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still brighter. As they grow up to maturity, they assume in their eyes new characters and beauties. Then they are strown around them, the poetry of the earth. They become invested, by a multitude of associations, with innumerable spells of power over the human heart; they are to us memorials of the joys, sorrows, hopes and triumphs of our forefathers; they are, to all nations, the emblems of youth in its loveliness and purity.

The ancient Greeks, whose souls preeminently sympathized with the spirit of grace and beauty in every thing, were enthusiastic in their love, and lavish in their use, of flowers. Something of the same spirit seems to have prevailed amongst the Hebrews. "Let us fill ourselves," says Solomon, "with costly wine and ointments; and let no flower of the spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered."

But, amongst that solemn and poetical people, they were commonly regarded in another and higher sense; they were the favorite symbols of the beauty and fragility of life. Man is compared to the flower of the field; and it is added, "the grass withereth, the flower fadeth." But of all the poetry ever drawn from flowers, none is so beautiful, none is so sublime, none is so imbued with that very spirit in which they were made, as that of Christ: "And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith!"

The sentiment built upon this entire dependence on the goodness of the Creator-is one of the lights of our existence, and could only have been uttered by Christ; but we have here also the expression of the very spirit of beauty in which flowers were created; a spirit so boundless and overflowing, that it delights to enliven and adorn

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with these creatures of sunshine the solitary places of the earth; to scatter them by myriads over the very desert "where no man is; on the wilderness where there is no man;" sending rain "to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth."

In our confined notions, we are often led to wonder why

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its fragrance on the desert air;"

why beauty, and flowers, and fruit, should be scattered so exuberantly where there are none to enjoy them. But the thoughts of the Almighty are not as our thoughts. He sees them; he doubtlessly delights to behold the beauty of his handiwork, and rejoices in that tide of glory which he has caused to flow wide through the universe. And how often does the gladness of uninhabited lands refresh the heart of the solitary traveller! When the distant and sea-tired voyager suddenly descries the blue mountain-tops, and the lofty crest of the palm-tree, and makes some green and pleasant island, where the verdant and blossoming forest boughs wave in the spicy gale, where the living waters leap from the rocks, and millions of new and resplendent flowers brighten the fresh sward, what then is the joy of his heart!

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To Omnipotence, creation costs not an effort; but to the desolate and the weary, how immense is the happiness thus prepared in the wilderness! Who does not recollect the exultation of Vaillant over a flower in the torrid wastes of Africa? - a magnificent lily, which, growing on the banks of a river, filled the air far around with its delicious fragrance, and, as he observes, had been respected by all the animals of the district, and seemed defended even by its beauty. The affecting mention of the influence of a flower upon his mind in a time of suffering and despondency, in the heart of the same savage continent, by Mungo Park, is familiar to every one.

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Ir is a truth which cannot be too strongly insisted on, that all the powers of the soul should be cultivated harmoniously. If the intellect be strengthened by the acquisition of science, professional learning, or general literature, or by secular knowledge of any kind, without being proportionately exercised on spiritual subjects, its susceptibility of the objections which may be urged against revelation will be increased. Conscious of having mastered certain difficulties that attach to subjects which he has studied, a man so educated finds it impossible to satisfy himself about difficulties in revelation. Revelation has not received from him the same degree of attention. And, forgetful of the unequal distribution of his studies, he charges the fault on the subject. Doubt, discontent and contemptuous infidelity are no unusual results. It, indeed, seems to have been required of us by the Author of revelation, that his word should have a due share of our intellect, as well as of our heart; and that the disproportional direction of our talents, no less than of our affections, to the things of this world, should disqualify us for faith. What is sufficient sacred knowledge for an uneducated person becomes inadequate for him when educated. We must not think to satisfy the divine law, by setting apart the same absolute amount as the tithe of an enlarged understanding which was due from a narrow and more barren field of mental culture. If the balance of intellectual exercise be not preserved, the almost certain result will be, either an utter indifference to religion, or else a slowcorroding skepticism.

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LESSON XCVIII.

Effects of a good Government.-ALGERNON SIDNEY.

MEN love their country when the good of every particular man is comprehended in the public prosperity, and the success of their achievements is improved to the general advantage. They undertake hazards and labors for the government, when it is justly administered; when innocence is safe, and virtue honored; when no man is distinguished from the vulgar, but such as have distinguished themselves by the bravery [goodness] of their actions. They do not spare their persons, purses or friends, when the public powers are employed for the public benefit. They imprint the like affections in their children from their infancy.

The discipline of obedience in which the Romans were bred, taught them to command; and few were admitted to the magistracies of inferior rank, till they had given such proof of their virtue as might deserve the supreme rank. Cincinnatus and Fabius Maximus were not made dictators that they might learn the duties of the office, but because they were judged to be of such wisdom, valor, integrity and experience, that they might be safely trusted with the highest power; and, whilst the law reigned, not one was advanced to that honor, who did not fully answer what was expected from him. The city was a perpetual spring of such men, as long as liberty lasted; but that was no sooner overthrown, than virtue was torn.. up by the roots; the people became base and sordid; the small remains of the nobility slothful and effeminate; and their Italian associates becoming like them, the empire, whilst it stood, was only sustained by the strength of foreigners.

It is absurd to impute this to the change of times; for time changes nothing; and nothing was changed in those times but the government, and that changed all things.

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This is not accidental, but according to the rules given to nature by God, imposing upon all things a necessity of following their causes. That society of men which constitutes a government upon the foundation of justice, virtue and the common good, will always have men to promote those ends; and that which intends the advancement of one man's desires and vanity, will abound in those that will foment them. Such as live under a good discipline, and see that all benefits procured to the country ⚫ by virtuous actions redound to the honor and advantage of themselves, their children, friends and relations, contract from their infancy a love to the public, and look upon the common concernments as their own.

LESSON XCIX.

Incomprehensibility of God no Argument against his Existence. RALPH CUDWORTH.

THOUGH we cannot fully comprehend the Deity, nor exhaust the infiniteness of his perfection, yet we may have an idea or a conception of a Being absolutely perfect, as we may approach near to a mountain, and touch it with our hands, though we cannot encompass it all round, and clasp it within our arms. Whatsoever is in its own nature absolutely inconceivable is nothing; but not whatsoever is not fully comprehensible by our imperfect understandings. It is true, indeed, that the Deity is more incomprehensible to us than any thing else whatever, which proceeds from the fulness of his being and perfection, and from the transcendency of his brightness; but for the very same reason may it be said also, in some sense, that He is more knowable and conceivable than any thing ;-as the sun, though, by reason of its excessive splendor, it dazzle our weak sight, yet, notwithstanding, is far more visible, also, than any

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