6. How idle, then, is that sour dissatisfaction, with which some persons look upon their lot, because it involves the duty and necessity of habitual industry! How unjust that poisonous envy, with which the laborer sometimes regards the other classes of society! Be assured, that those who occupy what are often called, often falsely, the highest stations in life, pay dearly for their giddy elevation.

7. The rich have sorrows, which the poor know not of. There is often a bitter drug in the golden cup, which is never tasted in the clear glass of humble life. Let us think better of the ways of Providence; and, with hearts free from vexing envy and embittering discontent, pursue the path of lawful labor, if that should chance to be our lot.

LESSON CXXII. Weehawken.

WEEHAWKEN is a high cliff on the shore of New Jersey, overlooking the Hudson, near the city of New York.

1. WEEHAWKEN! In thy mountain scenery yet,
All we adore of nature, in her wild
And frolic hour of infancy, is met;

And never has a summer's morning smiled
Upon a lovelier scene, than the full eye
Of the enthusiast revels on, when high,

2. Amid thy forest solitudes, he climbs

O'er crags that proudly tower above the deep,
And knows that sense of danger, which sublimes
The breathless moment, when his daring step
Is on the verge of the cliff, and he can hear
The low dash of the wave with startled ear,

3. Like the death-music of his coming doom,

And clings to the green turf with desperate force,
As the heart clings to life; and when resume

The currents in his veins their wonted course,
There lingers a deep feeling, — like the moan
Of wearied ocean, when the storm is gone.

4. In such an hour he turns, and on his view,

Ocean, and earth, and heaven, burst before him;
Clouds slumbering at his feet, and the clear blue

Of summer's sky, in beauty bending o'er him, -
The city bright below; and far away,

Sparkling in golden light, his own romantic bay.

5. Tall spire, and glittering roof, and battlement,
And banners floating in the sunny air;
And white sails o'er the calm blue waters bent,
Green isle, and circling shore, are blended there,
In wild reality. When life is old,

And many a scene forgot, the heart will hold

6. Its memory of this; nor lives there one

Whose infant breath was drawn, or boyhood days
Of happiness were passed beneath that sun,
That in his manhood prime can calmly gaze
Upon that bay, or on that mountain stand,
Nor feel the prouder of his native land.

LESSON CXXIII. The Triumphal Song of Moses after the Passage of the Red Sea, Exodus xv.

1. I WILL sing unto Jehovah, for he is gloriously exalted;
The horse and his rider hath he whelmed in the sea.
My praise and my song is Jehovah,
And he is become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him;

My father's God, and I will exalt him.

2. Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah is his name.

The chariots of Pharaoh and his host hath he thrown in

the sea;

And his choicest leaders are thrown in the Red Sea.
The floods have covered them; they went down;
Into the abyss [they went down] as a stone.

3. Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath made itself glorious in

power;

Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the

enemy,

TRIUMPHAL SONG OF MOSES.

255

And in the strength of thy majesty thou hast destroyed

thine adversaries.

4. Thou didst let loose thy wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were heaped together.

The flowing waters * stood upright as an heap. The floods were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake; I will divide the spoil, my soul shall be satisfied; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 5. Thou didst blow with thy breath, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

6. Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah!

Who is like unto thee, making thyself glorious in holiness! Fearful in praises, executing wonders.

7. Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou hast led forth in thy mercy the people whom thou hast redeemed;

Thou hast guided them in thy strength to the habitation of thy holiness.

8. The people shall hear and be disquieted:

Terror shall seize the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then the nobles of Edom shall be confounded;

The mighty ones of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them.

All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
Terror and perplexity shall fall upon them:

Because of the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone.

Till thy people pass over, O Jehovah,

Till thy people pass over whom thou hast redeemed. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountains of thine inheritance,

The place for thy dwelling, which thou hast prepared, O Jehovah!

The sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever!

*In the original,-"The flowing stood upright," &c., the participle of the verb to flow being the poetical form for waters,

LESSON CXXIV. Select Passages.

Making Resolutions.

1. NEVER form a resolution that is not a good one, and, when once formed, never break it. If you form a resolution, and then break it, you set yourself a bad example, and you are very likely to follow it. A person may get the habit of breaking his resolutions; this is as bad to the character and mind, as an incurable disease to the body. No person can become great, but by keeping his resolutions; no person ever escaped contempt, who could not keep them.

Ingratitude.

2. Blow, blow, thou winter's wind,
Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh,
As benefits forgot;
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friends remembering not.

Impatience.

3. In those evils which are allotted us by Providence, such as deformity, privation of the senses, or old age, it is always to be remembered, that impatience can have no present effect, but to deprive us of the consolations which our condition admits, by driving away from us those by whose conversation or advice we might be amused or helped; and that, with regard to futurity, it is yet less to be justified, since, without lessening the pain, it cuts off the hope of that reward, which He, by whom it is inflicted, will confer upon those who bear it well.

SELECT PASSAGES.

Ridicule.

257

4. He who indulges himself in ridiculing the little imperfections and weaknesses of his friends, will in time find mankind united against him. The man who sees another ridiculed before him, though he may for the present concur in the general laugh, yet in a cool hour he will consider, that the same trick may be played against himself; but, when there is no sense of this danger, the natural pride of human nature rises against him, who, by general censures, lays claim to general superiority.

Happiness.

5. Various, sincere, and constant are the efforts of men to produce that happiness which the nature of the mind requires; but most seem to be ignorant, both of the source and of the means of genuine felicity. Religion alone can afford true joy and permanent peace. It is this that inspires fortitude, supports patience, and, by its prospects and promises, throws a cheering ray into the darkest shades of human life.

"Where dwells this sovereign bliss? where doth it grow?
Know, mortals, happiness ne'er dwelt below;
Look at yon heaven,- go, seek the blessing there;
Be heaven thy aim, thy soul's eternal care;
Nothing but God, and God alone, you'll find,
Can fill a boundless and immortal mind.”

Parental Affection.

6. As the vexations which parents receive from their children hasten the approach of age, and double the force of years, so the comforts which they reap from them are balm to all other sorrows, and repair, in some degree, the injuries of time. However strong we may suppose the fondness of a father for his children, yet they will find more lively marks of tenderness in the bosom of a mother. There are no ties in nature to compare with those which unite an affectionate mother to her children, when they repay her tenderness with obedience and love.