450 MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. pose : If we did but dwell a little with a fixation of thought upon the scenes of death all around us here on earth, and if we now and then surveyed the visible heavens, their brightness and their duration, we might perhaps be put in mind of those mo- mentous truths which might direct our conduct, might wean us from our fondness of these sensible and perishing trifles, and animate us in good earnest to pursue the durable glories of hea- ven. A walk through a church -yard by sun or star light, would afford such a meditation as this : All horn on earth must die. Destruction reigns Round the whole globe, and changes all its scenes. Time brushes off our lives with sweeping wing : But heav'n defies its power. There angels sing Immortal. To that world direct thy sight, My soul, ethereal-born, and thither aim thy flight: There virtue finds reward ; eternal joy, Unknown on earth, shall the full soul employ. This glebe of death we tread, these shining skies, Hold out the moral lessons to our eyes. The sun still travels his illustrious round, While ages bury ages under ground: While heroes sink forgotten in their urns, Still Phospher* glitters, and still Syrius * burns. Light reigns through worlds above, and life with all her springs: Yet man lies grov'ling on the earth, The soul forgets its heav'nly birth, Nor mournsher exile thence, nor homeward tries her wings. Thus far with regard to the bulk of mankind, whose souls are immersed in flesh and blood, who mind none but earthly things, whose God is this world, and whose end is destruction : But it is a melancholy thing also to consider, that where a divine ray from above has penetrated the heart, has begun to operate a heavenly temper, to kindle a new life in the soul, and set it a breathing after eternal things, it is still ashamed to make this new life appear, and this divine ray discover itself ; it is ashamed to shine like a Son of God in such a dark and vicious world, amongst men of degenerate minds, who have an aversion to all that is holy and heavenly. We would fain be always in the mode, and are afraid to be looked at in the dress of piety among thousands whose neglect of God have stamped the fashion. Are there not several such christians amongst us, who dare not open their lips in the language of paradise, nor let the world know they belong to heaven, till death and the invisible state are brought near them, and set in full view by some severe sickness or some terrible accident which threatens their removal hence ? It is a near view of the grave and eternity, that subdues all other passions into devotion, that makes them begin fo speak and act publicly like the children of God, and gives them a sacred fortitude, a blessed superiority of soul over all their foolish fears, and all the reproaches of sinful men. * The morning -star, and the dog -star.
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