The Coral Insect teaches how dis-pointed by God. The long legs and proportionate are the works of some tail of this insect are to enable it to persons to themselves. Who would move quickly, and to deposit its eggs have thought that the coral insect deep in the ground. builds islands? The Cricket teaches that you only know the presence of some persons by the annoyance they give: as you would probably only detect the abode of the cricket by its noise. Illustr.-Mrs. Muslin was distinguished in all companies, for her gaudy dress and loud tongue. If, however, merit were praised, or distress to be relieved, she invariably became a mute. The Nautilus teaches that man is exceeded by some mere brute in all his animal excellencies, as strength, speed, &c. The little nautilus is more at home on the ocean-deep, than man with all his science and glory. Illustr.-How universal are the motives to humility! Man excels the animals in a few respects, and they all excel him in a multitude of instances. The Grub teaches that the meanest nature sometimes gets the best fare. The grub feeds on scented flowers, while the nobler ass eats thistles! Illustr. The pious James Mill lives in yonder cottage: he has eight children, and keeps an orphan nephew and his wife's mother, on twelve shillings a week. The Earl of E Illustr.-Our wisdom lies in finding out for what our talents are suitable; and our virtue in devoting them to its service. The Silk-worm teaches that many benefit others without knowing it. The silk-worm knows not that its work is coveted by half the civilized world. Illustr.-The Countess P having lost several children, went into Bethel chapel, L- ; became religious from the sermon, went home, and devoted herself to the improvement of her neigbourhood; but the preacher died without ever knowing the fact. The Cochineal teaches that some kind of good fortune is to be considered a sure prelude to a fall. Man kindly feeds the cochineal, and afterwards destroys it merely for its colour. Illustr. When good fortune comes from an enemy, or above our merit, or from a mistake, this is the case. The Animal Flower teaches that there are very extensive analogies in the natures of all creatures. This animal flower resembles marigolds, carnations, and other flowers, from which it derives its name. Illustr. What can be the design of these analogies? Are they merely for human amusement? And what is the intention of the analogies between matter and mind? The Gadfly teaches that Nature is pounds a-year, and is childless; a better and older mechanic than man. but has seven illegitimate children, From the days of Adam, the Gadfly has fought three duels, and with has used his gimlet, which shuts up vice, looks old at forty-five! in a telescope case. had nineteen thousand The Crane-fly (or Long-legs) teaches that no talent was ever given without having its proper uses ap Illustr.--Nature's mechanism is better than men's, because it is perfect at once, and to a great extent is endowed with the power of self- things in the Divine works are conrepair. nected with the greatest. This insect is part of the food of the whale. The Burying-beetle teaches that public virtues are frequently originated and supported by individual selfishness; as, the burying-beetle inters the dead bodies of small animals, which is a public advantage, for the sake of supplying its beloved grubs which feed in the ground. Illustr. - How humbling, that the roots of patriotism should be some radication from avarice! The Ant (common) teaches that little persons and weak bodies of men, when industry is united with intelligence, can accomplish wonders. Illustr. On this principle, all societies and companies of men are founded, whether in trade or the army; and without it, neither could the arts of life be perfected, nor its evils overcome. The Flea teaches that little things often bite very sharp. How small the flea! But many a giant and genius have been unable to sleep on its account. Illustr.-It is also this insect which is supposed to be one of the causes of the phosphorescence of the sea. The Legionary Ant teaches that most of the evils in society are pictured in the animal world, if man would but open his eyes to behold them; this ant, which is light coloured, steals the young of a less powerful black coloured ant, and compels them to do its work. Illustr. What a picture of slavery! Animalculæ teach that life may be passed and enjoyed within very narrow limits: millions of animalculæ will live in a few drops of water. Illustr.-A poor woman lives in a mean house in the adjoining street; she has never been out of Sheffield, is afflicted, has 3s. 6d. a week to live on; but declares she is happy, and is expecting heaven. The Jackdaw teaches that some minds see no interest in many objects until they have ceased to possess it in the estimation of others. The jackdaw is fond of old towers, steeples, and buildings. Illustr. Of this class are the antiquaries, who see little charm in a building until it is old; and some poets, who are sooner inspired by desolation and ruins, than by life and its wondrous acts. Illustr.