which has power with God; the feeble hands which are unequal to any other weapon, will grasp the sword of the Spirit; and from myriads of humble, contrite hearts, the voice of intercession, supplication, and weeping, will mingle in its ascent to heaven with the shouts of battle and the shock of arms. While you have everything to fear from the success of the enemy, you have every means of preventing that success, so that it is next to impossible for victory not to crown your exertions. The extent of your resources, under God, is equal to the justice of your cause. But should Providence determine otherwise, should you fall in this struggle, should the nation fall, you will have the satisfaction (the purest allotted to man) of having performed your part; your names will be enrolled with the most illustrious dead; while posterity, to the end of time, as often as they revolve the events of this period (and they will incessantly revolve them), will turn to you a reverential eye, while they mourn over the freedom which is entombed in your sepulchre. I cannot but imagine the virtuous heroes, legislators, and patriots, of every age and country, are bending from their elevated seats to witness this contest, as if they were incapable, till it be brought to a favourable issue, of enjoying their eternal repose. Enjoy that repose, illustrious mortals! Your mantle fell when you ascended; and thousands, inflamed with your spirit, and impatient to tread in your steps, are ready to swear by Him that sitteth upon the throne, and liveth for ever and ever,' they will protect Freedom in her last asylum, and never desert that cause which you sustained by your labours, and cemented with your blood. And Thou, sole Ruler among the children of men, to whom the shields of the earth belong, 'gird on Thy sword, thou Most Mighty,' go forth with our hosts in the day of battle! Impart, in addition to their hereditary valour, that confidence of success which springs from Thy presence! Pour into their hearts the spirit of departed heroes! Inspire them with Thine own; and, while led by Thine hand, and fighting under Thy banners, open Thou their eyes to behold in every valley, and in every plain, what the prophet beheld by the same illumination-chariots of fire, and horses of fire! Then shall the strong man be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.'

Sentiments proper to the present Crisis.

Meeting of the Pious in Heaven.

To that state all the pious on earth are tending; and if there is a law from whose operation none are exempt, which irresistibly conveys their bodies to darkness and to dust, there is another, not less certain or less powerful, which conducts their spirits to the abodes of bliss, to the bosom of their Father and their God. The wheels of nature are not made to roll backward; everything presses on towards eternity: from the birth of time an impetuous current has set in, which bears all the sons of men towards that interminable ocean. Meanwhile, heaven is attracting to itself whatever is congenial to its nature, is enriching itself by the spoils of earth, and collecting within its capacious bosom whatever is pure, permanent, and divine, leaving nothing for the last fire to consume but the objects and the slaves of concupiscence; while everything which grace has prepared and beautified shall be gathered and selected from the ruins of the world, to adorn that eternal city which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God doth enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Let us obey the voice that calls us thither; let us seek the things that are above,' and no longer cleave to a world which must shortly perish, and which we must shortly quit, while we neglect to prepare for that in which we are invited to dwell for ever. Let us follow in the track of those holy men, who have taught us by their voice, and encouraged us by their example. While everything within us and around us reminds us of the approach of death, and concurs to teach us that this is not our rest, let us hasten our preparations for another world, and earnestly implore that grace which alone can put an end to that fatal war which our desires have too long waged with our destiny. When these move in the same direction, and that which the will of Heaven renders unavoidable shall become our choice, all things will be ours,-life will be divested of its vanity, and death disarmed of its terrors. Funeral Sermon for Dr. Ryland.

·

Effect of the Edict of Nantes.

The accession which the Gallican Church gained by the suppression of her opponents was like the small accession of length body gains by death. The feeble remains of life were extin guished and she lay a putrid corse.

208. James Grahame, 1765-1811. (Handbook, par. 236.)

Humble Virtue.

Oh, Scotland! much I love thy tranquil dales;
But most on Sabbath eve, when low the sun
Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight,
Wandering and stopping oft, to hear the song
Of kindred praise arise from humble roofs;
Or, when the simple service ends, to hear
The lifted latch, and mark the grey-haired man,
The father and the priest, walk forth alone
Into his garden plot or little field,

To commune with his God in secret prayer-
To bless the Lord that in his downward years
His children are about him. Sweet meantime,
The thrush that sings upon the aged thorn
Brings to his view the days of youthful years
When that same aged thorn was but a bush.
Nor is the contrast between youth and age
To him a painful thought: he joys to think
His journey near a close. . . .
Peruse the lives themselves of men obscure;
There charity, that robs itself to give,

...

