LIFE'S mystery-deep, restless, as the ocean—
Hath surged and wail'd for ages to and fro;
Earth's generations watch its ceaseless motion,
As in and out its hollow moanings flow.
Shivering and yearning by that unknown sea,
Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in Thee.
Life's sorrows, with inexorable power,

Sweep desolation o'er this mortal plain;
And human loves and hopes fly as the chaff
Borne by the whirlwind from the ripen'd grain.
Ah! when before that blast my hopes all flee,
Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in Thee!

Between the mysteries of death and life

Thou standest, loving, guiding, not explaining; We ask, and Thou art silent; yet we gaze,

And our charm'd hearts forget their drear complaining.

No crushing fate, no stony destiny,

O Lamb that hast been slain, we find in Thee!

We pant, we strain like birds against their wires; Are sick to reach the vast and the beyond: And what avails, if still to our desires

Those far-off gulfs respond?

Contentment comes not therefore; still there lies
An outer distance when the first is hail'd,
And still for ever yawns before our eyes

An UTMOST-that is veil'd.-Jean Ingelow.

2540. NAME. Ambition to immortalize our

We wish our names eternally to live.

Wild dream! which ne'er had haunted human

thought,

Had not our natures been eternal too.
Instinct points out an interest in hereafter,

But our blind reason sees not where it lies:
Or seeing, gives the substance for the shade.-Young.

The card-built house amused our infant age;
The child was pleased; but is the man more sage?
A breath could level childhood's tottering toy :
See manhood—effort, art, and time employ,
To build that brittle name a whisper can destroy !
There is a Book where nought our name can spot,
If we ourselves refuse to fix the blot;

'Tis kept by One that sets alike at nought
The tale with malice or with flattery fraught,-
He reads the heart, and sees the whisper in the
thought.-C. C. Colton.

2541. NAME. Giving a

HE that is ambitious for his son, should give him untried names,

For those have served other men, haply may injure by their evils;

Or otherwise may hinder by their glories; therefore set him by himself,

To win for his individual name some clear praise. Tupper.

2542. NAME. Power of a

BRUTUS and Cæsar: what should be in Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is a fair name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,

Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.

Now in the names of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,

That he is grown so great?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.

Shakespeare.

Though bathed and shower'd with honey-dew
Its native baseness springs to view;
After long care and anxious skill
The fruit it bears is bitter still!

Place thou within the spicy nest,

Where the bright phoenix loves to rest,

A raven's egg, and mark thou well,
When the vile bird has chipp'd his shell,
Though fed with grains from trees that grow
Where Salsebil's pure waters flow,
Though airs from Gabriel's wing may rise

To fan the cradle where he lies,
Though long their patient care endure,
He proves at last a bird impure!

A viper nurtured in a bed

Where roses all their beauties spread,
Though nourish'd with the drops alone
Of waves that spring from Allah's throne,
Is still a poisonous reptile found,
And with its venom taints the ground!

HE looks abroad into the varied field
Of Nature; and though poor, perhaps, compared
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,
Calls the delightful scenery all his own.
His are the mountains, and the valleys his,
And the resplendent rivers; his to enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say, 'My Father made them all! '
Cowper.

2549. NATURE. Compensations in LIBERAL, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand;

Nor was perfection made for man below. Yet all her schemes with nicest art are plann'd, Good counteracting ill, and gladness woe. With gold and gems if Chilian mountains glow, If bleak and barren Scotia's hills arise,

There plague and poison, lust and rapine grow; Here peaceful are the vales, and pure the skies, And freedom fires the soul, and sparkles in the eyes. Beattie.

Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor;
Who lives to fancy, never can be rich.-Young.

Man's rich with little, were his judgment true;
Nature is frugal, and her wants are few.-Young.

2552. NATURE. God in

NATURE is but a name for an effect,

Whose cause is God. He feeds the secret fire
By which the mighty process is maintain'd;
Who sleeps not, is not weary; in whose sight
Slow circling ages are as transient days :
Whose work is without labour; whose designs
No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts
And whose beneficence no charge exhausts.
Him blind antiquity profaned, not served,
With self-taught rites, and under various names,
Female and Male Pomona, Pales, Pan,
And Flora, and Vertumnus; peopling earth
With tutelary goddesses and gods

That were not; and commending as they would
To each some province, garden, field, or grove.
But all are under one. One Spirit, His
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows,
Rules universal nature. Not a flower

But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivall'd pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes,
In grains as countless as the sea-side sands,
The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth.
Cowper.

A present Deity in all.

It is His presence that diffuses charms
Unspeakable o'er mountain, wood, and stream;
To think that He who hears the heavenly choir
Hearkens complacent to the woodland song;
To think that He who rolls yon solar sphere
Uplifts the warbling songster to the sky;
To mark His presence in the mighty bow
That spans the clouds, as in the tints minute
Of tiniest flower; to hear His awful voice
In thunders speak, and whisper in the gale ;
To know and feel His care for all that lives :
'Tis this that makes the barren waste appear
A fruitful field, each grove a paradise.

