seeth thee: 6. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' Stanzas.-Watts. 'Oh! wash my soul from every sin, Remorse, Self-reproach, Horror, and Despair. 'Aspirated Pectoral Quality,' 'Vanishing Stress,' 'Low' Pitch, Prevalent 'Falling Inflection,' 'Slowest Movement,' Long Pauses, Strong Emphasis. Adam's Emotions in Retrospection and Anticipation.-Milton. But say That death be not one stroke, as I supposed, Bereaving sense, but endless misery From this day onward, which I feel begun Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution Not I on my part single, in me all Posterity stands cursed:-fair patrimony That I must leave ye, sons! Oh! were I able So disinherited how would ye bless Me, now your curse! Ah! why should all mankind Not to do only, but to will the same With me? How can they then acquitted stand And reasoning, though through mazes, lead me still On me, me only, as the source and spring So might the wrath! Fond wish! Couldst thou support And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which 'Expression' as before. The Sinner expiring in conscious Guilt and Horror.-Massillon. 'Alas! the dying man had lived as if the body had formed his only being and treasure; he had even tried to persuade himself that his soul was nothing: that man is only a composition of flesh and blood, and that everything perishes with us. He is now informed that it is his body which is nothing but a morsel of clay, now on the point of crumbling into pieces; and that his only immortal being is that soul, that image of the Divinity, that intelligence, alone capable of knowing and loving its Creator, which now prepares to quit its earthly mansion, and appear before his awful tribunal. Then, the expiring sinner, no longer finding in the remembrance of the past, but regrets which overwhelm him; in all which takes place around him, but images which afflict him; in the thoughts of futurity, but horrors which appal him; no longer knowing to whom to have recourse; neither to created beings, who now leave him; nor to the world, which vanishes; nor to men, who cannot save him from death; nor to the just God, whom he looks upon as a declared enemy, and from whom he has no indulgence to expect: a thousand horrors occupy his thoughts; he torments, he agitates himself, in order to fly from death which grasps him, or at least to fly from himself. From his expiring eyes issue something, I know not what, of dark and gloomy, which expresses the fury of his soul; in his anguish, he utters words interrupted by sobs, which are unintelligible, and to which others know not whether repentance or despair gives birth. He is seized with convulsions, which they are ignorant whether to ascribe to the actual dissolution of his body, or to the soul which feels the approach of its Judge. He deeply sighs; and they know not whether the remembrance of his past crimes, or the despair at quitting life, forces from him such groans of anguish. At last, in the midst of these melancholy exertions, his eyes fix, his features change, his countenance becomes disfigured, his livid lips convulsively separate; his whole frame quivers; and, by this last effort, his miserable soul tears itself reluctantly from that body of clay, falls into the hands of its God, and finds itself alone at the foot of the awful tribunal.' Joy. 'Orotund Quality,' Full Force, rising to 'Impassioned,'-' Expulsive Radical Stress,' Pitch, from Middle' to 'High,'-Prevalent 'Falling Inflection,' 'Lively Movement,' Pauses short, Emphasis bold. 6 Isaiah XII. V. 1. O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4. And in that day shall ye say, "Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. " 'Expression' as before, but moderated. Hymn.-Watts. 'Joy to the world-the Lord is come! 'Joy to the world—the Saviour reigns, 'No more let sin and sorrow grow, He rules the world with truth and grace, The glories of his righteousness, 'Expression' as before, but moderated. The Dying Believer.-Buckminster. 'Oh! that I could open to you the recesses of the dying believer's soul; that I could reveal to you the light which darts into the chambers of his understanding. He approaches the world which he has so long seen in faith. The imagination now collects its diminished'strength; and the eye of faith opens wide. 6 Friends! do not stand, thus fixed in sorrow, around this bed of death. Why are you so still and silent? Fear not to move-you cannot disturb the last visions which entrance this holy spirit. Your lamentations break not in upon the songs of seraphs, which enwrap his hearing in ecstasy. Crowd, if you choose, around his couch-he heeds you not-already he sees the spirits of the just advancing together, to receive a kindred soul. Press him not with importunities; urge him not with alleviations. Think you he wants now these tones of mortal voices, these material, these gross consolations? No! He is going to add another to the myriads of the just,. that are every moment crowding into the portals of heaven!" Happiness. 'Quality' rising from 'Pure Tone' to 'Orotund,'-Force 'Moderate,” 'Median Stress,' gently expulsive,-Pitch, 'Middle' to 'High,'-Varied! but moderate Inflection,-Movement, Pauses, and Emphasis, Moderate. Stanzas.-Watts. 'There is a stream, whose gentle flow Life, love, and joy, still gliding through, 'That sacred stream-thy holy word,- Sweet peace thy promises afford, And give new strength to fainting souls.' Expression' as in the preceding example, but fuller, deeper, and stronger in degree. Extracts from Psalms XXXVI and LXV. V. 5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. 7. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.' |