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4. Thus star by star declines,

Till all are passed away,—

As morning high and higher shines

To pure and perfect day;

Nor sink those stars in empty night,

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.

LESSON CIV.

GOD, THE TRUE OBJECT OF CONFIDENCE.

GREENWOOD

1. WE receive such repeated intimations of decay in the world,―decline, change, and loss, follow in such rapid succession, that we can almost catch the sound of universal wasting, and hear the work of desolation going on busily around "The mountain falling cometh to naught, and the rock The waters wear the stones, the

us.

is removed out of his place.

things which grow out of the

dust of the earth, are washed away, and the hope of man is destroyed."

2. Conscious of our own instability, we look about for something, on which to rest, but we look in vain. The heavens and the earth had a beginning, and they will have an end. The face of the world is changing daily and hourly.-All animated things grow old and die.-The rocks crumble,-the trees fall, —the leaves fade,—the grass withers.-The clouds are flying, and the waters are flowing away from us.

3. The firmest works of man, too, are gradually giving way, --the ivy clings to the moldering tower,-the brier hangs out from the shattered window,—and the wall-flower springs from the disjointed stones. In the spacious domes which once held

our fathers, the serpent hisses, and the wild bird screams. The halls which were once crowded with all that taste, and science, and labor, could procure,—which resounded with melody, and were lighted up with beauty,--are buried by their own ruins, mocked by their own desolation. The voice of merriment or of wailing,-the steps of the busy or the idle, -have ceased in the deserted courts.

4. While we thus walk among the ruins of the past, a sad feeling of insecurity comes over us; and that feeling is by no means diminished when we arrive at home. If we turn to our friends, we can hardly speak to them, before they bid us farewell. We see them for a few moments, and in a few moments more, their countenances are changed, and they are sent away. The ties which bind us together, are never too close to be parted, or too strong to be broken. We gain no confidence, then, no feeling of security, by turning to our contemporaries and kindred. We know that the forms that are breathing around us, are as short-lived and fleeting as those were, which have been dust for centuries.

5. If every thing which comes under our notice, has endured for so short a time, and in so short a time will be no more, we can not say that we receive the least assurance by thinking on ourselves. When a few more friends have left, a few more hopes deceived, and a few more changes mocked us, we shall be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto us."

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6. When we ourselves have gone, even our memories will not stay behind us long. A few of the near and dear will bear our likenesses in their bosoms, till they, too, have arrived at the end of their journey, and entered the dark dwelling of unconsciousness. In the thoughts of others, we shall live only till the last sound of the bell which informs them of our departure, has ceased to vibrate in their ears.

7. A stone, perhaps, may tell some wanderer where we lie, -when we came here,-when we went away; but even that will soon refuse to bear us record. "Time's effacing fingers" will be busy on its surface, and will at length wear it smooth.

The stone itself will sink, or crumble; and the wanderer of usingle call upon his sympathy,

another age will pass, without as over our unheeded graves.

8. Is there nothing to counteract the sinking of the heart, which must be the effect of observations like these? Is there no substance among all these shadows? Can no support be offered, can no source of confidence be named? Yes! There is a Being, to whom we can look with a perfect conviction of finding that security which nothing about us can give,nothing can take away. To this Being we can lift up our souls, and on Him we may rest them, exclaiming in the language of the monarch of Israel,

"Before the mountains were brought forth,

Or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, THOU ART GOD."
9. "Of old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Thy hands.
They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure,

Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment,

As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed,
But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.”

10. Here, then, is a support which will never fail.-Here is a foundation which can never be moved,-the everlasting Creator of countless worlds,

"The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity."

When we have looked on the pleasures of life, and they have vanished away; when we have looked on the works of nature, and perceived that they were changing; on the monuments of art, and seen that they would not stand; on our friends, and they have fled while we were gazing; on ourselves, and felt that we were as fleeting as they; we can look to the throne of God. Change and decay have never reached that. The waves of an eternity have been rushing past it, but it has remained unshaken. The waves of another eternity are rushing toward it, but it is fixed, and can never be disturbed.

11. We shall shortly finish our allotted time on earth, and a world of other days and other men will be entirely ignorant

that once we lived. But the same unalterable Being will still preside over the universe, through all its changes, and from His remembrance we shall never be blotted. He is our Father and our God forever. He takes us from earth that He may lead us to Heaven,-that He may refine our nature from all its principles of corruption,-share with us His own immortality, admit us to His everlasting habitation, and crown us with His eternity.

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2. Before the ponderous earthly globe
In fluid air was stayed;

Before the ocean's mighty springs
Their liquid stores displayed.

3. Ere men adored, or angels knew,

Or praised Thy wondrous name;
Thy bliss, O sacred Spring of Life,
And glory were the same.

4. And when the pillars of the world,
With sudden ruin, break;

And all this vast and goodly frame
Sinks in the mighty wreck ;-

5. When from her orb the moon shall start,
Th' astonished sun roll back;

While all the trembling, starry lamps

Their ancient course forsake ;

6. Forever permanent and fixed,

From agitation free;

Unchanged, in everlasting years,
Shall Thy existence be.

RowE.

LESSON CVI.

NOTE. The following excellent advice from the late Chief Justice of the United States, eminent as a Scholar and Jurist, though purporting to be addressed to a young lawyer, suggests no less important hints to all writers and public speakers.

ADVICE TO A YOUNG LAWYER.

1. WHENE'ER you speak, remember every cause
Stands not on eloquence, but stands on laws;—
Pregnant in matter, in expression brief,

Let every sentence stand with bold relief;
On trifling points, nor time, nor talents waste,
A sad offense to learning and to taste;

STORY.

Nor deal with pompous phrase; nor e'er suppose,
Poetic flights belong to reasoning prose.

2. Loose declamation may deceive the crowd,

And seem more striking, as it grows more loud;
But sober sense rejects it with disdain,

As naught but empty noise, and weak, as vain.
The froth of words, the school-boy's vain parade
Of books and cases,-all his stock in trade,-
The pert conceits, the cunning tricks, and play
Of low attorneys, strung in long array,
The unseemly jest, the petulant reply,
That scatters on, and cares not how, or why,
Studious, avoid,-unworthy themes to scan,-
They sink the Speaker, and disgrace the Man.
Like the false lights, by flying shadows cast,
Scarce seen, when present, and forgot, when past.

3. Begin with dignity; expound with grace
Each ground of reasoning in its time and place;
Let order reign throughout,-each topic touch,
Nor
its
uge power too little, or too much.
Give each strong thought its most attractive view,
In diction clear, and yet severely true.

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