PART SECOND. LESSONS IN POETRY. NARRATIVE PIECES. 127. Pairing-time anticipated, 204. The Ass and the Nightingale, DESCRIPTIVE PIECES. 7. Select sentences and paragraphs from various authors, 12. The Rainbow, 23. On Early Rising, 30. Incentives to Devotion, 152. A Natural Mirror, 183. Contrasts of Alpine Scenery, 202. Description of the Castle of Indolence, and its In- habitants, DIDACTICK PIECES. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. 3. Select sentences and paragraphs, from various authors, 18 65 82 37. Hope triumphant in Death, 38. Lines written during a Thunder-storm, Russian Anthology. 96 80. Song of Rebecca, the Jewess, 85. Sonnet written in a Church-yard, 142. A belief in the Superintendence of Providence, the only adequate Support under Affliction, Wordsworth. 317 150. Effects of Education upon Individuals :-its im- 151, An Evening in the Grave-yard, AMERICAN WATCHMAN. 335 108. Affecting picture of Constancy in Love, Crabbe. 242 157. Lament of a Swiss minstrel, over the Ruins of Goldau, NEAL. 351 Burns. 396 DRAMATICK PIECES. DIALOGUES, ADDRESSES, AND SOLILOQUIES. Page. Ibid. 194. Soliloquy of Macbeth, 195. Malcolm, Macduff, and Rosse, - 165. The Church-yard,-first and second voices, 178. Extract from a dialogue between a satirick poet and 179. Prince Edward and his keeper, 198. The Street-scene, between Brutus and Cassius, Shakspeare. 450 Ibid. 457 PIECES FOR RECITATION, OR SPEAKING. 56. Apostrophe to Mount Parnassus, 145. Song of the Greeks, 1822, 185. Speech of Catiline, in reply to Cicero, 188. Speech of Catiline, on his banishment, Campbell. 323 Ibid. 430 HUMOROUS PIECES. 41. Address to the Mummy in Belzoni's exhibition, 79. Report of an adjudged case, not to be found in 177. The Poet and the Alchymist, 184. The fat Actor and the Rustick, THE AMERICAN FIRST CLASS BOOK. LESSON I. A devotional spirit recommended to the young.-CAPPE. DEVOTION is a delicate and tender plant: as much as it is our duty and our interest to be possessed of it, it is not easily acquired, neither can it be carelessly maintained. It must be long tended, diligently cultivated, and affectionately cherished, before it will have struck its roots so deep as to grow up and flourish in our hearts; and all along, till it attains to its perfect vigour and maturity in heaven, it needs to be defended from the adverse influences of things seen and temporal, of a vain imagination and an earthly mind. The best season for acquiring the spirit of devotion is in early life; it is then attained with the greatest facility, and at that season there are peculiar motives for the cultivation of it. Would you make sure of giving unto God his right, and of rendering to the great Creator and Governour of the world the glory due unto his name, begin to do it soon: before the glittering vanities of life have dazzled and enslaved your imagination, before the sordid interests of this world have gotten possession of your soul, before the habits of ambition, or of avarice, or of voluptuousness, or of dissipation, have enthralled you: while your minds are yet free, and your hearts yet tender, present them unto God. It will be a sacrifice superlatively acceptable unto him, and not less advantageous to yourselves. Beseech him that he will awaken in you every sentiment of piety; beseech him that he will direct and prosper your endeavours to acquire, to keep alive, and to improve, the genuine spirit of devotion. Entreat him that he will give you to behold himself in whatever else you see, and to discern his providence in all the events that you observe, or that you experience. Put your hearts into his hands, and importune him, (if importunity it can be called) to lay them open unto all the blessed influences of the discoveries he has made of himself and of his will, in his works, or in his ways, or in his word. Implore him to give you and preserve to you, the liveliest sensibility to all things spiritual and divine; and while thus you ask it, seek for it, in the conscientious use of the appointed means of grace, and by every method that intelligence and prudence and experience recommend to you. Let it be a perpetual object with you every day, to be improving in this heavenly temper. The spirit of devotion will be very hard to kindle in the frozen bosom of old age, and not very easy to introduce through the giddy heads into the busy hearts of manhood or advanced youth. If you wish then to reach that better world, where devotion, pure and ardent, is one of the most striking characters of its inhabitants, and, at the same time, one of the most essential ingredients in the happiness that they enjoy, you cannot be too early, and you cannot be too constant, in your endeavours to acquire and maintain the spirit of devotion. It is an acquisition well worth all that it can cost you to attain it for if the genuine spirit of devotion occupies your heart, it will preserve you from the corruptions that are in the world; it will give you courage to be singular, when to do your duty it will be necessary to be singular; it will make all your duties easy, and most of them it will make pleasant to you; it will shed the sweetest light upon the pleasing scenes and incidents of life, and will diffuse its cheering rays even over the darkest and most gloomy. The pleasures that you may take will be infinitely more enjoyed by you, if God, the Author of them, has possession of your hearts; and the pains you cannot shun will be far less grievous to you, if God, who maketh darkness and createth evil, be regarded by you as the wise and kind Dispenser of your lot. "Remember," then, while you are yet entering upon life, "remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil day comes, and the years draw nigh, in which ye shall say, I have no pleasure in them." Those will be bad days to acquire and cultivate the spirit of devotion: but the spirit of devotion acquired and cultivated |
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