to charity, is not an early loss of it, but the right way of securing it for by this gainful way, when we shall in another world be past the possibility of possessing our riches in kind, such an employment of them may help us to enjoy them; and thus laid up, they may there procure us, what they could never here afford us-Happiness. ONE great cause of our insensibility to the goodness of the Creator, is the very extensiveness of his bounty. We prize but little what we share only in common with the rest, or with the generality of our species. When we hear of blessings, we think forthwith of successes, of prosperous fortunes, of honours, riches, preferments that is of those advantages and superiorities over others, which we happen either to possess, or to be in pursuit of, or to covet. The common benefits of our nature escape us. Yet these are the great things. These constitute what most properly ought to be accounted blessings of Providence; what alone, if we might so speak, are worthy of its care. Nightly rest, and daily bread, the ordinary use of our limbs, and senses, and understandings, are gifts which admit of no comparison with any other. Yet because every man' we meet with possesses these, we leave them out of our enumeration. They raise no sentiment; they move no gratitude. Now, herein is our judgment perverted by our selfishness. A blessing ought in truth to be more satisfactory,the bounty, at least, of the donor is rendered more conspicuous, by its very diffusion, its commonness, its cheapness, by its falling to the lot, and forming the happiness of the great bulk and body of our species, as well as of ourselves. Nay, even when we do not possess it, it ought to be matter of thankfulness that others do. But we have a different way of thinking. We court distinction. That is not the worst; we see nothing but what has distinction to reG 122 NEGLECT OF NATURE'S CHARMS. THE EAGLE. commend it. This necessarily contracts our views of the Creator's beneficence within a narrow compass, and most unjustly. It is in those things, which are so common as to be of no distinction, that the amplitude of the divine benignity is perceived. NEGLECT OF NATURE'S CHARMS BLAMED. O How canst thou renounce the boundless store And all that echoes to the voice of even; ACCOUNT OF THE EAGLE. THERE are many kinds of eagles; but that called the golden eagle is the largest, and is commonly called the king of birds. He is found in the deserts of Arabia, and the northern parts of Asia and Europe. He is a bird of great strength, exceedingly bold, and very voracious and fierce in devouring his prey. He is of a great size, nearly four feet long from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and between the points of each wing, when extended, nearly six feet. His beak is very strong, crooked, and sharp; so also are his talons and claws. His common prey is hares, rabbits, kids, lambs, &c. but when pressed by hunger he will seize on larger animals. His sight is so exceedingly sharp and piercing, that he can see his prey upon the ground, though at ever so great a height in the air, and darts upon it with surprising rapidity. And as his eye is of such great use in spying his prey, nature has contrived to preserve it with uncommon care, having, instead or CLOSE OF LIFE. CHRIST OUR PRIEST. 123 one, provided it with four lids or covers. Eagles build their nests generally on the sides of high and inacces sible rocks, or on the tops of old decayed large trees, and seldom lay above two eggs at a time. Their legs are covered down to the feet with feathers of a dusky colour; the feet are yellowish. They have four talons, very sharp and crooked. They are said to live to a prodigious age, though the exact time is uncertain. How shocking must thy summons be, O death} THE office which Christ executes as our priest, divides itself into two parts. In the first place, he offers up a sacrifice for our sins; and that is the sacrifice of himself. He took upon him our iniquities, and he suffered the penalty which the divine law threatened against 124 THE LARK AND HER YOUNG. transgressors, and which we, as transgressors, must our selves have suffered, had not he graciously interposed. He was thus both the sacrifice that was offered up, and the priest that offered it. He put himself in our room; he "bare our sins in his own body on the tree;" and thus he made atonement for the guilt that we had contracted by our disobedience. And with this atonement God, whose own mercy had prompted, and whose own wisdom had devised it, " is well pleased." He approves of it as complete; he accepts of it as sufficient to satisfy his justice; and for its sake, he forgives and is reconciled to all who rely upon its merits, and return to him by faith and repentance. But Christ as our priest not only offered up this great sacrifice of himself in our behalf; he also makes intercession for us at the right hand of God. In that exalted station he pleads our cause. He pleads with a merciful Being. He pleads upon the worth of what he did and suffered on the cross according to the divine will. He pleads affectionately, earnestly, and constantly. And therefore we may implicitly trust that his prayers will be heard and answered, and that they will procure for us all the blessings that we need for our comfort and salvation. Let us be glad that we have such an high priest. Let us put unlimited confidence in his grace and power. Let us be comforted by the persuasion, that amidst all our wanderings and sorrows, we have an advocate with the Father." Let us be encouraged by this to "pray without ceasing." And, remembering that all Christ's sufferings and doings are intended to deliver us from sin, let us no longer indulge in any of its pursuits or pleasures, but be anxious to be holy, as he who has redeemed us and intercedes for us is holy. 66 FABLE OF THE LARK AND HER YOUNG. A LARK having built her nest in a field of corn, it grew ripe before her young were able to fly. Apprehensive for their safety, she enjoined them, while she went out in order to provide for their subsistence, to SABBATH EVENING. 125 listen very attentively if they should hear any discourse concerning the reaping of the field. At her return they told her, that the farmer and his son had been there, and had agreed to send to some of their neighbours to assist them in cutting it down next day. And so they depend, it seems, upon neighbours! said the mother; very well, then I think we have no occasion to be afraid of to-morrow. The next day she went out, and left with them the same injunction as before. When she returned, they acquainted her, that the farmer and his son had again been there, but as none of the neighbours came to their assistance, they had deferred reaping till the next day, and intended to send for help to their friends and relations. Since they still depend upon others, I think we may yet venture another day, says the mother; but, however, be careful as before to let me know what passes in my absence. They now informed her, that the farmer and his son had a third time visited the field; and finding that neither friend nor relation had regarded their summons, they were determined to come next morning, and cut it down themselves. Nay then, replied the lark, it is time to think of removing; for as they now depend only upon themselves to do their own business, it will undoubtedly be performed. SABBATH EVENING. Is there a time when moments flow, It is, of all the times below, A sabbath eve in summer tide. Oh! then the setting sun smiles fair, And all below, and all above, The different forms of nature wear, One universal garb of love. And then the peace that Jesus beams, With nature's placid woods and streams, Is peace without, aud |