the most sensible of praise and dispraise; | How mean the order and perfection sought and a noble spirit is as much invigorated In the best product of the human thought, with its due proportion of honor and ap- Compar'd to the great harmony that reigns plause, as it is depressed by neglect and con- In what the spirit of the world ordains! tempt. But it is only persons far above the Prior. common level who are thus affected with Nature-faint emblem of Omnipotence !either of these extremes; as in a thermom-Shap'd by His hand-the shadow of His eter it is only the purest and most sublimated spirit that is either contracted or dilated by the benignity or inclemency of the Sir R. Steele. season. INFLUENCE of. light The veil in which He wraps His majesty, And through whose mantling folds He deigns to show, Of His mysterious, awful attributes He left a name, at which the world grew And dazzling splendours, all man's feeble pale, thought quench'd. Street. To point a moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson. Can grasp uncrush'd, or vision bear un- ABUNDANCE IN. Chaucer. Scenes must be beautiful which daily view'd CALMNESS IN. The sea is like a silvery lake, Mocre. Surely there is something in the unruf fled calm of nature that overawes our little anxiety and doubts: the sight of the deepblue sky, and the clustering stars above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind. Jonathan Edwards. SUCCESSIVE CHANGES IN. Nature gives to every time and season Nature's full blessings would be well dis- some beauties of its own; and from morn ing to night, as from the cradle to the grave, Dickens. If thou art worn and hard beset Thy heart from fainting, and thy soul from Go to the woods and hills!-no tears CONTEMPLATION OF. In contemplation of created things, Psalms lxxiv, 16, 17. works of God. That clearer marks of masterly design, Man's rich with little, were his judgment true; Nature is frugal, and her wants are few; But fools create themselves new appetites. GOD IN. The time-vesture of God, that reveals Him to the wise, and hides Him from the foolish. Carlyle. Nature has perfections, in order to show that she is the image of God; and defects, in order to show that she is only His image. Pascal. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Than in the brightest works of human art. Above, how high! progressive life may go! DIVINITY OF. Sir R. Blackmore. O Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom, hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches. Psalms civ, 24. ECONOMY IN. Each moss, Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank Important in the plan of Him who framed This scale of beings; holds a rank which, lost, Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap Which nature's self would rue. Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Go abroad Who the guide of nature, but only the God of nature? In him we live, move, and Thomson. are. Those things which nature is said to Nature is avariciously frugal; in matter, do are by divine art performed, using nait allows no atom to elude its grasp; in ture as an instrument; nor is there any such mind, no thought or feeling to perish. It knowledge divine in nature herself workgathers up the fragments, that nothing being, but in the guide of nature's work. lost. David Thomas. Hooker. LIBERALITY OF. THE ART OF GOD. All things are artificial, for GRANDEUR of. Liberal, not lavish, is kind nature's hand; Nor was perfection made for man below. Sir Thos. Browne. Yet all her schemes with nicest art are Nature! great parent! whose unceasing hand How mighty, how majestic are thy works! soul! That sees astonish'd! and astonish'd sings! Thomson. Nature is impartial, plann'd, Good counteracting ill, and gladness woe. REVOLUTION of. Hufeland. Look nature through; 'tis revolution all; When purer moulds, polish'd and gloss'd All change; no death. Day follows night, with titles, and night Honours and wealth bestow upon their The dying day; stars rise, and set, and rise; Earth takes th' example. bloods Deform'd impressions, objects only fit Nabb. Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts: the sight of the deep-blue sky, and the clustering stars above, seems to impart a quiet to the mind. Edwards. NEVER KILLED. Persons and humours may be jumbled and disguised; but nature, like quicksilver, L'Estrange. will never be killed. LANGUAGE of. To him who in the love of nature holds To study nature will thy time employ; O nature, how in every charm supreme! Communion with her visible forms, she To sing thy glories with devotion due! From dearth to plenty, and from dearth to life, Is nature's progress, when she lectures man In heavenly truth; evincing as she makes The grand transition, that there lives and works A soul in all things, and that soul is God. FRIEND OF TRUTH. UNERRING. VARIETY IN. WORSHIP OF. Within the sun-lit forest, Our roof the bright blue sky, It appears that nature has hid at the bottom of our hearts talents and abilities unknown to us. It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do. La Rochefoucauld. Nature is mighty. Art is mighty. Artifice is weak. For nature is the work of a Art is the work mightier power than man. of man under the guidance and inspiration of a mightier power. Artifice is the work of mere man in the imbecility of his mimic understanding. Anon. That clearer marks of masterly design, Tupper. NATURE AND REVELATION. WORKS OF. The works of nature, and the works of revelation, display religion to mankind in characters so large and visible, that those who are not quite blind may in them see and read the first principles and most neoessary parts of it, and from thence penetrate Where streamlets flow, and wild flowers into those infinite depths filled with the blow, We lift our hearts on high; Our country's strength is bowing; But, thanks to God, they can't prevent The lone wild-flower from blowing! treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Ebenezer Elliott. Neatness, and its reverse, among the poor, are almost a certain test of their moral character. Dr. Whitaker. The green earth sends its incense up THINGS. NECESSARY. We ought to be thankful to nature for having made those things which are necessary easy to be discovered; while other things that are difficult to be known, are not necessary. Epicurus DEFINITION OF. The tyrant's plea. POWER OF. Zimmerman. Milton. There is no contending with necessity; and we should be very tender how we censure those that submit to it. It is one thing to be at liberty to do what we will, and another thing to be tied up to do what we must. Sir R. L'Estrange. Necessity will make us all forsworn. Shakespeare When fear admits no hope of safety, Necessity makes dastards valiant men. Herrick. PRESENCE of. Necessity, like electricity, Is in ourselves and all things, and no more Without us than within us. NECK. A lover forsaken A new love may get; But a neck that's once broken Bailey. THE. NERVOUS SYSTEM. So delicate is the fine tracery of the nervous structure, that the damage of a single fibre or a set of fibres destroys the unity of the whole. It is like a grand orchestra, in which one instrument alone out of time or tune disturbs the harmony of the rest, and the finest musical composition in the world is entirely spoiled by its discord. And this serious evil is apparent, not only in old age, but even in the young, in whom the disastrous consequences of injury to the brain, &c., are far more important both to themselves and to the world. NOTHING. Dr. Forbes Winslow. NEW. Nothing is new; we walk where others went; There's no vice now but has its precedent. Herrick. In persons grafted in a serious trust, The nature of bad news affects the teller. Shakespeare. When ill news comes too late to be serviceable to your neighbour, keep it to yourZimmerman. self. THIRST FOR. The news! our morning, noon and evening cry, Day after day repeats it till we die. For this we leave the parson in the lurch, We ask-"what news?"-then lay him in the ground. Sprague. |