Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast

afflicted us,

And the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants,
And Thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us;
And establish Thou the work of our hands upon us;
Yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.

LESSON LXXX.

OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

1. ABOVE,-below,-where'er I gaze,
Thy guiding finger, Lord, I view,
Traced in the midnight planets' blaze,
Or glistening in the morning dew;
Whate'er is beautiful or fair,
Is but Thine own reflection there.
2. I hear Thee in the stormy wind,

That turns the ocean-wave to foam;
Nor less Thy wondrous power I find,
When summer airs around me roam
The tempest and the calm declare
Thyself, for Thou art everywhere.
3. I find Thee in the noon of night,

And read Thy name in every star,
That drinks its splendor from the light
That flows from mercy's beaming car:
Thy footstool, Lord, each starry gem
Composes, not Thy diadem.

4. And when the radiant orb of light

Hath tipped the mountain-tops with gold,
Smote with the blaze, my weary sight

Shrinks from the wonders I behold ;

That ray of glory bright and fair,
Is but Thy living shadow there.

5. Thine is the silent noon of night,—
The twilight eve,—the dewy morn;
Whate'er is beautiful and bright,

Thy hands have fashioned to adorn ;—
Thy glory walks in every sphere,

And all things whisper, "GOD IS HERE."

LESSON LXXXI.

INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY.

WEBSTER.

Extract from a Speech delivered in Faneuil Hall, Boston, April 3, 1825. 1. Ir is said, that prosperity sometimes hardens the heart. Perhaps, also, it may sometimes have a contrary effect, and elevate and liberalize the feelings. If this can ever be the result of such a cause, there is certainly in the present condition of the country, enough to inspire the most grateful and the kindest feelings. We have a common stock both of happiness and of distinction, of which we are all entitled, as citizens of the country, to partake. We may all rejoice in the general prosperity, in the peace and security which we enjoy, and in the brilliant success which has thus far attended our republican institutions.

2. These are circumstances which may well excite in us all a noble pride. Our civil and political institutions, while they answer for us all the great ends designed by them, furnish, at the same time, an example to others, and diffuse blessings beyond our own limits. In whatever part of the globe, men are found contending for political liberty, they look to the United States with a feeling of brotherhood, and put forth a claim of kindred.

3. The South American States, especially, exhibit a most interesting spectacle. Let the great men who formed our constitutions of government, who still survive, and let the children of those who have gone to their graves, console themselves with the reflection, that whether they have risen or fallen in the little contests of party, they have not only established the liberty and happiness of their own native land, but have con

ferred blessings beyond their own country, and beyond their own thoughts, on millions of men, and on successions of gener-ations.

4. Under the influence of these institutions, received and adopted in principle, from our example, the whole southern continent has shaken off its colonial subjection.-A new world, filled with fresh and interesting nations, has risen to our sight. America seems again discovered; not to geography, but to commerce, to social intercourse, to intelligence, to civilization, and to liberty.

5. Fifty years ago, some of those who now hear me, and the fathers of many others, listened in this place, to those mighty masters, Otis and Adams. When they then uttered the spirit-stirring sounds of Independence and Liberty, there was not a foot of land on the continent, inhabited by civilized man, that did not acknowledge the dominion of European power. Thank God, at this moment, from us to the south pole, and from sea to sea, there is hardly a foot that does.

6. And when these States, thus newly disinthralled and emancipated, assume the tone, and bear the port of independence, what language, and what ideas do we find associated, with their new acquired liberty? They speak of Constitutions, of Declarations of Rights, of the Liberty of the Press, of a Congress, and of the Representative Government. Where did they learn these? And when they have applied to their great leader and the founder of their States, the language of praise and commendation, till they have exhausted it,—when unsatisfied gratitude can express itself no otherwise, do they not call him their WASHINGTON ?

7. The spirit of Continental Independence, the genius of American Liberty, which in earlier times tried her infant voice in the halls and on the hills of New England, utters it now, with power that seems to wake the dead, on the plains of Mexico, and along the sides of the Andes.

"Her path, where'er the Goddess roves,

Glory pursues, and generous shame,—

The unconquerable mind, and Freedom's holy flame."

LESSON LXXXII.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OUR COUNTRY.
JAMES MADISON.

1. LET it be remembered, that it has ever been the pride and boast of America, that the rights, for which she contended, were the rights of human nature. By the blessing of the Author of these rights on the means exerted for their defense, they have prevailed over all opposition. No instance has heretofore occurred, nor can any instance be expected hereafter to occur, in which the unadulterated forms of republican government, can pretend to so fair an opportunity for justifying themselves by their fruits.

2. In this view, the citizens of the United States are responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a political society. If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude, and all the other qualities which ennoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends of government, be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of Liberty will acquire a dignity and luster which it has never yet enjoyed; and an example will be set. which can not but have the most favorable influence on the rights of mankind.

3. If, on the other hand, our government should be unfortunately blotted with the reverse of these cardinal and essential virtues, the great cause which we have engaged to vindicate, will be dishonored and betrayed; and the last and fairest experiment in favor of the rights of human nature, will be turned against them; and their patrons and friends exposed to be insulted and silenced by the votaries of tyranny and usurpation.

4. THIS lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fathers, are ours,—ours to enjoy ours to preserve,-ours to transmit. enjoy-ours Generations past, and generations to come, hold us responsible for this sacred trust. Our fathers from behind admonish us with their anxious, parental voices; posterity calls out to us from the bosom of the future; the world turns hither with its solicitous

eye; all, all conjure us to act wisely and faithfully in this relation which we sustain. We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us; but by virtue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good principle and every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessing through our day, and to leave it unimpaired to our children.

5. Let us feel deeply how much of what we are, and what we possess, we owe to this liberty and these institutions of government. Nature has indeed given us a soil which yields bounteously to the hand of industry; the mighty and fruitful ocean is before us, and the skies over our heads shed health and vigor. But what are lands, and seas, and skies, to civilized man, without society, without knowledge, without morals, without religious culture? and how can these be enjoyed, in all their excellence, but under the protection of wise institutions and a free government?

6. There is not one of us, who does not at this moment, and at every moment, experience in his own condition, and in the condition of those most near and dear to him, the influence and benefits of this liberty, and of these institutions. Let us, then, acknowledge the blessing; let us feel it deeply and powerfully; let us cherish a strong affection for it, and resolve to maintain and perpetuate it. The blood of our fathers,—let it not have been shed in vain; the great hope of posterity,-let it not be blasted.

7. It can not be denied, but by those who would dispute against the sun, that with America, and in America, a new era has commenced in human affairs. This era is distinguished by free representative government, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newlyawakened and unconquerable spirit of free inquiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge through the community, such as has been before altogether unknown and unheard of. America, America, our country, our dear native land, is inseparably connected, fast bound up, in fortune and by fate, with these great interests. If they fall, we fall with them; if they stand, it will be because we have upheld them.-WEBSTER.