Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

dying man. During thirty years that I have been an elder in your kirk, never have I missed sitting there one Sabbath. When the mother of my children was taken 50 from me-it was on a Tuesday she died—and on a Saturday she was buried. We stood together when my

Alice was let down into the narrow house made for all living. On the Sabbath I joined in the public worship. of God-she commanded me to do so the night before 55 she went away. I could not join in the psàlm that Sabbath, for her voice was not in the throng.-Her grave was covered up, and grass and flowers grew there.'

[ocr errors]

The old man ceased speaking-and his grandchild, now able to endure the scene,-for strong passion is its 60 own support,-glided softly to a little table, and bringing a cup in which a cordial had been mixed, held it in his small, soft hands to his grandfather's lips. He drank, and then said, "Come clòser to me, Jámie, and kiss me for thine own and thy father's sake;" and as the child 65 fondly pressed his rosy lips on those of his grandfather, so white and withered, the tears fell over all the old man's face, and then trickled down on the golden head of the child, sobbing in his bosom.

[ocr errors]

Jámie, thy own father has forgotten thee in thy in70 fancy, and mé in my old àge; but Jamie, forget not thou, thy father, nor thy mother; for that, thou knowest and feelest, is the commandment of God."

The broken-hearted boy could give no reply. He had gradually stolen closer and closer unto the loving old 75 man, and now was lying, worn out with sorrow, drenched and dissolved in tears, in his grandfather's bosom. His mother had sunk down on her knees, and hid her face with her hand. "Oh! if my husband knew but of this-he would never, never desert his dying father!" 80 And I now knew that the Elder was praying on his death-bed for a disobedient and wicked son.

PART II.

At this affecting time the Minister took the Family Bible on his knees, and said, "Let us sing to the praise of God, part of the fifteenth Psalm." Ere the Psalm was yet over, the door was opened, and a tall fine look5 ing man entered, but with a lowering and dark countenance, seemingly in sorrow, in misery, and remorse

Agitated, confounded, and awe-struck by the melancholy and dirge-like music, he sat down on a chair, and looked with a ghastly face towards his father's death10 bed. When the psalm ceased, the Elder said with a solemn voice, 'My són-thou art come in time to receive thy father's blessing. May the remembrance of what will happen in this room, before the morning again shines over the Hazel-glen, wìn thee from the error of 15 thy ways! Thou art here to witness the mercy of thy God and thy Saviour, whom thou hast forgotten."

The Minister looked, if not with a stèrn, yet with an upbraiding countenance, on the young man, who had not recovered his speech, and said, "William! for three 20 years past, your shadow has not darkened the door of the house of God. They who fear not the thunder, may tremble at the still, small voice-now is the hour for repentance that your father's spirit may carry up to Heaven, tidings of a contrite soul, saved from the com25 pany of sinners!"

The young man, with much effort, advanced to the bed-side, and at last found voice to say, "Father-I am not without the affections of nature-and I hurried home the moment I heard that the minister had been 30 seen riding towards our house. I hope that you will yet recover, and, if I have ever made you unhappy, I ask your forgiveness;-for though I may not think as you do on matters of religion, I have a human heart Father! I may have been unkind, but I am not crùel. 35 I ask your forgiveness."

66

Come near to me, William; kneel down by the bedside, and let my hand feel the head of my beloved sonfor blindness is coming fast upon me. Thou wert my first born, and thou art my only living son. All thy 40 brothers and sisters are lying in the church-yard, beside her whose sweet face thine own, William, did once so much resemble. Long wert thou the joy, the pride of my soul,-ay, too much the pride, for there was not in all the parish, such a man, such a son, as my own Wil45 liam. If thy heart has since been changed, God may inspire it again with right thoughts. I have sorely wèpt for thee-ày, William, when there was none near me-even as David wept for Absalom-for thee, my son, my sun!"

50 A long, deep groan was the only reply; but the whole body of the kneeling man was convulsed; and it was easy to see his sufferings, his contrition, his remorse, and his despair. The Pastor said, with a sterner voice, and austerer countenance than were natural to him, 55"Know you whose hand is now lying on your rebellious head? But what signifies the word fàther, to him who has denied God, the Father of us all?" "Oh!