2553. NATURE: impartial.

NATURE is impartial,

Grahame.

And in her work of man, prefers not names
Of ancestors; she sometimes forms a piece
For admiration from the basest earth
That holds a soul, and to a beggar's issue
Gives those perfections make a beauty up;

When purer moulds, polish'd and gloss'd with titles, Honours, and wealth, bestow upon their bloods Deform'd impressions, objects only fit

For sport or pity.-Nabb.

2554 NATURE. Influence of

'TIS her privilege,

Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon
Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure, then thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies.

2555. NATURE: is Divine art.

Wordsworth.

SURVEY

Nature's extended face, then, sceptics, say,
In this wide world of wonders can you find
No art?-Blackmore.

That clearer marks of masterly design,
Of wise contrivance, and of judgment, shine
In all the parts of nature, we assert,
Than in the brightest works of human art.
Blackmore.

All Nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.-Pope.

2556. NATURE. Love of

ASK the swain Who journeys homeward from a summer day's Long labour, why, forgetful of his toils And due repose, he loiters to behold The sunshine gleaming as through amber clouds, O'er all the western sky; full soon, I ween, His rude expression and untutor'd airs, Beyond the power of language, will unfold The form of beauty smiling at his heart, How lovely! how commanding!— Akenside.

Read Nature; Nature is a friend to truth: Nature is Christian; preaches to mankind; And bids dead matter aid us in our creed.

Young.

Up up, my friend! and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double;
Up! up, my friend! and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which nature brings;

Our meddling intellect

Misshapes the beauteous forms of things

We murder to dissect.

Enough of science and of art;

Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives.-Wordsworth.

2562. NATURE. Sympathies with

ALL natural objects have

An echo in the heart. This flesh doth thrill,
And has connection by some unseen chain
With its original source and kindred substance.
The mighty forest, the proud tides of ocean,
Sky-clearing hills, and in the vast of air
The starry constellations, and the sun,
Parent of life exhaustless-these maintain
With the mysterious mind and breathing mould
A co-existence and community.-Hunt.

2563. NATURE. Teachings of

FROM dearth to plenty, and from death to life,
Is Nature's progress, when she lectures man
In heavenly truth; evincing as she makes
The grand transition, that there lives and works
A soul in all things, and that soul is God.

Cowper.

Nature, employ'd in her allotted place,
Is hand-maid to the purposes of Grace;
By good vouchsafed, makes known superior good,
And bliss not seen, by blessings understood.

Cowper.

The seasons came and went, and went and came, To teach men gratitude; and, as they pass'd, Gave warning of the lapse of time, that else Had stolen unheeded by: the gentle flowers Retired, and, stooping o'er the wilderness, Talk'd of humility, and peace, and love. The dews came down unseen at evening-tide,

And silently their bounties shed, to teach
Mankind unostentatious charity.

With arm in arm the forest rose on high,
And lesson gave of brotherly regard.
And on the rugged mountain brow exposed,
Bearing the blast alone, the ancient oak
Stood, lifting high his mighty arm, and still

To courage in distress exhorted loud.

The flocks, the herds, the birds, the streams, the

breeze,

Attuned the heart to melody and love.

Mercy stood in the cloud, with eye that wept
Essential love; and, from her glorious bow,
Bending to kiss the earth in token of peace,
With her own lips, her gracious lips, which God
Of sweetest accent made, she whisper'd still,
She whisper'd to Revenge: Forgive, forgive!

The Sun, rejoicing round the earth, announced
Daily the wisdom, power, and love of God.
The Moon awoke, and from her maiden face
Shedding her cloudy locks, look'd meekly forth,
And with her virgin stars walk'd in the heavens,
Walk'd nightly there, conversing as she walk'd
Of purity, and holiness, and God.

In dreams and visions sleep instructed much. Day utter'd speech to day, and night to night Taught knowledge: silence had a tongue: the grave, The darkness, and the lonely waste, had each A tongue, that ever said, Man! think of God! Think of thyself! think of eternity!

Fear God, the thunders said; fear God, the waves; Fear God, the lightning of the storm replied; Fear God, deep loudly answer'd back to deep. And, in the temples of the Holy One, Messiah's messengers, the faithful few, Faithful 'mong many false, the Bible open'd, And cried, Repent! repent, ye Sons of Men! Believe, be saved.-Pollok.

Nothing is lost on him who sees
With an eye that genius gave;
For him there's a story in every breeze,
And a picture in every wave.—Moore.

Never have the works of Nature
Yet to mortal man reveal'd,
How his much offended Maker

May to him be reconciled.

Flower, nor tree, nor rock, nor mountain,
Ever yet have show'd the way,
Ever told him of a Fountain
That could wash his guilt away.
Man could never yet discover,
From the sky, the earth, the sea,