ities, the hatreds, which society may have engendered, sink unperceived from our bosoms. 4. In the general desolation of nature, we feel the littleness of our own passions; we look forward to that kindred evening which time must bring to all; we anticipate the graves of those we hate, as of those we love. Every unkind passion falls, with the leaves that fall around us; and we return slowly to our homes, and to the society which surrounds us, with the wish only to enlighten or to bless them. 5. There is an eventide in human life, a season when the eye becomes dim, and the strength decays, and when the winter of age begins to shed upon the human head its prophetic snow. It is the season of life to which the present is most analogous ;3 and much it becomes, and much it would profit you, my elder brethren, to mark the instructions which the season brings. 6. The spring and the summer of your days are gone, and with them, not only the joys they knew, but many of the friends who gave them. You have entered upon the autumn of your being, and whatever may have been the profusion of your spring, or the warm intemperance of your summer, there is yet a season of stillness and of solitude, which the beneficence1 of Heaven affords you, in which you may meditate upon the past and the future, and prepare yourselves for the mighty change which you are then to undergo. 7. If it be thus, my elder brethren, you have the wisdom to use the decaying season of nature, it brings with it consolations more valuable than all the enjoyments of former days. In the long retrospects of your journey, you have seen every day the shades of the evening fall, and every year the clouds of winter găther. But you have seen also, every succeeding day, the morning arise in its brightness, and in every succeeding year the spring return to renovate the winter of nature. 8. It is now you may understand the magnificent' language 'Ani mos' i ty, extreme hatred.- - En gên' dered, given birth to; caused or produced.-3 A nål' o gous, bearing some proportion or resemblance. Be nef' i cence, active goodness, kindness, or charity.— R&t'ro spect, contemplation or view of something past; review.-" Ren' ovåte, to restore to a good state; to make new, fresh, or vigorous.Mag nif' i cent, brilliant; splendid. : THE DEATH OF ADAM. 403 of Heaven it mingles its voice with that of revelation; it summons you, in these hours when the leaves fall, and the winter is gathering, to that evening study which the mercy of Heaven has provided in the book of salvation; and while the shadowy valley opens which leads to the abode of death, it speaks of that Land which can comfort and can save, and which can conduct to those "green pastures and those still waters," where there is an eternal spring for the children of God. ARCHIBALD ALISON. 175. THE DEATH OF ADAM. 1. HE sun, in summer majesty on high, 2. THE Darted his fierce effulgence' down the sky; Here, though his sufferings through the glen were known, Eve, Seth, and I.3 In vain he sigh'd for rest, And oft his meek complainings thus express'd: "Blow on me, Wind! I faint with heat! Oh, bring Your sunless shadows o'er my limbs diffuse,1 Ye Cedars! wash me cold with midnight dews; 1 Ef ful' gence, a flood of light; splendor.- Por tent' ous, ominous; foreboding ill.-ENOCH is here supposed to relate the circumstances of the death of ADAM. - Diffuse (dif fùz'), pour out; spread; extend in all directions. Those sorrowing faces fill my soul with gloom- 3. The sun went down amid an angry glare Of flushing clouds, that crimson'd all the air; Prone rushing rains with torrents whelm'd the land; Around its base, the foamy-crested streams Flash'd through the darkness to the lightning's gleams; Had such mysterious motion shook her frame: 4. Amid this war of elements, within 5 More dreadful grew the sacrifice of sin, Bright through the smoldering ashes of the man, 66 Oh, ye who shudder at this awful strife, This wrestling agony of Death and Life, Think not that He, on whom my soul is cast, Will leave me thus forsaken to the last: Nature's infirmity alone you see; THE DEATH OF ADAM. My chains are breaking, I shall soon be free. That these, who witness my departing breath, 8. Adam look'd up; his visage changed its hue, 405 1 Be nign' ly, kindly; graciously.-2 Ser' a phim, angels of the high est order. "I come!" he cried, with faith's full triumph fired, The light was vanish'd, and the vision fled: The gate of heaven had open'd there, and closed. JAMES MONTGOMERY. 1. 176. THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS. ING FRANCIS was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport, ΚΕ And one day, as his lions fought, sat looking on the court; The nobles fill'd the benches round, the ladies by their side, And 'mongst them sat the Count de Lorge, with one for whom he sigh'd: And truly 'twas a gallant thing to see that crowning show, Valor and love, and a king above, and the royal hearts below. 2. Ramp'd and roar'd the lions, with horrid laughing jaws; They bit, they glared,' gave blows like beams, a wind went with their paws: With wallowing might and stifled roar, they roll'd on one another, Till all the pit, with sand and mane, was in a thund'rous smother; The bloody foam above the bars came whizzing thro' the air: Said Francis then, "Faith! gentlemen, we're better here than there!" 3. De Lorge's love o'erheard the king, a beauteous lively dame, With smiling lips and sharp bright eyes, which always seem'd the same; She thought, The Count my lover is brave as brave can be; 1 Ec' sta sy, literally, a being out of one's self; hence, rapture; over powering emotion.- Glåred. |