صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[ocr errors]

CHRISTIANITY-Value of.

We live in the midst of blessings, till we are utterly insensible of their greatness, and of the source from which they flow. We speak of our civilization, our arts, our freedom, our laws, and forget entirely how large a share of all is due to Christianity. Blot Christianity out of the page of man's history, and what would his laws have been 1-what his civilization? Christianity is mixed up with our very being and our daily life, there is not a familiar object round us which does not wear its mark, not a being or a thing which does not wear a different aspect, because the light of Christian hope is on it, not a law which does not owe its truth and gentleness to Christianity, not a custom which cannot be traced in all its holy and healthful parts to the Gospel.

[blocks in formation]

Rose.

Associa

Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling-the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart: the scene of early love again rises green to memory beyond the sterile waste of years; and the idea of home, fraught with the fra grance of home-dwelling joys, reanimates the drooping spirit, as the Arabian breeze will sometimes waft the freshness of the distant fields to the weary pilgrim of the desert.

CHRISTMAS-Day.

Washington Irving.

I love to see this day well kept by rich and poor: it is a great thing to have one day in the year, at least, when you are sure of being welcome wherever you go, and of having, as it were, the world all thrown open to you. Ibid.

CHURCH-The Old.

gaze

How like an image of repose it looks,
That ancient, holy, and sequester'd pile!
Silence abides in each tree-shaded aisle,
And on the grey spire caw the hermit rooks:
So absent is the stamp of modern days,
That, in the quaint carved oak, and oriel stain'd
With saintly legend, to Reflection's
The Star of Eld seems not yet to have waned.
At pensive eventide, when streams the west
On moss-green pediment and tombstone grey,
And spectral Silence pointeth to Decay,
How preacheth Wisdom to the conscious breast,
Saying," Each foot that roameth here shall rest;"
To God and Heaven, Death is the only way.

Moir.

CHURCH-Peace of the.

The way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve the purity of it. Matthew Henry. CHURCH-before the Reformation.

"Where did your Church lurk, in what cave of the earth slept she, for so many hundreds of years together, before the birth of Martin Luther?" The reply is, that she lurked beneath the folds of that garment of many colours, which the hands of superstition had woven and embellished for her, and wherewith she was fantastically encumbered and disguised. She slept in that cavern of enchantment, where costly odours and intoxicating fumes were floating around, to overpower her sense, and to suspend her faculties; till, at last, a voice was heard to cry, Sleep no more. And then she started up, like a strong man refreshed, and shook herself from the dust of ages. Then did she cast aside the gorgeous leadings" which oppressed her, and stood before the world, a sacred form of brightness and of purity. Le Bas.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

In time of service seal up both thine eyes,
And send them to thy heart, that, spying sin,
They may weep out the stains by them did rise;
Those doors being shut, all by the ear comes in.

Who marks in church-time others' symmetry,
Makes all their beauty his depravity.

Let vain or busy thought have there no part; Bring not thy plots, thy plough, thy pleasure thither,

Christ purged His temple-so must thou thy heart.

All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together

To cozen thee: look to thy actions well, For churches either are our heaven or hell. Herbert.

CHURCH.

CHURCH-True Riches of the.

The gifts of poverty are the richest gifts to the churches. I refer not now to the widow's mites, richer though they be than all the gifts of wealth; but to gifts richer even than the widow's mite. A few years ago, on a wintry morning, a boy in the habiliments of poverty entered an old school-house among our Western mountains, and avowed to the master his desire for an education. There was poverty laying one of her richest gifts on the altar of religion; for that boy was Jonas King. On his humble shoemaker's bench Carey laid the foundation of British Baptist Missions. John Newton found in his congregation an unfriended Scotch boy, whose soul was then glowing with new-born love to Christ. He took him to John Thornton, one of those noble merchants whose wealth, whose piety, and whose beneficence increase together. They educated him; and that boy became Claudius Buchanan, whose name India will bless, when the names of Clive and Hastings are forgotten. John Bunyan was a gift of poverty to the church. Zwingle came forth from an Alpine shepherd's cabin; Melancthon from an armourer's workshop; Luther from a miner's cottage, the Apostles, some of them, from fishermen's huts. These are the gifts of poverty to the church.

CHURCH-The Term.

Dr. Harris.

Under the name of Church I understand a body or collection of human persons, professing faith in Christ, gathered together in several places of the world, for the worship of the same God, and united into the same corporation. Bishop Pearson. CHURCHES-Holy Witnesses. How beautiful they stand, Those ancient altars of our native land! Amid the pasture field and dark green woods, Amid the mountain's cloudy solitudes; By rivers broad that rush into the sea;

By little brooks that, with a lapsing sound, Like playful children, run by copse and lea! Each in its little plot of holy ground, How beautiful they stand,.

