Never despair of _goodness_. Men are bad, But have been worse. The badness shall die out, The _goodness_, like the thistle-down, shall float, Bearing a germ beneath its tiny car-- A germ predestined to become a tree, To fall on fruitful soil, and on its boughs Bear seed enough to stock the universe. _Charles Mackay._ GOSPEL. And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the _gospel_ to every creature.--Mark, xvi. 15. To the poor the _gospel_ is preached.--Luke, vii. 22. For I am not ashamed of the _gospel_ of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.--Romans, i. 16. The word of truth, the _gospel_ of your salvation.--Ephesians, i. 13. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the _gospel_, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.--Colossians, i. 23. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting _gospel_ to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.--Revelation, xiv. 6. O, I have seen, (nor hope perhaps in vain, Ere life go down, to see such sights again,) A veteran warrior in the Christian field, Who never saw the sword he could not wield; Grave without dulness, learned without pride, Exact, yet not precise, though meek, keen-eyed; A man that would have foiled, at their own play, A dozen would-be’s of the modern day; Who, when occasion justified its use, Had wit as bright, as ready to produce; Could fetch the records of an earlier age, Or from philosophy’s enlightened page His rich materials, and regale your ear With strains it was a privilege to hear: Yet, above all, his luxury supreme, And his chief glory was the _gospel_ theme; There he was copious as old Greece or Rome, His happy eloquence seemed there at home,-- Ambitious not to shine, or to excel, But, to treat justly what he loved so well. _Cowper._ Behold His life, and learn from Him to live; In death still greater view thy dying Lord, And imitate that worth thou canst not reach. Smooth are His paths, and to conduct thy feet, The _Gospel’s_ holy light around thee sheds Its mild effulgence. _William Bolland._ Gazing ever on the _Gospel_ light, That endless source of evidence and truth, Prove every doctrine by that golden rule, And “try the spirits if they be of God.” _Mrs. Sigourney._