take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand hold me." The ocean-a solitude more solemn and awful than that of mountains, forests, or deserts-penetrates the soul with a spirit of devotion. Every agitation produces new beauty or new wonder; the miracles of the firmament are reflected in every wave; and in their unceasing restlessness we recognise an affecting emblem of the ever-onward progress of time.

When the Emperor Adrian, after traversing the whole of his vast empire, climbed the summit of Mount Etna, he confessed, with all the humility of philosophy, that this sublime pinnacle presented, at the rising of the sun, glories which gave him but a poor and contemptible opinion of his own imperial condition.

The rising and setting of the sun; the brilliancy of Orion in a night of autumn; and all the resplendent wonders of the starry firmament, awaken ideas of power and grandeur the most impressive and magnificent.

In youth the love of Nature is attended. by lasting and most beneficial results: it contributes to encourage a taste for whatever is amiable in morals or captivating in art. And in mature manhood, when realities too much occupy the mind, without the enjoyments to be derived from this source the journey of life is as a weary pilgrimage.

Have we been tossed upon a bed of sickness? How is our frame reanimated when, escaping from our chamber, we inhale the breath of morning! All Nature renders us satisfaction; while every object we see, and every sound we hear, are so many inspirers of that ardent gratitude which distends our breast.

If at any time the distress of the moment makes days of past affliction appear days of comparative happiness, and the sorrow of the present is too much for human infirmity to bear with constancy, let us contemplate the grand and impressive scenes of nature. Here the mind, elevated above those little cares which agitate the ambitious, the malignant, and the proud, looks up with rever

ential awe; while we feel new hope and con

fidence as we reflect that the GoD we behold in these magnificent monuments of his power is a father to the fatherless and a friend to the friendless.

The sublime character of the scenery by which the monks of St. Bernard are surrounded, doubtless acts as a powerful stimulus to their benevolence, activity, and fortitude. Animated by a fervid charity which knows no fear, in the dead of night they will quit their convent, and, accompanied by dogs, and lighted only by lanterns, will grope their way over masses of ice to save a human being from perishing with cold, or from the more dreadful fate of sinking into gulfs from which it were impossible to rescue him.

What a charming picture has Fléchier given of M. de Lamoignon! "Why cannot I represent him to you," says he, says he, "such as he was when he enjoyed repose after his labours in the court of judicature, at his retreat at Basville ? There you might see him applying himself to husbandry, or raising his meditations to the invisible Deity by

the visible wonders of Nature: establishing the repose of a poor family on a tribunal of turf in a shady part of his garden, and then reflecting on the decisions he should pronounce relative to great interests on the supreme seat of justice."

No pleasures are so pure, and none so worthy the capacities of the human mind, as those derived from the study of Nature. And though nothing is entirely within our limited comprehension, yet, as things seen afford presumptive evidence in regard to things unseen, what more noble employment than to trace in the beauties, harmonies, and sublimities of the material universe those proofs of power, wisdom, and goodness which lead to the acknowledgment and adoration of the Supreme Architect!