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COMMENTARIES ON THE BIBLE.

2 To Bristol's fount I bore, with trembling care,

Her faded form: she bowed to taste the wave, 3 And died. Does youth, does beauty, read the line? Does sympathetic fear their breast alarm?

4 Speak! dead Maria! breathe a strain divine:

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Ev'n from the grave thou shalt have power to charm.

5 Bid them be chaste, be innocent, like thee; Bid them in duty's sphere as meekly move; And, if as fair, from vanity as free:

As firm in friendship, and as fond in love. 6 Tell them, though 'tis an awful thing to die,

('Twas ev'n to thee,) yet, the dread path once trod, Heaven lifts its everlasting portals high,

And bids the "pure in heart behold their God."

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define best, gift, fount, bore, bowed, sympathetic, duty's sphere, (sphere of duty,) meekly, vanity, free, firm, fond, awful, dread, path, trod, everlasting, portals, high.

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SECT. CLXXXIII.-COMMENTARIES ON THE BIBLE.

RICA having been to visit the library of a French convent, writes thus to his friend in Persia concerning what had 2 passed. Father, said I to the librarian, what are these huge 3 volumes which fill the whole side of the library? These, 4 said he, are the Interpreters of the scriptures. There is a prodigious number of them, replied I": the scriptures must have been very dark formerly, and very clear at present". 5 Do there remain still any doubts? are there now any points 6 contested?-Are there? answered he, with surprise; are 7 there? There are almost as many as there are lines. 8 You astonish me, said I: what then have all these authors been 9 doing? These authors, returned he, never searched the scriptures for what ought to be believed, but for what they 10 did believe themselves. They did not consider them as a book, wherein were contained the doctrines which they ought to receive, but as a work which might be made to authorize 11 their own ideas. For this reason, they corrupted all the meanings, and have put every passage to the torture, to make 12 it speak their own sense. 'Tis a country whereon people of all sects make invasions, and go for pillage: it is a field of

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battle, where, when hostile nations meet, they engage, attack. and skirmish in a thousand different ways.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define library, French, convent, writes, thus, Persia, concerning, passed, (i. e. between the librarian and himself on that Occasion,) father, (not really a father, but applied as we apply it, as well as uncle to old men not related to us,) volumes, whole side, (whole one side,) interpreters, scriptures, (Bible,) prodigious, dark, (difficult to understand,) clear, at present, doubts, points, (questions?) contested, surprise, lines, astonish, authors, wherein, authorize, passage, torture, sense, invasions, pillage, hostile, attack, skirmish, different, ways.

SECT. CLXXXIV.-MASSACHUSETTS.

1 MR. PRESIDENT, I shall enter on no encomium upon Mas2 sachusetts'; she needs none. There she is ́; behold her and 3 judge for yourselves. There is her history: the world knows 4 it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. 5 There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker's Hill; and 6 there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, fallen in the great struggle for independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every state, from New England to Georgia; and there they will lie forever.

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And, sir, where American liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood, and full of its original 8 spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it, if folly and madness, if uneasiness, under salutary and necessary restraint, shall succeed to separate it from that union, by which alone its existence is made sure, it will stand in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked'; it will stretch forth its arm with whatever of vigor it may still retain, over the friends who gather round it; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of its origin.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Mr. President-one who presides over; here, the Senate of the United States. Define encomium, Massachusetts, knows it by heart, (has committed it to memory,) Boston, Concord, Lexington, Bunker's Hill, bones, struggle, independence, mingled, soil, American liberty, (our liberty as Americans: has liberty a voice? or is it here spoken of as if a person?) nurtured, sustained, manhood, original, discord, disunion, wound, party strife, blind ambition, hawk at, madness, uneasiness, salutary, restraint, cradle, infancy, rocked, monuments.

PRAYER FOR ZION S INCREASE.

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SECT. CLXXXV.—NATHAN'S PARABLE.

AND the Lord sent Nathan unto David; and he went unto him and said unto him,

"There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the 2 other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought, and nourished up; and it grew up together with him, and with his children: it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

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"And there came a traveller unto the rich man; and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come unto him."

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan,

"As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die; and he shall restore the lamb four-fold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

And Nathan said unto David, "Thou art the man."

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define exceeding, (exceedingly,) flocks, herds, ewe, lamb, bought, nourish, cup, (the cup? or what was in it?) bosom, traveller, dress, (what other meaning has this word?) wayfaring, anger, David, kindled, (as if a fire?) as, (as sure as?) restore, fourfold.