There fortitude in sickness nursed by want,
There courage that expects no tongue to praise,
There virtue lurks, like purest gold deep hid,
With no alloy of selfish motive mixed.

Sunday in Winter.

The Sabbath.

How dazzling white the snowy scene! deep, deep,
The stillness of the winter sabbath-day,-
Not even a footfall heard. Smooth are the fields,
Each hollow pathway level with the plain :
Hid are the bushes, save that here and there
Are seen the topmost shoots of brier or broom.
High-ridged, the whirled drift has almost reached
The powdered keystone of the churchyard porch;
Mute hangs the hooded bell; the tombs lie buried:
No step approaches to the house of prayer.

209. Sir James Mackintosh, 1765-1832. (Handbook, par. 509.)

Grotius.

The reduction of the law of nations to a system was reserved for Grotius. It was by the advice of Lord Bacon and Peiresc that he undertook this arduous task. He produced a work which we now indeed justly deem imperfect, but which is perhaps the most complete that the world has yet owed, in so early a stage in the progress of society, to the genius and learning of one man. So great is the uncertainty of posthumous reputation, and so liable is the fame of even the greatest men to be obscured by these new fashions of thinking and writing, which succeed each other so rapidly among polished nations, that Grotius, who filled so large a space in the eye of his contemporaries, is now perhaps known to some of my readers only by name. Yet if we fairly estimate both his endowments and his virtues, we may justly consider him as one of the most memorable men that have done honour to modern times. He combined the discharge of the most important duties of active and public life with the attainment of that exact and various learning which is the portion only of the recluse student. He was distinguished as an advocate and a magistrate, and he composed the most valuable works of his own country he was almost equally celebrated as a historian, a scholar, a poet, and a divine; a disinterested statesman, a philosophical lawyer, a patriot who united moderation with firmness, and a theologian, who was taught candour by his learning. Unmerited exile did not damp his patriotism; the bitterness of controversy did not extinguish his charity; the sagacity of his numerous and fierce adversaries could not discover a blot on his character; and in the midst of all the hard trials and galling provocations of a turbulent political life, he never once deserted his friends when they were unfortunate, nor insulted his enemies when they were weak. Such was the man who was destined to give a new form to the law of nations, or rather to create a science of which only rude sketches and undigested materials were scattered over the writings of those who had gone before him. By tracing the laws of his country to their principles, he was led to the contemplation of the law of nature, which he justly considered as the parent of all municipal law.

A Discourse on the Law of Nature and Nations, 1799.

Two widely different Questions in Morals.

Ethical inquiries relate to at least two perfectly distinct subjects. The nature of the distinction between Right and Wrong in human conduct; and, 2. The nature of those feelings with which Right and Wrong are contemplated by human beings. The latter constitutes what has been called the Theory of Moral Sentiments: the former consists in an investigation into the Criterion of Morality in Action. The discrimination has seldom been made by moral Philosophers: the difference between the two problems has never been uniformly observed by any of them; and it will appear, in the sequel, that they have been not rarely altogether confounded by very eminent men, to the destruction of all just conception and of all correct reasoning in this most important and perhaps most difficult of sciences.

Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy. Sec. i.

The Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterful inactivity.

Vindicia Gallica.

210. John Foster, 1770-1843. (Handbook, par. 487.)

Decision of Character.

I have repeatedly remarked to you, in conversation, the effect of what has been called a Ruling Passion. When its object is noble, and an enlightened understanding directs its movements, it appears to me a great felicity; but whether its object be noble or not, it infallibly creates, where it exists in great force, that active ardent constancy, which I describe as a capital feature of the decisive character. The Subject of such a commanding passion wonders, if indeed he were at leisure to wonder, at the persons who pretend to attach importance to an object which they make none but the most languid efforts to secure. The utmost powers of the man are constrained into the service of the favourite Cause by this passion, which sweeps away, as it advances, all the trivial objections and little opposing motives, and seems almost to oper a way through impossibilities. This spirit comes on him in the morning as soon as he recovers his consciousness, and commands and impels him through the day with a power from which he could not emancipate himself if he would. When the force of