scarce "adventure to set a foot upon the ground,' "for delicateness and tenderness;" but is now enwrapped in clammy earth, and sleeps on no softer a pillow than the ragged gravel-stones.Here" the strong men bow themselves." The nervous arm is unstrung; the brawny sinews are relaxed; the limbs, not long ago the seats of vi gour and activity, lie down motionless; and the bones, which were as bars of iron, are crumbled. into dust. Here, the man of business forgets all his favourite schemes, and discontinues the pursuit of gain. Here is a total stand to the circulation of merchandize, and the hurry of trade. In these solitary recesses, as in the building of Solomon's temple, is heard no sound of the hammer and ax. The winding-sheet, and the coffin, are the utmost bound of all earthly devices. "Hitherto may "they go, but no farther."-Here, the sons of pleasure take a final farewell of their dear de. lights. No more is the sensualist anointed with oil, or crowned with rose-buds. He chants no more to the melody of the viol, nor revels any longer at the banquet of wine. Instead of sumptuous tables and delicious treats, the poor volup tuary is himself a feast for fattened insects; the reptile riots on his flesh; the "worm, feeds sweetly " on him t." Here, also, beauty fails; bright beauty drops her lustre here. O! how her roses fade, and her lilies languish, in this bleak soil! How does the grand Leveller pour contempt upon the charmer of our hearts! How turn to deformity what captivated the world before! Could the lover have a sight of his once inchanting fair-one, what a startling astonishment would seize him!-"Is this the object I not long "6 ago so passionately admired! I said, she was "divinely fair; and thought her somewhat more Deut, xxviii, 56. + Job xxiv. 20. "than mortal. Her form was symmetry itself; " every elegance breathed in her air; and all the "graces waited on her motions.-'Twas music, "when she spoke: but, when she spoke encou66 ragement, 'twas little less than rapture. How "my heart danced to those charming accents!"And can that, which, some weeks ago was to "admiration lovely, be now so insufferably loath"some? Where are those blushing cheeks? Where "the coral lips? Where that ivory neck, on which "the curling jet, in such glossy ringlets, flowed? "With a thousand other beauties of person, and "ten thousand delicacies of action?-Amazing "alteration! Delusory bliss!--Fondly I gazed upon the glittering meteor. It shone brightly; "and I mistook it for a star; for a permanent " and substantial good. But how is it fallen! fallen from an orb, not its own! And all that "I can trace on earth is but a putrid mass." Lie, poor Florella! lie deep, as thou dost, in obscure darkness. Let night, with her impenetrable shades, always conceal thee. May no prying eye be witness to thy disgrace: but let thy surviving sisters think upon thy state, when they contemplate the idol in the glass. When the pleasing image rises gracefully to view, surrounded with a world of charms; and flushed with joy at the consciousness of them all-then, in those minutes of temptation and danger, when vanity uses to steal into the thoughts-then let them remember what a veil of horror is drawn over a face which was once beautiful and brilliant as theirs. Such a seasonable reflection might regulate the labours of the toilet; and create a more earnest solicitude to polish the jewel than to varnish the casket. It might then become their . Quo fugit Venus? Heu! Quove color? decens Quo motus? Quid habet illius, illius, Quae spirabat amores, Que me surpuerat inibi? Hor highest ambition to have the mind decked with divine virtues, and dressed after the amiable pattern of their Redeemer's holiness. And would this prejudice their persons, or depreciate their charms?-Quite the reverse. It would spread a sort of heavenly glory over the finest set of features, and heighten the loveliness of every other engaging accomplishment.What is yet a more inviting consideration, these flowers would not wither with nature, nor be tarnished by time; but would open continually into richer beauties, and flourish even in the winter of age. But the most incomparable recommendation of these noble qualities, is; that, from their hallowed relics, and from the fragrant ashes of the phoenix, will ere long arise an illustrious form, bright as the wings of angels, lasting as the light of the new Jerusalem. For my part, the remembrance of this sad revolution shall make me ashamed to pay my devo tion to a shrine of perishing flesh, and afraid to expect all my happiness from so brittle a joy. It shall teach me not to think too highly of wellproportioned clay; though formed in the most elegant mould, and animated with the sweetest soul. 