Page images
PDF
EPUB

cuous is the wisdom of God in the management of men in fubordinating fome under the fupremacy of others. If this had not been the cafe, all had been anarchy and confufion: It is therefore of abfolute neceffity, in this imperfect state of things, that there fhould be power and authority, and fuperiors as well as inferiors, that the great chain of human fociety may hang as it were by links in uniformity together, and the greatest as well as the leaft be dependant on one another for mutual fupport for if all the lower links of a perpendicular chain were cut off from the higheft, there would then be no chain; and if, on the other hand, the highest were cut off, the others would fall to the ground: juft fo would it be in human fociety. How much reafon have men then to adore the Creator of all for his infinitely wife difpofal of human affairs!

CONTEMPLATION XIII.

ON OBSERVING A

SWALLOW.

WELCOME, fweet harbinger of fum

mer! Quick as an arrow newly

launched from the bow of an Indian thou

flieft along. Terrible as the war-hoop founds in the favage ear, no lefs fo doth thy fhrill, or twittering note to that of the infect tribe, which thou now pursueft thro' the air with open mouth.

By whom waft thou awakened from thy long repofe; or rather advertised in dif

If then every thing be beautiful in its feafon, and we are pleased to fee thefe birds of paffage in this joyous time of the year again revifit our land, how incomparably more delightful is it to fee in the springtime of childhood and youth, men coming to, and attending on the ordinances of the gofpel, improving the precious feasons of grace !

The fwallow, as it were knowing that her stay in this island must not be long, is willing to make the most of her time, fo fkims the air with active wing in pursuit of her food, and performs the other functions, for which fhe came, with alacrity: And fhall man, who was fent into this world for bufinefs of an infinitely greater importance, trifle away in indolence his fhort time, and neglect the things that belong to his everlasting peace?

The fwallow chiefly pursues and lives upon food which it gathers in the ærial heaven; fuch as the beetle and gnat; and if at any time fhe is forced to peck from the earth, it is more through necessity than choice: fo every believer mainly feeks

after celestial things; fpiritual and heavenly enjoyments are these in which he chiefly delights, and thefe alone are the food of his foul, though through neceffity he is obliged in part to care for the things of this life.

When this bird is obferved to fly near the earth in purfuit of infects, it is accounted a fign of dark and rainy weather, but on the contrary when pursuing them high in the air, it is an indication of fettled and clear. Just so when a believer beginneth to fet his affection on things of the earth, and delighteth in carnal enjoyments; it is a token that heavy clouds of darkness, and fhowers of afflictions and croffes, will inevitably ensue: whereas, on the other hand, when he fetteth his affections on things bove, not on things on the earth, Col. iii. 2. it evidences to himself, and all who know his frame, that his fky is clear, and fhall brighten more and more, till at length he fhall enjoy a perfect ferenity above.

The swallow feems to delight in the fociety of man, by its building and hatching about his habitation, on the chimnies of

X

1

« PreviousContinue »