MEDITATIONS

Among the Tombs.

MADAM,

147

IN A LETTER TO A LADY.

TRAVELLI

RAVELLING lately into Cornwall, I happened to alight at a considerable village in that country, where, finding myself under an unexpected necessity of staying a little, I took a walk to the church.* The doors, like the heaven to which they lead, were wide open, and readily admitted an unworthy stranger. Pleased with the opportunity, I resolved to spend a few minutes under the sacred roof.

In a situation so retired and awful, I could not avoid falling into a strain of meditations, serious and mournfully pleasing; which I trust, were in some degree profitable to me, while they possessed and warmed my thoughts; and if they may administer any satisfaction to you, madam, now they are recollected, and committed to writing, I shall receive a fresh pleasure from them.

It was an ancient pile; reared by hands that ages ago were mouldered into dust. -Situate in the centre of a large burial ground; remote from all the noise and hurry of tumultuous life.-The body spacious; the structure lofty; the whole magnificantly plain. A row of

* I have namel, in some former editions, a particular church, viz. Kilkhampton; where several of the monuments, described in the following pages, really exist. But as I thought it convenient to mention some cases here, which are not, according to the best of my remembrance, referred to in any inscriptions there, I have now omitted the name; that imagination might operate more freely, and the improvement of the reader be consulted without any thing that should look like a variation from the truth, and fact.

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regular pillars extending themselves through the midst ; supporting the roof with simplicity, and with dignity.The light that passed through the windows, seemed to shed a kind of luminous obscurity; which gave every objeck a grave and venerable air,-The deep silence added to the gloomy aspect, and both, heightened by the loneliness of the place, greatly increased the solemnity of the scene. A sort of religious dread stole insensibly on my mind, while I advanced, all pensive and thoughtful, along the inmost aisle; such dread as hushed every ruder passion, and dissipated all the gay images of an alJuring world.

Having adored that Eternal Majesty, who, far from being confined to temples made with hands, has heaven for his throne, and the earth for his footstool-I took particular notice of a handsome altar-piece; presented, as I was afterwards informed, by the master-builders of Stow,* out of gratitude to God, who carried them thro' their work, and enabled them to "bring forth their topstone with joy."

O how amiable is gratitude, especially when it has the supreme benefactor for its object. I have always looked upon gratitude, as the most exalted principle that can actuate the heart of man. It has something noble, disinterested, and (if I may be allowed the term) generously devout. Repentance indicates our nature fallen, and prayer turns chiefly upon a regard to one's self: But the exercises of gratitude subsisted in paradise, when there was no fault to deplore and will be perpetuated in heaven, when" GoD shall be all in all."

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The language of this sweet temper is, "I am unspeakably obliged what return shall I make ?"—and surely, it is no improper expression of an unfeigned thankfulness, to decorate our creator's courts, and beautify" the place where his honor dwelleth," Of old the habitation of his

*The name of a grand seat, belonging to the late Earl of Bath; remarkable formerly for its excellent workmanship, and elegant furniture; once the principal resort of the quality and gentry of the west; but now demolished, laid even with the ground, and scarce one stone left upon another. So that corn may grow, or nettles spring, where Stow lately stood.

feet was glorious: let it not now, be sordid or contemptible. It must grieve an ingenuous mind, and be a reproach to any people, to have their own houses wainscotted with cedar, and painted with vermillion: while the temple of the LORD of hosts is destitute of every decent ornament.

Here I recollected, & was charmed with Solomon's fine address to the Almighty at the dedication of his famous temple. With immence charge, and exquisite skill, he had erected the most rich and finished structure that the sun ever saw. Yet, upon a review of his work, and a reflection on the transcendant perfections of the Godhead, how it exalts the one, and abases the other! The building was too glorious, for the mightiest monarch to inhabit; too sacred, for unhallowed feet even to enter; yet infinitely too mean for the Deity to reside in. It was, and the royal worshipper acknowledged it to be, a most marvellous vouchsafement in uncreated Excellency, to "put his name there."-The whole passage breathes such a delicacy, and is animated with such a sublimity of sentiment, that I cannot persuade myself to pass on without repeating it. But will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold! the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded*!Incomparable saying! worthy the wisest of men. Who would not chose to possess such an elevated devotion, rather than to own all the glittering materials of that sumptuous edifice ?

