Is it not also His doing, when an aphis creepeth on a rose-bud?— If an avalanche roll from its Alp, ye tremble at the will of Providence ; Is not that will concerned when the sear leaves fall from the poplar ?— A thing is great or little only to a mortal's thinking, But abstracted from the body, all things are alike important: The Ancient of Days noteth in his book the idle converse of a creature And happy and wise is the man to whose thought existeth not a trifle. OF RECREATION. To join advantage to amusement, to gather profit with pleasure, Is the wise man's necessary aim, when he lieth in the shade of recreation, For he cannot fling aside his mind, nor bar up the floodgates of his wisdom; The soul may not safely dwell too long with the deep things of futurity ; past: (16) And, if thou art wearied with wrestling on the broad arena of science, Leave awhile thy friendly foe, half vanquished in the dust, Refresh thy jaded limbs, return with vigour to the strife,— Thou shalt easier find thyself his master, for the vacant interval of leisure. That which may profit and amuse is gathered from the volume of creation, For every chapter therein teemeth with the playfulness of wisdom. And Learning delighteth to discover the affinity of seeming opposites : moor, The cayman, basking on a mud-bank, and the walrus anchored to an iceberg, The dog at his master's feet, and the milk-kine lowing in the meadow; To learn a use in the beetle, and more than a beauty in the butterfly; Each distant shining world, a kingdom for one of the redeemed; To read the antique history of earth, stamped upon those medals in the rocks Which Design hath rescued from decay, to tell of the green infancy of time; To gather from the unconsidered shingle mottled star-like agates, Full of unstoried flowers in the bubbling bloom-chalcedony : Or gay and curious shells, fretted with microscopic carving, Corallines, and fresh seaweeds, spreading forth their delicate branches. It is an admirable lore, to learn the cause in the change, To study the chemistry of Nature, her grand, but simple secrets. To search out all her wonders, to track the resources of her skill, To note her kind compensations, her unobtrusive excellence. In all it is wise happiness to see the well-ordained laws of Jehovah, The harmony that filleth all his mind, the justice that tempereth his bounty, The wonderful all-prevalent analogy that testifieth one Creator, The broad arrow of the Great King; carved on all the stores of his arsenal. But beware, O worshipper of God, thou forget not him in his dealings, Though the bright emanations of his power hide him in created glory; For if, on the sea of knowledge, thou regardest not the pole-star of reli gion, Thy bark will miss her port, and run upon the sandbar of folly: And if, enamoured of the means, thou considerest not the scope to which they tend, Wherein art thou wiser than the child, that is pleased with toys and baubles? Verily, a trifling scholar, thou heedest but the letter of instruction: For as motive is spirit unto action, as memory endeareth place, Man hath found out inventions, to cheat him of the weariness of life, And hand joineth hand to help in the toil of amusement, While the secret aching heart is vacant of all but disappointment. The cheapest pleasures are the best; and nothing is more costly than sin; Yet we mortgage futurity, counting it but little loss; Neither can a man delight in that which breedeth sorrow, Yet do we hunt for joy even in the fires that consume it. Whoso would find gladness may meet her in the hovel of poverty, Where benevolence hath scattered around the gleanings of the horn of plenty ; Whoso would sun himself in peace, may be seen of her in deeds of mercy, THE TRAIN OF RELIGION. STAY awhile, thou blessed band, be entreated, daughters of heaven! Yet she boasteth not thee nor herself, and her garments are plain in their neatness? Wherefore is there one among the train, whose eyes are red with weeping, Yet is her open forehead beaming with the sun of ecstasy? And who is that blood-stained warrior, with glory sitting on his crest? Also, in the lengthening troop see I some clad in robes of triumph, Welcome, for verily I knew, ye could not but be children of the light, Son, happy art thou that Wisdom hath led thee hitherward ; For, otherwise never hadst thou known the joy-giving name of our Queen. Behold her, the life of men, the anchor of their shipwrecked hopes: Behold her, the shepherdess of souls, who bringeth back the wanderers to .God. And for that modest herald, she is named on earth, Humility: And hast thou not known, my son, the tearful face of Repentance ? It is only the band of the redeemed who can tell thee the fullness of that name; (18) Yet will I comfort thee, my son, for the love wherewith thou hast loved me, And thou shalt touch for thyself the golden sceptre of Religion. So that blessed train passed by me; but the vision was sealed upon my soul; And its memory is shrined in fragrance, for the promise of the Spirit was true: I learn from the silent poem of all creation round me, OF A TRINITY. (19) DESPISE not, shrewd reckoner, the God of a good man's worship, And the height of unbelieving wisdom is to question all things. |