Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

LESSON CLXXI.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. CHO' RAL, belonging to, or composing a choir. 2. SYM PHO NIES, a consonance; harmony of sounds. 3. ExTOL', elevate in praises; magnify. 4. PRIME, the first part of the day; the dawn. 5. CIR CLET, little circle, or orb. 6. O' RI ENT, rising. 7. MYS' TIO, mysterious; intricate. 8. QUA TER' NI ON, four; in fourfold union. 9. MUL' TI FORM, having many forms or shapes 10. Vo' CAL, having a voice. 11. BOUN' TE Ous, liberal; kind.

MORNING HYMN.

1. These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

MILTON.

Thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous, then!
Unspeakable! who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these Thy lower works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Speak ye, who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels! for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing. Ye in heaven:
On earth, join, all ye creatures, to extol,

Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end!

2. Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st. the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise Him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge Him thy greater; sound His praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st,
And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall'st.
Moon, that now meets the orient sun, now fliest
With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies;
And ye five other wandering fires, that move
In mystic dance, not without song; resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up light.

3. Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth
Of nature's womb, that in quaternion run,
Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix,

And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise
From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honor to the world's great Author rise,
Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers
s;
Rising or falling, still advance His praise.

1. His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines.
With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune His praise.
Join voices, all ye living souls! ye birds
That, singing, up to heaven's gate ascend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes His praise
5. Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,
Witness, if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill or valley, fountain or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught His praise.
Hail, universal Lord! be bounteous still
To give us only good: and, if the night
Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,
Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark!

QUESTIONS.-1. What address to the Almighty forms the opening of this piece? 2. What beings are called upon to join in extolling Him? 3. What is here meant by "Fairest of Stars"? Ans. Venus: the most brilliant of all the planets. 4. What is alluded to in the words,-"Last in the train of night, if better thou belong not to the dawn"? Ans. The allusion is to the alternate appearance of Venus in the morning and evening, whence she has been called the morning and the evening star. 5. What are the "five other wandering fires" referred to? Ans. Mercury, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; which, with those previously mentioned, were all that had been discovered in Milton's time. 6. What is alluded to in the words, "In mystic dance not without song"? Ans. The allusion probably is to the celebrated theory of Pythagoras, the Grecian philosopher, who supposed, that the heavenly bodies were con stantly engaged in performing a sort of choral dance around the central fire. He, moreover, imagined them to pursue their course according to certain notes produced by their own harmonious arrangement and movement; whence the phrase, "the music of the spheres."

LESSON CLXXII.

2.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. VIE, to compare; to compete with. NAR' RA TIVE, Story; history. 3. DIO TA' TED, suggested; composed. 4. MY THOL' O GY, a system of fables and fabulous doctrines respecting the deities of heathen nations. 5. MA TE RI AL ISM, the opinion of those who maintain that the soul of man is not a spiritual substance distinct from matter, but that it is the result or effect of the organization of matter in the body. 6. IL LUS' TRA TED, made apparent. 7. I DOL' A TRY, the worship of idols or images. 8. TRANSFORM A'TION, change. 9. DIS SEM I NA' TION, act of diffusing. 10. SuPER NAT' U RAL, superior; extraordinary.

1. Ho' MER, a celebrated Greek poet, who flourished about 900 before Christ. His most celebrated work is called the Iliad.

2. Ju' No, a celebrated goddess, who is represented as the wife of Jupiter.

3. DI A' NA, the goddess of hunting. She is represented as a strong active maiden: bearing on her shoulders a quíver, and in her hand a bow or hunting spear.

4. LON GI' NUS, a celebrated Greek critic, who flourished in the middle of the 3d century, and was beheaded by the emperor Aurelian, A. D. 273.

THE BIBLE AND THE ILIAD.

FRANCIS WAYLAND.

1. But considered simply as an intellectual production, who will compare the poems of 'Homer with the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament? Where in the Iliad shall we find simplicity and pathos which shall vie with the narrative of Moses, or maxims of conduct to equal in wisdom the Proverbs of Solomon, or sublimity which does not fade away before the conceptions of Job, or David, of Isaiah, or St. John?

2. But I can not pursue this comparison. I feel that it is doing wrong to the mind that dictated the Iliad, and to those other mighty intellects on whom the light of the holy oracles never shined. Who that has read his poem has not observed how he strove in vain to give dignity to the mythology of his time? Who has not seen how the religion of his country, unable to support the flight of his imagination, sunk powerless beneath him? It is the unseen world,

where the master spirits of our race breathe freely, and are at home; and it is mournful to behold the intellect of Homer, striving to free itself from the conceptions of materialism, and then sinking down in hopeless despair, to weave idle tales about Jupiter and Juno, Apollo and 'Diana.

3. But the difficulties under which he labored are abundantly illustrated by the fact, that the light which he poured upon the human intellect, taught other ages how unworthy was the religion of his day, of the man who was compelled to use it. "It seems to me," says 'Longinus, "that Homer, when he describes dissensions, jealousies, tears, imprisonments, and other afflictions to his deities, hath, as much as was in his power, made the men of the Iliad gods, and the gods men. To men, when afflicted, death is the termination of evils; but he hath made not only the nature, but the miseries, of the gods eternal."

4. If, then, so great results have flowed from this one effort of a single mind, what may we not expect from the combined efforts of several, at least his equals in power over the human heart? If that one genius, though groping in the thick darkness of absurd idolatry, wrought so glorious a transformation in the character of his countrymen, what may we not look for, from the dissemination of those writings, on whose authors was poured the full splendor of eternal truth? If unassisted human nature, spell-bound by a childish mythology, have done so much, what may we not hope for, from the supernatural efforts of pre-eminent genius, which spake as it was moved by the Holy Ghost?

2.

QUESTIONS.-1. With what inquiry does this piece begin? What is the next inquiry? 3. To what did Homer strive in vain to give dignity? 4. What is it mournful to behold? 5. How are the difficulties under which he labored illustrated? 6. What quotation from Longinus!

Maestoso.

NEVER SAY FAIL.

GLASER.

1. Press on-ward, 'tis wiser Than sitting a side, And dreaming and 2. With eye ever open, A tongue that's not dumb, And heart that will 3. The spirit of angels Is active, I know, As high-er and

[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

only prevail, Who dai-ly march onward, And never say fail. thousands assail, How strong and how mighty, Who never say fail heaven they sail, To cheer and encourage, Who nev-er say fail.

4.

Then onward, keep pushing,
And press on your way,
Unheeding the envious

Who would you betray;
All obstacles vanish,
All enemies quail,
In fear of their wisdom,
Who never say fail,

5.

In life's rosy morning,

In manhood's firm pride
Let this be the motto,
Our footsteps to guide
In storm and in sunshine,
Whatever assail,
We'll onward and conquer,
And never say fail.

« ZurückWeiter »