Oh, then may the recollection of no misspent hours, of no neglected
opportunities for doing good, or wasted privileges, arise like dim
meteors from the tomb to haunt thee with their reproach, but may the
smiles of an approving conscience beam upon thee; may sweet peace and
hope administer the balm of consolation to thy wounded spirit; may
angels hover o'er the couch of thy repose, and fan thee with their
balmy wings, and when thy tired spirit shall burst its prison house of
clay,
May they bear it to mansions of the blest,
There to repose on Jesus' breast;
From every pain and sorrow free,--
This is the boon I ask for thee.
Beauties of Nature.
This is indeed a beautiful world. As we sit by our window, and gaze
out upon the landscape that lies spreads out, diversified by hill and
dale, and and waving tree and murmuring rivulet; as we listen to the
warbling of the birds, the dreamy hum of the insects, and the low
whispering of the soft summer air, as it floats by, redolent with
perfume of flowers, we are deeply impressed with the truth, that the
Being, who could create such a world, must be a great and glorious
Being, before whom we ought to humble ourselves in deep humility.
Yet the little that we are able to behold at one view, is but as a
grain of sand upon the sea-shore, compared with the vast world that
lies stretched out beyond our vision. Diversified by lofty mountains,
whose snow-capped summits tower far up towards the blue vault of
heaven, and are covered with perpetual clouds and mists; the mighty
ocean, whose bosom heaves, and moans, and wails, as though convulsed
by some terrible agony, and which, in its frantic fits, rages with
ungovernable fury; the deep, broad, glassy rivers, that flow in quiet
beauty, to mingle their waters with the ocean, the foaming cataract,
the broad green prairie, variegated by nature's choicest flowers, the
old majestic woods, that have been styled nature's cathedral, whose
dim, silent, far-stretching aisles have never been trodden by the foot
of man; but I must stop, overwhelmed by the magnitude of my subject.
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