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    found his lamp burnt out , the embers of his fire extinguished , his bowl of water upset within his xeach , and his glazed eyes unclosed in death . What were his latest prayers ? If he uttered from the abundance of his heart , they were for such things as the dreariness within and without would suggest ;—

    for help and mercy from God , shewn through the offices of a human hand , the light of a human eye , the whisperings of a human voice , O ! may he not , in an unwise endeavour to anticipate the peace of hereafter , have marred that peace !

    Not less watchful , and far more diligent , will be the devotion of those who are this day passing their'irrevocable vow to serve God in their household with a perfect heart . By the vigour with which they will attempt the performance of untried duties , by the reverence which they will be seen to entertain for each others' aims and powers , by the jealous guarding of each other which that reverence must prompt , by their unconscious manifestation

    to society that they are under a solemn sense of responsibility and a serene enjoyment of spiritual blessings , they will glorify God in instructing man By the new soul that shines through their eyes , and the diffusive tenderness which flows from their presence , by the images of repose which their mutual confidence exhibits , they will give life and stability to our conceptions of what peace on earth may be . By the growing vividness of their

    emotions , they will be ever learning more of the capabilities of the spirit , while the full exercise of these capabilities will be ensured by the conjunction of their deepened sympathies for man with their mutual reference of all they have and hope for to God . By doing and bearing all things for each other , they will learn a better endurance than religious ambition or enthusiasm ever sustained , and a higher zeal than has ever animated an unbidden and

    aimless service . Whether they are seen refreshing themselves in the evening sunshine after the toils of the day , or the centre of a society on which they shed perpetual blessing , or suffering together in dignified patience under the chastisements of their Father , or bearing testimony in his temple to the fulness of his benignity , while , in all changes , they identify the interests of humanity with their own , they cannot but shew how they have been

    educated by God himself to an obedience to his two great commandments . To those vi ho know them as I know them , they appear already possessed of an experience in comparison with which it would appear little to have looked abroad from the Andes , or explored the treasure-caves of the deep , or to have conversed with every nation under heaven . If they could see all that the eyes of the firmament look upon , and hear all the whispered secrets

    that the roving winds bear in their bosoms , they could learn but little new ; for the deepest mysteries are those of human love , and the vastest knowledge is that of the human heart . It must be so ; for by the one is revealed all that the affections can learn of Deity ; and in the other are its highest workings displayed . Why else did Christ refer thither all his teachings and his appeals to be heard and credited ? If it were not so—if he had sought the

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    Sabbath Musings . 769

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 769, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/45/