for low,-for proudly graced
And not for meek in heart. The smoke ascends
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth,
As from the haughty palace. He whose soul
Ponders its true equality, may walk

The fields of earth with gratitude and hope;
Yet, in that meditation, will he find

Motive to sadder grief, when his thoughts turn
From nature's justice to the social wrongs

That make such difference betwixt man and man.
Oh for the coming of that glorious time
When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth,
And best protection, this imperial realm*
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation on her part, to teach

Them who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by statute to secure,

For all the children whom her soil maintains,
The rudiments of Letters, and to inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood and practised-so that none
However destitute, be left to droop,
By timely culture unsustained, or run
Into a wild disorder; or be forced

To drudge through weary life without the aid
Of intellectual implements and tools;
A savage horde among the civilized,
A servile band among the lordly free!

This right-as sacred, almost, as the right
To exist and be supplied with sustenance
And means of life, the lisping babe proclaims
To be inherent in him, by Heaven's will,
For the protection of his innocence;
And the rude boy who knits his angry brow,
And lifts his wilful hand on mischief bent,
Or turns the sacred faculty of speech

*The British empire,

To impious use-by process indirect,

Declares his due, while he makes known his need.
This sacred right is fruitlessly announced,
This universal plea in vain addressed,
To eyes and ears of parents, who themselves
Did, in the time of their necessity,

Urge it in vain; and, therefore, like a prayer
That from the humblest floor ascends to heaven,
It mounts to reach the State's parental ear;
Who, if indeed she own a mother's heart,
And be not most unfeelingly devoid
Of gratitude to Providence, will grant
The unquestionable good.-

The discipline of slavery is unknown
Amongst us, hence the more do we require
The discipline of virtue :-order else
Cannot subsist, nor confidence, nor peace.
Thus, duties rising out of good possessed,
And prudent caution needful to avert
Impending evil, do alike require

That permanent provision should be made
For the whole people to be taught and trained :-
So shall licentiousness and black resolve

Be rooted out, and virtuous habits take
Their place; and genuine piety descend,
Like an inheritance, from age to age.

LESSON CLI.

An Evening in the Grave-yard.-AMERICAN WATCHMAN. THE moon is up, the evening star

Shines lovely from its home of blue

The fox-howl's heard on the fell afar,

And the earth is robed in a sombre hue;

From the shores of light the beams come down,

On the river's breast, and cold grave stone.

The kindling fires o'er heaven so bright,
Look sweetly out from yon azure sea;
While the glittering pearls of the dewy night,
Seem trying to mimick their brilliancy;
Yet all those charms no joy can bring
To the dead, in the cold grave slumbering.

To numbers wild, yet sweet withal,

Should the harp be struck o'er the sleepy pillow; Soft as the murmuring, breezy fall,

Of sighing winds on the foamy billow;
For who would disturb in their silent bed,
The fancied dreams of the lowly dead?

Oh! is there one in this world can say,
That the soul exists not after death!

That the powers which illumine this mould of clay,
Are but a puff of common breath!
Oh! come this night to the grave and see
The sleepy sloth of your destiny.

The night's soft voice, in breathings low,

Imparts a calm to the breast of the weeper:
The water's dash and murmuring flow

No more will sooth the ear of the sleeper,
Till he, who slept on Judah's plains,
Shall burst death's cold and icy chains.

I've seen the moon gild the mountain's brow;
I've watch'd the mist o'er the river stealing,
But ne'er did I feel in my breast till now,

So deep, so calm, and so holy a feeling:
"Tis soft as the thrill which memory throws
Athwart the soul in the hour of repose.

Thou Father of all! in the worlds of light,
Fain would my spirit aspire to thee;
And thro' the scenes of this gentle night,
Behold the dawn of eternity:

For this is the path, which thou hast given,
The only path to the bliss of Heaven,

LESSON CLII.

A natural mirror.-WORDSWORTH.

BEHOLD, the shades of afternoon have fallen
Upon this flowery slope; and see-beyond-
The lake, though bright, is of a placid blue ; -
As if preparing for the peace of evening.
How temptingly the landscape shines!The air

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