Last Words of Schiller. ABOUT six o'clock he sank into a deep sleep; once for a moment, he looked up with a lively air and said: Many things are growing plain to me." THE mists of time and sense withdrawn- All human hope, all human strife Is fading like a morning dream; Before my outward pathway gleam. The music of another sphere Is ringing thro' my brain and heart, A gentle radiance from above My vision cleared by Faith and Love How clearly see I pomp and state, And kingly birth and regal sway, And all this wildered world calls great, Now too I see why Merit lone In patient sufferance passed from earth, Sate Genius by a silent hearth. 356 LAST WORDS OF SCHILLER. Each cold contemning glance of scorn, Says "These were suffered not in vain.” For in that far and distant land, To which my spirit sends her glance, 'Mid the dark trials here below, O'er which such burning tears were shed, Each hope with generous feelings fraught, Each pure desire, each holy thought, Meets a responsive answer there. Each beautiful and gifted mind, That wandered through this world below, A full communion there may know. Still more! diviner accents swell Their truths mysterious o'er my heart, What mortal lips may ne'er impart ! Be hushed my soul and strive no more, To speak the revelations given: But once again on earth adore That love which makes e'en earth a Heaven! John Woolman. PERHAPS, the purest and most note-worthy embodiment and realization of the Quaker principle is to be found in "The Life of John Woolman," the American Friend, who was born in 1720, years after the Society had lost the invigorating stimulus of persecution. It would take, however, an article by itself to do justice to this touching and beautiful narrative; and to show how, more almost than any man of whom we ever read, he walked through this wicked world as though not of it, keeping himself clean and unspotted from the mire of its ways, though always striving to amend them. Strange indeed, were the straits to which his tender conscience brought him; and would that we could tell how he left his trade, in which through his industry he was thriving, because "He believed truth required him to live more free from outward cumber ;" and how he was "not easy to wear hats and garments dyed with a dye hurtful to them," this "dying to hide dirt" being a custom not having its foundation "in pure wisdom;" and how he therefore "got a hat of the natural colour of the fur ;" and how he "was much troubled, for his friends grew shy of him, thinking he was following the changeful modes of dress," white hats chancing then to be in fashion; and how too, when he had a concern to come to England, he took his passage in the steerage, because there was such superfluity of workmanship in the cabin," towards "defraying the cost of which he was not free that his money should go ;" and how, when in England, he travelled on foot, and had not even "freedom to send his letters to his family by the post, because the coach-horses were so hard driven, and the post-boys suffered so much in the cold winter nights," and he would have no part in "the hurry of the spirit of this world, that, in aiming to do business quickly, and to gain wealth, doth make the creation at this day to loudly groan." These scruples make us smile, but the negro slave may be thankful for them; for it needed a man thus scrupulous against all cruelty and oppression as against a fearful sin-a man fanatical in tender-heartedness-to be, as we belive he was, the first Friend to induce his Society to bear that testimony against slavery which has been so consistent and so effective. Not but that George Fox was himself almost an abolitionist, holding strange notions for his days, that liberty is the right of all men; and in 1671, advising his Barbadoes converts, that, "As to their blacks or negroes, they should endeavour to train them up in the fear of God, that all might come to the knowledge of the Lord," "desiring them also that they would cause their overseers to deal mildly and gently with their negroes, and that after certain years of servitude they would make them free." WESTMINSTER REVIEW. SELECTIONS FROM JOHN WOOLMAN'S JOURNAL. Some glances of real beauty may be seen in their faces who dwell in true meekness. There is a harmony in the sound of that voice to which Divine love gives utterance, and some appearance of right order in their temper and conduct, whose passions are regulated: yet all these do not fully show forth that inward life to such who have not felt it but this white stone and new name are known rightly to such only who have them. Treasures, though small, attained on the true principle of virtue, are sweet in the possession and while we walk in the light of the Lord, there is true comfort and satisfaction. Here, neither the murmurs of an oppressed people, nor the throbbings of an uneasy conscience, nor anxious thoughts about the event of things, hinder the enjoyment of life. * True charity is an excellent virtue and to labour sincerely for their good, whose belief, in all points, does * * not agree with ours, is a happy state. : In beholding the customary departure from the true medium of labour, and that unnecessary toil which many go through, in supporting outward greatness, and procuring delicacies in beholding how the true calmness of life is changed into hurry, and how many, by eagerly pursuing outward treasure, are in great danger of withering, as to the inward state of the mind: in meditating on the works of this spirit, and on the desolations it makes amongst the professors of Christianity, I may thankfully acknowledge, that I often feel pure love beget longings in my heart for the exaltation of the peaceable kingdom of Christ, and an engagement to labour according to the gift bestowed on me, for promoting an humble, plain, temperate way of living a life where no unnecessary cares or expenses may encumber our minds, or lessen our ability to do good: where no desires after riches or greatness may lead into hard dealing: where no connexions with worldly-minded men, may abate our love to God, or weaken a true zeal for righteousness: a life wherein we may diligently labour for resignedness to do and suffer whatever our Heavenly Father may allot for us, in reconciling the world to himself. If customs, distinguishable from universal righteousness, and opposite to the true self-denying life, are now prevalent, and so mixed with trade, and with almost every employ, that it is only through humble waiting on the inward guidance of Truth, that we may reasonably hope to walk safely, and support an uniform testimony to the peaceable government of Christ: if this be the case, how lamentably do they expose themselves to temptations, who, give way to the love of riches, conform to expensive living, and reach forth for gain, to support customs which our holy Shepherd leads not into. In all our concerns it is necessary that the leading of the spirit of Christ be humbly waited for, and faithfully followed, as the only means of being preserved chaste as an holy people, |