.-...,....,_._.....m.—.....‘., _

 

 

 

 

LETTERS FROM QUIETSIDE. 7 5

 

 

LETTERS FROM QUIETSIDE.
111.
G . . . ., June.

Y dear M. . . . :—Life! What
is it ‘9 \Vhat a field of thought
Opens to the contemplative observer
01' his inner and outer existence. A
merely casual locker-on must feel
that “we are fearfully and wonder-
£ully made,” and the inquiry arises,
What are we? whence are we? and
Whither are we going?” \Ve are
00nscious of physical and intellectual
90nstruction, of which no perfect im-
ltation, or even a good resemblance,
has been made. True, the mechan-
lsm of animal bodies has furnished
models to the curious machinist, and
to the devotees of arts and science;
but how far short do they fall of the
Perfectness of design, the beautiful
Proportions, and the exquisite finish
Which distinguish all the works of the
Grand Architect of Nature.
“What’s yet in this, that bears
the name of life? ” Every thing that
rfleets the eye, from the most majes-
i310. the tiniest, is teeming with the
Spirit of growth and motion ; this we
call life. Involved in its mysterious
fimnities, is the “article of Death.”
In this life are hid more thousand
Baths; and this, we fear, that makes
the odds all even.” '
. Then man, so beautifully formed
"1 the image of his Creator— so won-
fiel‘ful in faculties, in comprehension,
In aspiration “so like a god,” has in
“atllfe “hid more thousand deaths.”
. h Innate principle, continually driv-
mg life’s machinery, till this “ sensible
Warm motion becomes a kneaded cold,
and the delighted spirit” looks out
upqn the immense unknown, and
sln‘xnkingly clings to life as an expe-
I'leneed evil, rather than to launch
apon the bleak uncertainty of death,
_ t'0 go, we know not where; to lie
311 cold obstruction and to rot.” This
18 the shrinking of humanity from that
great change called Death; and it is
8 natural dread.
But in every reflecting mind there

 

is a compensating principle, a “ pleas-
ing hope, a fond desire, a longing af-
ter immortality.” In confirmation of
this instinct— this innate conviction
derived from inanimate life, our Fa-
ther has revealed to us “ the resur-
rection of the body, and the life
everlasting.” In the death, resurrec-
tion, and ascension of Jesus Christ,
“ life and immortality are brought to
light,” and “Heaven is all lavish of
strange gifts to man.” While all the
glory belongs to God, “man’s is the
boundless bliss.”

Man has been called “a religious
animal; ” the constitution of his mind
inclines him to serious contemplation;
but his “ thoughts roam in conjecture
forlorn” until they are illuminated
by the divine ray of revelation; this
lights them to the source of hope and
joy, and gives the assurance that it
shall be well with the righteous.

My thoughts have recently dwelt
upon the conflicting exhibitions of
men’s religious feelings, as influencing
their ambitious projects; like those
of Clovis, the founder of the Mero-
vingian dynasty in France, and the
Emperor Charles V., whose dark no-
tions of religion induced the fear of
death, which he sought to obviate by
self-inflicted penance and religious
seclusion in a Spanish monastery.

The graphic description of this
event by Doct. Robertson, has always
excited my imagination to a gloom;
having considered it one of the most
remarkable acts of self abnegation that
the world has ever seen, an extrava-
gant and romantic interest took pos-
session of my infancy.

The greatest monarch of the six-
teenth century — the sovereign of
central and peninsular Europe — em-
inent in all that constitutes the great-
ness of great men in public life,
abdicating thrones for religious retire-
ment, presented a rare and imposmg
spectacle to an admiring world-

In all scenery it is perhap true,
that “distance lends enchantment to
the view.” This is particularly true
of the “ Cloister Life of Charles V.”

7

A