And winter always winds his sullen horn,
And the wild Autumn with a look forlorn
Dies in his stormy manhood; and the skies
Weep, and flowers sicken when the summer flies.
Thou only, terrible Ocean, hast a power,
A will, a voice; and in thy wrathful hour,
When thou dost lift thine anger to the clouds,
A fearful and magnificent beauty shrouds
Thy broad green forehead. If thy waves be driven 10 Backwards and forwards by the shifting wind,
How quickly dost thou thy great strength unbind,
And stretch thine arms, and war at once with heaven!
Thou trackless and immeasurable main !
On thee no record ever lived again
15 To meet the hand that writ it; line nor lead
Hath ever fathomed thy profoundest deeps,
Where happily the huge monster swells and sleeps,
King of his watery limit, who, 't is said,
Can move the mighty ocean into storm.-
20 Oh! wonderful thou art, great element:
And fearful in thy spleeny humors bent,
And lovely in repose: thy summer form
Is beautiful; and when thy silver waves
Make music in earth's dark and winding caves,
25 I love to wander on thy pebbled beach,
Marking the sunlight at the evening hour,
And hearken to the thoughts thy waters teach,―
"Eternity, Eternity, and power."
LESSON CLXXVII. THE URSA MAJOR.-HENRY WARE, JUN.
With what a stately and majestic step
That glorious Constellation of the North
Treads its eternal circle! going forth
Its princely way amongst the stars in slow
And silent brightness. Mighty one, all hail!
I joy to see thee on thy glowing path
Walk, like some stout and girded giant,―stern,
Unwearied, resolute, whose toiling foot
Disdains to loiter on its destined way.
The other tribes forsake their midnight track,
And rest their weary orbs beneath the wave.
But thou dost never close thy burning eye,
Nor stay thy steadfast step. But on,
While systems change, and suns retire, and worlds
Slumber and wake, thy ceaseless march proceeds.
5 The near horizon tempts to rest in vain.
Thou, faithful Sentinel, dost never quit
Thy long appointed watch; but, sleepless still,
Dost guard the fixed light of the universe,
And bid the North forever know its place.
10 Ages have witnessed thy devoted trust,
Unchanged, unchanging. When the sons of God
Sent forth that shout of joy, which rang through heaven,
And echoed from the outer spheres that bound
The illimitable universe,-thy voice
15 Joined the high chorus; from thy radiant orbs
The glad cry sounded, swelling to His praise
Who thus had cast another sparkling gem,
Little, but beautiful, amid the crowd
Of splendors that enrich his firmament.
20 As thou art now, so wast thou then, the same.
Ages have rolled their course, and Time grown gray;
The earth has gathered to her womb again,
And yet again, the myriads that were born
Of her, uncounted, unremembered tribes.
25 The seas have changed their beds, the eternal hills
Have stooped with age,-the solid continents
Have left their banks, and man's imperial works,
The toil, pride, strength of kingdoms, which had flung
Their haughty honors in the face of Heaven,
30 As if immortal,-have been swept away,-
Shattered and mouldering, buried and forgot.
But time has shed no dimness on thy front,
Nor touched the firmness of thy tread; youth, strength,
And beauty, still are thine,-as clear, as bright,
35 As when the Almighty Former sent thee forth,
Beautiful offspring of his curious skill,
To watch earth's northern beacon, and proclaim
The eternal chorus of Eternal Love.
I wonder as I gaze. That stream of light,
40 Undimmed, unquenched,-just as I see it now,-
Has issued from those dazzling points, through year,
That go back far into eternity.
Exhaustless flood! forever spent, renewed
Forever! Yea, and those refulgent drops,
Which now descend upon my lifted eye,
5 Left their far fountain twice three years ago.
While those winged particles,-whose speed outstrips
The flight of thought, were on their way, the earth
Compassed its tedious circuit round and round,
And in the extremes of annual change, beheld
10 Six autumns fade, six springs renew their bloom.
So far from earth those mighty orbs revolve;
So vast the void through which their beams descend!