Those old grey churches of our native land! Our lives are all turmoil;

CHURCH MUSIC.

We seek not snowy-folded angel's wings
Amid the summer skies-

For visions come not to polluted eyes!

Yet blessed quiet fanes! And shall remain, whilst ever on the air Still piety, still poetry remains, One chapel-bell calls high and low to prayer— Whilst ever green and sunny churchyards keep

The dust of our beloved, and tears are shed From founts which in the human heart lie deep!

Something in these aspiring days we need
To keep our spirits lowly,

To set within our hearts sweets thoughts and holy!

And 'tis for this they stand,
The old grey churches of our native land!
And even in the gold-corrupted mart,
In the great city's heart,

They stand; and chantry dim, and organ sound,

And stated services of prayer and praise, Like to the righteous ten which were not found

For the polluted city, shall upraise
Meek faith and love sincere-

Better in time of need than shield and spear!
L. E. Landon.

CHURCHMAN-Duties of a.

You should, my lord, be like the robes you

wear,

Pure as the dye, and, like that reverend shape. Nurse thoughts as full of honour, zeal, and purity;

You should be the cour-dial, and direct
The king with constant motion; be ever
beating,

Like to clock-hammers, on his iron heart,
To make it sound clear; and to feel remorse,
You should unlock his soul, wake his dead
conscience,

Which, like a drowsy sentinel, gives leave
For sin's vast army to beleaguer him:
His ruin will be ask'd for at your hands.

[blocks in formation]

The end of church music is to relieve the weariness of a long attention, to make the mind more cheerful and composed, and to en

Our souls are in a weary strife and toil,
Grasping and straining-tasking nerve and dear the offices of religion. There must be no

brain,

Both day and night, for gain!

We have grown worldly-have made gold our god

Have turned our hearts away from lowly things;

We seek not now the wild flower on the sod;

voluntary maggots, no military tattoos, no light and galliardizing notes; nothing that may make the fancy trifling, or raise an improper thought; which would be to profane the service and to bring the playhouse into the church. Religious harmony must be moving, but noble withal,-grave, solemn, and seraphic; fit for a

[ocr errors][merged small]

martyr to play and an angel to hear. It should be contrived so as to warm the best blood within us, and to take hold of the finest part of the affections; to transport us with the beauty of holiness, to raise us above the satisfactions of life, and make us ambitious of the glories of heaven. Southey.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND-Ritual of the. The ritual of England breathes a divine calm. You think of people walking through ripening fields on a mild day to their church door. It is the work of a nation sitting in peace, possessing their land. It is the work of a wealthy nation, that, by dedicating a part of its wealth, consecrates the remainder that acknowledges the fountain from which all flows. The prayers are devout, humble, fervent. They are not impassioned. A wonderful temperance and sobriety of discretion, that which in worldly things would be called good sense, prevails in them; but you must name it better in things spiritual. The framers evidently bore in mind the continual consciousness of waiting for all. Nor must it be forgotten that the received version and the book of common prayer-observe the word "common," expressing exactly what I affirm-are beautiful by the words-that there is no other such Englishsimple, touching, apt, venerable, hued as the thoughts are-musical-the most English that is known-of a Hebraic strength and antiquity, yet lucid and gracious as if of and for to-day. Carlyle. CHURCH OF ENGLAND-The True.

We often hear that the church is in danger; and truly so it is,-in a danger it seems not to know of: for, with its tithes in the most perfect safety, its functions are becoming more and more superseded. The true Church of England, at this moment, lies in the editors of is newspapers. These preach to the people daily, weekly; admonishing kings themselves; advising peace or war with an authority which only the first Reformers and a long-past class of popes were possessed of; inflicting moral censure; imparting moral encouragement, consolation, edification; in all ways diligently administering the discipline of the church." It may be said, too, that in private disposition the new preachers somewhat resemble the Mendicant Friars of old times; outwardly, full of holy zeal; inwardly, not without stratagem, and hunger for terrestrial things.

Ibid.

