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draws away the veil from a more beautiful world! Father in Heaven, grant me Thy mercy, that I may increase in wisdom, and prepare myself for that aweful moment which awaits me yonder! O hear my supplications, my Creator, my Father! Amen.

XXVI.

STEPS IN CREATION.

PSALM Civ. 1—5.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire. Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever."

THE divine economy of nature has often filled my soul with indescribable astonishment and rapture -and I am frequently carried back to the consideration of it. When I look When I look upon the immense universe as the house of God, my heavenly Father; when, incapable as I am of measuring the Infinite by the utmost grasp of mind, I make only the least part of the wonderful creation the subject of my scrutiny ;-when in that smallest part of the things formed and ordained by God, I perceive still the same perfection and infinity as are displayed in the

vast system of the whole created universe ;-then my soul trembles with a silent delight which no language can express, then I feel myself, as it were, absorbed in the contemplation of my God. I am surrounded by heavenly revelations,—a tear of rapture fills my eye,-I would pray, but I am too much affected, and cannot pray ;-my tears are an offering of praise to my Creator.

Many weak mortals, indeed, have a desire to witness extraordinary things, and expect signs from heaven. Short-sighted man! what your hand touches is wonderful; and you perceive it not ;your foot travels through the dust, but it steps on worlds which you perceive not;-you see astonishing sights with your organic eyes, but they remain dark to your mental vision.

Have you a worthy perception of the omnipotence, of the wisdom, of the greatness, of your Creator? Well, then,-remember that in this house of the Divinity,-in this eternal palace of the universe,-nothing is too small, too trifling, to be the object of admiration. What are the riches and glories of a king, at the view of whose stately habitation you stand bewildered with astonishment, where marble saloons, and golden ornaments, where tapestry and pictures enchant your sight? It is only dust collected from like inanimate dust, and compounded by skilful hands.

Infinitely greater than any mortal king is the Lord of all worlds; and infinitely richer is the universe, from whence the omnipresent majesty of God shines forth upon thee.

There is nothing in this immeasurable palace, too small or too trifling, every thing has its destination,-all things in it stand in eternal connexion with one another. The world would hang as well by a spider's web, as by that force which holds suns, revolving stars, and comets, in their orbit.

You set your foot on a common-looking pebble, which lies on the shore of the neighbouring water. It was once a part of a rock or mountain. Floods washed it hither. It crumbles in the air, and becomes earth. A growing plant attracts some of its component parts; and animals are nourished by the plant. That stone, therefore, lies not there in vain, it had its destination.

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A fisherman found on the sea-shore the golden coloured amber; of this, vanity made an ornament; the sage discovered in it a secret power; and by a further series of experiments, it was demonstrated, that the power of this stone is allied to that which produces the vivid lightning, and the rolling thunder.

From the cloudy skies of winter fall thousands of flakes of snow. Under the magnifying glass,

each of these snow-flakes appears like a star with a hundred little, glittering, feathery points, formed with such tenderness and beauty, that no human skill can imitate this same silvery heaven-dropped star. It falls on your hand,-the exquisite crystals of ice are melted by the warmth. Instead of the star, you have a light drop of dew,-the moisture of which evaporates; the water which has disappeared in vapour, mounts upward; and the fallen silvery star of snow returns in an aerial form to its heavenly fountain. It has now fulfilled its destination, it has attracted your attention to the divine world of wonders; whilst millions of other flakes spread a warm covering over the surface of the earth, to screen the seeds of the husbandman, and the gardener's plants, from the destructive frost.

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When Jehovah spake the omnipotent word: • Let the universe be!' and the universe was,and moved, glittering and splendid in imperishable magnificence, nothing was then created which was in vain; even the worm in the grass had its destination, and the pollen of the flower received a divine appointment. All in this endless creation is for the sake of each single being; and that single being must be there for the sake of the incalculable whole. Throughout the entire union of created things, there exists an universal intimate

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