Beaumont and Silv. Lib. ii. ii. 127. all the vain talk of the world, and one that faid, in memorable words, "I met old Time too, mowing mankind down," might have added that the harvest is a good one, when illumination results in active grace. As Bishop Hall put it, "A little grace is worth much illumination." Happy he, as Statius expreffes it, "Dubio quem non in turbine rerum Deprendet fuprema dies: fed abire paratum Ac plenum vitâ." One day, no matter when, I went into the Churchyard to calculate the space that was left, and to count the graves of the people, and the duft of death,-and methought (for I had no fear, but great peace rather) each grave-ftone faid to me (there are "fermons in ftones'," as that old Father faid, and our great Dramatist repeated,) AND HE DIED! 1 St. Bernard's words are, "Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in filvis, quàm in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod à magiftro audire non poffis." Epift. cvi. Dilecto fuo Henrico Murdach. Tom. i. 110. We all know Shakspeare's words in As You Like It, A&t ii. Sc. i. "And this our life exempt from public haunt Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Good old Bishop Hall refers to Bernard in his Chriftian Moderation, where I lighted upon the paffage years ago, before I was poffeffed of, or read in, Bernard, "Devout Bernard tells his friend Murdach with an Experto crede, that he shall find more in the woods than in his books: the trees and the ftones, faith he, fhall teach thee that which thou canft not hear from thy masters."-Book I. § vi. Tom. iii. 35. Folio. « 337. Ed. Heber None was prefent, none living I mean, but the Old Sexton Time fpake audibly enough, Jer. Tayl. iv. and the ready conclufion to my hand was this, "I must prepare to follow those that are gone before, left suddenly the Lord fhould appear in the air, and the voice of the archangel loud as a trumpet, fhould ring in mine ears unprepared for the found, and great fear fhould fall upon me." Such was my meditation on the green-fward that covered the duft of many generations, and I thanked the Lord again for giving me warning, and as the full sense of the Prophetic Pfalm, which declared that God did not "fuffer" His "Holy One to See corruption," came upon me, I said in Faith, I will look for Thee in holiness, that I may behold Thy power and glory! and a voice entered even, as it were, into mine ears, faying, "Thou shalt Show me the path of life: in thy Ps. xvi. 8-12. prefence is the fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore !" And I thought again upon the Patriarchal epitaph, "AND HE DIED," and I could not but conclude that thofe few words were what my good old Parishioner might have liked to be cut on his memorial ftone. how ftriking is the fimplicity of the expreffion, For, Montaigne, and how always do plain fimple words find their way home to the heart! The Effayist was furely right, "Toutes les paffions qui fe laiffent goufter, et digérer, ne font que médiocres." Who, when forrows are the heaviest, and grief the deepest, makes long speeches, or uses great fubftance of words'? True forrow of heart hath lightly few. Deep feeling chokes utterance, 1 Sam. i. 13- and the lips of one that is "of a forrowful Spirit," like Hannah in the Scripture, move 15. ufually in Prayer, and without the voice's being heard. As one said, "Deep rivers with foft murmurs glide along, The fhallow roar 2." What a retrospect is that of five and twenty years in a Parish! What records of mortality rife up before a Priest of years-advanced on his way, like Paul the aged! Few of the living but can talk to him of their dead, and how many, grown in grace, love 1 Who could ever forget the folemn brevity of Antilochus in reporting the death of Patroclus, “ Κεῖται Πάτροκλος. Iliad xviii. 20. "Narrare vero quis brevius, quam qui mortem nunciat Patrocli?" Quinctil. Inft. x. 1. * Beaumont and Fletcher's Lover's Progrefs, Act iv. Sc. iii. The old Latin Adage is "Cura leves loquuntur, ingentes ftupent." So in Macbeth, "Give forrow words: the grief that does not speak, Act iv. Sc. iii. to do fo? To fuch, the forrows of the dead and dying become mellowed, and it is no unpleasant thing to commune, as it were, with thofe gone before, and to talk of the Lord as their memorial. What better epitaph than those words of Hofea, THE LORD IS HIS MEMORIAL! be Happy, very happy thofe, of whom it may faid, without partiality, and without hypocrify! And perhaps, for I love to meditate on the miracles of God's mercy, the number is greater than some may be inclined to suppose. To this intent, God worketh every day,—and, as regards men, who do their duty to their neighbour faithfully, "Sweet mercies' healing balm Is the extraction of brave fpirits, which, With that fair gem, the triumph of fuccefs; Whilft cowards make the victor's glory lefs, Their highest flame of rage being but dull earth, Of a precedent fear, whose baseness knows No calm, but what from others' danger grows." Thoughts like to thefe, whether by the grave's mouth, or in Churchyards, would make us acquainted now with what is to betide us by and by, and we fhould be at peace, or Hofea xii. 5. Chamberlayne's "Nec vivis annexus amor meminiffe fepultos Definit." Claud. Laud. Stilich. Lib. ii. 50. τὸ ἀναλύσαι. 2 Cor. xi. 23. ever the time come, when one that paffeth by, looking upon our Grave-stone, shall say AND HE Died. Sometimes it is objectionable to have a path through a Churchyard,-but the Old Vicar faid, "There is one through ours, and I had rather it remained. People think little enough of what is to be hereafter, and if, as they pass, one thought can be turned in the right direction, fo much the better. The Roman system of burying by the wayfide had more in it than Heathendom easily arrived Death spake to them who were but slightly apprehenfive of mortality." at. The It is a striking verfe that of St. Paul to the Phil. i. 23. eis Philippians, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a defire to depart, and to be with Chrift, which is far better." Such was his conclufion who was "in labours more abundant." heavy toil of his apoftolic and miffionary life had taught him, now ftrong in the Faith, to difcern the blessed confummation of labour in the Lord without ceafing,-that is to fay, REST IN CHRIST. And good is it for us all to difcipline ourselves that we may be ready when the unloofing time fhall come, and our |