-A little child said to her father one morning, after she had seen him drunk, "Papa, how do you feel when you are drunk? For you laugh when nothing is said; and then you wink with your eyes, and all your fingers tremble so; and sometimes you put your tongue out of your mouth, or say such things as I can't understand. And then, papa, why do you roll about when you attempt to walk; The Goose teaches that there is a tell me, please, do you feel so very great difference between our real and happy when you are drunk?" A our imaginary height. The goose little boy said to his mamma one day, "Mamma, why do you look in the glass so much? does the Bible tell you to do that? because you told me the other day, that the Bible tells us what to do.' The Medusa teaches that the least stoops in passing under an archway six feet high, lest its head should strike against the top. Illustr. Our imaginary height is fixed by ourselves. Our real stature is the average between the opinions of our friends and enemies. The Woodpecker teaches that as much as possible we should economize our labour. The woodpecker never bores through the bark, till it knows that insects are beneath it. Illustr. We should always look at the probable results of our labour before we perform it. The Ostrich teaches that the least important points about us are often the most valued; as, the tail feathers of the ostrich, the skin of woman, the titles of men, &c. Illustr.-One of my acquaintance boasts, unceasingly, that he is descended from one of the freebooting esquires of William the Conqueror, and would rather be praised for that than for kindness! The Eagle teaches that great minds are not much formed for companionship. It is a rare thing to see a pair of eagles; and no one ever saw the eagle and the blackbird together! we should sing as the lark sings the best when it ascends towards the skies. Illustr. An advance in religious character should be marked by an increased sweetness and harmony of dispositions, which are the music of the mind. THE YOUNG YOKE-BEARER. "IT is good for a man," saith the "that he bear the prophet Jeremiah, yoke in his youth." The word aval, among the Jews, which we very properly render yoke, signified not only that sort of neck-harness by which bullocks drew in carts or ploughs; but also any kind of bond or obligation, to do some particular thing or following things:-1. The yoke of work. By them it is applied to the the kingdom of heaven-obedience to the revealed will of God. 2. The yoke of the Law-the necessity of obeying the whole of the Mosaic ritual. 3. The yoke of the Preceptthe necessity of performing any special obligation by which a person may have bound himself, such as the Nazaretic vow. pentance-including not only the 4. The yoke of Reabandonment of sin, but fasting, and bodily mortification. 5. The yoke of Faith-the necessity of believing in Illustr.—This is one of the many the promised Messiah. 6. The Divine arguments in favour of the exist-yoke-the obligation to live a spiritual ence and goodness of God, which life of cordial devotedness to God. the material revelation furnishes. The Cock teaches that Nature made clocks before man. Formerly, the divisions of the night were only known by the cock crowing. Illustr.-Who ever saw a flock of eagles? But who has not seen a flock of geese? I do not know that either Milton or Locke had an "intimate friend." The Spoonbill teaches that the mouth is made to suit the meat. What would the sparrow and the spoonbill do with exchanged beaks? Many things are spoken of figuratively as a yoke which "it is not good for a man to bear," either in youth, or in any subsequent period of life. Such is the yoke of slavery-a galling load under which thousands and millions have groaned from their youth up. From the first moment of their earthly existence to the last, they knew nothing of liberty-except only in their dreams; and from these how The Lark teaches that the nearer soon were they awoke by the harsh we rise to heaven, the more sweetly voice of their task-master! From Illustr.-In the poor and rural districts, the labouring men will acquire great accuracy in finding out the hour of the day from the length of the shadows, or from the habits of animals. this yoke, a kind and beneficent pro-destroying themselves in body and vidence has exempted you, reader; soul for ever. But the kind of liberty evince your gratitude by devoting which they do not possess, we can your prayers and endeavours to the describe. Such is their debased and deliverance of those who are still its enslaved condition that they cannot victims. There is also the yoke of a promise not to yield to certain temptaminute and laboured ceremonial in tions. They can give no pledge when religion. And-worse than either they arise in the morning that they there is the yoke of sin; of moral will abstain from such and such a sin subjection to the tyranny of evil. through the day. They are so acThis is a yoke by which all are more customed to wear the chain, and to or less oppressed; and under which fall down before the tyrant, that if he all, who do not obtain deliverance crosses their path, they instantly yield now, will groan for ever. The infidel, themselves up to his power. There the sceptic, the irreligious, may make is a conscience within them, intended their boast that they have emancipated to act in the name and by the authority themselves from every restraint, and of God; but they are afraid to listen have achieved their freedom. And to its softest whisper lest it should their specious falsehoods may allure disturb them with upbraidings. There the inexperienced