By Thy forsaken Sonship in the red
Drear wine-press,-by the wilderness outspread, —
And the lone garden where Thine agony
Fell bloody from Thy brow,-by all of those Permitted desolations, comfort mine!
No earthly friend being near me, interpose No deathly angel 'twixt my face and Thine, But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose, And smile away my mortal to Divine.'
One can hardly quit this subject without recalling the awful significance of a cry that once expressed, if one may say it, inexpressible anguish,—anguish indescribable, incommunicable, -"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Penultimate words, these were; and appalling in their suggestiveness of uttermost desolation. But not the last words of all. He was not alone, consciously not alone, at the very last. Later than these, and triumphant over these-however subdued and serene the triumph-came those other words, Divinely calm, as became the Speaker,-" Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." And it was when He had this said, that He gave up the ghost.
Answer, a soft, wrath-dispelling, 357; most exquisite revenge for re- proaches, 358; like healing balm, 359; comes of practised patience, 359; Illustrations from Alison, Sir Matthew Hale, Spenser, Decker, and others, 357-360. Anticipations of the future, delusive, 333; often crushed when nearest realization, 334; when seeming fulfilled, extinguished by death, 336; Illustrations from Homer, Michelet, Cowper, Mrs. Gaskell, and others, 333-337. Anxious foreboding, forbidden by Scripture, 47; deprecated by pagan philosophy, 48; no pre- paration for coming ills, 48; only causes a depression of spirits, 49; and cripples energy, 50; de- stroys present enjoyment, 51; cannot see into the future, 52; in- dulged in, breeds despair, 54; remedy for, 54; Illustrations from Hume, Swift, Schleiermacher, Longfellow, and others, 48–55. Appetite, indulgence in, indecent, 249; cause of death to royalty, 250; inability of some to resist, 251; allowed in Italy, in case of fatal sickness, 253; a common weakness, 254; Illustrations from Adam Smith, Gibbon, Tennyson, Gray, George Herbert, and others, 242-255.
Bargains, makers of, their tactics, 367; depreciate when buying, 568; exaggerate when selling, 369; customs of different coun- tries, 370; horse-dealers, their tactics, 371; an exception to the general rule of, 372; Illustrations from A. K. H. B., Fuller, Leigh Hunt, Capt. Marryat, Kingsley, Plautus, and others, 367-372.
hoped from, 382; evanescence of promise in, 383; retrospect of, shows how we have fallen, 384; possibility of a noble future for all, 385; much of the good in, checked from development, 386; Illustrations from Dante, Adam Smith, Samuel Rogers, Baron Alderson, Charles Lamb, Dr. Caird, and others, 381-386. Children, dying before their parents, an inversion of natural order, 182; one of the greatest sorrows to man, 183; the case of Mohammed cited, 184; ruins the hopes of the parents, 186; Citations from Canon Melvill, Edmund Burke, Moore, and others, 182-187. Co-workers, all human beings, 348; each in his place or degree, 349; all required to account for their performance of their part, 350; the difference in, not position, but how duties performed, 351; all to one end, and that is with God, 352; Illustrations from Coleridge, John Newton, Mrs. Gaskell, Colani, Milton, and others, 348-352.
Darkness, increases the sense of
danger, 223; and the bitterness
of death, 324; power of, over the guilty, 324; natural dread of, in mankind, 326; of coming death, rouses a longing for light, 327; the concomitant of misery, 327; Illustrations from Marlowe, Scott, Croly, Professor Newman, Lord Lytton, Dickens, and others, 323- 328.
Death, sum and story of all humanity, 156; the inevitable fate of all, 157; a leveller of all distinctions and grades, 160; even in Arcadia, 163; the ac- tions of the just blossom in, 165; Illustrations from Addison, Barry Cornwall, James Mont- gomery, Gibbon, Warton, Prior, George Herbert, and others, 156– 165.
Elements, the, God only can con- trol, 233; the folly of man com- manding, 232; all men subject to, 232; folly of Xerxes cited, 233; legends of power of priests over, 234; the greatest conquerors, impotent against, 235; moral ap- plication, 237; Illustrations from Pepys, Longfellow, Gibbon, Carlyle, Cowper, and others, 231-237.
