the inhabitants of the land,—it is well to gather around that shrine of our fathers' virtues, that monument of their toils and sufferings, which the chafing billows of the ocean shall never wear away. It is well to make a holy pilgrimage to that sacred spot. It is well that gifted orators and statesmen should proclaim our enthusiasm and our gratitude in the listening assembly. But with what striking emphasis might it be said, to those who make this pilgrimage at the present day, "Ye go, not as your fathers came, in weariness and sorrow-not as they came, amidst poverty, and peril, and sickness-not through the solitary glooms and howling storms of the wilderness; but ye go, through rich plantations and happy villages, with chariots, and horses, and equipage, and state, with social mirth and joyful minstrelsy and music; but, ah! remember that ye are gathering to the spot, which was once trodden by the steps of the houseless wanderer, which was marked with the pilgrim's staff, and watered with the pilgrim's tears." * * * * The claims of ancestry, we know, are commonly held sacred, in proportion as its date is removed back into ages of antiquity; in proportion to the number of successive generations that have intervened; in proportion as fiction and romance find aid in the darkness of some remote and unknown period. But, though the character of our fathers needs no such aid, yet I can scarcely conceive any thing more romantic even, than their entrance into this vast domain of nature, never before disturbed by the footsteps of civilized man. They came to the land where fifty centuries had held their reign, with no pen to write their history. Silence, which no occupation of civilized life had broken, was in all its borders, and had been from the creation. The lofty oak had grown through its lingering age, and decayed, and perished, without name or record. The storm had risen and roared in the wilderness; and none had caught its sublime inspiration. The fountains had flowed on; the mighty river had poured its useless waters; the cataract had lifted up its thunderings to the march of time; and no eye had seen it, but that of the wild tenants of the desert. A band of fugitives came to this land of barbarism, with no patronage, but the prayers of the friends they had left behind them; with no wealth, but habits of industry; with no power, but what lay in firm sinews and courageous hearts; and with these they turned back the course of ages. Pilgrims from the old world, they became inheritors of the new. They set up the standard of Christianity; they opened the broad pathways of knowledge; the forest melted away before them, like a dark vapour of the morning; the voice of comfort, the din of business, went back into its murmuring solitudes; the wilderness and solitary place were glad for them; the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. We might almost take the description of it from the language of prophecy. The lamb lies down in the den of the wolf; and where the wild beast prowled, is now the graz ing ox. "The cow and the bear feed, and their young ones lie down together. The suckling child plays on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child puts his hand on the adder's den." Where the deep wood spread its solitary glooms, and the fierce savage laid his dark and deadly ambush, are now the sunny hill-side, and the waving field, and the flowery plain; and the unconscious child holds his gambols on the ground that has been trodden with weariness, and watered with tears, and stained with the blood of strife and slaughter. These are the days, these are the men, that we are called upon to remember and to honour. But it is not enough to remember their deeds: we are bound to imitate their virtues. This is the true, the peculiar honour, which we are bound to render to such an ancestry. The common measure of national intelligence and virtue is no rule for us. It is not enough for us to be as wise and improved, as virtuous and pious, as other nations. Providence, in giving to us an origin so remarkable and signally favoured, demands of us a proportionate improvement. We are in our infancy, it is true, but our existence began in an intellectual maturity. Our fathers' virtues were the virtues of the wilderness,-yet without its wildness; hardy, and vigorous, and severe, indeed, but not rude, nor mean. Let us beware lest we become more prosperous than they,-more abundant in luxuries, and refinements,--only to be less temperate, upright, and religious. Let us beware lest the stern and lofty features of primeval rectitude should be regarded with less respect among us. Let us beware lest their piety should fall with the oaks of their forests; lest the loosened bow of early habits and opinions, which was once strung in the wilder ness, should be too much relaxed. 18* LESSON CXI. Song of the Pilgrims.-UPHAM. THE breeze has swelled the whitening sail, Homes, and all we loved before. The deep may dash, the winds may blow, From that shore we'll speed us fast. For we would rather never be, O, see what wonders meet our eyes! Here, at length, our feet shall rest, As long as yonder firs* shall spread Now to the King of kings we'll raise * Pron. fĕrz. More loud than sounds the swelling breeze, LESSON CXII. The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.-MRS. HEM'ANS. Written, 1825. THE breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast; And the heavy night hung dark, The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true-hearted, came ;- Not as the flying corne, In silence, and in fear:— They shook the depths of the desert's gloom Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard, and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang The ocean-eagle soared From his nest, by the white wave's foam, There were men with hoary hair Why had they come to wither there, There was woman's fearless eye, There was manhood's brow serenely high, What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas? the spoils of war?— Ay, call it holy ground,― The soil where first they trod! They have left unstained what there they found — Freedom to worship God! LESSON CXIII. The Pilgrim Fathers.-ORIGINAL. Written, 1824. THE pilgrim fathers-where are they? Still roll in the bay, as they rolled that day, The mists, that wrapped the pilgrim's sleep, And his rocks yet keep their watch by the deep, But the snow-white sail, that he gave to the gale, The pilgrim exile-sainted name!- |