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HYMN ON THE SEASONS.

261

Feeds every creature; hurls the tempest forth;
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves,
With transport touches all the springs of life.
Nature, attend! join every living soul,
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky,
In adoration join; and, ardent, raise
One general song. To Him, ye vocal gales,
Breathe soft, whose Spirit in your freshness breathes;
Oh talk of Him in solitary glooms,

Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe.
And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar,

Who shake th' astonish'd world, lift high to heaven
Th' impetuous song, and say from whom you rage.
His praise, ye brooks attune, ye trembling rills;
And let me catch it as I muse along.

Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound;
Ye softer floods, that lead the humid maze
Along the vale; and thou, majestic main,
A secret world of wonders in thyself,

Sound his stupendous praise; whose greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall.

Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers,
In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts,
Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.
Ye forests bend, ye harvests wave to Him;
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.
Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth asleep
Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams,
Ye constellations, while your angels strike,
Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre.
Great source of day! best image here below
Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide,

From world to world, the vital ocean round,
On Nature write with every beam His praise.
The thunder rolls: be hush'd the prostrate world;
While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn.
Bleat out afresh, ye hills; ye mossy rocks,
Retain the sound; the broad responsive low,
Ye valleys, raise; for the Great Shepherd reigns

262

HYMN ON THE SEASONS.

And his unsuffering kingdom yet will come.
Ye woodlands all, awake: a boundless song
Burst from the groves; and when the restless day,
Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep,
Sweetest of birds! sweet Philomela, charm

The listening shades, and teach the night His praise.
Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles;
At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all;
Crown the great hymn. In swarming cities vast,
Assembled men, to the deep organ join

The long resounding voice, oft breaking clear,
At solemn pauses, through the swelling base;
And, as each mingling flame increases each,
In one united ardour rise to heaven.
Or if you rather choose the rural shade,
And find a fane in every sacred grove;
There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay,
The prompting seraph, and the poet's lyre,
Still sing the God of Seasons as they roll.

For me, when I forget the darling theme,
Whether the blossom blows, the Summer ray
Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams,
Or Winter rises in the black'ning east ;
Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more,
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!
Should fate command me to the farthest verge
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes,
Rivers unknown to song, where first the sun
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam
Flames on the Atlantic isles ;-'tis nought to me;
Since God is ever present, ever felt,

In the void waste as in the city full;

And where he vital breathes there must be joy.
When even at last the solemn hour shall come,
And wing my mystic flight to future worlds,
I cheerful will obey; there, with new powers,
Will rising wonders sing. I cannot go
Where universal love not smiles around,
Sustaining all yon orbs and all their suns ;
From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again, and better still
In infinite progression.-But I lose

TRUE CHRISTIANS HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION. 263

Myself in Him, in light ineffable;

Come then, expressive silence, muse his praise.

TRUE CHRISTIANS HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION

GRACE in the heart is "as gold tried in the fire,” which can stand the test of temptation, and which preserves its purity and firmness, both in the warm sunshine of prosperity, and in the fiery furnace of afflic tion. The health of the soul confers peculiar advantages, both for relishing every comfort, and for suffering every calamity of this life. When the passions are under the controul of reason and religion, and propor tioned to the worth of their objects, comfort dwells in the heart. Now, faith points out the objects which are most worthy; it directs towards them the chief force of the affections; and it weakens the ties of the heart to every object which is less valuable. The soul, calm and serene, though earthly enjoyments are withheld, triumphs in the certain accomplishment of her highest desires. Disappointments sink her not, for there is a better part of which they cannot bereave her. The reproaches of men, destroy not the assurance of God's love. The loss of wealth deprives not of peace of conscience. A soul dwelling at ease has more than compensates bodily sickness and pain. Faith and hope, sobriety, temperance, and self-denial, "gird up the loins of the mind," render it fit for struggling with adverse fortune, and blunt the edge of strokes which they cannot avert. He, who sits loose from the world, and when riches, and honours and pleasures increase, sets not his heart upon them, bids fairest not to be overwhelmed with grief, when sublunary comforts are withdrawn. When covetousness, ambition, and sensuality are subdued, solicitude ceases to torment. He possesses most, whose wants are fewest,-not he whose income is largest; for often when goods increase, they are increased who eat them, and who consume not only the abundance which the owner possesses, but the