Falsity of friends, the sharpest pang of all, 201; darkens man's views of the moral government of God, 206; shakes confidence in the whole world, 206; David's lament over, 208; Illustrations from Colani, Milman, Long- fellow, Corneille, Shakspeare, and others, 200-208. Faults in others, more easily dis- cerned than in ourselves, 187; we should mend our own, before looking for those of others, 188; we often possess those, that we attribute to others, 190; Illus- trations from Trench, Horace, Hogg, Molière, Mrs. Inchbald, and others, 187–191. Flowers, not to be considered in a utilitarian light, 109; awaken
finer sensibilities, 110; akin to the poetic faculty in man, III; the teaching of, lost on the dull, 112; woman compared to, 113; Illustrations from Tennyson, Leigh Hunt, Isaac Taylor, Shenstone, and others, 109–113. Freedom, from righteousness, a service to sin, 60; true, only found in God's service, 61; sweetened by constraint, 61; without law, pernicious, 62; at times a relief to give up, 63; too much, in art and literature, hurt- ful, 64; obedience nobler than, 65; Illustrations from Gray, Wordsworth, Goethe, Mrs. Gas- kell, and others, 60-66. Freedom, the service of, 66; from self-control, a bane, 67; not idle- ness, 67; may be enjoyed in a prison, 68; maintained by law, 70; Illustrations from Keble, Cowper, Johnson, Hawthorne, and others, 66–70.
Friendship, closer than relationship, 328; want of with relatives, arises from lack of sympathy, 329; or of knowledge of each other, 332; Illustrations from Samuel Bailey, Thackeray, Sir Thos. Browne, Montaigne, Richardson, and others, 328-332.
Futurity, prying into brings a penalty, 76; ignorance of, an ad- vantage and happiness, 77; a knowledge of, would cloud our life, 78; hidden from us by God; 79; could we foresee, we should suffer by anticipation, as well as reality, 80; and lose hope, 81; visionary previsions of, vanity, 82; ignorance of, a source of content, 84; and deprives death of part of its gloom, 85; Illus. trations from Cicero, Froude, De Quincey, Scott, La Bruyère, and others, 76-86.
Gray hairs, first notice of decline, 372; various ways, first discovery of, met, 373; a shadow of the end, 374; come unawares, 375;
Illustrations from Coleridge, C. Bowles, Thackeray, Trollope, Tennyson, and others, 372-376. Greatness and affluence, sometimes productive of selfishness, 15; loss of, awakens sympathy with poor and afflicted, 16; peculiar sin of, carelessness rather than inhuma- nity, 17; this often the result of early education, 18; sympathy with poverty need not destroy natural joy of, 18; one object of suffering, to re-unite poverty with, 19; of some, not a cause of po- verty in others, 20; oft performs its charity by commission, 21; de- sirable for, to make personal ac- quaintance with misery and suffer- ing, 22; case of the Pretender cited, 26; causes an isolation from the poor, 28; shows best when engaged in works of mercy, 28; results of want of thought in, 29-31; benefit of proper use of, 32; Illustrations from Shak- speare, 17; La Bruyère, Hannah More, and others, 18-32. Guilt, first thoughts of, abhorrent,
255; case of Hazael, 255; mere protestation against, no safeguard against, 256; familiarity with, breeds apologies for, 257; one step in, speedily induces others, unsuspected, 258; transforms those subject to it, 259; Illus- trations from Miss Lee, Tobin, Dr. Hamilton, Southey, Sainte- Beuve, and others, 255-259.
Hearing, with the mind as well as ears, 386; interest in theme, creates attentive, 387; compared with seeing, 388; difference be- tween, and marking, 388, some have no. for spiritual things, 389; Illustrations: Milton, Webster, Balzac, Dumas, Shakspeare, and others, 386-389. Human body, the, reduced to its
lowest terms, 104; Hamlet's speculation on, 105; as Mummy, a merchandise, 106; turned to animal black, 106; suggestion to
use bones as a manure, 107; used for earthworks, 108; Illustrations from Sydney Smith, Chateau- briand, Xenophon, Dicey, and others, 101-109.
Human Knowledge, imperfection of, 224; in things of this world, 226; in the workings of providence, 226; imperfect, because we cannot see the end of all, 229; Illus- trations from Locke, Mrs. Brown- ing, Thomson, Addison, Le Maistre, and others, 224-231. Hurry and Excitement, the charac- teristic of the present age, 242; its effect on current literature, 243; destructive of calm thought, 244; different from haste, 245; hinders clearness of perception, 246; deadens capacity for simpler enjoyments, 247; too little work as fatal as, 248; Illustrations from Chateaubriand, Dr. Boyd, Long- fellow, Sir Henry Taylor, and others, 242-249.