* 1 Kings viii. 27. But will-A fine abrupt beginning, most significiently describing the amazement and rapture of the royal prophet's mind!- -GOD! He uses no epithet, where writers of inferior discernment would have been fond to multiply them; but speaks of the Deity as an incomprehensible Being, whose perfections and glories are exhalted above all praise.

-Dwell! To bestow on sinful creatures a propitious look ; to favor them with a transient visit of kindness; even this were an unutterable obligation. Will he then vouchsafe to fix his abode among them, and take up his stated residence with them? Indeed! A word in this connection, peculiarly emphatical; expressive of a condescension, wonderful and extraordinary almost beyond all credibility.-Behold! Intimating the continued or rather the increasing surprize of the speaker, and

We are apt to be struck with admiration at the stateliness and grandeur of a masterly performance in architecture. And perhaps, on a sight of the ancient sanctuary, should have made the superficial observation of the disciples;" What manner of stones, and what buildings are here!"—but what a nobler turn of thought, and juster taste of things does it discover; to join with Israel's king, in celebrating the condescension of the divine inhabitant! that the high and lofty One, who fills immensity with his glory, should in a peculiar manner, fix his abode there! Should there manifest an extraordinary degree of his benedictive presence; permit sinfull mortals to approach his Majesty; and promise "to make them joyful in his house of prayer "This should more sensibly affect our hearts, than the most curious arrangement of stones can delight our eyes.

Nay, the everlasting God does not disdain to dwell in our souls by his Holy Spirit; and to make even our bodies his temple.Tell me, ye that frame critical judgments, and balance nicely the distinction of things" is this most astonishing or most rejoicing ?"- -He humbleth himself, as the scriptures assure us, even to behold the things that are in heaven*. It is a most condescending favor, if HE pleases to take the least approving notice of angels and archangels, when they bow down in homage from their celestial thrones. Will he then graciously regard, will he be united, most intimately united, to poor, polluted, breathing dust ?-Unparalleled honor! awakening the attention of the hearer.-Behold! the heaven: The spacious concave of the firmaments; that wide extended azure circumference, in which worlds unnumbered perform their revolutions, is too scanty an appartment for the Godhead. Nay, The heaven of heavens! Those vastly higher tracts, which lie far beyond the limits of human survey; to which our very thoughts can hardly soar; even these (unbounded as they are) cannot afford an adequate habitation for JEHOVAH even those dwindle into a point, when compared to the infinitude of his essence; even these "are as nothing before him." How much less proportionate is this poor diminutive speck (which I have been erecting and embellishing) to so august a presence, so ininence a Majesty !

*Psal. cziii. 6.

Invaluable privilege! Be this my portion, and I shall not covet crowns, nor envy conquerors.

But let me remember, what a sanctity of disposition and uprightness of conversation, so exalted a relation demands: remember this, "and rejoice with trembling." -Durst I commit any iniquity, while I tread these hallowed courts? Could the Jewish high priest allow himself in any known transgression, while he made that sclemn yearly entrance into the holy of holies, and stood before the immediate presence of JEHOVAH? No, truly, in such circumstances, a thinking person must shudder at the most remote solicitation, to any wilful offence. I should now be shocked at the least indecency of behavior, and am apprehensive of every appearance of evil.-And why do we not carry this holy jealousy into all our ordinary life? Why do we not, in every place, reverence ourselves; as persons dedicated to the Divinity, as living temples of the Godhead ? For, if we are real, and not merely nominal christians, the God of glory, according to his own promise, dwells in us, and walks in us.*-O! that this one doctrine of our religion might operate with an abiding efficacy upon our consciences! It would be instead of a thousand laws to regulate our conduct; instead of a thousand motives, to quicken us in holiness. Under the influence of such a conviction, we should study to maintain a purity of intention; a dignity of action; and to walk worthy of that transcendantly majestic Being, who admits us to a fellowship with himself, and with his Son JESUS

CHRIST.

The next thing which engaged my attention, was the lettered floor. The pavement was somewhat like Ezekial's roll, was written over from one end to the other. I soon perceived the comparison to hold good in another respect, and the inscriptions to be matter of "mourning, lamentation, and woe." They seemed to court my observation; silently inviting me to read them. And what would these dumb monitors inform me of?" That, be"neath their little circumferences, were deposited such and such pieces of clay, which once lived, and mov* 2 Cor, vị. 16. + Ezek. ii. 10.