CHURCHYARD-Adornment of the. Erewhile, on England's pleasant shores, our sires Left not their churchyards unadorn'd with shades

Or blossoms; and indulgent to the strong
And natural dread of man's last home, the grave.
Its frost and silence-they disposed around,
To soothe the melancholy spirit that dwelt
Too sadly on life's close, the forms and hues
Of vegetable beauty.-There the yew
Green even amid the snows of winter, told
Of immortality and gracefully
The willow, a perpetual mourner, drooped;
And there the gadding woodbine crept about,
And there the ancient ivy. From the spot
Where the sweet maiden, in her blossoming years
Cut off, was laid with streaming eyes, and hands
That trembled as they placed her there, the rose
Sprung modest, on bow'd stalk, and better spoke
Her graces, than the proudest monument.
There children set about their playmate's grave
The pansy. On the infant's little bed
Wet at its planting with maternal tears,
Emblem of early sweetness, early death,
Nestled the lowly primrose. Childless dames.
And maids that would not raise the redden'd
eye-

Orphans, from whose young lids the light of joy
Fled early,-silent lovers, who had given
All that they lived for to the arms of earth,
Came often, o'er the recent graves to strew
Their offerings, rue, and rosemary, and flowers.
Bryant.
CHURCHYARD-Reflection on the.

The distant village clock struck midnight, mingling, as it were, with the ever-pealing tone of ancient Eternity. The limbs of my buried ones touched cold on my soul; I walked silently through little hamlets, and close by their outer churchyards, where crumbled upcast coffin-boards were glimmering, while the once bright eyes that had lain in them were mouldered into grey ashes. Cold thought! clutch not like a cold spectre at my heart. I look up to the starry sky, and an everlasting chain stretches thither, and over, and below; and all is life, and warmth, and light, and all is godlike, or God.

Richter.

CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERYContrasted.

Oh! bury me not in the full churchyard, where rank weeds reeking grow,

And the poisonous earth, with its thrice-filled graves, lies festering below; Where the grave ne'er wakes a thought of death from the careless passers-by, And the sexton only speaks of it as a busy trade to ply;

Where the earth is opened every day, and the mourners come and go

All through the busy, crowded streets, in a mockery of woe;

CHURCHYARD.

Where the very ground a plague-spot seems, that should be a Court of Peace,And nothing around has mark or sound to tell of a soul's release.

But let me lie in a quiet spot, with the green turf o'er my head,

Far from the city's busy hum, the worldling's heavy tread;

Where the free winds blow, and the branches

wave, and the song-birds sweetly sing,

Till every mourner there exclaims, "O

Death! where is thy sting?"

Where in nothing that blooms around, about, the living e'er can see

That the grave that covers my earthly frame has won a victory;

Where bright flowers bloom through summer time, to tell how all was given

To fade away from the eyes of men, and live again in heaven! Carpenter.

[blocks in formation]

There are foure great cyphers in the world: hee that is lame among dancers, dumbe among lawyers, dull among schollers, and rude amongst courtiers. Bishop Earle.

CIRCUMLOCUTION.

He who goes round about in his requests, wants commonly more than he chooses to appear to want. Lavater.

CIRCUMSPECTION-Necessity for.

Persons who want experience should be extremely cautious how they depart from those principles which have been received generally, because founded on solid reasons; and how they deviate from those customs which have obtained long, because in their effect they have proved good: thus circumspect should all persons be, who cannot yet have acquired much practical knowledge of the world; lest. instead of becoming what they anxiously wish to become, more beneficial to mankind than those who have preceded them, they should actually, though inadvertently, be instrumental towards occasioning some of the worst evils that can befall human society.

Bishop Huntingford.

CIRCUMSTANCES (Trivial)-Design of. Trivial circumstances, which show the manners of the age, are often more instructive, as well as entertaining, than the great trans

CITIES.

actions of wars and negotiations, which are nearly similar in all periods and in all countries of the world. Hume. CITIES-Social and Moral Influence of.

But

If the history of cities and of their influence on their respective territories be deducted from the history of humanity, the narrative remaining would be, as we suspect, of no very attractive description. In such case, the kind of picture which human society must everywhere have presented would be such as we see in the condition, from the earliest time, of the wandering hordes of Mongolians and Tartars, spread over the vast flats of Central Asia. In those regions scarcely anything has been "made" by man. this most happy circumstance, as it seems to be accounted-this total absence of anything reminding you of human skill and industryhas never been found to realise our poetic ideas of pastoral beauty and innocence. It has called forth enough of the squalid and of the ferocious, but little of the refined, the powerful, or the generous. If anything be certain, it would seem to be certain that man is constituted to realise his destiny from his association with man, more than from any contact with places. The great agency in calling forth his capabilities, whether for good or for evil, is that of his fellows. The picturesque, accordingly, may be with the country, but the intellectual, speaking generally, must be with the town. Agriculture may possess its science, and the farmer, as well as the landowner, may not be devoid of intelligence; but in such connexions, the science and intelligence, in common with the nourishment of the soil, must be derived, in the main, from the studies prosecuted in cities, and from the wealth realised in the traffic of cities. If pasturage is followed by tillage, and if tillage is made to partake of the nature of a study and a science, these signs of improvement are peculiar to lands in which cities make their appearance, and they become progressive only as cities become opulent and Dr. Robert Vaughan. powerful.

