the wisdom of Heaven has been transfused into the sacred page, and missionaries have been sent from the great King, who resides in light unapproachable. To sanctify this soul, the almighty Comforter takes the wings of a dove, and, with a sweet transforming influence, broods on the human heart. And, O! to redeem this soul from guilt, to rescue it from hell, the heaven of heavens was bowed, and God himself came down to dwell in dust. Let me pause awhile upon this important subject.-What are the schemes, which engage the attention of eminent statesmen and mighty monarchs, compared with the grand interests of an immortal soul? The support of commerce, and the success of armies, though extremely weighty affairs; yet, if laid in the balance against the salvation of a soul, are lighter than the downy feather poised against talents of gold. To save a navy from shipwreck, or a kingdom from slavery, are deliverances of the most momentous nature, which the transactions of mortality can admit. But, O! how they shrink into an inconsiderable trifle, if (their aspect upon immortality forgot) they are set in competition with the delivery of a single soul from the anguish and horrors of a distressed eternity! Is such the importance of the soul! What vigilance then can be too much? or rather, what holy solicitude can be sufficient for the overseers of the Saviour's flock, and the guardians of this great, this venerable, this invaluable charge?-Since such is the importance of the soul, wilt thou not, O man! be watchful for the preservation of thy own? Shall every casual incident awaken thy concern, every transitory toy command thy regard? And Not all yon luminaries quench'd at once R Night Thoughts, No. IX. shall the welfare of thy soul, a work of continual occurrence; a work of endless consequence, sue in vain for thy serious care?-Thy soul, thy soul is thy all. If this be secured, thou art greatly rich, and wilt be unspeakably happy: if this be lost, a whole world acquired will leave thee in poverty, and all its delights enjoyed will abandon thee to misery. I have often been charmed and awed at the sight of the nocturnal heavens, even before I knew how to consider them in their proper circumstances of majesty and beauty. Something like magic has struck my mind on a transient and unthinking survey of the ethereal vault; tinged throughout with the purest azure, and decorated with innumerable starry lamps. I have felt I know not what powerful and aggrandizing im pulse, which seemed to snatch me from the low entanglements of vanity, and prompted an ardent sigh for sublimer objects. Methought I heard, even from the silent spheres, a commanding call, to spurn the abject earth, and pant after unseen delights. Henceforward, I hope to imbibe more copiously this moral emanation of the skies; when, in some such manner as the preceding, they are rationally seen, and the sight is duly improved. The stars, I trust, will teach as well as shine, and help to dispel, both nature's gloom, and my intel lectual darkness. To some people they discharge no better a service than that of holding a flambeau to their feet, and softening the horrors of their night. To me and my friends may they act as ministers of a superior order, as counsellors of wisdom, and guides to happiness! Nor will they fail to execute this nobler office, if they gently light our way into the knowledge of their adored Maker; if they point out with their silver rays our path to his beatific presence. I gaze, I ponder; I ponder, I gaze, and think ineffable things.-I roll an eye of awe and ad miration. Again and again I repeat my ravished views, and can never satiate either my curiosity, or my inquiry. I spring my thoughts into this immense field till even fancy tires upon her wing. I find wonders ever new; wonders more and more amazing. Yet, after all my present inquiries, what a mere nothing do I know; by all my future searches, how little shall I be able to learn of those vastly distant suns, and their circling retinue of worlds! Could I pry with Newton's piercing sagacity, or launch into his extensive surveys; even then, my apprehensions would be little better than those dim and scanty images which the mole, just emerged from her cavern, receives on her feeble optic.-This, sure, should repress all impatient or immoderate ardor to pry into the secrets of the starry structures, and make me more particularly careful to cultivate my heart. To fathom the depths of the divine essence, or to scan universal nature with a critical exactness, is an attempt which sets the acutest philosopher very nearly on a level with the idiot; since it is almost, if not altogether, as impracticable by the former as by the latter. Be it, then, my chief study not to pursue what is absolutely unattainable; but rather to seek, what is obvious to find, easy to be acquired, and of inestimable advantage when possessed. O! let me seek that charity which edifieth, that faith 1 Cor. viii, 1. I need not inform my reader, that in this text; in that admirable chapter, 1 Cor. xiií, and in various other passages of scripture; the word charity should by no means be confined to the peculiar act of alms-giving, or external beneficence. It is of a much more exalted and extensive nature: it signifies that divinely precions grace, which warms the soul with supreme love to God, and enlarges it with disinterested affection for men; which renders it the reigning care of the life, and chief delight of the heart, to promote the happiness of the one, and the glory of the other.-This, this is that charity of which so many excellent things are everywhere spoken; which can never be too highly extolled, or too earnestly coveted; since it is the image of God, and the very spirit of heaven. which purifieth. Love, humble love, not conceited science, keeps the door of Heaven. Faith, a child. like faith in Jesus, not the haughty self-sufficient spirit, which scorns to be ignorant of any thing, presents a key to those abodes of bliss.-This present state is the scene destined to the exercise of devotion; the invisible world is the place appointed for the enjoyment of knowledge. There the dawn of our infantile minds will be advanced to the maturity of perfect day; or, rather, there our midnight shades will be brightened into all the lustre of noon: there the souls which come from the school of faith, and bring with them the principles of love, will dwell in light itself, will be obscured with no darkness at all, will know, even as they are known t-Such an acquaintance, there. fore, do I desire to form, and to carry on such a correspondence with the heavenly bodies, as may shed a benign influence on the seeds of grace implanted in my breast. Let the exalted tracts of the firmament sink my soul into deep humiliation : let those eternal fires kindle in my heart an adoring gratitude to their almighty Sovereign: let yonder ponderous and enormous globes, which rest on his supporting arm, teach me an unshaken affiance in their incarnate Maker. Then shall I be---if not wise as the astronomical adept, yet wise unto sal vation. Having now walked and worshipped in this uni versal temple, that is arched with skies, emblazed with stars, and extended even to immensity--Hav ing cast an eye, like the enraptured Patriarch 1; an eye of reason and devotion, through the mag nificent scene: with the former, having discovered The righteousness of Christ. This is what Milton beautifully styles; The golden key, That opes the palace of eternity. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. ‡ Gen. xv. &. an infinitude of worlds; and with the latter, having met the Deity in every view-Having beheld, as Moses in the flaming bush, a glimpse of Jehovah's excellencies! reflected from the several planets, and streaming from myriads of celestial luminaries. Having read various lessons in that stu pendous Book of Wisdom, whose unmeasurable sheets of azure compose the page; and orbs of radiance write, in everlasting characters, a comment on our creed-what remains, but that I close. the midnight solemnity, as our Lord concluded his grand sacramental institution, with a song of praise? And behold a hymn, suited to the sublime. occasion, indited by inspiration † itself, transferred into our language by one of the happiest efforts of human ingenuity. The spacious firmament on high, Th' unweary'd sun, from day to day, Does his Creator's pow'r display: The work of an Almighty hand. Soon as the ev'ning shades prevail, While all the stars, that round her burn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, For heaven Is as the book of God before thee set, + Psal. xix. Addison, Spect, Vol. VI. No. 465. Milt. |