Low Pitch Grave Emotion. Man is born to Trouble.- Finlayson. "That no man can promise to himself perpetual exemption from suffering, is a truth obvious to daily observation. Nay, amid the shiftings of the scene in which we are placed, who can say that, for one hour, his happiness is secure? The openings through which we may be assailed, are so numerous and unguarded, that the very next moment may see some message of pain piercing the bulwarks of our peace. Our body may become the seat of incurable disease. Our mind may become a prey to unaccountable and imaginary fears. Qur fortune may sink in some of those revolutionary tempest which overwhelm so often the treasures of the wealthy. Our honors may wither on our brow, blasted by the slanderous breath of an enemy. Our friends may prove faithless in the hour of need, or they may be separated from us forever. Our children, the fondest hope of our hearts, may be torn from us in their prime; or they may wound us still more deeply by their undutifulness and misconduct. "Alas! my brother of the dust, in this uncertainty of worldly blessings, where is the joy on earth, in which thou canst repose thy confidence? or what defence canst thou rear against the inroads of adversity? Dost thou hope that by rising to power, or by increasing thy goods, thou wilt insure the continuance of thy comfort? Vain man! hast thou not seen that the loftiest mountain meets first the lightnings of the sky, and that the spreading tree, when loaded with the glories of its foliage and fruit, is 'most easily broken by the fury of the blast? In this manner, the children of this world, by multiplying their stores and extending their connections, furnish a broader mark to the arrows of misfortune, and with the greater certainty suffer disappointment and sorrow." tr Sublime Emotion. The Works and Attributes of God. - Moodie. "All vast and unmeasurable objects are fitted to impress the soul with awe. The mountain which rises above the neighboring hills, and hides its head in the sky, -the sounding, unfathomed, boundless deep, the expanse of Heaven, where, above and around, no limit checks the wondering eye; - these objects fill and elevate the mind, they produce a solemn frame of spirit, which accords with the sentiment of religion. We From the contemplation of what is great and magnificent in nature, the soul rises to the Author of all. think of the time which preceded the birth of the universe, when no being existed but God alone. While unnumbered systems arise in order before us, created by his power, arranged by his wisdom, and filled with his presence, the earth and the sea, with all that they contain, are hardly beheld amidst the immensity of his works. In the boundless subject the soul is lost. It is he who 'sitteth on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He weigheth the mountains in scales. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 'Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him!' “The face of nature is sometimes clothed with terror. · The tempest overturns the cedars of Lebanon, or discloses the secrets of the deep. The pestilence wastes, -the lightning consumes, the voice of the thunder is heard on high. Let these appearances be connected with the power of God. These are the awful ministers of his kingdom. 'The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations! By the greatness of thy power thine enemies are constrained to bow." 17 Pathetic Emotion. Autumnal Meditation instructive to the Aged.— Alison. "There is an eventide in human life, a season when the eye becomes dim, and the strength decays, and wh the winter of age begins to shed upon the human hea its prophetic snow. It is the season of life to which au tumn is most analogous; and much it becomes, and my it would profit you, to mark the instructions whic season brings. The spring and the summer of you are gone, and with them, not only the joys they but many of the friends who gave them. You hav tered upon the autumn of your being; and whatever may have been the profusion of your spring, or the warm intemperance of your summer, there is yet a season of stillness and of solitude, which the benificence of Heaven affords you, in which you may meditate upon the past and the future, and prepare yourselves for the mighty change which you are soon to undergo. "If it be thus you have the wisdom to use the decaying season of nature, it brings with it consolations more valuable than all the enjoyments of former days. In the long retrospect of your journey, you have seen every day the shades of the evening fall, and every year the clouds of winter gather. But you have seen also, every succeeding, the morning arise in its brightness, and in every suc ceeding year, the spring return to renovate the winter of nature. It is now you may understand the magnificent language of Heaven, -it mingles its voice with that of revelation, it summons you, in these hours when the leaves fall, and the winter is gathering, to that evening study which the mercy of Heaven has provided in the book of salvation; and while the shadowy valley opens which leads to the abode of death, it speaks of that Hand which can comfort and can save, and which can conduct to those 'green pastures, and those still waters,' where there is an eternal spring for the children of God." Grave, Sublime, and Pathetic Emotions. Marathon and Athens.- Byron. "Where'er we tread, 't is haunted holy ground; No earth of thine is lost in vulgar mould! But one vast realm of wonder spreads around; And all the Muse's tales seem truly told, Till the sense aches with gazing to behold The scenes our earliest dreams have dwelt upon : Each hill and dale, each deepening glen and wold, Defies the power which crushed thy temples gone: Age shakes Athena's tower, but spares gray Marathon. "Yet to the remnants of thy splendor past, "Ancient of days! august Athena! where, [were They won, and passed away Is this the whole? A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour! The warrior's weapon and the sophist's stole Are sought in vain; and o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, gray flits the shade of power." Lowest Pitch.* Solemnity, Awe, and Reverence. "O thou great Arbiter of life and death! Whose all-prolific beam late called me forth I trust in thee, and know in whom I trust: Meditation. Id. "How is night's sable mantle labored o'er, How richly wrought, with attributes divine! What wisdom shines! what love! This midnight pomp, Above, beyond, Oh! tell me, mighty Mind! Where art thou? — shall I dive into the deep? Call to the sun? or ask the roaring winds The thunder, if in that the Almighty dwells? *The lowest notes of the voice are natnrally accompanied by "pectoral quality," since the extremely wide opening of the glottis, insepar able from from their formation, is necessarily attended by resonance in the chest, as may be observed in the act of singing deep-toned bass strains. |