'Tis heaven's last, best, and crowning gift; -to be received with gratitude, and cherished with love, as a most valuable blessing; not wor. shipped with the incense of flattery, and strains of fulsome adoration, as a goddess.-It will cure, I trust, the dotage of my eyes; and incline me always to prefer the substantial " ornaments of a meek and virtuous spirit," before the transient decorations of white and red on the skin. Here I called in my roving meditations from their long excursion on this tender subject. Fancy listened awhile to the soliloquy of a lover. Now judgment resumes the reins, and guides my thoughts to more near and self-interesting inquiries. However, upon a review of the whole scene, crowded with spectacles of mortality, and trophies of death, I could not forbear smiting my breast, and fetching a sigh, and lamenting over the noblest of all visible beings, laid prostrate under the feet of "the pale horse and his rider." -I could not forbear repeating that pathetic exclamation, "Oh! thou Adam, what hast thou done+!" What desolation has thy disobedience wrought in the earth!-See the malignity, the ruinous malignity of sin! Sin has demolished so many stately structures of flesh; sin has made such havock among the most excellent ranks of God's lower creation; and sin (that deadly bane of our nature) would have plunged our better part into the execrable horrors of the nethermest hell; had not our merciful Mediator interposed, and given himself for our ransom.-Therefore what grateful acknowledgments does the whole world of peni tent sinuers owe, what ardent returns of love will a whole heaven of glorified believers pay, to such a friend, benefactor, and deliverer! Musing upon these melancholy objects, a faithful remembrancer suggests from within, "Must "this sad change succeed in me also? Am I to "draw my last gasp, to become a breathless corpse, and be what I deploret? Is there a "time approaching, when this body shall be car "ried out upon the bier, and consigned to its "clay-cold bed? While some kind acquaintance, "perhaps, may drop one parting tear, and cry, "Alas! my brother!-Is the time approaching?" -Nothing is more certain. A decree, much surer than the law of the Medes and Persians, has ir revocably determined the doom. . Rev. vi. 8. +2 Esdras vil. 41. pass, with melancholy state, By all these solemn heaps of fate; "Time was, like me they life possess'd; "And time will be, when I shall rest," Parnel A Should one of these ghastly figures burst from his confinement; and start up, in frightful defor mity before me-should the haggard skeleton lift a clattering hand, and point it full in my viewshould it open the stiffened jaws, and, with a hoarse tremendous murmur, break this profound silence-should it accost me, as Samuel's apparition addressed the trembling King-" The Lord "shall deliver thee also into the hands of Death. Yet a little while, and thou shalt be with me." The solemn warning, delivered in so striking a manner, must strongly impress my imagination. message in thunder would scarce sink deeper.Yet there is abundantly greater reason to be alarmed by that express declaration of the Lord. God Almighty, Thou shalt surely die."-Well, then, since sentence is passed; since I am a con. demned man, and know not when the dead warrant may arrive; let me die to sin, and die to the world, before I die beneath the stroke of a righteous God. Let me employ the little uncertain interval of respite from execution in preparing for a happier state, and a better life; that when the fatal moment comes, and I am commanded to shut my eyes upon all things here below, I may open them again, to see my Saviour in the mansions above. Since this body, which is so fearfully and wonderfully made, must fall to pieces in the grave; since I must soon resign all my bodily powers to 1 Sam. xxviii. 19. On this place the Dutch translator of the meditations has added a note; to correct, very probably, what he supposes a mistake. On the same supposition, I presume, the compilers of our rubric ordered the last verse of Ecclus. xlvi. to be omitted in the daily seryice of the church. But that the sentiment hinted above is strictly true, that it was NI NW Samuel himself (not an infernal spirit personating the prophet) who ap peared to the female necromancer at Endor, appeared not in compliance with any diabolical incantation, but in pur suance of the divine commission; this, I think, is fully proved in the Historical Account of the Life of David, vol. i. chap. 23, |