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night are gathering round, the glories of a brighter morn will soon succeed. It is in relation to the same subject, that Wordsworth suggests:

"Rightly is it said

That Man descends into the Vale of years;
Yet have I thought that we might also speak,
And not presumptuously, I trust, of Age,
As of a final EMINENCE, though bare
In aspect and forbidding, yet a Point

On which 't is not impossible to sit

In awful sovereignty-a place of power-
A throne."

An aged man, in whose soul purity and piety constitute the chief springs of action, and whose life therefore has been upright and useful, exercises a mild but potent magistracy upon earth. We instinctively revere him, and without being commanded so to do, we are obedient to his exalted thoughts. In his presence animosities are subdued, passionate desires are calmed, guilt is striken with compunction, and innocence is fortified with augmented strength. This power of venerable virtue is the more real and praise-worthy, because its control is not ostentatiously exercised. It is spontaneous in its goodness and, like the sun, shines abroad quietly only to bless. It is a power that we approach with involuntary delight; we consult the venerated patriarch in the atmosphere of his own integrity, and feel ourselves better for honoring him; we covet his esteem, and the profoundness of our regard for his worth is the best commentary on the text, "the beauty of old men is the gray head."

Purity of mind and habit is essential to vigor of body, manliness of soul, the greatest force of thought, and the longest duration of life. "A chaste soul," said Bernard, “is by virtue that which an angel is by nature; there is more happiness in the chastity of an angel, but there is more of courage in that of a man." The remark of Cicero on this subject is striking, if we

consider the age and country in which it was made. "This grand law," says he, "differs but a little from the religious institutions of Numa. It requires that one should approach the gods with a pure heart, the central sanctuary of a chaste body; but we should understand that, if the body is required to be chaste, the soul is vastly superior to the corporeal frame, and therefore has still greater need to be pure; the stains of the body will of themselves disappear in a few days, or may be washed off by a little water; but neither time nor the greatest rivers can remove stains from the soul."

It is an interesting fact that Providence allows only such creatures as are pure long to remain among mankind as the objects of their admiration. Corrupt genius, however potent, has never created a lasting work of art that is lascivious in character. The hand of violence or contempt, despite the depraved instincts of the heart, soon consigns such works to oblivion. Paris, Florence, Rome, have no productions of art essentially beautiful, grand or sublime, that are of a nature to create on the cheek of a vestal the slightest blush. Many have attempted lewd subjects, but by the conservative law of God's holy government, such nuisances are speedily driven into darkness and consigned to the worm; while those masterpieces which illustrate and edify virtue, like truth, live on forever. The virgin mothers and cherubic youth of Murillo and Raphael are heavenly beings on canvas, and will perish only when matter itself must die, and even then the recollection of them will live in the memories of the sanctified as an element of immortal bliss. The group of Laocoon, which sends a thrill of emotion through one's soul years after it was first seen; Niobe, and her despairing children; Brutus, with his impressive mien; the Gladiator, sinking in his own heart's gore; Apollo, beaming with supernatural glory; and the exquisite work of Cleomenes, "that bending statue that delights the world ;" are all imperishable, not because they are cut in marble, but because the ideas they embody are divinely pure.

But if sculptured excellence is worthy of admiration, how much more so is living worth. A virtuous and enlightened old man is the noblest object to be contemplated on earth. Says Solomon, "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers." Priam, venerable in aspect as mount Ida, like the bleached oaks of Gargara, hoaryheaded, and seated on his throne in the midst of an august court and his numerous household; and Plato, in the grove, or on the point of that cape, his favorite seat, where dashed the billows of the sea, bending his broad, venerable brow to teach throngs of youth the nature of God and eternal bliss, were among the ancients specimens of beautiful old age which we should do well to emulate.

When the affections have early been divorced from earth, and the wings of the mind have been accustomed through succeeding years to stretch further and further above the rank vapors of vice, they are prepared, when the ties of earth are sundered, to soar in triumph to the infinite expanse of immortal joys. As in the ashes lives the wonted fire, so in the persons of the virtuous, the bright lamp which spiritual purity has kindled never grows dim. Mammon has not prostituted it; Bacchus has not obscured it; and though its light expires to our limited vision, it is not extinguished; angels have raised it to a higher sphere where it forever shines in unclouded day.

CHAPTER VI.

TEMPTATION;

OR, THE SIMPLETON SNARED.

"A PRUDENT man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself;" says Solomon, "but the simple pass on, and are punished," Prov. 22: 3. This is a comprehensive description of the contrasted character and conduct of the prudent and the indiscreet. The wise avert threatened dangers by avoiding their occasions, while the foolish incur perils needlessly by courting them; one hides himself, by a sagacious foresight, the other plunges to speedy ruin through careless stupidity.

The word simple, as it is here employed, will be best understood by observing how it is used elsewhere. In the seventh chapter of Proverbs, Solomon describes the fatal career of him who is betrayed into the ignominious path that leads to the harlot's hell. "And behold," says he, "among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner: and he went the way to her house; as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver, and knoweth not that it is for his life." Again, the same author says, "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."

From this brief exposition of our proverb, let us proceed to develop more minutely the principles it contains. It is evident that temptation is a common evil, which the wise will

resist; it is a flattering evil, to which the foolish will succumb; when resisted, temptation is a blessing, when yielded to, a

curse.

In the first place, temptation is a common evil, which the wise will resist. In a path encompassed by such foes, filled with such perils, as attend our probationary state, the warning of Scripture is most pertinent,-" Walk circumspectly". scrutinizing your conduct with care-"not as fools, but wise." We should do this, because we are in

"A world, where lust of pleasure, grandeur, gold,
Three demons that divide its realms between them,
With strokes alternate buffet to and fro

Man's restless heart, their sport, their flying ball;
Till, with the giddy circle, sick and tired,

It pants for peace, and drops into despair."

The wise seaman is careful about his "lead, log, and look-out," three guarantees of safety amid shoals and quicksands. He runs close-reefed in a gale, and has a sharp eye to every lurking ledge or lee-shore; and such a navigator is comparatively safe, while he who slumbers during the watch, or hoists all sails in the tempests, is sure to be wrecked. The strand of life's sea is strown with the mutilated thousands who have perished in the whirlpools and on the murderous reefs of temptation. "Tinder is not apter to take fire, wax the impression of the seal, paper the ink, than youth to receive the impression of wickedness." Hence, says Solomon, "When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee; and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite." Diligently consider what weakness is within thee, and what is before thee adapted most powerfully to betray thy feebleness and corrupt thy soul. To put a knife to one's throat is certainly a severe preventive to indulgence, but the wise man would teach us that it is better to lacerate the body than to murder the soul through the gratification of

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