Yea, glorious lamps of God! He may have quenched
Your ancient flames, and bid eternal night
15 Rest on your spheres; and yet no tidings reach
This distant planet. Messengers still come
Laden with your far fire, and we may seem
To see your lights still burning; while their blaze
But hides the black, wreck of extinguished realms,
20 Where anarchy and darkness long have reigned.
Yet what is this, which, to the astonished mind,
Seems measureless, and which the baffled thought
Confounds? A span, a point, in those domains,
Which the keen eye can traverse. Seven stars
25 Dwell in that brilliant cluster, and the sight
Embraces all at once; yet each from each
Recedes as far as each of them from earth.
And every star from every other burns
No less remote.
From the profound of heaven,
Untravelled even in thought, keen piercing rays
Dart through the void, revealing to the sense
Systems and worlds unnumbered. Take the glass,
And search the skies. The opening skies pour down
35 Upon your gaze, thick showers of sparkling fire,-
Stars, crowded, thronged, in regions so remote
That their swift beams,-the swiftest things that be,-
Have travelled centuries on their flight to earth.
Earth, Sun, and nearer Constellations! what
40 Are ye, amid this infinite extent
And multitude of God's most infinite works?
And these are Suns!-vast, central, living fires,
Lords of dependent systems, Kings of worlds,
That wait as satellites upon their power,
And flourish in their sinile. Awake my soul,
5 And meditate the wonder! Countless suns
Blaze round thee, leading forth their countless worlds!
Worlds, in whose bosoms living things rejoice,
And drink the bliss of being, from the fount
What tongue can utter all their multitudes,—
Thus numberless in numberless abodes,
Known but to Thee, blest Father? Thine they are, Thy children, and Thy care, and none o'erlooked 15 Of Thee! No, not the humblest soul that dwells Upon the humblest globe, which wheels its course Amid the giant glories of the sky,
Like the mean mote that dances in the beam,
Amongst the thousand mirrored lamps which fling
20 Their wasteful splendor from the palace wall.
None, none escape the kindness of Thy care:
All compassed underneath Thy spacious wing,
Each fed and guided by Thy powerful hand.
Tell me, ye splendid Orbs!-as from your thrones 25 Ye mark the rolling provinces that own
Your sway,-what beings fill those bright abodes?
How formed, how gifted; what their powers, their state,
Their happiness, their wisdom? Do they bear
The stamp of human nature? Or has God
30 Peopled those purer realms with lovelier forms,
And more celestial minds? Does Innocence
Still wear her native and untainted bloom?
Or has Sin breathed his deadly blight abroad,
And sowed corruption in those fairy bowers?
35 Has War trod o'er them with his foot of fire?
And Slavery forged his chains, and Wrath, and Hate,
And sordid Selfishness, and cruel Lust,
Leagued their base bands to tread out Light and Truth,
And scatter woe where Heaven had planted joy?
40 Or are they yet all Paradise, unfallen
And uncorrupt;-existence one long joy, -
Without disease upon the frame, or sin
Upon the heart, or weariness of life,
Hope never quenched, and age unknown,
And death unfeared; while fresh and fadeless youth
Glows in the light from God's near throne of Love?
Open your lips, ye wonderful and fair!
Speak, speak! the mysteries of those living worlds
Unfold! No language! Everlasting light,
And everlasting silence! Yet the eye
May read and understand. The hand of God
10 Has written legibly what man may know,-
THE GLORY OF THE MAKER. There it shines,
Ineffable, unchangeable; and man,
Bound to the surface of this pigmy globe,
May know and ask no more.
In other days,
When death shall give the encumbered spirit wings,
Its range shall be extended; it shall roam,
Perchance, amongst those vast mysterious spheres,
Shall pass from orb to orb, and dwell in each
20 Familiar with its children,-learn their laws,
And share their state, and study and adore
The infinite varieties of bliss
And beauty, by the hand Divine
Lavished on all its works.
Shall thus roll on with ever fresh delight;
No pause of pleasure or improvement; world
On world still opening to the instructed mind
An unexhausted universe, and time
30 But adding to its glories; while the soul,
Advancing ever to the source of light
And all perfection, lives, adores, and reigns,
In cloudless knowledge, purity, and bliss.
LESSON CLXXVIII.-THE FATE OF TYRANNY.-Mason.
Oppression dies: the tyrant falls :
The golden city bows her walls!
Jehovah breaks the avenger's rod.
The son of Wrath, whose ruthless hand
Hurls desolation o'er the land,
|