were once active in the busy scenes of time, but are now reaping the retributions of eternity. The great nations which enjoyed universal empire, are now silent in the dust. And, as objects subtend a less angle in proportion to their distance, so a century, buried deep in the vale of antiquity, appears but as an hour, and the duration of a nation but as a day. 2. In the morning its infancy is weak, and its chief defense is in its obscurity or insignificance, or in the weakness of others. It gathers strength by adversity, and at length acquires a vigorous youth. At mid-day it acquires a strong and lofty attitude; it basks for an hour in the beams of prosperity, and drinks deep the inebriating draughts of luxury and pleasure. And now its beauty fades, its strength decays, its glory perishes, and the declining day hastens a night of storms, and clouds, and everlasting darkness. 3. The nations of men resemble the perpetually rolling and conflicting waves of the ocean. If a billow rise high, it is but to sink as low; if it dash its neighboring billow, it is but to be dashed in its turn; if it rage and foam, it is but to exhaust itself the sooner; if it roll tranquilly on the bosom of the deep, it is but to sink forever by its own gravity. It is thus with all nations, with all human institutions, and with all the noblest inventions and works of art. "The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 4. And alas! the ravages of time, though rapid and resistless, are too slow to satisfy the furious rage of restless mortals! They must share the empire of destruction. To them the work of death is most pleasant; and to cultivate the art of killing and destroying has been their chief pride and glory in all ages, though, while employed in that dreadful work, they sink in destruction themselves. Unhappy children of men! When will you learn to know and prize your true interest? When will you be convinced of that, than which nothing is more certain, that war adds infinitely to the number and weight of your calamities? that it fills the world with misery, and clothes all nature in mourning? 5. Shall brotherly love and cordial affection never become universal, and Peace never wave her white banner throughout the earth'? Is there no durable institution, founded in virtue, and permanent as the eternal rules of justice'? Is there no firm ground of hope? no rock, on which truth and reason may build a fabric that shall never fall? Yes; there is a kingdom: its foundations were laid of old; its King is the God of Heaven; its law is perfect love; its dominions are wide, for they extend to the wise and virtuous in all worlds; all its subjects are safe, for they are defended by almighty power; and they shall rise to eternal prosperity and glory, when all earthly kingdoms shall vanish like a shadow or a dream. 6. There is an unseen Hand which guides the affairs of nations. Throughout all their changes and revolutions, through the seemingly dark and troubled chaos of human concerns, an almighty Providence overrules; and all events, past, present, and to come, are employed in directing and completing the destinies of all creatures, in subserviency to that infinitely great and glorious kingdom which shall never be removed. 1 How' ARD. LESSON CXXXVI. See note, page 108. 2 FRY, MRS. ELIZABETH, whose maiden name was Gurney, was born at Earlham, England, in 1780, and died 1844. The benevolence of her disposition early displayed itself by visiting the poor, and establishing schools for the education of their children. Every day she was found visiting charity-schools, in the houses and lanes of the poor, and in the wards of sick-hospitals. She also extended her benevolent attentions to the inmates of prisons and lunatic-asylums. She visited all the principal jails in Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland, Denmark, and Prussia; and her last scheme of philanthropy was begun with a view to benefit British seamen. Her death was lamented throughout Europe as a loss to humanity. TRUE REFORMERS. HORACE GREELEY. 10 the rightly constituted mind, to the truly developed man, there always is, there always must be, opportunity, opportunity to be and to learn, nobly to do and to endure; and what matter whether with pomp and éclat, with sound of trumpets and shout of applauding thousands, or in silence and seclusion, beneath the calm, discerning gaze of Heaven? No station can be humble on which that gaze is approvingly bent; no work can be ignoble which is performed uprightly, and not impelled by sordid and selfish aims. 2. Not from among the children of monarchs, ushered into being with boom of cannon, and shouts of reveling millions, but from amid the sons of obscurity and toil, cradled in peril and ignominy, from the bulrushes and the manger, come forth the benefactors and saviors of mankind. So, when all the babble and glare of our age shall have passed into a fitting oblivion; when those who have enjoyed rare opportunities, and swayed vast empires, and been borne through life on the shoulders of shouting multitudes, shall have been laid at last to rest in golden coffins. to molder forgotten, the stately marble their only monuments, it will be found that some humble youth, who neither inherited nor found, but hewed out his opportunities, has uttered the thought which shall render the age memorable, by extending the means of enlightenment and blessing to our race. 3. The great struggle for human progress and elevation proceeds noiselessly, often unnoted, often checked, and apparently baffled, amid the clamorous and debasing strifes impelled by greedy selfishness and low ambition. In that struggle, maintained by the wise and good of all parties, all creeds, all climes, bear ye the part of men. Heed the lofty summons, and, with souls serene and constant, prepare to tread boldly in the path of highest duty. So shall life be to you truly exalted and heroic; so shall death be a transition neither sought nor dreaded; so shall your memory, though cherished at first but by a few humble, loving hearts, linger long and gratefully in human remembrance, a watchword to the truthful, and an incitement to generous endeavor, freshened by the proud tears of admiring affection, and fragrant with the odors of heaven! . . . 4. We need a loftier ideal to nerve us for heroic lives. To know and feel our nothingness, without regretting it; to deem fame, riches, personal happiness, but shadows, of which human good is the substance; to welcome pain, privation, ignominy, so that the sphere of human knowledge, the empire of virtue, be thereby extended, — such is the soul's temper in which the heroes of the coming age shall be cast. When the stately monuments of mightiest conquerors shall have become shapeless and forgotten ruins, the humble graves of earth's Howards1 and Frys' shall still be freshened by the tears of fondly admiring millions, and the proudest epitaph shall be the simple entreaty, "Write me as one who loved his fellow-men." 5. Say not that I thus condemn, and would annihilate, ambition. The love of approbation, of esteem, of true glory, is a noble incentive, and should be cherished to the end. True fame demands no sacrifices of others; it requires us to be reckless of the outward well-being of but one. It exacts no hecatomb of victims for each triumphal pile; for the more who covet and seek it, the easier and more abundant is the success of each and all. With souls of the celestial temper, each human life might be a triumph which angels would lean from the skies, delighted to witness and admire. LESSON CXXXVII. 'FRED' ER ICK II., King of Prussia, commonly called Frederick the Great, was born Jan. 24, 1712, and began to reign 1740. He found himself in possession of a full treasury and a powerful army, which he soon employed in attacking Austria, and conquering from her the province of Silesia. The great struggle of the Seven-Years' War was begun in 1756. Prussia was now attacked by Austria, Russia, France, Saxony, and Sweden; and her destruction and dismemberment seemed inevitable. England was her only ally. Prussia went through the struggle, and came out triumphant. For this glorious result, she was indebted to the moral courage, indomitable energy, and military genius, of her king In 1772, Frederick disgraced himself, and permanently injured the cause of Freedom throughout the world, by participating in the first dismemberment of Poland. Frederick died Aug. 17, 1786. *MONT E ZU MA, Emperor of Mexico at the time of the Spanish invasion. UNJUST NATIONAL ACQUISITIONS. THOMAS CORWIN. R. PRESIDENT,- The uneasy desire to augment MR. our territory has depraved the moral sense, and blighted the otherwise keen sagacity, of our people. Sad, very sad, are the lessons which Time has written for us. |