The Lawyer payd him an hundred pound From troubling poore men they would cease: "And thus I end my merry tale, Which shews the plain man's simplenesse, Mr Moore has not inserted any songs in his volumes, as most collectors of ballads have done. We cannot forbear adding a little piece not so well known as it deserves to be, called "ROSELYND'S MADRIGAL. "Love in my Bosom like a Bee Now with his wings he plays with me, Within my Eyes he makes his nest, His bed within my tender Breast. "And when I sleep, then percheth he And makes his pillow on my Knee, I strike the harp, he tunes the string, He music plays if so I sing, He gives me many a lovely thing, Whist, Wanton, still ye." Here is a little piece by Anastasius Grün, a German poet of the Swabian school, not without merit. We know not the name of the translator. "When will be poets weary, "When will your horn of plenty When every flower is gather'd, "As long as the sun's chariot ? Are gladdened with the view: "Long as the sky's loud thunder Is echoed from the hill, And, touched with dread and wonder, "And while, through melting tempest, "And long as night the ether With stars and planets sows, And man can read the meaning That in golden letters glows: "As long as shines the moon And the forest waves its branches "As long as blooms the spring, "And while the cypress dark, O'er the grave its head can shake, And while an eye can weep, "So long on earth shall live "And singing, all alone, "God holds his fair creation In his hand, a blooming rose, "But when the giant-flower And earth and sun, its blossoms, "Then ask the poet-then- WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. Memoir of William Ellery Channing; with Extracts from his Correspondence and Manuscripts. In three volumes. Boston. 1848. 12mo, pp. 427, 459, 494. It is now nearly six years since William Ellery Channing, ceasing to be mortal, passed on to his rest and his reward. We have waited impatiently for the publication of his memoirs, that we might "beg a hair of him for memory." They are now before us-three well-printed volumes, mainly filled up with his own writings, letters, extracts from journals, sermons, and various papers hitherto kept from the press. As a public speaker and a popular writer he was well known before; these volumes show us not merely the minister and the author, but the son, husband, father, and friend. If they reveal nothing new in his character, we have yet in them ample materials for ascertaining whence camo his influence and his power. What estimato shall we make of the man, and what losson draw from his lifo and works? These are matters worth considering, but, before answering the question, let us look a little at the opportunities afforded him by his profession. The Church and State are two conspicuous and important forms of popular action. The State is an institution which represents man in his relations with man ;-the Church, man in his relations with man and God. These institutions, varying in their modifications, have always been and must be,-as they represent two modes of action that are constant in the human race, and come from the imperishable nature of man. In each of these modes of action, the people have their servants,-politicians, the servants of the State, and clergymen, the servants of the Church. Now the clergyman may be a priest, or a minister-the choice depending on his character and ability. Tho samo distinctions are noticeable in the servants of the State, where we have the pricst of politics and the minister of politics. We will pass over the priest. The business of the minister is to become a spiritual guide to men, to instruct by his wisdom, elevate by his goodness, refine and strengthen by his piety, to inspire by his whole soul-to serve and to lead by going before them all his days with all his life, a pillar of cloud by day, of fire by night. The good shepherd giveth his life to his sheep as well as for them. The minister aims to be, to do, and to suffer, in special for his own particular parish, but also and in general for mankind at large. He proposes for himself this end: the elevation of mankind,-their physical elevation to health, comfort, abundance, skill, and beauty; their intellectual elevation to thought, refinement, and wisdom; their moral and religious elevation to goodness and piety, till they all become sons of God also, and prophets. However, his direct and main business is to promote the spiritual growth of men, helping them to love one another, and to love God. Ilis means to this end are, in general, the common weapons of the Church. To him the Sunday is a high day, for it is the great day of work, when he comes into close relations with men, to instruct the mind, to warn in the name of conscience, gently arousing the affections, kindling the religious emotions, and so continuing his Father's work; the meeting-house, chapel, or church, is the great place for his work, and so, like the Sunday, it is holy, to him ;-both invested with a certain sanctity, as to the pious farmer or the smith, the plough or the hammer seems a sacred thing. The Bible, the service-books, the traditions he appeals to, the sacramental ordinances he uses, all are means, but not ends, helps to whom they help, but nothing more, their sanctity derivative, not of them but of the use they serve. In our day, the press offers him its aid, and stands ready to distribute his thought among the millions of mankind. By means of that he gradually gets beyond the bounds of his parish, rural or metropolitan, and if God has so gifted him, has whole nations for his audience, and, long after his death, his word will circulate among the nations-a word of power and blessedness. The minister finds a certain respect paid to the clergyman. This is not a thing that is new, but old, hallowed, and slowly fading out of the consciousness of the nations. This traditional respect gives him a certain position and influence, and enables him at once to anticipate and claim a place which is granted to other classes of men only as the result of long life and faithful work. He finds a pulpit erected for him, an audience gathered, respectful and disposed to listen and gratefully to receive whatever good he has to offer. While the priest uses this position and truditional respect to elevate himself, to take his ease in his inn-to keep men still, the minister uses it to help men forward; not to elevate himself, but them. The pulpit is his place to stand on and move the world. It is not to be denied that even now, in incredulous America, the calling of a clergyman gives a man a good opportunity for power, for a real, serious, and lasting influence, or it gives him the best chance for a sleep, silent and undisturbed, and deep and long. |