a carpenter, or builder, who takes the rough log of the forest, and works it up to form the door, the window, the floor, or the roof of the building he erects." We are all these rough unhewn logs of the forest by nature -fit only for the burning till God separates us and takes us out of the deserts of the world, and brings us to the mountain of his holiness, to hew us with the axe of his judgment-to strip off the bark and the branches of our evil nature, and then perhaps the wedge must be driven to divide us from our sins, and the saw must be used to fit us for the place we are to occupy in the building of his church. Many of us are ambitious to occupy the loftiest or the most polished parts of the building, but only a few are destined to be the polished pillars of the temple, and on these he uses the plane of education and the polishing hand of his blessed Spirit to form them for the most honourable and comely stations in his temple. But the most of us must be content to take the more humble place of the floor or the threshhold; but let us be satisfied if we are only the door, for I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of the ungodly.' Hereafter we shall occupy a more honourable post in the temple of God above, when we shall be pillars of beauty, or exalted to form the jewels to adorn it. All this is implied in the assertion, God hath wrought us for the self-same thing.' He, thirdly, entered upon the consideration of the agents used in this work; and after mentioning the word of God -the preached gospel-afflictions, trials, and mercies, he said, "The grand agent used by the Lord is the devil!" The congregation rose, as if astonished that this infernal agent should be used as an instrument in this holy work. "But," he said, "are you surprised? I will show you. When I was lately in the country, I saw a shepherd ووو setting his fold; the sheep strayed away from it into forbidden pastures, but when the fold was set, who was the agent the shepherd sent to bring them back? He sent his dog after them, and though they disregarded his voice, they were frightened at the barking of his dog; and as he, with open mouth, pursued them, they ran back for safety into the fold. And thus, if you disregard the friendly calls and invitations of the divine Shepherd, he will set on the devil to frighten you back, and he is often the most potent agent in alarming the sheep of his flock, to hasten back from their wanderings into the fold of God for safety." As they returned, Althorpe exclaimed, "That was an excellent shot from the Alphonsus Gunn. It told well; the people felt its report, and comprehended it better than they would any dry discussion on the danger of vice and the beauty of virtue, or any learned theological explanation of particular texts." "Ah!" said Charles, "it came from a heart which had felt the evil and danger of sin, and the excellence of the remedy in the gospel. Such is the preaching to alarm sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and to edify believers in their most holy faith." CHAPTER XXIII. 66 THE PHILOSOPHERS AND THE PHYSICIAN. As the friends returned from hearing this popular preacher, Clinton proposed to Charles to accompany him the next day to visit his old friend, Mr. Terry, at Hammersmith, a gentleman who, from a lucrative and thriving trade, had retired to enjoy his wealth in that sweet village, yet still with many a lingering, longing look upon the thousands which he was still acquiring, and which he daily witnessed flowing into his coffers by visits to his town house. "My friend Dr. Rickden," said Harry, "a physician, resides here, and I have often, when in London, met him at Mr. Terry's, and have occasionally made a pedestrian excursion with him to this spot. After an early breakfast, the friends commenced their walk; crossing Hyde Park, and winding along the Serpentine river, they came to Kensington Gardens just as the spruce and industrious citizen, who was seeking his early morning walk, was entering it, and as the morning student was stepping in to write poetry in its groves and grottoes, or to spend his hours amid its whispering leaves and vocal woods, and sylvan glades, in solitary musings, or in revising and polishing some recondite treatise. "How delightful," said Charles, "to plunge into the recesses of these extensive gardens; and what a privilege, that from sun-rise to sun-set, their gates are unfolded to admit the man of business for early recreation, and the daughters of beauty and elegance to repose at sultry noon, or to walk unmolested amid the admiring gaze of the respectable and refined part of society, who alone are admitted for purposes of quiet meditation, retirement, or leisure within their ample and well guarded walks." "These open gardens," said Clinton, "afford a high privilege and gratification to the numerous inhabitants of this vast metropolis." "And a standing proof," said Charles," of the benevolent disposition of George the great and good, who loves to gratify his subjects. Here the busy tradesman, who spends all his day in a close and noisy street, fits himself for the confinement by an early walk amid these balmy groves, or refreshes his spirits after his day's labour, amid its cooling shades." Pleased with these observations, Charles proposed to take a turn in the gardens. They passed round the mount, brushed through the wood, and were edging the lake, when, behold, before them, their college friend, Darnley. "Well met," said Darnley, "in these lovely groves. I am glad to find you seeking philosophical pleasures, and to discover that town has not spoiled your taste for the beauties of nature and the balmy breath of morn. I thank Heaven, it has not spoiled mine-I knew the time when the festive dance and song, the midnight bowl, or the glare and uproar of the licentious crowd, would have given me a gross delight; but I have since learned, that more refined and exquisite pleasures are to be found among the balmy groves, vocal with the praises of dumb nature, and in the sequestered vale, charmed with calm and soul-satisfying contemplations, and now I can say, with Cicero, Non minus solus quam solus.' 'I find lessons in the forest; tongues in the running brook, sermons 6 in stones, and good in every thing.' Many precious hours have I wasted in the noisy and dissipated theatre, or at the still more harassing masquerade, from the fatigues and midnight revels of which I have returned, exhausted in mind and body, and laid me down on my bed to wrap myself in sleep, as far as my conscience would allow me repose, at this very hour of the morn; but ah! I never rose from my bed with animated spirits as now, and a mind calm and serene as that blue azure, but with a heart heavy from the upbraidings of conscience, and with a head aching with the yesternight's excess and dissipation. “Since I have left the army I have learned the sweets of temperance, early hours, and moral pursuits. I have found true peace in the retirement of the country, in the literary labours of my study, and in the seclusion of a college, and above all in the virtuous love of the amiable Clelia. I hoped to settle in a union with my beloved Clelia, of whose virtues and perfections you have heard me descant so much. I thought the day at hand; but a reverse of fortune in the family has roused the pride of her aunt, who will not allow Clelia to give me her hand till the return of prosperity shall enable her to do it with greater independence. A false pride, a foolish delicacy this to separate for a lengthy period two persons whose hearts are so united when I have estates and wealth sufficient to make us both independent and happy. Ah! I have resolved to drown the vexation of this delay in travelling to see new and distant scenes in my own country and on the continent-For Say without our hopes, without our fears, 2 |