BATHING IN THE SEA. the six children, all cuddled together like a nest of birds, fast asleep. God having mercifully given them that blessed solace, after a day of terror and despair. The trawler took them on board, fed them with bread and cheese, and gladdened their despairing little hearts with a promise to take them home. Between three and four in the afternoon, a sloop was seen in the offing with a small boat astern. All eyes were turned towards it; the best spy glass in the town was rubbed again and again, and at last they made out it was the identical boat. The news flew through the town-the mothers ran almost frantic to the beach, for there were no children discerned in the boat; none to be seen in the sloop. Intense was the agony of suspense; and all alike shared it with the parents. At last the sloop came in, and the word went round "they're all safe." Many stout-hearted men burst into tears, and the mothers shrieked for joy and became almost frantic again with delight. It was indeed a memorable dayand a prayer, eloquent for its rough sincerity, was then offered up to Almighty God, who, in his infinite mercy, had spared these dear children from the perils and terrors of the sea during that fearful night. Five of these children were under five years of age, the sixth was but nine years old." Now were not these little folks in a perilous condition. How anxious their poor fathers and mothers were about them! Yes: and if young people only knew how distressed their parents are when they fear that their children are in any danger, they would be more careful to keep out of harm's way. From what I have said about the sea I dare say most of my little readers would like to see it. Well: they may some time, and it will be well if they do, should it impress upon their minds more fear and reverence of that Great and Almighty Being who holds all those mighty waters in the hollow of his hand! But I know of another sight more glorious than that of the sea, more wide and vast, and beautiful and magnificent. And it is one which all can see whether on the water or on the land. Men and boys -women and girls-can all see it, and they can see it without leaving home, both winter and summer, night and day. That sight is the heavens-shoreless, boundless, immeasurable-with sun, and moon, and stars, and planets, and comets, innumerable, all rolling in perfect order through unlimited space! David, on the mountain-sides of Judea, hundreds of years ago, sat and gazed at these, and as he gazed he wondered, until his thoughts, rising higher than them all, fixed on God who made them, and then his full heart burst forth in these exclamations of adoring admiration-"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" But I know of another sight far more glorious than any seas or skies afford. I wonder if you can guess what I mean. I dare say you think I mean that of God and happy saints and angels in the celestial world. Yes that is a far more glorious sight. But I do not mean that. I mean a sight once seen on BATHING IN THE SEA. earth and a sight which, when it was seen, did not seem glorious. It seemed a sad sight-an awful spectacle so sad and awful was it that when it took place the solid earth shook, and the old rocks rent, and the bright heavens became black with darkness— for there was hanging on a wooden cross, his body all stained with his own dripping blood-JESUS THE SON OF GOD. Ah! that was a sight, at which heaven might well wonder and earth be filled with astonishment, for never had such a sight been seen in all the wide universe before! Angels had never beheld or ever heard of such a scene. "Around the bloody tree They pressed with strong desire, But how, my young friends may ask, could such a dark and bloody scene be glorious? It was: for then the Son of God was dying for our sins. All men had sinned. Christ was now dying to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Now whosoever is sorry for his sin and turns away from it, and comes to God for pardoning mercy through Christ, will be forgiven and made happy for ever! Is not this glorious. My dear young reader! never let your attention be drawn off from the wondrous scene of Calvary, and the blood-stained cross of Jesus. Often, in imagination, visit that spot, and gaze at that spectacle. There sit down and think of Him who hung on that cross a bleeding suffering victim, hung there in pain and suffering for you, to take away your sin; and think of this again and again until you can, from a heart overflowing with gratitude, exclaim, "He loved ME, and gave himself for ME.' ELIZABETH KOWE AND HER SISTER. ALL our young friends, we may safely say, have heard of Dr. Isaac Watts, who wrote the "Divine Songs" for children, and those beautiful hymns we sing in all our places of worship, beside many other very good and useful books, for which his name is held, and ever will be, in high esteem and veneration. He lived in England about one hundred years ago. At the same time there were living in this country several other eminent men and women, who were much esteemed for their piety and talents. Of these none were more distinguished than Elizabeth Singer, who was afterwards married to Mr. Rowe, a young minister, who soon died, leaving Mrs. Rowe a widow in early life. Mrs. Rowe now devoted herself to serious meditations and contemplations on the love of God in Jesus Christ and the heavenly world, and having written down her thoughts on these sublime subjects, they were printed, and have since been reprinted many times. "Rowe's Meditations" may now be had of almost any bookseller for sixpence or eightpence, and we advise our young readers to save their money and buy a copy, if they have not one. It is a nice little book to take with you into your chamber, or when you walk in the fields alone on a summer evening. Dr. Watts and Miss Singer were on very friendly terms, and it was once supposed they would be united in marriage. But Miss S. is said to have remarked that she liked the jewel, but did not like the casket which contained it-Dr. Watts being, like the apostle Paul, a man whose bodily presence was weak. Hence the anecdote of a gentleman once exclaiming, when the Doctor was pointed out to him, "That little insignificant man the great Dr. Watts!" which being heard by Doctor, he turned round, and said, ELIZABETH ROWE AND HER SISTER. "Were I so tall to reach the pole, And grasp the ocean with my span, The mind's the stature of the man." The following letter will now be better understood by our young friends. ORIGINAL LETTER FROM DR. COLEMAN TO DR. WATTS. Boston, United States, May 7, 1739. REV. AND DEar Sir, Your favour of April 4th is before me, and the box containing Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Guyse's Paraphrases, for me and Mr. Cowper, together with the two vols. of Mrs. Rowe's works. We like the binding, and are greatly obliged to you for the care and trouble you have taken. I thank you for the pictures of Mrs Rowe. Her soul and face were both pleasant to me. I had in a manner lost the features, which I now perfectly remember. The account of her divine life, and walk with God, rises in my mind beyond my former ideas of her: her serenity, retirements, diligence, and abundant charities, are all wonderful. The Father's character is bright as the offspring's, and very just, according to all I saw in the two years of my acquaintance with him. He told me once that Philomela* was not to be compared with her mother. It pleased me to hear him so talk of his deceased wife, and so did the manner whereby providence began their acquaintance. He told me one forenoon as I rode out with him, that he had buried a younger sister of Philomela's, who was brighter and lovelier than she, and wrote as well in prose and poetry; but both of them together were not equal to their mother. After dinner, being alone with Miss Singer, (Mrs. Rowe's maiden name-this was in 1698,) I told her * Nightingale-The Poetical name of Mrs. Rowe. |