PROTESTANTISM. PROVIDENCE. admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image?-Surely not! I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward, assured that relief was at hand; and I was not disMungo Park.| for ever from the world. I should despair of the world altogether, if so. One of my deepest convictions is, that it is not so. Without sovereigns, true sovereigns, temporal and spiritual, I see nothing possible but an anarchy; the hatefullest of things. But I find Protestantism, whatever anarchic democracy it may have produced, to be the beginning of new genuine sovereignity and order. I find it to be a revolt against false sovereigns; the painful but indis-appointed. pensable first preparative for true sovereigns getting place among us. Carlyle. PROVERBS-Definitions of. The wisdom of many, and the wit of one. Lord John Russell. Jewels five-words long, That on the stretch'd forefinger of all Time Sparkle for ever. Tennyson. PROVIDENCE-Acknowledgment of. A little error of the eye, a misguidance of the hand, a slip of the foot, a starting of a horse, a sudden mist, or a great shower, or a word undesignedly cast forth in an army, has turned the stream of victory from one side to another, and thereby disposed of empires and whole nations. No prince ever returns safe out of a battle, but may well remember how many blows and bullets have gone by him that might easily have gone through him; and by what little odd unforeseen chances death has been turned aside, which seemed in a full, ready, and direct career to have been posting to him. All which passages, if we do not acknowledge to have been guided to their respective ends and effects by the conduct of a superior and a divine Hand, we do by the same assertion cashier all providence, strip the Almighty of his noblest prerogative, and make God, not the Governor, but the mere Spectator of the world. South. PROVIDENCE-Consolation respecting. Whatever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss irresistibly caught my eye. I mention it to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots and leaves without PROVIDENCE-Designs of. What the gods intend, is theirs alone : Divine Providence tempers His blessings to secure their better effect. He keeps our joys and our fears on an even balance, that we may neither presume nor despair. By such compositions God is pleased to make both our crosses more tolerable, and our enjoyments more wholesome and safe. Wogan. PROVIDENCE-Destinies of. How Heaven, in scorn of human arrogance, And towers and triumphs in ideal greatness, It is remarkable that Providence has given us all things for our advantage near at hand; but iron, gold, and silver, being both the instruments of blood and slaughter, and the price of it, nature has hidden in the bowels of the earth. Seneca. PROVIDENCE-our Guardian. PROVIDENCE-our Guide. Johnson. I stand like one Has lost his way, and no man near him to inquire it of; I Yet there's a Providence above that knows PROVIDENCE-Intention of. It was not the intention of Providence that men should pass a few years here in ignoble sloth, either with indolence in safety, or pusillanimity in danger; but that we should come forth, and act some useful and honourable part on that theatre where we have been placed; might glorify Him that made us; and, by a steady perseverance in virtue, rise in the end to an immortal state. Mathew. PROVIDENCE-Manifestations of. Two manifestations of the course of Providence have often been pointed out as the most distinct and prominent which have yet occurred in the history of the human race. The coming of our Lord and Saviour is one, at that precise time when the world, in its moral and political circumstances, was best fitted for the reception and diffusion of the Gospel; the other, far indeed inferior in moment to that paramount event, but inferior to it alone, is the discovery of printing, just when the Gospel itself was to be raised as it were from the dead. Southey. "What a strange Providence that a mother should be taken in the midst of life from her children!" Was it Providence? No! Providence had assigned her threescore years and ten-a term long enough to rear her children; but she did not obey the laws on which life depends, and, of course, she lost it. A father, too, is cut off in the midst of his days. He is a useful and distinguished citizen, and eminent in his profession. A general buzz arises on every side, "What a striking Providence!" The man has been in the habit of studying half the night; in passing his days in his office in the courts; of eating luxurious dinners, and drinking various kinds of wine. He has every day violated the laws on which health depends. Did Providence cut him off? The evil rarely ends here. The diseases of the father are often transmitted; and a feeble mother rarely leaves behind her vigorous children. It has been customary in some of our cities for young ladies to walk in thin shoes and delicate stockings in mid-winter. A healthy, blooming young girl thus dressed, in violation of Heaven's laws, paid the penalty PROVIDENCE. -a checked circulation, colds, fever, and death. "What a sad Providence !" exclaimed her friends. Was it Providence, or her own folly! Look at the mass of diseases that are incurred by intemperance in eating and drinking, in study or business; by neglect of exercise, cleanliness, and pure air; by indis. creet dressing, tight-lacing, &c.; and all is quietly imputed to Providence! Is there not impiety as well as ignorance in this? Were the physical laws strictly observed, from generation to generation, there would be an end to the frightful diseases that cut life short, and of the long list of maladies that make life a torment or a trial. It is the opinion of those who best understand the physical system, that this wonderful machine, the body,-this goodly temple," would gradually decay, and men would die as if falling asleep. Sedgwick. 66 PROVIDENCE. And if each system in gradation roll, Vile worm !