264 TRUE CHRISTIANS HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION.

hours which he would much rather have spent in his closet or with his family. Contentment and satisfaction are often attained by the poor Christian, never by the wealthy profligate-whose joy in what he hath is perpetually destroyed by his thirst for that which he hath not. The poor may have, and feel that they have enough: the rich cannot have more. The faith of the Gospel sweetens every condition, enriches more than all other possessions, and supplies the want of every thing besides. Religion consecrates the understanding, the will, and the affections, to the best and noblest purposes, and opens the purest sources of transporting delight. A good man roams not from one business, from one company, from one amusement to another, in quest of ease and pleasure; for a good man "shall be satisfied from himself." He hath within, a never failing spring of satisfaction, which others in vain look for abroad. Indeed, the pleasures peculiar to him, and resulting from the exercises of grace and the performance of duty, are more than equivalent to those which the men of the world enjoy. We value lands and money, and account them wealth, because they purchase many things in themselves agreeable. If then, though without lands or money, we have that which procures enjoyments still more agreeable, we are truly rich. The exercise of grace, and the faithful performance of duties, produce joys far exceeding those of worldly men, when their corn, and wine, and oil, do most abound. The work of righteousness is peace; and the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever." Reflec tions that we have acquired sublunary honours and riches, and pleasures, afford no comfort. In the saddest hour, the remembrance is sweet, that love to God, concern for his glory, and compassion to the distressed, animated our hearts in happier times. The resistance and the victory over temptation, yields a satisfaction, which never flowed from a compliance with its solicita tions. In the meanest and most afflicted condition, the testimony of conscience, that even in difficult trials, we have not wickedly departed from our God, administers a certain solace. He, therefore, is rich, who is filled with the graces and consolations of the Holy

AURORA BOREALIS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.. 265

Ghost, and the most distressing and perplexed situations have often displayed the intrinsic and superior excellency and virtue of those spiritual treasures.

AURORA BOREALIS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

The

IN Europe, the dry freezing winds proceed from north to east; in North America they are from north to west. When these prevail, the sky is clear and of a dark blue, and the nights transcendently beautiful. The moon displays far greater radiance than in Europe; and, in her absence, her function is not ill supplied by the uncommon and fiery brightness of the stars. Aurora Borealis frequently tinges the sky with coloured rays of such brilliancy, that their splendour, not effaced even by that of the full moon, is of the utmost magnificence if the moon does not shine. Sometimes it begins in the form of a scarf of bright light, with its extremities resting on the horizon, which, with a motion resembling that of a fishing net, and a noise similar to the rustling of silk, glides softly up the sky, when the lights frequently unite in the zenith and form the top of a crown. At other times its motion is like that of a pair of colours waving in the air, and the different tints of light present the appearance of so many large streamers of changeable silk; or it spreads into vast columns, and, altering slowly or by rapid motions into an immense variety of shapes, varies its colours from all the tints of yellow to the most obscure russet; and after having briskly skimmed along the heavens, or majestically spread itself from the horizon to the zenith, on a sudden it disappears, leaving behind a uniform dusky tract, which is again illuminated, and, in the same manner, suddenly extinguished. And at other times it begins with some insulated rays from the north and the north-east, which increase by degrees until they fill the whole sky, forming the most splendid sight that can be conceived, crackling, sparkling, hissing, and making a noise similar to that of artificial fire-works. These phenomena, which are generally considered as the effects of electricity, are looked upon as the forerunners of storms; and when these arise N.

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