LESSON XLI.

REMARK. When anything very solemn or devotional is to be read, there should be a full, solemn tone of voice; the piece should be read slowly, and long pauses should be made at the commas.

PRONOUNCE correctly. -Angels (pro. ane-gels), not ann-gels: ommanded, not cum-man-ded: mountains (pro. mount-ins), not mount ancs: ex-cel-lent, not ex-cel-lunt.

2. Drag'-on, n, a kind of winged serpent, Horn, n. here used figuratively for here used for all kinds of serpents.

power.

1.

2.

JOYOUS DEVOTION.

PRAISE ye the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the hights.
ye

Praise ye him, all his angels:

Praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon:
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord:

For he commanded, and they were created.

He hath also established them forever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass.

Praise the Lord from the earth,

Ye dragons, and all deeps:

vapors;

Fire, and hail; snow, and +
+Stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills;

+Fruitful trees, and all cedars ;

Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and flying fowl:

Kings of the earth, and all people;
Princes, and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children:

Let them praise the name of the Lord:
For his name alone is excellent;

+

His glory is above the earth and heaven.

He also exalteth the horn of his people,

The praise of all his saints,

Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.
Praise ye the Lord!

BIBLE.

QUESTIONS.-What is meant by calling upon things inanimate, and upon brutes, to praise God? What reason is assigned why God should be universally praised?

ARTICULATION.

Swell, spread, sprawling, drawling, scroll, scruples.

The leaves swell and spread in all directions. No sprawling nor drawling. Scruples of delicacy caused him to shrink. The death shroud fell upon the shrine of his idolatry.

LESSON XLII. '

PRONOUNCE Correctly-Ere, pro. a-er: roof, not ruff: an-thems, not an-thums: of-fer'd, not of-fud: àn-cient, not ann-cient: a-dore, not ud-ore: on-ly, not un-ly: col-umns, pro. col-lums: cen-tu-ry, not cen-ter-y.

51. Wells, v. issues forth as water from the earth.

58. An-ni'-hi-la-ted, p. reduced to nothing.

61. Cor'-o-nal, n. a crown, a wreath. 63. Glare, n. a bright, dazzling light. 67. Em-a-na'-tion, n. that which proceeds from any source. 86. Arch, a. chief, principal. 115. El-e-ments, n. in popular languaga fire, air, earth, and water.

GOD'S FIRST TEMPLES.

1. THE groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,

And spread the roof above them,-ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back

5. The sound of anthems,-in the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication. For his simple heart
Might not resist the sacred influences,
10. That, from the stilly twilight of the place,
And from the gray old trunks, that high in heaven
Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound
Of the invisible breath, that swayed at once
All their green tops, stole over them, and bowed
15. His spirit, with the thought of boundless Power
And inaccessible Majesty. Ah, why

Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs

20. That + our frail hands have raised! Let me, at least
Here, in the shadow of this aged wood,
Offer one hymn; thrice happy, if it find
Acceptance in His ear.

Father, thy hand

Hath reared these venerable columns. Thou 25. Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose

All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze, And shot toward heaven. The century-living crow, 30. Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died Among their branches; till, at last, they stood, As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark, Fit shrine for humble worshiper to hold Communion with his Maker. Here are seen 35. No traces of man's pomp, or pride; no silks Rustle, no jewels shine, nor envious eyes +Encounter; no fantastic carvings show The boast of our vain race to change the form Of thy fair works. But thou art here; thou fill'st 40 The solitude. Thou art in the soft winds, That run along the summits of these trees In music; thou art in the cooler breath, That, from the inmost darkness of the place, Comes, scarcely felt; the barky trunks, the ground, 45. The fresh, moist ground, are all instinct with thee. Here is continual worship; nature, here, In the tranquillity that thou dost love, Enjoys thy presence. Noiselessly, around, From perch to perch, the solitary bird

50. Passes; and yon clear spring, that, 'mid its herbs, Wells softly forth, and visits the strong roots Of half the mighty forest, tells no tale

Of all the good it does. Thou hast not left Thyself without a witness, in these shades, 55. Of thy perfections. Grandeur, strength, and grace, Are here to speak of thee. This mighty oak, By whose immovable stem I stand, and seem Almost annihilated, not a prince,

In all the proud old world beyond the deep, 60. E'er wore his crown as loftily as he

+

Wears the green coronal of leaves, with which
Thy hand has graced him. Nestled at his root
Is beauty, such as blooms not in the glare

Of the broad sun. That delicate forest flower
65. With scented breath, and look so like a smile,
Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mold;
An emanation of the indwelling Life,

+

A visible token of the upholding Love,
That are the soul of this wide universe.
70. My heart is awed within me, when I think
Of the great miracle that still goes on,
In silence, round me; the perpetual work
Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed
Forever. Written on thy works, I read
75. The lesson of thy own eternity.

Lo! all grow old and die: but see, again,
How on the faltering footsteps of decay
Youth presses, ever gay and beautiful youth,
In all its beautiful forms. These lofty trees
80. Wave not less proudly than their ancestors

Molder beneath them. O, there is not lost
One of earth's charms: upon her bosom yet,
After the flight of untold centuries,
The freshness of her far beginning lies,
85. And yet shall lie. Life mocks the idle hate
Of his arch enemy, Death; yea, seats himself
Upon the sepulcher, and blooms and smiles;
And of the triumphs of his ghastly foe

Makes his own nourishment. For he came forth 90. From thine own bosom, and shall have no end. There have been holy men, who hid themselves Deep in the woody wilderness, and gave

Their lives to thought and prayer, till they outlived
The generation born with them, nor seemed

95. Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks
Around them; and there have been holy men,

Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus.
But let me often to these + solitudes
Retire, and in thy presence, reässure
100. My feeble virtue. Here, its enemies,

The passions, at thy plainer footsteps, shrink,
And tremble, and are still. O God! when thou
Dost scare the world with tempests, set on fire
The heavens with falling thunderbolts, or fill
105. With all the waters of the firmament,

The swift, dark whirlwind, that uproots the woods
And drowns the villages; when, at thy call,
Uprises the great deep, and throws himself
Upon the continent, and overwhelms
110 Its cities; who forgets not, at the sight
Of these tremendous tokens of thy power,
His pride, and lays his strifes and follies by?
O, from these sterner aspects of thy face
Spare me and mine; nor let us need the wrath
115. Of the mad, unchained elements, to teach
Who rules them. Be it ours to meditate,

In these calm shades, thy milder majesty,
And to the beautiful order of thy works,
Learn to conform the order of our lives.

+

W. C. BRYANT.

QUESTIONS.-What are the most ancient temples of worship? What meditations become the forest scenes? How are the forests a witness for God? (See line 55 and onward.) What is the poetic measure of this piece?

Parse "stole," in the 14th line. "Shrine," in the 33d line. "Encounter," in the 37th. "Oak," in the 56th. Parse "be," the first word of the last sentence in the lesson. Parse "majesty," in the same sentence. Which are the adjectives in this sentence? Which are the prepositions? What in a preposition? Why are they so called?

ARTICULATION.

Struggl'd, strict, strode, strolld, clock, strikes.

They struggl'd through all difficulties. The rules are unnecessarily strict. He strode proudly on. They stroll'd through thickets, and briars, and brambles, and thorns, till they reached the road. The clock strikes twelve.