I bless God for cities. Cities have been as lamps of life along the pathway of humanity and religion. Within them science has given birth to her noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom has fought her noblest battles. They have stood on the surface of the earth like great breakwaters, rolling back or turning aside the swelling tide of oppression. Cities, indeed, have been the cradles of human liberty. They have been the active centres of almost all church and state reformation.

[ocr errors]

Having, therefore, no sympathy with those
who, regarding them as the excrescences of a
tree, or the tumours of disease, would raze
our cities to the ground, I bless God for CITIZENS—of London.
cities.
Guthrie.

the public executioner, who had the care of
them.
Sharpe.

CITIES-Paving of.

Before the eleventh century none of the great cities of the present day were paved, except Rome and Cordova. Paris did not enjoy this advantage, according to Rigord, physician and historian to Philippe-Auguste, who relates that the king, being at the window of his palace which commanded a view of the Seine, perceived that the carriages passing in the mire diffused a most offensive odour, which induced him to issue an order for the paving of the streets, notwithstanding the expense of it; the dread of incurring which, he was aware, had hitherto deterred his predecessors. Since that period the city took the name of Paris, instead of Lutetia, which originated in the number of its sloughs. Even London was not paved at that time; many of its principal streets were not thus improved till the fifteenth century. Holborn was done

in 1417.

Dijon commenced the paving of the streets in 1391. In 1285 an order from Philippe-leHardi commanded the citizens of Paris to pave and sweep the street before their houses at their own expense; but this mandate was so badly executed, that, in 1309, the city was swept at the public cost, under the inspection of the police. Till the fourteenth century the inhabitants of Paris were suffered to throw every nuisance from their windows, provided they cried out three times, "Take care!" This license was interdicted in 1372; and still more strictly in 1395. An order was also issued to prevent pigs running through the streets, in consequence of the accident which happened to the young king Philippe. That prince, returning from Rheims, where he went to be crowned, while passing Saint Gervais, a pig dashed between his horse's legs, and threw him down. The king fell backwards; and, in a few days, died of the injuries he had

sustained in the fall.

It is rather remarkable, that the monks of the Abbaye de Saint Antoine, having pretended that they could not-without failing in the respect due to their patron saint-keep their pigs from running about the streets, it was decided that these animals should continue to wallow in the mire, provided they had each a little bell round their necks!

It appears that cleansing the streets was regarded as the most degrading occupation. It was generally poor Jews, or attendants on

There are some of these gay clerks who go down to their offices with roses at their button-holes and with cigars in their mouths; there are some who wear peg-top trowsers, chin-tufts, eye-glasses, and varnished boots.

I observe-to return to the clerks who are

wending citywards-that the most luxuriant whiskers belong to the Bank of England. 1

believe that there are even whisker clubs in that great national institution, where prizes without macassar. are given for the best pair of favoris grown rule, distinguish government from commercial You may, as a general clerks by the stern repudiation of the razor, the former; and again, I may remark, that as applied to the beard and moustaches, by the prize for the thinnest and most dandylooking umbrellas must be awarded, as of right, to the clerks in the East India Housemostly themselves slim, natty gentlemen, of jaunty appearance, who are all supposed to have had tender affairs with the widows of East India colonels. You may know the their white hats and buff waistcoats; you cashiers in the private banking houses by may know the stockbrokers by their careering up Ludgate-hill in dog-carts, and occasionally tandems, and by the pervading sporting apthe Jewish commission agents by their flashy pearance of their costume; you may know broughams, with lapdogs and ladies in crinoline beside them; you may know the sugar bakers and the soap boilers by the comfortable double-bodied carriages with fat horses in which they roll along; you may know the Manchester warehousemen by their wearing gaiters, always carrying their hands in their city taverns up darksome alleys, on their way pockets, and frequently slipping into recondite to Cheapside, to make a quiet bet or so on chase; you may know, finally, the men with a the Chester Cup or the Liverpool Steeplemillion of money, or thereabouts, by their being ordinarily very shabby, and by their seemingly never been brushed, on the back of wearing shocking bad hats, which have their heads.

CITY-in Early Morn.

The city now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill.
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
The river glideth at its own sweet will.

Sala.

« السابقةمتابعة »