96 FALL OF WATER-VARYING ASPECT OF NATURE.

lieves her fatigues by supplying her place: and nothing can exceed the paternal tenderness of both, when the young are brought to light. Towards the end of May, the bee-hives send forth their earlier swarms. Nature directs them to march in a body in quest of a new settlement, which, if left to their choice, would generally be some hollow trunk of a tree: but man, who converts the labours and instincts of so many animals to his own use, provides them with a more secure dwelling, and repays himself with their honey..

SMOOTH, to the shelving brink, a copious flood
Rolls fair and placid; where, collected all,
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep
It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round,
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad;
Then, whitening by degrees, as prone it falls,
And from the loud-resounding rocks below
Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft die
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower.
Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose le
But raging still amid the shaggy rocks,
Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now
Aslant the hollow'd channel rapid darts;
And, falling fast from gradual slope to slope,
With wild infracted course, and lessen'd roar,
It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last,
Along the mazes of the quiet vale.

33

THE VARYING ASPECT OF NATURE WELL ADAPTED TO REMIND US OF THE SWIFTNESS OF TIME.

THE natural advantages which arise from the position of the earth which we inhabit, with respect to the other planets, afford much employment to mathematical speculation, by which it has been discovered, that

VARYING ASPECT OF NATURE.

97

no other conformation of the system could have given such commodious distribution of light and heat, or imparted fertility and pleasure to so great a part of a revolving sphere. It may be perhaps observed by the moralist with equal reason, that our globe seems particularly fitted for the residence of a being, placed here only for a short time, whose task is to advance himself to a higher and happier state of existence, by unremitted vigilance of caution, and activity of virtue. The duties required of man are such as human nature does not willingly perform, and such as those are inclined to delay, who yet intend some time to fulfil them. It was therefore necessary that this universal reluctance should be counteracted, and the drowsiness of hesitation wak⚫ ened into resolve; that the danger of procrastination should be always in view, and the fallacies of security be hourly detected. To this end all the appearances of nature uniformly conspire. Whatever we see on every side reminds us of the lapse of time, and the flux of life. The day and night succeed each other; the rotation of seasons diversifies the year; the sun rises, attains the meridian, declines, and sets; and the moon every night changes its form. The day has been considered as an image of the year, and a year as the representation of life. The morning answers to the spring, and the spring to childhood and youth; the noon corresponds to the summer, and the summer to the strength of manhood; the evening is an emblem of autumn, and the autumn of declining life; the night, with its silence and darkness, shows the winter, in which all the powers of vegetation are benumbed, and the winter points out the time when life shall cease, with its hopes and pleasures. He that is carried forward, however swiftly, by a motion equable and easy, perceives not the change of place but by the variation of objects. If the wheel of life, which rolls thus silently along, passed on through undistinguishable uniformity, we should never mark its approaches to the end of the course. If one hour were like another-if the passage of the sun did not show that the day is wastingif the change of seasons did not impress upon us the flight of the year,-quantities of duration equal to days F

98

A CHRISTIAN'S TRUST IN GOD.

and years would glide unobserved. If the parts of time were not variously coloured, we should never discern their departure or succession, but should live thoughtless of the past, and careless of the future, without will, and perhaps without power, to compare the time which is already lost with that which may probably remain. But the course of time is so visibly marked, that it is even observed by the savage, and by nations who have raised their minds very little above animal instinct. There are human beings whom language does not sup→ ply with words by which they can number five, but I have read of none that have not names for Day and Night, for Summer and Winter. Yet it is certain that these admonitions of nature, however forcible, however importunate, are too often vain; and that many who mark with much accuracy the course of time, appear to have little sensibility of the decline of life. Every man has something to do, which he neglects; every_man has faults to conquer, which he delays to combat. From this inattention, so general and so mischievous, let it be every man's study to exempt himself. Let him that desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction. And let him who proposes his own happiness reflect, that, while he forms his purpose, the day rolls on, and the "night cometh when no man can work."

A CHRISTIAN'S TRUST IN GOD.

I KNOW but one way of fortifying my soul against all gloomy presages and terrors of mind; and that is, by securing to myself the friendship and protection of that Being, who disposes of events and governs futurity. He sees, at one view, the whole thread of my existence; not only that part of it which I have already passed through, but that which runs forward into all the depths of eternity. When I lay me down to sleep, I recommend myself to his care: when 1 awake, I give

THE VOICE OF NATURE.

* M 399 myself up to his direction. Amidst all the evils that threaten me, I will look up to him for help; and question not but he will either avert them, or turn them to my advantage. Though I know neither the time nor the manner of the death I am to die, I am not at all solicitous about it; because I am sure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort and support me under them.

Through earth, and air, and seas, and skies;
See from the clouds his glory breaks,
When the first beams of morning rise...

The rising sun, serenely bright,

O'er the wide world's extended frame
Inscribes, in characters of light,

1

His mighty Maker's glorious name.

Diffusing life, his influence spreads,

And health and plenty smile around:
And fruitful fields and verdant meads,
Are with a thousand blessings crown'd.

Almighty goodness, power divine,

The fields and verdant meads display;
O bless the Lord which made them thine,
With various charms profusely gay.

For man and beast, here daily food
In wide diffusive plenty grows;
And there for drink, the crystal flood,
In streams sweet winding, gently flows.

The flow'ry tribes, all blooming rise,
Above the faint attempts of art;

Their bright, inimitable dyes

Speak sweet conviction to the hearts the

100 MORAVIAN HONESTY.-POWER OF GOD IN CREATION.

Ye curious minds, who roam abroad,
And trace creation's wonders o'er,*
Confess the footsteps of the God,
And bow before him and adore.

In the last war in Germany, a captain of cavalry was out on a foraging party. On perceiving a cottage in the midst of a solitary valley, he went up and knocked at the door. Out came a Hernouten (better known by the name of United Brethren) with a beard silvered by age. "Father," says the officer, "show me a field where I can set my troopers a foraging." Presently," replied the Hernouten. The good old man walked before, and conducted them out of the valley. After a quarter of an hour's march, they found a fine field of barley." There is the very thing we want," says the captain. "Have patience for a few minutes," replied his guide," you shall be satisfied." They went on, and at the distance of about a quarter of a league far ther, they arrived at another field of barley. The troop immediately dismounted, cut down the grain, trussed it up, and remounted. The officer upon this says to his conductor, Father, you have given yourself and us unnecessary trouble: the first field was much better than this." " Very true, Sir," replied the good old man, "but it was not mine."This stroke goes directly to the heart. I defy an atheist to produce any thing to be compared to this. And surely he who does not feel his heart warmed by such an example of exalted virtue, has not yet acquired the first principles of moral taste.

IN the creation God has manifested himself as a Being of infinite power. This unlimited power, which is visible in all creatures, is particularly so in the two ex