-oh, madness! pride! impiety! PROVIDENCE-Reliance on. To make our reliance upon Providence both In this world we are children standing on pious and rational, we should, in every great the bank of a mighty river. Casting our eyes enterprise we take in hand, prepare all things upward and downward, along the channel, we with that care, diligence, and activity, as if discern various windings of its current; and there were no such thing as Providence for us perceive that it is now visible, now obscure, to depend upon; and again, when we have and now entirely hidden. from our view. But done all this, we should as wholly and humbly being far removed from the fountain whence rely upon it, as if we had made no preparations at all. And this is a rule of practice it springs, and from the ocean into which it is emptied, we are unable to form any conceptions which will never fail, or shame any who shall of the beauty, usefulness, or grandeur of its venture all that they have and are upon it,progress. Lost in perplexity and ignorance, for, as a man, by exerting his utmost force in any action or business, has all that human strength we gaze, wonder, and despond. In this situation, a messenger from heaven comes to our can do for him therein, so, in the next place, relief, with authentic information of its nature, by quitting his confidence in the same, and its course, and its end; conducts us backward placing it only in God, he is sure of all that South to the fountain, and leads us forward to the Omnipotence can do in his behalf. ocean. This river is the earthly system of PROVIDENCE-Retribution of, providence: the Bible is the celestial messenger: and Heaven is the ocean in which all preceding dispensations find their end. PROVIDENCE-Order of. Dwight. So just and wonderful are the overruling councils of God's Providence, that the arrow which strikes through the heart of the transgressor is oftentimes directed from the very bow which he had vainly trusted would be his See through this air, this ocean, and this strength. The companion of his sin is the earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. From Nature's chain whatever link you strike. first to cast reproach and shame on him for the evil which he has done. J. S. M. Anderson How just is Providence in all its works! PROVIDENCE-Star of. ! PSALMS. PSALMS-Book of. What is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are, to beginners, an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge; in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect amongst others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wis dom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come, all good necessary to be either known, or done, or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or disease incident to the soul of man, any wound or sickness named, for which there is not, in this treasure-house, a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found. Hooker. How beautiful and how varied are the forms of prayer and thanksgiving in the book of Psalms! They appear as the outpourings of a grateful heart before God for the glories of His creation, for succour in the hour of danger, -for deliverance from affliction,-for national privileges, and for anticipated salvation. There is an carnestness in many of them that lays hold upon our strongest sympathies; for (without speaking of their inspired and prophetic character) they may be truly said to spring from feelings which are natural to every man who is not utterly debased, and in the exercise of which generous tempers ever take delight. Sedgwick. PUNCTUALITY-Importance of. A singular mischance has occurred to some of our friends. At the instant when He ushered them into existence, God gave them a work to do, and He also gave them a competency of time; so much time, that if they began at the right moment, and wrought with sufficient vigour, their time and their work would end together. But, a good many years ago, a strange mischance befell them. A fragment of their allotted time was lost. They cannot tell what became of it; but sure enough it has dropped out of existence; for just like two measuring-lines laid alongside, the one an inch shorter than the other, their work and their time run parallel, but the work is always ten minutes behind the time. They are not irregular; they are never too soon. Their letters are posted the very minute after the mail is shut; they arrive at the wharf just in time to see the steamboat off; PUNCTUALITY. they come in sight of the depôt precisely when the train starts. They do not break any engagement, nor neglect any duty; but they systematically go about it too late, and usually too late by about the same fatal interval. How can they retrieve the lost fragment, so essential to character and comfort? Perhaps like this: Suppose that on some auspicious morning they contrived to rise a quarter of an hour before their usual time, and were ready for their morning worship fifteen minutes sooner than they have been for the last ten years; or, what will equally answer the end, suppose that for once they omitted their morning meal altogether, and went straight | out to the engagements of the day; suppose that they arrive at the class-room, or the workshop, or the place of business, fifteen minutes before their usual time, or that they forced themselves to the appointed rendezvous on the week-day, or to the sanctuary on the Sabbath-day, a quarter of an hour before their instinctive time of going-all would yet be well. This system carried out would bring the world and themselves to synchronize; they and the marching hours would come to keep step again, and, moving on in harmony, they would escape the jolting, fatigue, and awk wardness they used to feel when old father Time put the right foot foremost and they advanced the left their reputation would be retrieved, and friends, who at present fret, would begin to smile; their fortunes would be made; their satisfaction in their work would be doubled; and their influence over others, and their power for usefulness, would be unspeakably augmented. Dr. James Hamilton. PUNCTUALITY-Want of. Amongst other follies, Beau Brummell had that of choosing to be always too late for dinner. Wherever he was invited, he liked to be waited for. He thought it was a proof of his fashion and consequence; and the higher the rank of his entertainer, the later was the arrival of this impudent parcenu. The Marquis of Abercorn had for some time submitted to this oft-repeated trial of his patience, but | at length he would bear it no longer. Ac- 1 cordingly, one day, when he had invited Brummell to dine, he desired to have the dinner on the table punctually at the time appointed. The servants obeyed, and Brummell and the cheese arrived together. The wondering beau was desired by the master of the house to sit down. He vouchsafed no apology for what had happened, but coolly said, "I hope, Mr. B., cheese is not disagreeable to you." It is said that Brummell was never late at that house in future. Amelia Opie |