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SECT. CLXXXVI.-PRAYER FOR ZION'S INCREASE

ARM of the Lord, awake! awake!

Put on thy strength; the nations shake;
And let the world, adoring, see
Triumphs of mercy wrought by thee.

Say to the heathen, from thy throne,
"I am Jehovah God alone."
Thy voice their idols shall confound,
And cast their altars to the ground.

No more let human blood be spilt,
(Vain sacrifice for human guilt'!)
But to each conscience be applied,
The blood that flowed from Jesus' side.

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STEAM NAVIGATION ON LAKE ONTARIO.

Almighty God, thy grace proclaim,
In every land, of every name:

Let adverse powers before thee fall,

And crown the Saviour: LORD OF ALL.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Has the Lord an arm? or is he a Spirit, without "flesh and bones as ye see me have?" Define adoring, (while adoring?) triumphs, (victories: causes of triumphs,) heathen, idols, confound, altars, spilt, vain, (useless,) sacrifice, blood, (the sweet hope inspired by the blood, &c.,) side, (where the spear entered,) proclaim, adverse, Lord, (as Lord.)

SECT. CXXXVII.-HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION ON LAKE ONTARIO.

1 THE rapid increase and general improvement in the commercial marine of the lakes, impart a high degree of interest to every thing relating to the early history and progress of our steam navigation. We have therefore collected the facts 2 and compiled the following table, showing the names, tonnage, and captains of all the American steamers which have navigated Lake Ontario, since the first introduction of steam 3 here in 1816. In that year the first steamboat, the Ontario, was built at Sackett's Harbor, and commenced running in the spring of 1817. She was the first steamer built on the 4 Western Lakes, and ran from Ogdensburg to Lewiston: making the trip in 10 days, charging $15 for cabin passage, 5 and continuing to run until the year 1831. Her engine was made by Mr. J. P. Allaire, of the city of New York. Gen. 6 Jacob Brown, Com. M. T. Woolsey, Hooker & Crane, Charles Smyth, Erie Lusher, and Elisha Camp, were the proprietors of the Ontario. Her construction, as the first vessel pro7 pelled by steam built west of the Hudson, and the first sea vessel of the kind we believe ever built in this country, was considered an experiment and an enterprise, at that time, of the first magnitude. She left Sackett's Harbor early in the 8 spring of 1817 on her first trip, and reached Oswego the same day; where she was received by the people with extravagant demonstrations: such as the firing of cannon and most enthusiastic greetings. Many of the people of Oswego 9 continued their rejoicings all night and till the boat left the 10 next day. It was a wonderful occasion, and one that com

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STEAL NAVIGATION ON LAKE ONTARIO.

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manded the admiration and engrossed the attention of the people.

On the morning of the second day of her trip the Ontario left Oswego and reached Genesee river in the evening; where she remained till the next day; when she proceeded on her 12 way up the lake. Soon after leaving the river, she encountered a northeast blow which raised a considerable sea. 13 Like all steamers previously built, her shaft on which the wheels revolved was confined to the boxes in which it run by its own weight only. The action of the sea upon her 14 wheels soon lifted the shaft from its bed; so that the wheelhouses were instantly torn to pieces: utterly demolished by the wheels with a tremendous crash: doing considerable damage to the wheels. Upon this disaster, the steamer put 15 about, and with the aid of canvass, returned to Sackett's Harbor to repair damages and secure her shaft.

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The next steamer on Lake Ontario was built by the Cana17 dians in 1817, and was called the Frontinac. She was a vessel of 700 tons, and had her engine imported from England.

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The Sophia of 75 tons was built at Sackett's Harbor in 19 1818 to run between that place and Kingston. In the same year, the first steamer on Lake Erie, the Walk-in-the-Water, was built. In 1823 the Martha Ogden was built at Sackett's 20 Harbor, under the direction and control of the late Albert Crane, Esq., of Oswego, and in connection with the Ontario, formed the line of American steamers down to 1830; tc which time, the lake steamers were considered an experiment. 21 They had no regular day for leaving port, but made their trips conform to the appearance of the weather. The boat, 22 building at French Creek for the Ontario Company, nearly ready to launch, will be much superior in dimensions and style of fitting up, to any boat on the lake.

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List of American steamboats built and running on Lake Ontario, since their first introduction in 1816:

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