meadows, in its several varieties, is so replete with divine skill, that it has been said, "a single blade of grass contains more than will ever be discovered by the most patient and minute investigation."

9. The works of nature excel those of art in their variety. It is astonishing to behold the vast diversity which prevails in the grand system of animal and vegetable nature. It is calculated, that there are at present known between four and five hundred species of land animals, six hundred of birds, of fish five thousand, and of insects, nearly two hundred thousand. Exclusive of these, there are doubtless a vast number of the brute creation, which are unknown to man. Of plants, it is not improbable, that their number would almost defy the powers of calculation.

10. The works of nature claim unquestionable pre-eminence, in their durability. See with what uniform regularity the orbs of heaven have performed their revolutions, from the period when they were called into existence by the Almighty fiat,and still perform them, without the least diminution of efficacy or irregularity. Many of the other works of nature, have remained with equal perfection from the moment of their creation to the present period. And even all the animal and vegetable tribes, notwithstanding they decay and die at stated and regular periods, may be said to have endured from the beginning; since they have been, and still are, continually reproduced in succession.

11. But it is too true, that mutability is inseparable from the works of man; they, like himself, are frail, and a few fleeting years are sufficient to mar their beauty and spoil their excellence. The most ancient relics of art are frequently so mutilated and defaced by the consuming hand of time, as to become valuable; not for the skill exhibited in their workmanship, but solely on account of their antiquity. Nature's works, however, are always blooming, are always beautiful in themselves, and they will continue to bloom till that great and terrible day, when the heavens and the earth shall pass away, and the elements melt with fervent heat.

12. Nature has ever stood unrivaled,--she must ever remain so. Her treasures have never been exhausted, and it is certain they never will. She pours forth her beauties and luxuriances with an unsparing and lavish hand, in every possible variety, to engage the heart, to charm the ear, and to delight the eye. She will ever be sought after by the curious mind, and she will never disappoint the true admirer. Art, exalted and adorned, as she certainly is, will ever look up to nature as her great original,-as the beautifier of all her productions,—— as the charm of all her fascinations, and the source of all her excellence.

LESSON CLIX.

NATURE.

A. B. STREET.

1. NATURE, faint emblem of Omnipotence,

Shaped by His hand, the shadow of His light,

The vail, in which He wraps His majesty,

And through whose mantling folds He deigns to show
Of His mysterious, awful attributes

And dazzling splendors, all man's feeble thought
Can grasp uncrushed, or vision bear unquenched.
2. God glanced on chaos,―into form it sprang,--
Worlds clustered round Him, instant at His will,
Blazing, they darted to their destined spheres,
Spangling the void, and in their orbits wheeled,
Each with a different glory. Kindled suns
Shot their fierce beams, and

In soft, pure silvery luster.

gentle moons were robed
Chaos lived.

3. As the bright shapes were speeding to their goals,

The Angels gazed with wonder. Orb on orb
Swept past their vision, shedding fitful gleams
Upon their jeweled brows and glittering wings,
And trailing, as they whirled along their flight,
Pathways of splendor, till the boundless space
Flashed in a web of gorgeous brilliancy.

4. But when Omnipotence had formed His robe,
And cast its spangled blazonzy round heaven,
The countless myriads of those shining ones,
Their wonder changed to awe, bowed crown and harp
Before the dazzling brightness. Then, as stole

The first low music of the singing stars,
Melting along the stillness, rank on rank,
The proud Archangel in his majesty,
And the pure Seraph in her loveliness,
Leaping erect, poured from the quivering string
Their anthem to the Holiest, till Heaven's air,
Stirred by the diapason of the hymn,

Rolled on an ocean of deep harmonious sounds. 5. At the creative summons, Earth had wheeled, In her eternal course,-Oh! not as now,

Marred by the bitter curse that flowed from sin, Scathed by God's justice, darkened by His wrath, And made more black by man,—but pure and sweet In all the beauty of her blossoming youth,In all the fragrance of her new-born spring. 6. Nature is Man's best teacher. She unfolds Her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, Illumes his mind, and purifies his heart.

An influence breathes from all the sights and sounds
Of her existence; she is Wisdom's self.

Rest yields she to the "weary" of the earth,--
Its "heavy-laden" she endows with strength.

7. When sorrow presses on us, when the stings
Of bitter disappointment pierce the soul,
When our eye sickens at the sight of man,
Our ear turns lothing from his jarring voice,
The shadowy forest and the quiet field.
Are then our comforters. A medicine
Breathes in the wind that fans our fevered brow,
The blessed sunshine yields a sweet delight,
The bird's low warble thrills within our breast,

The flower is eloquent with peace and joy,

And better thoughts come o'er us. Lighter heart
And purer feelings cheer our homeward way;
We prize more deep the blessings that are ours,
And rest a higher, holier trust in God.

8. And Nature teaches us Philosophy;
In the quick shading of her brilliant morn
By the dark storm-cloud; in the canker-spot
That lurks within her blushing, fragrant rose,
In the sad blighting of her summer leaves
When Autumn wields his tempests; solemnly
She warns how full of direst change is life,
How perishing our sweetest, brightest joys,
How oft death lays our dearest feelings waste,
And makes existence cold and desolate.

9. But O! she teaches also blessed Hope;

Hope, the sustainer! Hope which keeps the heart
From breaking in its sorrow. Glorious Hope!
In the light seed that cradles the green plant,--
In the bright sun succeeding the dark night,-.
In blue-eyed Spring that plants her violets
Within departing Winter's melting snows.

10. And, holier theme,-she teaches us of God,
Her Architect,--her Master. At His feet
She crouches, and in offering Him her praise
From myriad altars, and in myriad tones,
She bids man praise Him also. In the broad,
Magnificent ocean, surging in wild foam,
Yet bounded in its madness; in the fierce,
Shrieking, and howling tempest, crashing on
In desolating wrath, yet curbed with reins,
She shows His awful power, yet tender care.
In the free sunlight,-in the dropping clouds,-
And changes of the seasons,--she proclaims
His boundless goodness and exhaustless love.

DRYDEN,

11. Glorious, most glorious Nature! thus she yields
Gems to the seeker. But, alas! on earth
We see but dim reflections of her light,--
We hear but whispers of her magic voice,-
Her dazzling, cloudless splendors will be seen,
And her full, perfect harmony be heard,
Only when, bursting from its chains of clay,
The soul shall reach its immortality.

LESSON CLX.

MUSIC OF NATURE.

1. FROM harmony,--from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began.

When Nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms, lay,

And could not heave her head,

The tuneful voice was heard from high,

ARISE! ye more than dead!

Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
In order to their stations, leap,
And Music's voice obey.

From harmony,--from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began.

From harmony to harmony,

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in MAN!

2. As from the power of sacred lays,
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the blessed above;

So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And music shall untune the sky.