7. "Oh thou, whose power o'er moving worlds presides, Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, From thee, Great God! we spring, to thee we tend, To thee, our guide, original and end." Motto to Rambler, No. 7. surrounded by inTwo sons and His son Edward daughter, Ethel 8. Alfred was happy in being telligent and amiable children. three daughters survived him. succeeded him as king, and his fleda, was accounted the wisest woman in England. Alfred's last instructions to his son and suc. cessor deserve to be remembered, and with them will be concluded this brief history of one of the best and wisest men that ever lived. 9. "My dear son, sit thou now beside me, and I will deliver thee true instruction. My son, I feel that my hour is coming. My days are almost done. We must now part. I shall go to another world, and thou wilt be left in all my wealth, I pray thee (for thou art my dear child) strive to be a father and a lord to thy people. Be thou the children's father and the widow's friend. Comfort thou the poor, and shelter the weak; and with all thy might, right that which is wrong. And, son, govern thyself by law, then shall the Lord love thee, and God above all things be thy reward. Call thou upon him to counsel thee in thy need, and so shall he help thee the better to compass what thou wouldst have." Alfred desired that all freemen might enjoy the benefits of education. In his time, the labouring people and mechanics in England and all over Europe, were slaves. It would have been an act of mercy had he endeavoured to alter the condition of these poor people: but every thing for the benefit of a people cannot be done by one man at one time. Alfred did as much as he possibly could for the welfare of his subjects. Monk. Asser was a monk. Christians are divided into numerous sects. Roman Catholics and Protestants are the two great classes of Christians. The first Christians in England were Catholics. It is a law of the Roman Catholics, that the religious teachers, that is, the priests or clergy, shall not marry, but lead a single life, as the state of an unmarried person is sometimes called. Sometimes these priests had large houses given to them, where several lived together, and spent their time in reading ancient books, in writing histories and other works-at times going abroad to visit the sick, to preach to the people, and to instruct them in different ways. These religious men were called Monks or single men, and the houses they inhabited were Monasteries. Those men are truly great, who propose great benefits to mankind, and seek out means to confer those benefits; who devote all their faculties to the welfare of society, with good sense, patience, and perseverance; and who are not afraid to meet censure, nor to defy the power of the ignorant, the prejudiced, or the wicked, so long as they secure the advantage of others. Disinterestedness is the noblest of virtues. A disinterested man is not divested of self-love; but his self-love does not absorb his whole thoughts, desires, and hopes; the "praise of men" is only an inferior object of his regard-the "praise of God," who doeth good to all, is the highest reward which the disinterested man seeks as the final recompense of his services to God's creatures. 2. There are two sorts of courage, physical courage and moral courage. Physical courage subdues the fear of bodily danger, and of death; moral courage fears to do wrong, and from the love of what a man, or child, esteems to be right, induces him to persevere in his right conduct. Moral courage is an attribute of greatness: it is, "What heroes, patriots, saints, and martyrs feel, The strength of action, and the warmth of zeal." 3. History affords many instances of moral courage wholly different from military courage. This little book contains two eminent examples of it-Paul at Athens, defending the doctrines of Christ on Mar's Hill-declaring that God dwelt not in "temples made with hands," in open view of the most splendid edifices which superstition ever reared, and before men who were the guardians of that superstition, and who were invested with the power to deprive him of life as a setterforth of strange Gods; and Socrates who refused to escape from an unjust sentence, and who met death in obedience to the laws. 4. When you come to read the history of American independence-the emancipation of this country from a foreign dominion, you will learn by the most exalted and impressive exhibition of it, from those patriots who devised, pursued and effected this national revolution, what moral courage is. I leave this lesson to other instructors, and to a future period of your lives, but the founder of one of our states possessed so much of this lofty trait, and combined with it such beneficent purposes, and such an effective will, that I cannot hold up to you a better illustration of a just, fearless, and generous man, than the life of William Penn affords 5. William Penn, the first settler of Pennsylvania, was a native of Britain, the only son of Admiral Sir William Penn, and born in 1644. He was prepared for the university, and sent to Oxford. The law requires that the members of the colleges at Oxford should conform to the church of England—the established church, as it is called in that country, and the same in its doctrines and worship as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. 6. At the age of sixteen William Penn heard the preaching of a Quaker, one Thomas Loe.From that time he renounced the established faith, and refused to attend the religious services of his college, or to wear its uniform. In consequence of this opposition to the rules of the college he was expelled. This part of Penn's conduct is not entitled to praise or imitation, but it is excusable, in some measure, on account of his youth, and his conviction that it was right. 7. For two years he was sent to travel on the continent of Europe, but he returned to England as sincere a quaker as he left it. Charles II. was the king of England at that time. He was a man without piety, and secretly inclined, it is believed, to the Roman Catholic faith; and his whole court, and most of the rich and fashionable people in England, then living, are memorable for their total disregard of religion, and for the corruption of their nanners. 8. Notwithstanding the licentiousness of the upper classes of the nation, the age of Charles II. exhibited much of the spirit of religious persecution, and that toleration, which permits to all men the enjoyment of their faith, was then unknown in |