Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1852-02-17
GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1852
THE OLD TINES AND THE NEW.

THE OLD TIMES AND THE NEW.
How's your memory? Does it run away bach
to the gates of "drowsy east" and do the days
that are gone, shine yet upon the further Dor.
ders Of it? Or have you one Of those narrow
memories, not broad enough for anything bni
yesterday and the day before! And what dc
you keep in it? Have you turned it into blot.
ter to put " credits" to yourself and debts" to
somebody else in sort of meagre almanac OF
bills receivable? Or is il a beautiful place like
laurel Hill or greenwood-filled with the past
| brighter days and downier hours! If so, and
we hope so, do you remember the village church
and the choir, and the minister, and how they
used to do and all about it! And what would
you and we give to be set back in the middle of
one of those old-fashioned square pews, with
our feet swinging eight or ten inches above the
floor, mother on one side with the everlasting
sprig of carraway, father on the other the sing
ers on the high seats " away back" the minister
"come" and all ready. Don't you remember
the pulpit? queer thing shaped like swal-
lows nest and fastened like swallows nest, to
the wall about midway between floor and cell
ing. Or perhaps it was great square two sto-
ry device, with the architecture of wheat bin,
and dungeon OF place to put wood in under
meath. Well wager a " concordance" it was one
or the other. And what wouldn't you give to
have the faith in one man that you had in that
old fashioned minister? Were you afraid of
thunder, land don't you recolect when father ask
ed him home "because it looked likely to rain,"
and the thunder Jared and tangled the sun
beams out of the cloud, how safe you felt, be-
cause the minister was there! All, child's
sweet faith was made before Franklin dreamed
nf Hyin H. Al
DO you remember the day he died, and how you
wondered such good man could die, and it
shook your confidence in the permanence of
earthly things, and made you sad and fearful, and
gave you something to think OF, when the folks
thought you were asleep? And how he preach
ed! What simplicity, what eloquence, what fer
vor. But alas for it, "the prayers of David,
the son of Jesse are ended"
And don't you remember how the gray heads
were sprinkled among the congregations of tres
ses "brown in the shadow, golden in the sum-"
like the first snow fakes of November? Well,
they are not there, now. There has been sun
or so too many and melted alaway! Old Dea-
con so and so, that used to sit hard by the pull
pit, now sits on the bank of the river that runs
hard by the throne. Who can doubt it? He
had heart open as the day to melting chari-
ty;" he sang little too nasal then, we remem-
ber, but he has new song and a new harp now.
Those were the good old times Of the church
nearer the days of the Pilgrims, the Covenant
ers, and Heaven. New songs, new sermons
new doctrines and new faces have taken their
places Sacred to the memory of old times for
ever. Chicago Journal.
THE BALM OF LovE.-Pure and spiritual love
dwels not upon the EARTH 1t creates q happy
sphere of its own, remote from terrene influence
and the scathing blight of sin. Adorned with
the choicest graces and the embellishments of
thought, beautifed with the lustre of virtue and
the destinations Of bliss, it charms the eye Of
faith; to commune with the Father Of his spirit,
and banquet on redeeming love!
In the twilight hour, when we alone, steal to
the grove or the glen, and there enjoy medita-
tion and prayer; when, in the evenings solitude,
we marvel at the glores Of the vaulted sky,
spangled with the shining works of God, or, as
Aurora smiles, of the gorgeous grandeur of the
sun-the chain that binds us to the earth seems
broken, and we are borne, on the chariot-wheels
of thought, to the regions of love. The soul
tasting for the first time the rich pardoning love
of God, is unlinked from the bondage Of clay,
and transferred rejoicing to this blssful realm
Friends, bound by the golden cords of affec-
ton and tender regard, when called to part, by
the stern claims of life, or the grim messages of
death, enjoy their last caress, and take their last
farewell in the pure and holy realm of love-
There, too, is found perfect love. The soul
submerged in its crystal waters, is laved from
the sordid lusts of earth, and the putrid conta-
gion of sin. Glorious, happy realm IT'S there
we meet our God--for "God is love-" 'TIs
there we obtain strength to become more than
conquerors through him who hath loved u.s."
The most effectual way to do good to your
own soul, is TO do good to others. If your soul
burns with love, be not as candle under bush
ell. Let others behold your light, and thereby
be guided from the dark paths that lead to hell,
to the paradise of God
He that is united to God loves solitude. But
it is solitude in the relative rather than the alb
solute sense. Thus, he is secluded from men,
but while he is shut out from the world he is
shut up in God; and in the absence of human
society, has the far better society of the Infinite
Mind
There is nothing requires so strict an econ
omy as our benevoence. We should husband
our means, as the agricuturist his manure, which
if he spreads over too large superfces, produ-
ces no crop, if over too small surface, exuber-