More spirit-stirring is the sound Of night-winds softly sighing ABBEY.-The Teaching of an The dead lie here- poets, historians, philosophers, statesmen, warriors, preachers,-men who have won the applause of the world, either by the genius of the pen, the sweat of the brain, the power of the sword, or the eloquence of the tongue. The walls of the venerable abbey are massed with their exploits. But what lessons are taught here concerning human hopes and earthly greatness! The poet's lyre is unstrung, and his lips are mute; the historian no longer chronicles the prime events of the present or past age; the philosopher discourses no more upon themes sublime enough to inspire the mind of an angel; the statesman has let go the helm of the ship of state; the warrior's sword is sheathed for ever; and the preacher's voice is hushed into an awful stillness: and, albeit the urn is exquisitely chiselled, and the grave pompously adorned, "the tutored mind" learns here that "every man at his best estate is altogether vanity," and though he "stalks through infinite space" as if he were a god, yet his glory is but "the grandeur of littleness," and his life a shadow!-Dr. Davies. ABBEY.-Worship in a Restored Monastic and time-consecrated fane! Thou hast put on thy shapely state again, Like giants, seem to guard the dust beneath: More softly now, imploring litanies, Wafted to heaven, and mingling with the sighs Rent, but not prostrate,-stricken, yet sublime, Thou, unsubdued, in silent majesty, The tempest hast defied, and shalt defy! The Temple of our Sion so shall mock The muttering storm, the very earthquake's shock, Founded, O Christ, on Thy eternal rock!-Canon Bowles. ABILITIES-Demanded in a Teacher. No mistake is more gross than that of imagining that undisciplined teachers are the fittest to deal with ignorance and mental rudeness. On the contrary, to force the rays of thought intelligibly through so opaque a medium demands peculiarly and emphatically a great clearness and prominence of thinking, and an exact feeling of the effect of words to be chosen, combined, and varied.-Foster. ABILITIES.-Natural Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study.-Lord Bacon. ABILITIES.-The Use of The knack of making good use of moderate abilities secures the esteem of men, and often raises to higher fame than real merit.-Rochefoucauld. ABSOLUTION.-The Church's Our Church, in her absolution, delivers no more than the solemn promulgation of a pardon upon the conditions of faith and obedience, which, to those so qualified, is indeed an absolution; and a warning to others to seek for those conditions, that they may be forgiven.-Dean Comber. ABSOLUTION.-The Declaration of The priest, in the matchless Liturgy of the Church, does not presume to absolve from sin-that would be to snatch one of the brightest jewels from the brow of Heaven-to arrogate to himself the prerogative of a God; he simply and solemnly pronounces "to His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins," and then he affirms, in language which cannot be mistaken-" He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel;" and this the priest does as God's servant, on God's behalf, and at God's command.-Dr. Davies. ABSOLUTION.-God's When God absolves, it is only in one way, that is-through a Mediator. His concern for the fundamental principles of His government is the highest concern in His divine nature. God cannot forgive sin at the expense of His justice, His holiness, or His truth. It is through the blood of Christ alone that he can do this. Justice asked for the sufferings of a man-Christ rendered the sufferings of a God: hence the Fount of Infinite Justice now waits to forgive; and He forgives, for Christ's sake, the moment that we ask Him. He is just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.-Dr. Cumming. ACTION.-The Basis of We no longer maintain the old and fatal mistake-that Christian men are not to co-operate for anything till they agree in everything. We now hold the antagonistic and true maxim-that Christian men should act together so far as they are agreed.-Bishop Wilson. ACTION.—A Call to Think not of rest; though dreams be sweet, Start up and ply your heavenward feet: Is not God's oath upon your head, Till, when the shadows thickest fall, Ye hear your Master's midnight call?—Keble. ACTION.-Causes of Inefficient Two causes at least interfere with the free movements of the body in correspondence with the emotions of the soul. One is-muscular stiffness, arising from want of exercise, from the sedentary habits that are common in the case of students and preachers, and from their not taking much part in those physical recreations which, accompanied though they often are with various evils and drawbacks, do certainly give ease, strength, and development to the bodily frame. The other cause of inefficient action is timidity. A nervous man is afraid to suit the action to the word-to raise his arm, or move his body, thinking it better not to try it at all, than run the risk of doing it badly. But, in any case, temperament has much to do with action. A man of very still temperament will find it much more difficult to use action than one to whom nature has given great vivacity.-Professor Blaikie. ACTION—the Charm of Eloquence. Action plays a conspicuous part in eloquence. We are familiar with what Demosthenes said on the subject; but Demosthenes estimated action in proportion to the pains which its acquirement had cost him: nevertheless, it is certain that action adds greatly to the clearness, the impressiveness, and the power of thought. It is the charm of eloquence.-Mullois. ACTION-Defined. Action is the language of the body.-Cicero. ACTION.-God and Whatsoever action hath God for its author, hath God for its centre. A cirenlar line makes its ending where it had its beginning.-W. Secker. ACTION.