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makes that honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but as sacred.

2. He is willing to risk his life in its defense, and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. For what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable, when a state renounces the principles that constitute their security? Or, if his life should not be invaded, what would its enjoyments be in a country odious in the eyes of strangers, and dishonored in his own? Could he look with affection and veneration to such a country as his parent? The sense of having one would die within him; he would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man in his native land.

3. Whence does this love of our country, this universal passion, proceed? Why does the eye ever dwell with fondness upon the scenes of infant life? Why do we breathe with greater joy the breath of our youth? Why are not other soils as grateful, and other heavens as gay? Why does the soul of man ever cling to that earth where it first knew pleasure and pain, and, under the rough discipline of the passions, was roused to the dignity of moral life? Is it only that our country contains our kindred and our friends? And is it nothing but a name for our social affections?

4. It can not be this; the most friendless of human beings, has a country which he admires and extols, and which he would, in the same circumstances, prefer to all others under heaven. Tempt him with the fairest face of nature, place him by living waters under shadowy trees of Lebanon, open to his view all the gorgeous allurements of the sunniest climates, he I will love the rocks and dèserts of his childhood better than all these, and thou canst not bribe his soul to forget the land of his nativity.-SIDNEY SMITH.

5. BREATHES there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said,

"This is my own, my native land!"—

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned

From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go mark him well ;-
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit all renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.-SIR WALTER SCOTT.

6. The scenes of my childhood, how dear to my heart!
They steal o'er my soul, and a rapture impart ;
In sweet recollection I often explore

Those valleys and bowers

Green meadows and flowers,

I gaze on their charms and their Maker adore.
O, when shall I visit that lovely retreat,
And all the endearments of infancy greet?
The time-stricken cottage-the evergreen tree
That waved o'er my head in my juvenile glee;
My childhood companions that livened the green,
My father, my mother,

My sister, my brother,

And the countless enchantments of life's morning scene. No objects on earth have attractions so sweet,

There the fondest, the tend'rest remembrances meet. 8. There's not a green spot on this wide peopled earth, So dear to the heart as the land of our birth; 'Tis the home of our childhood! the beautiful spot, Which memory retains when all else is forgot; May the blessing of God

Ever hallow the sod,

And its valleys and hills by brave freemen be trod.

LESSON XXIV.

CREATION.

REV. THOMAS Fox.

1. WHAT scenes of deep and thrilling interest, must have been unfolded to angels as they lingered around the morning of creation! And could they leave their lofty habitation, and commune with mortals, with what delight should we listen to their instructions,-with what pleasurable emotions should we gather around them as they related the genesis of time,—as they described those progressive acts of the great JEHOVAH, when He called this universe into being!

2. But though this privilege is denied us-though no ancient one,

"Whose hoary locks have swept the feet of Deity," may break the silence that encompasses the past, yet we may turn to the oracles of truth, and from their silent, yet respon-. sive pages, read, in miniature, the world's history. Here we may learn that "the things which are seen, were not made of things that do appear." There was not merely a remodeling of previously existing matter, but a creation. God, by his omnific word, spake, and matter from nonentity appeared.

3. What exalted ideas of the Supreme does this suggest! Who else can create? All the men and angels in the universe could not produce one particle of matter. How sublimely grand is the Almighty's reference to this fact, when addressing astonished Job out of the whirlwind!

"Where wast thou when

I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if thou hast understanding.

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ?

Or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?

Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,

When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy ?"

4. But matter was produced only in its elementary state. Other attributes of Jehovah, besides omnipotence, were to be exhibited in the workmanship of his hands. Wisdom and

goodness were to be blended with power in this visible display of his glory. Chaos first appeared, or, in the language of one of the heathen poets, among whom traces of Biblical truth are frequently found,

"One was the face of nature, if a face;
Rather a rude and indigested mass;
A lifeless lump, unfashioned and unframed,
Of jarring seeds, and justly CHAOS named."

Soon the Spirit moved upon the inert mass, and gave to it vitality, gave to it, if we may use the expression, mineral life. Probably this was the commencement of motion, that mysterious something, which equally proves the existence and power of a great First Cause.

5. Again, the fiat went forth, and the principle of light and of heat, was ushered into existence. And here, as elsewhere, we perceive the correspondence between the sacred record and true philosophy. Revelation informs us that light existed before the sun took his place in the firmament; and that this luminary was subsequently appointed merely as a “lightbearer."

6. How exactly does this accord with matter of fact! Philosophy teaches us that there is latent light pervading all substances, and that the sun is in itself a dark body, surrounded by a luminous appendage, making it emphatically a light-bearer to surrounding worlds. Earth now received its diurnal motion, by which day and night succeed each other. But how wonderful is this motion! Who can account for it? Have we not here a striking display of the continued and pervading energy of the great I AM?

7. The work went on. Ocean's capacious bed was formed, and filled with the yielding wave. Rills, and brooks, and rivers, commenced their meandering courses, and murmured forth the praise of HIM who bade them flow. While the dry land which now peered in majesty above the watery flood, gradually acquired a suitable consistency for its destined use. The surrounding firmament, clarified from vapors and exhalations, became a proper medium for the transmission of light, and for

the operation of those great laws, by which the machinery of the material universe was to be governed.

8. As yet no vegetation appeared-no trees, nor plants, nor flowers, adorned the hills, or decked the plains. Another act was now unfolded in the mighty drama-another kingdom was added to creation's domain-another step was taken in the ascending scale of Jehovah's works. At the Almighty's bidding, grass, and herbs, and trees, sprang into being, and robed with more than vestal loveliness the virgin world. What scenes of beauty were now revealed to the heavenly visitants, as they flitted through the amaranthine bowers, or perched on the life-imparting trees of Eden!

9. But still the work was incomplete;-another department was requisite to finish the scheme. Amid all this variegated fragrance, and grandeur, and beauty, there was none to enjoy -none to adore. Earth was not the home of Angels; another and a higher form of life was now wakened into being. The seas were filled with sportive tribes of delighted existences; the groves were vocal with richly plumed songsters, while the forests and valleys teemed with animated life.

10. Still the climax was wanting,-an intelligent being to govern and to adore, as well as to enjoy. To summon such a being into existence, Jehovah's mandate went forth,—“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This compound being composed of matter and spirit, wondrously united, was the connecting link between earth and heaven-between the material and spiritual world.

11. His very nature designed him for higher enjoyments and nobler employments than earth could afford. It proved him designed for the companionship of angels, and of God. Man stood forth at the head of creation, as God's vicegerent upon earth, "made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honor." God surveyed the finished work, and pronounced it-VERY GOOD. Every part was appropriate, and adapted to the end, for which it was designed; and the whole presented one harmonious and beautiful unity, speaking forth the invisible glories and infinite perfections of the great ORIGINAL.

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