Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

man makes light of past dangers, nor wishes to meet future ones, to display his courage, so no real Christian makes light of past temptations, or ever expresses his wish to encounter future ones. On the contrary, if it were possible, the wisest and bravest seaman would wish to pass through life without being exposed to one more storm; and the wisest and best Christians would desire to go on to the end of their pilgrimage without having to encounter one more temptation. But as this is not the will of heaven, they learn, as often as the season of trial comes, to look to him who alone can given them strength, and wisdom, and courage; and when he has brought them through the difficulty, their language is, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be all the praise." They delight to watch the leadings, and to mark the interposition of his providence, from their cradle to hoar hairs. Whether they are, for a time, obliged to mix with the fools who say there is no God; or with those who, while they acknowledge a God, deny the doctrine of his general and particular providence, they still hold fast their integrity, and delight to look up to the Author of all their mercies, and say,

"God of my life, whose gracious pow'r,
Thro' varied deaths my soul hath led,

Or turn'd aside the fatal hour,

Or lifted up my sinking head:

"In all my ways thy hand I own,
Thy ruling providence I see:
Assist me still my course to run,

And still direct my paths to thee.

"Oft hath the sea confess'd thy pow'r,

And gave me back at thy command;
It could not, Lord, my life devour,
Safe in the hollow of thy hand.

"Oft from the margin of the grave,

Thou, Lord, hast lifted up my head;
Sudden I found thee near to save;

The fever own'd thy touch, and fled.

"Whither, O whither should I fly?

But to my loving Saviour's breast:
Secure within thine arms to lie,

And safe beneath thy wings to rest.

"I have no skill the snare to shun,

But thou, O Christ, my wisdom art;
I ever into ruin run;

But thou art greater than my heart."

As to the vain talkers, the fair-weather and fresh-water Christians, their case demands our pity rather than our contempt. And if the Saviour, the Eternal Son of God, prayed for his murderers, and extenuated their guilt in these words: "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do," it surely is our duty to pray for our poor deluded brethren.

"Jesus, on them bestow

The penitent desire;

With true sincerity of woe,

Their aching breasts inspire: With soft'ning pity look,

And melt their hardness down; Strike with thy love's resistless stroke, And break their hearts of stone!"

No. XI.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

"HE WAS DEAD, AND IS ALIVE AGAIN, HE WAS LOST AND IS FOUND."-Luke, xv. 24.

WHEN the crew of a line-of-battle ship are drawn up in divisions, round the spacious decks, for muster and inspection, they present a grand exhibition of manual strength and British discipline. On these occasions, were it in the power of the inspecting officer, and of those youths who are about to enter the service, to read the hearts and histories of every individual, how many useful lessons and salutary cautions might they not gather up from what was before them! While, in stature, many of these brave men stood equal to each other, there would be found almost as many different shades in their respective histories as in the ever-varying features of the human face.Some, on enquiry, would be found to come under the description of the impressed father, and others under that of the impressed son, whose trials and changing scenes in life we have

lately glanced at. Others would be found among the sons of misfortune and adversity, who had fled from want and distress on shore, to that comfortable subsistence which the naval service furnishes to those embarked in it. Others, crossed in love, or chastised by the civil magistrate, would be found to have first come hither, the one in the hope of relieving the sorrows of his heart, and the other, because he was compelled by the broken laws of his country. Not a few, however, might be found, who, in honest simplicity and patriotic spirit, came and joined the ranks with an upright character, and a real desire of assisting to ward off the blow of their country's enemy. But in many parts of the ranks, there would be found those who properly might be called, The Prodigal Sons; young men who had acted not much unlike him whose conduct is described in holy writ, as leaving his native land and his father's house, for foreign climates and scenes of riotous living. And what would be still more interest. ing to the benevolent mind, some of these young men might be found" in their right minds," reclaimed from their former vices, and totally changed in their conduct. Such have, indeed, been found there, who, after serving with credit among the defenders of their country, have been spared to return home, wiser

« AnteriorContinuar »