Glanced through his thoughts, what deep and cureless wound Fate had already given.—Where, man of wo! 20 Where wretched father! is thy boy? Thou callest His name in vain :-he cannot answer thee. Loudly the father called upon his child:- Groped darkling on the earth :-no child was there. Of his accursed fetters,-till the blood Seemed bursting from his ears, and from his eyes 30 Fire fláshed,-he strained with arm extended far, And fingers widely spread, greedy to touch Though but his idol's gàrment. Useless toil! 40 Raging to break his toils,-to and fro bounds. The father saw, -a dead calm fell And all his fury fled: 50 That instant on him:-speechless, fixed he stood, 55 Silent and pale The father stands :-no tear is in his eye:- * The ground lifts like a sea :-he knows it nót:The strong walls grind and gape :-the vaulted roof 60 Takes shapes like bubble tossing in the wind:See! he looks up and smiles;--for death to him Is happiness. Yet could one last embrace Be given, 'twere still a sweeter thing to die. It will be given. Look! how the rolling ground, 65 At every swell, nearer and still more near Moves towards the father's outstretched arm his boy :Once he has touched his gàrment;-how his eye Lightens with love-and hope-and anxious fears! Ha! see! he has him now!—he clasps him round70 Kisses his face;-puts back the curling locks, That shaded his fine brow:-looks in his eyesGrasps in his own those little dimpled handsThen folds him to his breast, as he was wont To lie when sleeping-and resigned awaits 75 Undreaded death. And pangless. And death came soon, and swift, The huge pile sunk down at once Into the opening earth. () Walls-arches-roof80 And deep foundation stones-all. mingling fell! EXERCISE 87. The Orphan Boy.-MRS. OPIE. 1 Stay, lady stay, for mercy's sake, And my brave father's hope and joy: 2 Poor, foolish child! how pleased was I To see the lighted windows flame! She could not bear to see my joy! 3 The people's shouts were long and loud! 66 She called me her poor orphan boy! 4 "What is an orphan boy?" I said; When suddenly she gasped for breath, EXERCISE 88. Christian Consolation.-ANONYMOUS. [The annexed feeling and beautiful lines are said to have been writ ten by a young English lady, who had experienced much affliction.] 1 Jesus-I my cross have taken, All I've sought, or hoped, or known, God and heaven are all my own! 2 Go, then, earthly fame and treasure- Storms may howl, and clouds may gather- 3 Soul! then know thy full salvation- 4 Haste thee on, from Something still to do or bear! EXERCISE 89. Cruelty to Animais.-CowPER. I would not enter on my list of friends, Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. A necessary act incurs no blame. 15 Not so, when held within their proper bounds, There they are privileg'd. And he that hurts As God was free to form them at the first, By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand And righteous limitation of its act, By which Heav'n moves in pard'ning guilty man 40 And conscious of the outrage he commits, EXERCISE 90. Christianity.-MASON. The cardinal fact of Christianity, without which all her other facts lose their importance, is the resurrection, from the dead, of a crucified Saviour, as the prelude, the pattern, and the pledge of the resurrection of his 5 followers to eternal life. Against this great fact the "children of disobedience," have levelled their batteries. One assails its proof; another its reasonableness; all, its truth. When Paul asserted it before an audience of Athenian philosophers, some mocked"—a short method 10 of refuting the Gospel; and likely, from its convenience, to continue in favor and in fashion. 66 Yet with such doctrines and facts did the religion of Jesus make her way through the world. Against the |