[ocr errors]

press him not too hardly," said his weeping wife, coming forward from a dark corner of the room, where 60 she tried to conceal herself in grief, fear, and shame. Spare, Oh! spare my husband-he has ever been kind to me;" and with that she knelt down beside him, with her long, soft, white arms mournfully, and affectionately laid across his neck. "Go thou, likewise, my 65 sweet little Jamie," said the Elder, go even out of my bosom, and kneel down beside thy father and thy mother, so that I may bless you all at once, and with one yearning prayer. The child did as the solemn voice commanded, and knelt down, somewhat timidly, by his 70 father's side; nor did the unhappy man decline encircling with his arm, the child too much neglected, but still dear to him as his own blood, in spite of the deadening and debasing influence of infidelity.

[ocr errors]

"Put the word of God into the hands of my son, and 75 let him read aloud to his dying father the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses of the eleventh chapter of the Gospel according to St. John." The Pastor went up to the kneelers, and, with a voice of pity, condolence, and pardon, said, "There was a time when none, William, could 80 read the Scriptures better than couldst thou-can it be that the son of my friend hath forgotten the lessons of his youth?" He had not forgotten them-there was no need of the repentant sinner to lift up his eyes from the bed side. The sacred stream of the Gospel had worn a 85 channel in his heart, and the waters were again flowing. With a choked voice he said, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: And whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe thou 90 art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world."

"That is not an unbeliever's voice," said the dying

man triumphantly; "nor, William, hast thou an unbeliever's heart. Say that thou believest in what thou 95 hast now read, and thy father will die happy!" "I do believe; and as thou forgivest me, so may I be forgiven by my Father who is in heaven." The Elder seemed like a man suddenly inspired with a new life. His faded eyes kindled his pale cheeks glówed-his palsied 100 hands seemed to wax stróng-and his voice was clear as that of manhood in its prime. (o) Into thỹ hands, O God! I commit my spirit;" and so saying, he gently sunk back on his pillow; and I thought I heard a sigh. There was then a long, deep silence, and 105 the father, the mother, and the child, rose from their knees. The eyes of us all were turned towards the white, placid face of the figure now stretched in everlasting rest; and without lamentations, save the silent lamentations of the resigned soul, we stood around the 110 DEATH-BED OF THE ELDER.

EXERCISE 72.

Benevolence of God.-CHALMERS

It is saying much for the benevolence of God, to say, that a single world, or a single system, is not enough for it-that it must have the spread of a mightier region, on which it may pour forth a tide of exuberancy through5 out all its provinces-that, as far as our vision can carry us, it has strewed immensity with the floating receptacles of life, and has stretched over each of them the garniture of such a sky, as mantles our own habitationand that, even from distances which are far beyond the 10 reach of human eye, the songs of gratitude and praise may now be arising to the one God, who sits surrounded by the regards of his one great and universal family.

Now it is saying much for the benevolence of God, to say, that it sends forth these wide and distant emana15 tions over the surface of a territory so ample-that the world we inhabit, lying imbedded as it does, amidst so much surrounding greatness, shrinks into a point that to the universal eye might appear to be almost imperceptible. But does it not add to the power and to the 20 perfection of this universal eye, that at the very momen

it is taking a comprehensive survey of the vast, it can fasten a steady and undistracted attention on each minute and separate portion of it; that at the very moment it is looking at all worlds, it can look most point25 edly and most intelligently to each of them; that at the very moment it sweeps the field of immensity, it can settle all the earnestness of its regards upon every distinct hand-breadth of that field; that at the very moment at which it embraces the totality of existence, it 30 can send a most thorough and penetrating inspection into each of its details, and into every one of its endless diversities? You cannot fail to perceive how much this adds to the power of the all-seeing eye. Tell me, then, if it do not add as much perfection to the benevolence 35 of God, that while it is expatiating over the vast field of created things, there is not one portion of the field overlooked by it; that while it scatters blessings over the whole of an infinite range, it causes them to descend in a shower of plenty on every separate habita40 tion; that while his arm is underneath and round about all worlds, he enters within the precincts of every one of them, and gives a care and a tenderness to each individual of their teeming population. Oh! does not the God, who is said to be love, shed over this attribute 45 of his, its finest illustration! when, while he sits in the highest heaven, and pours out his fulness on the whole subordinate domain of nature and of Providence, he bows a pitying regard or the very humblest of his children, and sends his reviving spirit into every heart, and 50 cheers by his presence every home, and provides for the wants of every family, and watches every sick-bed, and listens to the complaints of every sufferer; and while, by his wondrous mind, the weight of universal government is borne, oh! is it not more wondrous and more 55 excellent still, that he feels for every sorrow, and has an ear open to every prayer!

EXERCISE 73.

Death of the Princess Charlotte.-ROBERT HALL. Without the slightest warning, without the opportunity of a moment's immediate preparation, in the midst of

« ZurückWeiter »