thickly-covered branches towards the ground; and the birch, with its silver bark, hangs its light and graceful wreaths above our heads. Admire the depth and richness of their united tints, and rejoice in the coolness of their shade. And now listen to the carol of the joyous birds as they rustle among the leaves-or spring, in the exuberance of their enjoyment, from tree to tree. Even the distant hill smiles in its softened loveliness, and the river winds its course along the valley and glitters with the light from heaven, as if it felt the calm beauty and the happiness which it seems to reflect. And now, tell me, does no voice come to you from all these interesting objects-these graceful, and sweet, and lovely works? Does not the humblest flower address you? nor the breeze bear to your ear a language from the waving forest? nor the odour of the garden, and the field, and the rapturous song which makes the woods vocal, bring their message to your delighted senses?—

They will bring to

Listen, and they will tell you of God. you solemn but captivating words of his wondrous skill, his wise and kind arrangement, the order and beneficence of his universal Providence. They will impress upon your minds ideas of infinite perfection, and excite in your bosoms feelings of admiration and love-of pious delight, and exhilirating hope. From one and from allh, is voice, indeed, will come to you, to wake your minds to the consciousness of his sacred presence; and to call upon your souls and all that is within you, to praise and magnify his sacred name. The works of God, wherever they are seen-and where are they not seen?-speak to the reason of men, appeal to

their understanding and affections, and urge them to bear continually with them a sense of his presence, and to open their souls to the full inspiration of the glories they behold. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: who has gazed upon the immense ocean, and not felt the meaning of this sentiment? It is a majestic object; and its changing surface and its ever-varying lines, do not allow the admiration and the interest of the beholder to sleep. Like the life of man, it is scarcely ever a scene of unbroken tranquillity and rest. It is either ebbing or flowing, and its ebb and flow have continued even from the infancy of the world to the present moment, to preserve the purity of its waters, and the health of the animal and rational world. It seems to sleep at times beneath the glittering radiance of a summer sky, or when the breeze of evening dies upon it and the last rays of heaven touch it with gold; but even then you hear the soft ripple as it moves the pebbles upon the distant shore. At other times, its whole surface is agitated; lashed into fury by the rising blast, billow rolls upon billow, foaming and roaring in the madness of the storm, and threatens to uproot the earth on which its force is expended. It is the voice of God which thus speaks. The softest murmur of the deep, and the awful utterings of its fury, bear that voice to the ear of man. They proclaim His Omnipotence who gave to the sea gates and bars, and said to it, in the firmness of his purpose, 'Hitherto shalt thou come but no further, and here shall the pride of thy waves be stayed.' Whilst we watch this noble element as it stretches itself from the shores of our land, and seems

to unite with the distant horizon, let us receive with mute attention the instruction it conveys to us. A memento of the power of God, it spreads itself forth as his benevolence expands, and bears to all the shores of life a rich and endless variety of blessings. It speaks to us of health, and of the advantages of civilization, the exchange of the necessaries and luxuries of life, the social relations of people who dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth. When we hear the murmur of the deep as it lies in contented and placid majesty—a mirror of the brightness of heaven-or rolls with mighty swell and darkened colour at the impulse of the tempest; when we listen to the breathing of the wind upon the sails of the mariner's vessel, as it carries him along to enterprise and fortune, is it not the voice of God calling upon us to revere his majesty of which the ocean is a faint emblem-and to rejoice in the ample provision he has made for human industry, the exercise of intrepidity and genius, and the reciprocal welfare of distant nations?

And now let the Heavens engage your thoughts. Do they put forth no voice? Have you ever attentively observed them when, from East to West and from North to South, they presented to the eye a beautiful expanse of blue-all blue save a thin and white cloud which only heightened, by its contrast, the richness of the colour? Have you not heheld the clouds, rolling in masses like the billows of the deep, and bursting open to give a passage to the lightning's fire, or gathering themselves together to receive and to reflect the last rays of the parting sun? How frequent are these displays of beauty and grandeur!

And the sun is ever in his place, measuring his course from East to West, shedding his generous beams upon the earth, and lighting it up with his magnificence, that all who live upon it may exult in the day, and taste of the enjoyment activity brings to them. And when night cometh, the season of rest and sleep, the aspect of the heavens is changed-but it is still an aspect of grandeur and glory. The stars keep their silent watches, though the eye of man is closed. They are the diamonds of heaven. Look around you, and count their number and measure their magnitude. See how the gentle lustre they emit spreads itself over the sky, and sheds a soft light even upon the earth. And see, the moon is rising, she travels upwards; and as she is obscured for a little while by the fleecy clouds which cross her path, and then shews her beautuous face above them, she seems to picture virtue moving amid the clouds of life; and though occasionally hidden from the eye, again reappearing, and rising to higher grace and more distinguished beauty. Say, have you beheld these things with an indifferent eye? Have not this splendour and glory excited your admiration? Because they are of daily and nightly occurrence, have your thoughts scarcely been fixed upon them? Has no sound come to you from their remoteness, to inspire ideas of Him who spread out the heavens like a curtain, and gave the stars their names and appointed them a habitation? Believe me, silently as the sun travels his daily path in the sky, and the planets move in their appointed orbits, and the stars dwell in their pavilions and send forth their brightness to guide the be

nighted traveller, they call to the soul of man-and emotions of piety rise at their bidding. There is, in their silence, an eloquence which words possess not. Listen again, and tell me, what ideas and thoughts you can form of Infinite and Beneficent power which they do not inspire. Where will you seek evidences of the Creator's power and grandeur, his magnificence and goodness, if the vault of heaven with its infinity of worlds, glowing and rushing along their course with exquisite harmony and unbroken order, does not bring them home to you? And in what portion of his works would you seek the superintending presence of God, or hear the echo of his voice if you discern them not amid the noblest and the best? From the glorious spot on which he has erected his throne, he speaks to his human offspring. His voice comes to them from the sun as he blazes on high, from the moon in her milder light and beauty, from the stars in their countless number and infinite distance, to wake their minds to conceptions of natural beauty and magnificence; to call into life their slumbering feelings, and to teach them what are the treasures of an exalted and refined devotion.

And is there no voice sounding even within us, and coming at once to the heart? Does it not bid us reflect on our own powers, on the attribute of reason, and on the strength and delight of human affections? When our soul has been disturbed and troubled with human ills, has no gentle whisper come to console us? When despondency, like the darkness of midnight, has come upon us, and we have felt lone and comfortless, has not the same