Joy-human, mostly overshadowed, 87; of success, overclouded by the thought of the future, 88; of hope, by thought of others' pre- sent suffering, 89; present, by the thought of death, 90; soon fades, 91; Illustrations from Gibbon, R. Browning, Lord Lytton, Hannay, and others, 86-91.
Judgment, Man's, of his fellow, deprecated, 208; wrong, because he knows not himself, 210; nor the secrets of others, 211; nor their motives, 212; the habit of, presumptuous, 213; God's, the only just, 214; God's, more mer- ciful than man's, 215; man's necessarily imperfect, 216; hu- man, severe, 219; of the heart, belongs only to God, 221; should be charitable, because of our own failings, 224; Illustrations from Shakspeare, Sir Thomas Browne, La Bruyère, Arthur Helps, O. W. Holmes, Anthony Trollope, Carlyle, and others, 208-224.
Lies, lead to further lies, case of Jacob, 290; carry their punish- ment, in necessity of further lies, 291; inextricably entangle those who use them, 293; injurious to those who tell them, 294; one makes a necessity for others, 295; Illustrations from Mrs. Browning, Scott, Corneille, Cellini, Jeremy Taylor, Beaumont and Fletcher, and others, 290–296. Light" at evening time"-the promise of, a comfort, 313, a de- liverance from the fear of death, 314; often clears up the end of a life of trial, 315; disperses all darkness and difficulties, 316; a relief from troubles in declining years, 317; appears sometimes unexpectedly, 318; Light-a longing of the human soul, 319; to die in, almost a universal craving, 321; the comfort of dying moments, 322; Illustrations from Bunyan, O. W. Holmes, Dickens, Shirley Brooks, Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, Sophocles,
Landor, and others, 313-323. Love and Gentleness more powerful agents than force, 33; illustrations from Plutarch, 33; children more easily governed by, than fear, 34; this also the case with nations, 35; natures not amenable to, excep- tional, 35; the means usually em- ployed by women to gain their ends, 36; the best method for missionaries, 37; used by Queen Elizabeth and Empress Catherine towards their people, 38; when rulers fail with, they employ worse means, 39; best means of eliciting truth, 40; works even on the most depraved natures, 40; Illustrations from Ben Jonson, Mr. Freeman, Scott, Dr. Beattie, and others, 32-41. Lying, engenders lying, 286; the case of St. Peter, 287; demands a good memory, 288; leads to hopeless entanglement, 289; first step in all wrong doing, 289; Il- lustrated by Trench, Swift, Ro-
bertson, Froude, and others, 286- 290. (See also pp. 290–296.)
Mirth, good in due season, 296; must be recommended by higher qualities, 297; too much is weari- some, 298; deep and true feeling of more real value than mere, 299; in some, always inclines to sadness, 300; Illustrations from Tennyson, St. Evremond, Rich- ardson, Scott, Mrs. Riddell, Hood, and others, 296-300. Music-its power to dispel evil humours, 55; gives ease in various nervous disorders, 56; used by Luther to repel his visions of Satan, 57; removed the melan- choly of a king of Spain, 57; wakes up feelings of the past, 58; studied by the Jewish priesthood, 58; effect of, on lunatics, 59; soothes grief, 60; Illustrations from Beveridge, Burton, Sir James Stephen, Schiller, and others, 55-60.
Order, Heaven's first law, 273; human not to be compared with Divine, 274; obedience to, the stay of the world, 275; to be found in all God's handiwork, 276; man should be the servant of, 277; love of, improving to the mind, 278; the basis of civil government, 279; truth is, 280; a love of, may subsist with a low mental standard, 281; the happi- ness of heaven, 281; Illustrations from C. H. Townshend, Hooker, Lowell, Carlyle, Shaftesbury, George Herbert, Crabbe, Pat- more, Southey, 273-282.
Plans, of Man, overruled by God,
305; for the future, vain, 306; often bring but trouble, 308; Illustrations from Helps, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Thack- eray, Schiller, Congreve, Tasso, 305-309.
Praise, of self, unseemly, 96; prc-
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