young to emulate is a divine revelation sent to them their example. "But," saith an apostle, from God, intended to reclaim and "while they promise them liberty, they bless them; but they fear to approach themselves are the slaves of corruption; and inspect it lest it should tell them for of whom a man is overcome, of the truth, and truth is their aversion. the same is he brought into bondage." They fear to think of the great and And are they not overcome? They glorious Being who formed them, and may not at present be conscious of by whom they are sustained; and if a their bondage but the victim about thought of him finds its way into to be offered in sacrifice is not less a their minds, they hastily banish it victim because he is crowned with a thence. Death, and judgment, and garland, and led in a chain of flowers to the altar on which he is about to bleed. They may not be conscious of their chains; but that is only because they offer no resistance to the tyrant that leads them; because they are travelling the road to perdition promptly and of their own accord. And is it for such to boast of liberty? The species of liberty which they do enjoy it is not for us to describe, for much of it is of a nature which does not admit of description. On this point, we will only add an apostolic injunction,-flee also youthful lusts, and all who indulge in them. Their touch is contamination; their breath, pollution; and their boasted liberty, the liberty of the suicide, the soul suicide, the dreadful liberty of eternity, lie directly in their pathimmediately before their eyes-but they are afraid to look at them lest they should flash terror in their faces, and they shrink from them as from foes. And is this their vaunted liberty? Yes, my young friends, while they boast of freedom, they wear a most appalling yoke; and their bondage threatens to be eternal. "Chains are the portion of revolted man, Stripes, and a dungeon; and his body But there is a yoke which it is good light. When you look on the parental for a man to bear-that it is good for power, you behold the image of the him to bear it in youth will probably divine." be shown in a subsequent paper. But the yoke of yokes is the law The yoke especially intended by the of the gospel. How beautifully did prophet is the religious discipline of the Saviour refer to it when he said, early and sanctified affliction. It "Take my yoke upon you, and learn would not perhaps be easy to convince of me; for I am meek and lowly in some of you who are at present in the heart, and ye shall find rest unto your flush and bloom of early manhood souls. For my yoke is easy, and my that this is a yoke to be commended. burden is light." This yoke is threeAnd yet thousands even at your age fold,-consisting of truths to be behave found it so, and have blessed the lieved, precepts to be obeyed, and a wise but invisible hand that imposed profession to be made. it on them. It sobered down their And why is it denominated a yoke? sanguine expectations-corrected their Surely, not because it is "grievous views of the world—imparted a useful and heavy to be borne." For," saith knowledge of themselves-chastened Jesus, "my yoke is easy;" it is so and improved their tempers-and, easy that had not he himself given to above all, was the means of inducing it the name of a yoke, his disciples them to say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." 66 would never have thought of doing so-so easy that lisping infancy and And what wise son will not think infirm old age can alike wear it; for with gratitude of the yoke of parental it is lined with love, and the hand authority? There is reason to fear that imposes it sustains and makes it that, from a variety of causes, parental light-so easy that were we never authority was never more relaxed or disposed to sin we should feel it to be disregarded than in the present day. a yoke-so easy that the Christian My young friends, I need not remind pronounces it to be perfect freedom, you, that a child cannot cast off his and the blest above delight to wear it. filial obligations, nor manifest im- The only sense in which the religion patience at the salutary restraints of of the gospel can be regarded as a parental authority, without incurring yoke, is the same as that in which the the certain displeasure of Him who laws of the land are felt to be a yoke instituted the family compact. You by the dishonest and abandoned—it know who it is concerning whom the lays a restraint on our depravity—it evangelist records that in his youth will not allow us to harm ourselves, he was subject to his parents. You to inflict an eternal injury on our know who it is that hath not merely nature for the sake of a present mocommanded us to honour our parents, but hath sent that precept to every youth linked with a golden promise. You remember how He himself not only assumes the title of Father, but glories in it. "What great respect must be due from us to that character, which the Supreme Nature has chosen to be the representative of his own! The authority of a father can be seen in no fairer view than by this reflected mentary gratification-it brings us Oppression, prisons, have no power to Which whoso tastes can be enslaved no more. 'Tis liberty of heart derived from heaven, Bought with His blood, who gave it to mankind, And sealed with the same token." |