Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. By MRS. OLIPHANT.

CONTENTS :-Queen Caroline; Sir Robert Walpole; Lord Chesterfield; Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu; The Young Chevalier; Alexander Pope; John Wesley; Commodore Anson; Bishop
Berkeley; David Hume; Richardson; and William Hogarth. Price $1.

A COUNTY FAMILY, by the author of " A Perfect Treasure." Price 50 cts.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

For 5 new subscribers ($40.), a sixth copy; or a set of HORNE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, an-

abridged, in 4 large volumes, cloth, price $10; or any 5 of the back volumes of the LIVING AGE, in num-

bers, price $10.

[ocr errors]

MY TRIUMPH.

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.

THE autumn-time has come;
On woods that dream of bloom,
And over purpling vines,
The low sun fainter shines.

The aster-flower is failing,
The hazel's gold is paling;
Yet overhead more near
The eternal stars appear!

And present gratitude
Insures the future's good,
And for the things I see
I trust the things to be;

That in the paths untrod,
And the long days of God,
My feet shall still be led,
My heart be comforted.

O living friends who love me!
O dear ones gone above me!
Careless of other fame,
I leave to you my name.

Hide it from idle praises,

Save it from evil phrases;

Why, when dear lips that spake it

Are dumb, should strangers wake it?

Let the thick curtain fall;

I better know than all How little I have gained, How vast the unattained.

Not by the page word-painted Let life be banned or sainted: Deeper than written scroll The colors of the soul.

Sweeter than any sung

My songs that found no tongue;
Nobler than any fact
My wish that failed of act.

Others shall sing the song,

Others shall right the wrong,—
Finish what I begin,
And all I fail o win.

What matter, I or they?
Mine or another's day,
So the right word be said
And life the sweeter made?

Hail to the coming singers!

Hail to the brave light-bringers! Forward I reach and share

All that they sing and dare.

The airs of heaven blow o'er me
A glory shines before me
Of what mankind shall be,-
Pure, generous, brave and free.

A dream of man and woman
Diviner but still human
Solving the riddle old,
Shaping the Age of Gold.

The love of God and neighbor,
An equal-handed labor;
The richer life, where beauty
Walks hand in hand with duty.

Ring, bells in unreared steeples,
The joy of unborn peoples,
Sound, trumpets far off blown,
Your triumph is my own!

Parcel and part of all,
I keep the festival,
Fore-reach the good to be,
And share the victory.

I feel the earth move sunward,
I join the great march onward.
And take, by faith, while living,
My freehold of thanksgiving.

[ocr errors]

Atlantic Monthly.

A GRAVE BESIDE A STREAM.
REV. VII. 17.

How strange the union of the stream and grave!
Eternal motion and eternal rest;
Earth's billow fixed, beside the transient wave
Upon the water's breast.

The summer cloud upon the height distils
Each sunny ripple hurrying swiftly past;
And man's proud life, like fleeting vapour, fills
This wave of earth at last.

The streamlet, through the churchyard's solemn calm,

Sounds like an ancient prophet's voice of faith,

Chanting beside the grave a glorious psalm
Of life in midst of death.

[blocks in formation]

Translated for The Living Age. CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE.

BY MONSEIGNEUR DUPANLOUP BISHOP OF ORLEANS.

I WOULD first remind my reader that God, the Creator of man, was also the institutor of the family and its rights, and hence was the founder of all society and of all authority among men.

When God made man in his image and likeness, he did not wish to make him a solitary being. The light and the suns had been created. They were the servants of man and not the type of his creation. The type was higher. God said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness." This was a fateful saying. The effect followed the words.

God took a little earth in his divine hands, and it pleased him himself to mould therefrom the body of man; and this clay, fashioned by such hands, soón received the most beautiful and noblest form that had yet appeared in the world.

Nevertheless, this was nothing but an admirable statue, and not the image and likeness of God.

Then above all, was kindled for the first time in the eyes that celestial flame with which nothing else in nature can compare, and which, in spite of sin, still flashes at times across our saddened eyelids fires brighter and purer than the rays of the brightest sun.

Then finally man raised toward heaven a look which was almost divine; the angels saw it, and, contemplating the excellence of his beauty and the admirable reflection of the glory of God on his august face, if they were not tempted to call him a God, they willingly believed him to be His image.

Such was man as he was made by God. God saw him, blessed him, called him, and, showing him the vast extent of the earth, the sea and the heavens, said to him, "Thou art the masterpiece of my hands, be king over all my works," præsit universe terræ; all nature, such is thy kingdom; I have given it all to thee, dedit universa (Gen. I. 26,29).

