creation, a truth which is so important and interesting for us to know, viz. "God is love."

For whom, and for what end, such an exuberance of benefits? Were they not created for man, whom the great Creator has delegated to have the dominion over them? There would be no beauty, no order, in the world, were it not to minister to the happiness and service of man, that his spirit might be elevated to his God, and his heart improved and sanctified by meditation on his wonders of providence and grace. When the eye measures the expanse of heaven, when it glances. refreshingly over the verdant hills and shady valleys of a beautiful world, can the heart remain unaffected? Will not the spirit retire within itself with a pure delight, and enquire, gratefully enquire, Are not all these lovely objects the productions of that divine skill, the result of that infinite wisdom, the token of that rich beneficence, the transcendent brightness of that Almighty love, which became poor that we might be made rich, and humbled itself to death, that we might live.

for evermore? When traversing the solitary wild, watching the foaming torrent, or ascending the awful mountain, the mind seems to gain a nearer access to the Deity, and to estimate the pride and the changes of life according to their just value,-unworthy the anxious thought of an immortal being. Such hours of pensive reflection bring quietness to the perturbed spirit, because the contemplation of the divine attributes, displayed in such scenery, strengthens the trust and reliance of the soul, by infusing the conviction, that the same Almighty God regards with benignity and changeless love, the feeble being whose heart he has by his Spirit disposed to admiration of his wisdom.

"The meadows are as flowery as ever; the mountains as verdant: when all nature smiles, can the heart of man be a mere desert? Forbid it gratitude!"

If to recal the past seems to be but to conjure up the bitter sense of loneliness and departed joy, and to pass a dark cloud over the emerging sunshine of the soul, will not the anticipation of the future, which such

contemplation of immensity has a powerful tendency to excite, rekindle the ray to enlighten it? It is in scenes like these, when we experience the "felt presence of the Deity,' that the spirit rests in a serious, solemn happiness, with a prostration of self before the divine will; an emotion which, though it may bathe the eyes in tears, yet effectually tends to elevate and soothe the heart. Yes, bright are the hopes which such contemplations awaken of a God who softens and embellishes our path of life, and terminates our view by the splendours of his own goodness, unaffected by the revolutions of years, or the rapidity of time. O happy, thrice happy, are those who can resort, in singleness of heart, to the mild and lovely spirit of religion, round which the pure halo of revelation enables them to view in characters of eternal truth, "Hope! hope! What God gave, he will again restore."

These impressions of Deity upon the soul further produce affiance and trust in him, by inducing a belief that those appointments and dispensations of his providence which press

upon our frailty and weakness, are but a part of that universal harmony pervading his great moral government of which such strong and convincing evidences continually arrest the senses in the material operations of his creative power. What abundant reason have we to bless and praise the beneficent Being, who has not left us to discover his goodness by the uncertain conclusions of analogy, but by revelation has lifted the veil! A flood of light has been poured forth, and a hallowed voice has issued from the stream of radiance, "That the sufferings of this present life, are not worthy to be compared to the joys we shall taste, if we endure, through faith in our Redeemer, unto the end.

What a chord of consolation does this sublime passage strike on the bereaved heart! leading it by one comprehensive grasp to blend the past, the present, and the future; and to associate the spirit of love we contemplate with the spirits of light which have been freed from mortal coil!

In fine, those only who possess true sensibility, healthful in all its exercises, can know

how refreshing to the spirit, as well as ennobling to the mind, is the contemplation of creative wisdom, seen through the mild radiance of a Redeemer's love. Majestic in its simplicity, and elevating in its influences, it becomes at once the support of our weakness, the safeguard of our principles, and the source of our most perfect and interesting consolations

"Then liberty, like day,

Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from heaven Fires all the faculties with glorious joy."

But while we seek alleviation for the lacerated feelings in these contemplations, let us ever remember that it is only to those possessing a religion of deep-seated principle, humility, and faith, that the solace arising from contemplation can be open. The religion of the imagination will be unequal to the trial. Well has our Christian bard remarked,

66 Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste His works."

For without God as centre, rest, and end, the