verge of the ice oceans of Mont Blanc. It makes you think of one of the points chosen by the Sacred Poët to illustrate the divine benevolence (and I had almost said, no man can truly understand why it was chosen, who has not traveled in Switzerland), "Who maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains." 4. And then the flowers, so modest, so lovely, yět of such deep ex'quisite hue, enameled in the grass, sparkling amidst it, a starry multitude," underneath such awful brooding mountain forms and icy precipices-how beautiful! All that the poëts have ever said or sung of daisies, viölets, snow-drops, king-cups, primroses, and all modest flowers, is here outdone by the mute poëtry of the denizens of these wild pastures. Such a meadow slope as this, watered with pure rills from the glăciërs, would have set the mind of Edwards' at work in contemplation on the beauty of holiness. He has connected these meek and lowly flowers with an image, which none of the poets of this world have ever thought of. 5. To him the divine beauty of holiness "made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers; all pleasant, delightful, and undisturbed; enjoying a sweet calm, and the gentle, vivifying beams of the sun. The soul of a true Christian appears like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year; low and humble on the ground; opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's glory; rejoicing, as it were, in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet frãgrancy; standing peacefully and lovingly in the midst of other flowers round about; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun." 6. Věry likely such a passage as this, coming from the soul of the great theologian (for this is the poëtry of the soul, and JONATHAN EDWARDS, one of the first metaphysicians of his age, author of an "Essay on the Freedom of the Will," was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, October 5th, 1703. He entered Yale College in his thirteenth year; graduated with the highest honors; and continued his residence in the institution for two years, for the study of the ministry. He first preached to a congregation in New York, in his nine teenth year. He preached in Northampton twenty-three years; was missionary to the Indians near Stockbridge, Mass., for six years; was installed president of Princeton College in January, 1758; and died on the 22d of March of the same year. not of the artificial sentiment, nor of the mere worship of nature), will seem to many persons like viölets in the bosom of a glac'iër. But no poet ever described the meek, modest flowers so beautifully, rejoicing in a calm rapture. Jonathan Edwards himself, with his grand views of sacred theology and history, his living piety, and his great experience in the deep things of God, was like a mountain glacier, in one respect, as the "par'ent of perpetual streams," that are then the deepest, when all the foun tains of the world are the driest; like, also, in another respect, that in climbing his theology you get very near to heaven, aud are in a very pure and bracing atmosphere; like, again, in this, that it requires much spiritual labor and discipline to surmount his heights, and some care not to fall into the crevăss'es; and like, once more, in this, that when you get to the top, you have a vast, wide, glorious view of God's great plan, and see things in their chains and connections, which before you only saw sepa rate and piecemeal. G. B. CHEEVER. GEORGE B. CHEEVER was born at Hallowell, Maine, on the 17th of April, 1807. He was graduated at Bowdoin College, September, 1825, studied theology at Andover, was licensed to preach in 1830, and was first settled as pastor over Howard-street church of Salem, Massachusetts. He went to Europe in 1836, where he spent two years and six months. In 1839 he became pastor of the Allen-street church, New York, and in 1846 of the Church of the Puritans, a position which he still retains. In 1844 he again visited Europe for a year. Dr. CHEEVER is celebrated as an orator. He has a keen analytical mind, and combining fancy with logic, succeeds equally well in allegory and in argumentation His numerous and valuable works have gained him an enviable position in American literature. He has written extensively for our ablest reviews and periodicals. He was a valuable correspondent of the "New York Observer," when in Europe, and editor of the "New York Evangelist" during 1845 and 1846. He is now a contributor of "The Independent." His "Lectures on Pilgrim's Progress," published in 1843, and "Voices of Nature," 1852, are among the ablest of his productions, and indicate most truly his mode and range of thought. "Wanderings of a Pilgrim in the Shadow of Mont Blanc and the Yungfrau Alp," from which the above extract is taken, published in 1846, on his return from his second visit to Europe, met with a very favorable reception. As a writer he is always clear and unimpassioned; he sees and hears and describes, never falling, through excess of feeling, into confusion, or figure, or redundancy of expression. The reader is strengthened by his power, calmed by his tranquillity, and incited to self-denying and lofty views, by his earnest and vigorous presentation of truth. 1. A 152. ALPINE SCENERY. BOVE me are the Alps-most glorious Alps— Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, Of cold sublimity, where forms and ails All that expands the spirit, yet appalls, How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below. 2. Lake Lēman' woos me with its crystal face,— 3. 4. The mirror, where the stars and mountains view Its clear depth yields of their far height and hue. Thoughts hid, but not less cherish'd than of old, With the wide world I've dwelt in is a thing That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved. It is the hush of night; and all between Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear, Mellow'd and mingling, yet distinctly seen, Save darken'd Jura,' whose capp'd heights appear 1 Lẻ' man or Geneva, a crescent-shaped lake of Europe, between Switzerland and the Sardinian States. Length, 45 miles; breadth, from 1 to 9 miles; and greatest depth, 984 feet. Its waters, which are never entirely frozen over, have a peculiar deep-blue color, are very transparent, and contain a great variety of fish. Steam navigation was introduced in 1823.-'Jura (jỏ' ra), a chain of mountains which separates France from Switzerland, extending for 180 miles in the form of a curve, from S. to N. E., with a mean breadth of 30 miles. One of the culmi nating points, and the highest, is Mount Molesson, 6588 feet above the level of the sea. Precipitously steep; and drawing near, Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol mōre. 5. He is an evening reveler, who makes 6. 7. 8. His life an infancy, and sings his fill; Ye stars! which are the poëtry of heaven, If, in your bright leaves, we would read the fate That in our aspirations to be great, Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, In us such love and reverence from afar, That fortune, fame, power, life, have named themselves a star But breathless, as we grow when feeling most; All heaven and earth are still! From the high host All is concenter'd in a life intense, Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, Of that which is of all Creator and Defense. The sky is changed! and such a change! O'Night, Of a dark eye in woman! Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, 9 10. 11. But every mountain now hath found a tongue; And now again 'tis black-and now, the glee Things that have made me watchful:—the far roll Of what in me is sleepless,-if I rest. But where, of ye, O tempests! is the goal? like those within the human breast? Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest? Are ye The morn is up again, the dewy morn, With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom, And living as if earth contain'd no tomb,- The march of our existence; and thus I, Still on thy shōres, fair Lēman! may find room Much, that may give us pause, if ponder'd fittingly. LORD BYRON.' 153. CICERO AT THE GRAVE OF ARCHIMEDES. WHIL HILE Cicero' was questor3 in Sicily, the first public office which he ever held, and the only one to which he was 'See Biographical Sketch, p. 292.- CICERO, see p. 143, note 4.—'Quês' tor, an officer in ancient Rome who had the management of the public treasure; the receiver of taxes, tributes, &c. |