Night.
The sun is setting in the west! It seems to go down behind the hills. Darkness is creeping over the valleys. The birds have ceased their song, and are gathering into the forest or the thick branches of the trees.
The hen has gone to her shelter, and gathered her chickens under her wing. The flies and gnats and butterflies are gone to their rest. The cows and sheep have lain down to their repose.
Stillness seems to have come over the world. The sun has set. It is dark. It is getting chill and damp. It is night.
Do you see those little shining points in the sky? What are they? We call them stars, but they are worlds far away, and probably they are covered with trees, and hills, and rivers, and cities, and people.
We cannot go to them, nor can any one come from them to tell us about them. They are God’s worlds, and they are no doubt as useful as they are beautiful.
How wonderful is night! How fearful would it be if it were to last forever! But we know that the sun will come to-morrow, to give us its cheerful light and heat. Let us go to rest, then, for night is made for sleep.
But let us first think of that great and good Being, who has made all these wonders of nature. Let us put our trust in Him. In his care we are safe. But we must ask his protection, and seek his forgiveness for all our faults.
Oh, how fearful would it be if there were no God! How sad would it be, if God were not our friend! How sad would it be, if we were to be unkind to others, and to feel that He might not be kind to us! How sad would it be, if we were so wicked as to feel afraid of Him, the best and kindest of all beings!
This would indeed be dreadful. But we may all be good if we try to be so. Even if we have done wrong, we may go to Him, and ask his forgiveness; and if we ask sincerely, He will not refuse it.
Did you never disobey your father or mother, and, having done so, have you not begged their pardon? And, having done this, have you not been forgiven? And is not this forgiveness pleasant to the heart? Let me tell you, that God is as ready to be kind and forgiving to his children, as parents are to be so to theirs.
Let no fear of God, then, prevent your loving Him, praying to Him, or asking his forgiveness. The more you have sinned, the more careful you should be to look up to Him, and pray to Him, and ask his counsel and pardon. Those who have been most wicked, have most reason to love God; for his kindness is great enough to pardon even them.
Hogg’s Father.—The father of the poet Hogg, the famous Ettrick Shepherd of Scotland, was a man of peculiar character in one respect—he never would confess or allow that he could be beaten or defeated in anything. One wintry day, he and his son were out on a hill during a snow-storm, looking after the safety of the sheep, when, the old man having inadvertently gone too near the brow, the snow gave way, and he was precipitated to the bottom. The Shepherd, alarmed for the safety of his father, looked down the side of the hill, and not only saw him standing on his feet seemingly, unhurt, but he heard him crying, at the top of his voice, “Jamie, my man, ye were aye fond of a slide a’ ye’re days; let me see you do that!” The above expression displayed his self-esteem; he wished to pass the accident off upon his son for a feat. On another occasion, having slipped his foot on going up a hill, and fallen prostrate on his nose, he said to an individual accompanying him, “Eh, I think I had like to have fallen!” Once an unruly mare having run away with him, a group of men observed him rush past with a face of great concern and fear; but when the beast had exhausted its strength, and allowed itself to be once more guided by the rein, Mr. Hogg came back, making a great show of mastery over it, and muttering, so as to be heard by the bystanders, “I think I hae sobered her!”
A certain physician at sea made great use of sea-water among his patients. Whatever disease came on, a dose of the nauseating liquid was first administered. In process of time the Doctor fell overboard. A great bustle consequently ensued on board, in the midst of which the captain came up and inquired the cause. “O, nothing, sir,” answered a tar, “only the Doctor has fallen into his medicine-chest.”
Queen Elizabeth on Horseback.