LESSON CXXXV. UNIVERSAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD. MELVILLE. 1. It is a beautiful truth that there can not be the creature so insignificant, the care so inconsiderable, the action so unimportant, as to be overlooked by Him, from whom we derive our being. We know that it is not the monarch alone at the head of his tribes and provinces, who is observed by the Almighty; and that it is not only at some great crisis in life, that an individual becomes an object of the attention of his Maker. 2. We know rather that the poorest, the meanest, the most despised, shares with the monarch the notice of the universal Protector; and that this notice is so unwearied and incessant, that when he goes to his daily toil or his daily prayer, when he lies down at night, or rises in the morning, or gathers his little ones to the scanty meal, the poor man is tenderly watched by his God; and he can not weep the tear which He sees not, nor smile the smile which He notes not, nor breathe the wish which He hears not. 3. The man indeed of exalted rank, on whom may depend the movements of an empire, is regarded with a vigilance which never knows suspense, by Him "who giveth salvation unto kings;" and the Lord, "to whom belong the shields of the earth," bestows on this man whatever wisdom he displays, and whatever strength he puts forth, and whatever success he attains. But the carefulness of Deity is, in no sense, engrossed by the distinguished individual; but, just as the regards which are turned on this earth, interfere not with those which pour themselves over far-off planets and distant systems, so, while the chieftain is observed and attended with the assiduousness of what might seem an undivided guardianship, the very beggar is as much the object of Divine inspection and succor, as though, in the broad sweep of animated being, there were no other to need the sustaining arm of the Creator. 4. It is this providence which extends itself to every household, and throws itself around every individual, and takes part in every business, and is concerned with every sorrow, and is accessory to every joy. It encircles equally the palace and the cottage; guiding and upholding alike the poor and the rich; ministering to the king in his councils, to the merchant in his commerce, to the scholar in his study, and to the laborer in his husbandry;-so that, whatever be our rank and occupation, at no moment are we withdrawn from the eye of Deity, in no lawful endeavor are we left to ourselves, in no secret anxiety have we only our own heart, with which to commune. Oh! it were to take from God all that is most encouraging in His attributes and prerogatives, if we could throw doubt on this doctrine of His universal providence. 5. And we seem to have drawn a picture which is calculated equally to raise astonishment and delight, to produce the deepest reverence and yet the fullest. confidence, when we have represented God as superintending whatever occurs in His infinite domain,-guiding the roll of every planet, the rush of every cataract, the gathering of every cloud, and the motion of every will;-and when, in order that the delineation may have all that exquisiteness which is only to be obtained. from those home-touches, which assure us that we have ourselves an interest in what is so splendid and surprising, we have the assurance that He is with the sick man on his pallet, with the seaman in his danger, and with the widow in her agony. 6. If we would exhibit God as so attending to what is mighty, as not to overlook what is lowly, what better can we do than declare Him mustering around Him the vast army of suns and constellations, and all the while hearkening to every cry which goes up from an afflicted creation,-and is not this the very picture sketched by the Psalmist, when, after the sublime ascription, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations," he adds the comforting words, "the Lord upholdeth all that fall, and lifteth up all those that be bowed down?" 7. God is that mysterious Being, to whom the only great thing is Himself. And, therefore, when "the eyes of all wait upon him," the seraph gains not attention by his gaze of fire, and the insect loses it not through feebleness of vision.-Archangel and angel, man and beast, fowls of the air, and fish of the sea, all draw equally the regard of Him who, counting nothing great but Himself, the Creator, can pass over, as small, no fraction of the creation. 8. It is thus virtually the attribute of God, that He should care for every thing, and sustain every thing; so that we should never behold a blade of grass springing up from the earth, nor hear a bird warble its wild music, without a warm memory that it is through Him as a God of providence, that the fields are enameled in due season, that every animated tribe receives its sustenance, and that the successive generations of mankind arise, flourish, and possess the earth. 9. Never should we think of joy or sorrow, of things prosperous or adverse, of health or sickness, life or death, without devoutly believing that the times of every man are in the Almighty's hands,-that nothing happens but through the ordinance or permission of God; and that the very same Providence which guides the marchings of the stars, and and regulates the convulsions of empires, is tending at the couch of the afflicted, curtaining the sleep, and watching the toil, of earth's remotest families. LESSON CXXXVI. ELEGANT EXTRACTS. The varied Changes of Creation. Look nature through, 'tis revolution all; YOUNG. All change, no death; day follows night, and night, Blows Autumn and his golden fruits away, Then melts into the Spring: soft Spring, with breath Favonian, from warm chambers of the south, As in a wheel, all sinks to re-ascend; Results of Procrastination. LONGFELLOW. ALAS! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the book of human life, to light the fires of passion with, from day to day, that man begins to see, that the leaves which remain are few in number, and to remember that upon the earlier pages of that book, was written a story of happy innocence, which he would fain read over again. Then comes listless irresolution, and the inevitable inaction of despair; or else the firm resolve to record upon the leaves that still remain, a more noble history than the child's story, with which the book began. Divine Compassion. I WAS a stricken deer, that left the herd. Cowper. He drew them forth, and healed, and både me live, Nature's Loveliness. CHALMERS. WHETHER We look on soft and flowery landscapes, lighted up from heaven by sweetest sunshine, or toward that evening sky, behind the hues and inimitable touches of whose loveliness, one could almost dream that there floated isles of Paradise whereon the spirits of the blest were rejoicing,—or with out poetic revery, did we but confine our prospect to those realities, by which earth is peopled, and take account of those unnumbered graces, which, in verdant meads, or waving foliage, or embosomed lake, or all the other varieties of rural freshness and fertility, lie strewn upon its surface, it may most readily be thought, that surely He, at whose creative touch all this loveliness has arisen, must Himself be placid as the scene, or gentle as the zephyr that He causes to blow over it. Vice. VICE is a monster of so frightful mien, Value of the Soul. KNOWEST thou the value of a soul immortal? POPE, Ten thousand add, and twice ten thousand more; Of unintelligent creation poor. THE quality of mercy is not strained; |