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النشر الإلكتروني

OF MAN'S MORTALITY.

Like as the damask rose you see,
Or like the blossom on the tree,
Or like the dainty flower of May,
Or like the morning to the day,
Or like the sun, or like the shade,
Or like the gourd which Jonas had,
Even such is man; whose thread is spun,
Drawn out, and cut, and so is done:
The rose withers, the blossoms blasteth,
The flower fades, the morning hasteth,
The sun sets, the shadow flies,
The gourd consumes, and man he dies.

Like to the grass that's newly sprung,
Or like a tale that's new begun,
Or like the bird that's here to-day,
Or like the pearled dew of May;
Or like an hour, or like a span,
Or like the singing of a swan,

Even such is man: who lives by breath;
Is here, now there, in life and death.
The grass withers, the tale is ended,
The bird is flown, the dew's ascended,
The hour is short, the span not long,
The swan's near death, man's life is done.
Wastell

TWO INTERESTING SIGHTS.

In our world there are two very interesting sights; the one is that of the young disciple entering the Church militant; the other is that of the old disciple about to join the Church triumphant.

VANITY-STILL VANITY.

I spake-from vanity it seem'd to me;
Was silent-still I saw 'twas vanity:

I own'd my vainness-vanity took possession
Of that most sad confession.

I vow'd to kill the weed, and strove to do't,
And hew'd and hack'd down to the very root;
Alas! still seem'd vanity to be thriving,

And living even in that very striving!

Then fell I down and pray'd-Lord take my breath, And save me from the body of this death.

Henry Sutton.

MEMORY.

Memory is the treasure-house of the mind, wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved. Plato makes it the mother of the Muses. Aristotle sets it one degree farther, making experience the mother of art, memory the parent of experience. Philosophers place it in the rear of the head; and it seems the mine of memory lies there, because there men naturally dig for

it, scratching it when they are at a loss. This, again, is twofold: one the simple retention of things; the other a regaining them when they are lost.

Brute creatures equal, if not exceed, men in a bare retentive memory. Through how many labyrinths of woods, without other clue of thread than natural instinct, doth the hunted hare return to her muce? How doth the little bee, flying into several meadows and gardens, sipping of many cups, yet never intoxicated, through an ocean (as I may say) of air, steer herself home without help of card or compass! But these cannot play an after-game, and recover what they have forgotten, which is done by the mediation of discourse.

First, soundly infix in thy mind what thou desirest to remember. It is best knocking in the nail overnight, and clenching it the next morning.

Overburden not thy memory to make so faithful a servant a slave. Remember Atlas was weary. Have as much reason as a camel, to rise when thou hast thy full load. Memory, like a purse, if it be overful that it cannot shut, all will drop out of it.

Marshal thy notions into a handsome method. One will carry twice more weight trussed and packed up in bundles, than when it lies untowardly flapping and hanging about his shoulders.

Thankfulness to God for it, continues the memory; whereas some proud people have been visited with such oblivion, that they have forgotten their own names. Stampilius, tutor to Luther, and a godly man, in a vain ostentation of his memory, repeated Christ's genealogy

(Matthew) by heart in his sermon; but being out about the captivity of Babylon, I see (says he) God resisteth the proud, and so betook himself to his book. Abuse not thy memory to be sin's register, nor make advantage thereof for wickedness.

Thomas Fuller.

THE WEAKNESS OF MAN.

There is nothing that creeps upon the earth, nothing that ever God made, weaker than man; for God fitted horses and mules with strength, bees and pismires with sagacity, harts and hares with swiftness, birds with feathers and a light airy body: and they all know their times, and are fitted for their work, and regularly acquire the proper end of their creation; but man, that was designed to an immortal duration, and the fruition of God for ever, knows not how to obtain it: he is made upright to look up to heaven, but he knows no more how to purchase it than how to climb it. Once, man went to make an ambitious tower to outreach the clouds, or the preternatural risings of the water, but could not do it; he cannot promise himself the daily bread of his necessity upon the stock of his own wit or industry; and for going to heaven, he was so far from doing so naturally, that as soon as ever he was made, he became the son of death, and he knew not how to get a pardon for eating of an apple against the Divine commandment.

Jeremy Taylor.

KNOWLEDGE.

Through knowledge we behold the world's creation,
How in his cradle first he foster'd was!
And judge of nature's cunning operation,
How things she formed of a formless mass.
By knowledge we do learn ourselves to know,
And what to man, and what to God we owe:
From hence we mount aloft unto the sky,
And look into the crystal firmament!

There we behold the heaven's great hierarchy,

The stars' pure light, the sphere's swift movement,
The spirits and intelligences fair:

And angels waiting on the Almighty's chair,
And there, with humble mind and high in sight,
Th' eternal Maker's majesty we view,

His love, his faith, his glory, and his might,
And many more than mortal men can view.

Spenser.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE AFFECTIONS.

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Most wretched man,

That to affections doth the bridle lend,

In their beginning they are weak and wan,
But soon through suff'rance grow to fearful end,
Whilst they are weak, betime with them contend,
For when they once to perfect strength do grow,
Strong wars they make, and cruel batt'ry bend
'Gainst fort of reason, it to overthrow.

Spenser.

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