-The Importance of One of the most important elements of power in speaking is just action, or an external deportment in the speaker becoming the subject of his thoughts, and the feelings which it should excite in his mind. Indeed, the greatest of ancient orators placed in this the first, second, and third perfection of a powerful speaker. The reasons of its importance are obvious. In the first place, the absence of it gives the hearers the impression that the speaker is not much moved him. self; for such is the sympathy between the body and the mind, that if there is strong emotion within, it will appear in the face, in the tones of the voice, in the general air of the person. In the next place, when a powerful emotion becomes manifest by its effects upon the speaker's look and manner, it communicates itself to the audience independently of words, so as to make the most ordinary enunciation irresistible.-Dr. Skinner. ACTION.-The Means of All the means of action-the shapeless masses, the materials-lie everywhere about us; what we need is the celestial fire to change the flint into transparent crystal, bright and clear.-Longfellow. ACTION.-A Moral A moral action, when done with a Christian spirit, is changed into a heavenly grace.-Romaine. ACTION-Natural. We should try to avoid or correct bad habits, and to give nature fair play. Let a man's bodily parts be free to follow the impulse of his heart, and it is not likely that he will make the offer of the Gospel, as some preachers do, with clenched fists,-that he will bend over the pulpit in depicting the horrors of perdition, or gaze up to the ceiling while remonstrating with the erring and the careless.-Dr. J. Hamilton. ACTION-Necessary to the Orator. It is action alone that governs in speaking, without which the best orator is of no value, and is often defeated by one in other respects much his inferior.-Cicero. ACTION.-Never out of The chiefest action for a man of spirit Is never to be out of action: we should think Of mathematical motion, to stand still.-J. Webster. ACTION.-A Plea for Why are we energetic everywhere but in the pulpit? No man expresses warm and animated feelings anywhere else with his mouth alone, but with his whole body; he articulates with every limb, and talks from head to foot with a thousand voices. Why this holoplexia on sacred occasions alone? Why call in the aid of paralysis to piety? Is it a rule of oratory to balance the style against the subject, and to handle the most sublime truths in the driest manner? Is sin to be taken from men, as Eve was from Adam, by casting them into a deep slumber? Or from what possible perversion of common sense are we all to look like fieldpreachers in Zembla, holy lumps of ice, numbed into quiescence, stagnation, and mumbling?-S. Smith. ACTION.-A Preacher's It is incumbent on a preacher to possess oratorical action, and to practise himself therein until he has acquired it. Conscience, indeed, must tell him that he ought not to neglect a matter on which the success of his ministry depends; and that if, to the mischief of men's souls, theatrical actors spare no pains to attain perfection in action, the preacher should strive, with at least an equal zeal, to become proficient in that respect for the good of men's souls. What? shall the ministers of God weaken by vicious action the force of all they say, while the ministers of Satan, by consummate skill in action, redeem the vanity of their speeches, and impassion the souls of their audience! Surely, this would be a disgrace to the clergy, and an outrage on the Word of God!-Hamon ACTION and PRAYER. We should act with as much energy as those who expect everything from themselves; and we should pray with as much earnestness as those who expect everything from God.—Colton. ACTIONS-Coloured from the Heart. All our actions take, Their hues from the complexion of the heart, As landscapes, their variety from light.-W. T. Bacon. ACTIONS.-The Motives of our The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show.-Colton. ACTIONS.-The Reward of Holy The Christian is now sowing in the field of time those thoughts, and words, and actions, which will assuredly spring up, and be gathered again in the great harvest of eternity, multiplied a hundred-fold. The tiny seed will germinate into lovely flowers and golden fruit. A whispered thought, which lasted here but an instant, will there become an everlasting pleasure: a passing desire, which here became instinct the moment it was kindled, will there grow into an undying rapture. Nothing done, sacrificed, given, or suffered for Christ's sake, be it never so insignificant, shall then be forgotten. While crowns will perish like clods of the valley, thrones as spider's webs, royal vestures as withered leaves, and palaces sink into ruins and pass away, every burden carried, and every tear shed for Him will appear again in bright forms of immortal beauty and joy.-Dr. Davies. ACTIVITY.-Christian The Christian, sanctified by the grace of God, has a principle engrafted in him, which is a ready and active principle; being converted himself, he is anxious to be the instrument of converting others. The present moment of his life is the time to do good; the place where he is, is the locality for his labour of love; the mode of doing good will arise from the circumstances with which he is associated. He waits not for a more convenient season; he delays not for better opportunities. Objections may rise up in terrific vision before him; obstacles may present themselves which he may not know how to surmount; the tempter suggests to him to delay his work; his natural indolence and inactivity claim their hitherto unmolested sway; he is to be accounted a visionary, an enthusiast, an attempter of impossibilities, and a meddler with a world that wishes to be let alone; he is scorned and derided as injudicious, and over-zealous, and righteous overmuch. But he has received the truth as it is in Jesus; and he has received grace and power faithfully to fulfil what he knows he ought to do; and, influ. eaced by the Holy Spirit, he goes about doing good straightway.-Butterfield. |