Then lowering his eyes toward earth, man took possession of the world; the animals crouched at his feet and received their Then God breathed on its face the breath names from him as from the most powerful of life, spiraculam vitæ, the pure inspiration of monarchs; and soon going forth through of eternal and divine life, and man became his domain, he freely exercised that noble a living soul. Factus est in animam and majestic empire the sceptre of which viventem. Then life was given him; spirit- was afterwards broken in his hands, but ual life, - he thought, he knew, he judged, whose glorious though mournful wrecks yet he wished, he loved; material life, he remain to us.. breathed, he moved, he saw, he heard.

[ocr errors]

Then was formed, between this body, made of earth, it is true, but by a divine workman, and the soul, the living breath of the Most High, that extraordinary union which would have remained inviolate if we had not sinned.

Nevertheless, the work of God was still incomplete; the second half of the human race was wanting. Humanity had received from God its majesty and strength; it still lacked something of the grace, delicacy, sensibility and gentleness which God wished to give it.

Then this body, so straight and comely, Man, the powerful king of nature, was on felt itself for the first time naturally raised earth only as a silent king in a desert; toward heaven. A generous blood circu-alone, without intercourse with his fellows, lated in the veins, the heart beat forcibly in the breast, the motionless feet trod the earth, the hands clasped to bless their Creator, and the knees bowed to adore Him.

A

without natural support, without hope of posterity, and knowing neither to whom to transmit in the future, nor with whom to share in the present, the glory and delights of this vast empire; nor even to whom around him to confide the sentiments of his heart toward God.

Then the face lighted up; the glance, the smile, the speech, and the charm of expression shone therein all at once. royal majesty seated itself on the brow; God then said, "It is not good for man to innocence, candor, pure joy, gratitude and be alone," and this speech, of so simple yet love embellished the beaming countenance. so profound a meaning, became the founda

tion of all human society; all law, all insti- | support him on earth," Faciamus ei adjutotutions, all teachings and all social virtues spring from it.

And here again we see the design of the Creator maintains itself on the same level, and everything is always made in the image and likeness of God. God himself, if I may thus express myself, is not alone in the boundless grandeur of his eternity, he is one, but he is not alone. In the substantial perfection of the one and incomparable Being is met the social perfection of a divine Trinity. Tres sunt qui testimonium dant in cœlo. There are Three who perpetually render in Heaven an ineffable witness of life, intellect and love, and these three are inseparable in perfect and infinite Unity. The Father. the Word, and the Holy Spirit know and eternally converse with each other in a wholly divine partnership.

Here then is presented to my eyes a new and beautiful design of God, a marvellous work of His power and goodness; I have to reveal the origin of the second half of the human race, the holy destiny and nobility of the companion of man.

And let no one fear; it is a delicate subject, I know; but I shall treat it with the profound and religious respect which fills my heart, and also with the Christian simplicity of ancient days. I shall say nothing, morethat I do not find in the Holy Books. They have summed up everything in a few words of a brevity, holiness, and modesty worthy of admiration.

over,

And first the companion of man was created like man himself with profound and divine counsel. "It is not good for man to be alone. Let us make him a helpmeet like unto himself," said God. Faciamus. The new work would therefore be worthy of the first one; it would also be a work of power, wisdom and gentleness; truth, beauty and goodness would still be the groundwork and glory of this new creature, with especial and excellent prerogatives.

Thus it was not, as in so many other brilliant but low creations, an imperious command which decided the formation of the companion of man. No, it was a command of honor and respect for her; and of goodness and solicitude for man, for God added, "Let us make for man a companion who will be like unto him, and who will aid and

riam simile sibi. . . sociam.

This was summing up the whole matter; while maintaining and strongly marking the primacy and natural superiority of man, it was also declaring to him that this superiority was neither so strong nor so high that it could dispense here on earth with support, compassion and aid; it was at the same time and in advance establishing the authority of him who commands and decides in the human race, and also providing against the temptations of his pride.

It was establishing the dignity of her who counsels and sustains, but at the same time providing against the perils of her weakness and even, if it must be added, the possible temptations of her vanity.

It was saying to man that woman was not his slave, but his companion, of absolutely the same nature as himself, although with gifts, prerogatives and faculties similar but different, and without which man, the human race, and the education of its sons would have missed the perfection for which God destined them.

There is but one language which says all this and in so few words—the divine language. It is only found written in this wise upon earth in our Holy Books.

And strange to say, men have not failed to misconstrue it whenever they could!

We know, in the prodigious blindness of pagan impiety, how this sublime and gentle creature became so debased a slave, so vile a thing, that after forty centuries of frightful degradation, it needed a revelation, a Gospel, a Jesus Christ, a Son of God, a Mother of God, on earth, to raise her up and to teach the human race anew in what dignity had been created in the beginning the wife, sister, daughter and mother of man.

What are we to say finally of that mysterious sleep, of that trance during which Iman felt that God took from him his companion? Could God do anything more to make them both comprehend that there should be between them a subordinate equality? Could he better tell them how deep, profound, sacred, tender and binding forever, human alliances should be.

Thus when God presented this companion to man, ravished with admiration and joy

« PreviousContinue »