And guided by me through the merciless sea, 7. I awaken the flowers in their dew-spangled bowers, And mountain and plain glow with beauty again, Oh! if such be the worth of my presence on earth, LESSON LXXXIV. CHANT AND CHORUS OF THE PLANETS. ANNA BLACKWELL. An excellent effect may be produced by letting ONE PUPIL read the first four lines of each stanza in a clear, distinct tone of voice, and the WHOLE CLASS read the remaining lines in concert, as indicated. 1. ONE PUPIL. FATHER of all! With joy Thy children stand To bless the bounty of Thy Parent-hand, And on Thy name with loving reverence call. WHOLE CLASS. From farthest realms of light Our grateful strains their choral tide unite, And, at Thy universal throne, in adoration fall! 2. 3. ONE PUPIL. Great Worker! we In Thy wide labors our high part to bear; WHOLE CLASS. Thus all the realms of light, O God! with Thee in sympathy unite, And, in a holy and ennobling friendship, work with THEE! ONE PUPIL. Sovereign Divine! We glory in the might Of Thine own uncreated Light, Whose living rays Thy sacred brow intwine! (<) 4. WHOLE CLASS. Higher and ever higher, We soar on tireless wing, all-glorious Sire! Toward the Eternal Throne, whose splendors on all beings shine! ONE PUPIL. LOVE! measureless, Exhaustless, unto Thee We gravitate eternally! Thou giv'st existence but that Thou may'st bless. WHOLE CLASS. To Thee we ever tend, Seeking with thee, O Central Life! to blend: Almighty Love, Creation's source, all beings Thee confess! THO LESSON LXXXV. INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE EARTH. CHALMERS. HOUGH the earth were to be burned up, though the trumpet of its dissolution were sounded, though yon sky were to pass away as a scroll, and every visible glory which the finger of the Divinity has inscribed on it, were extinguished forever,- an event so awful to us, and to every world in our vicinity, by which so many suns would be extinguished, and so many varied scenes of life and population would rush into forgetfulness, what is it in the high scale of the Almighty's workmanship? A mere shred, which, though scattered into nothing, would leave the universe of God one entire scene of greatness and of majesty. 2. Though the earth and the heavens were to disappear, there are other worlds which roll afar; the light of other suns shines upon them; and the sky which mantles them, is garnished with other stars. Is it presumption to say that the moral world extends to these distant and unknown regions'? that they are occupied with people'? that the charities of home and of neighborhood flourish there? that the praises of God are there lifted up, and his goodness rejoiced in'? that there piety has its temples and its offerings? and the richness of the divine attributes is there felt and admired by intelligent worshipers'? 3. And what is this world in the immensity which teems with worlds? and what are they who occupy it? The universe at large would suffer as little in its splendor and variety by the destruction of our planet, as the verdure and sublime magnitude of a forest would suffer by the fall of a single leaf. The leaf quivers on the branch which supports it. It lies at the mercy of the slightest accident. A breath of wind tears it from its stem, and it lights on the stream of water which passes underneath. 4. In a moment, the life, which we know by the microscrope the leaf teems with, is extinguished; and an occurrence so insignificant in the eye of man, and on the scale of his observation, carries in it, to the myriads which people this little leaf, an event as terrible and decisive as the destruction of a world. Thus we may see the littleness and insecurity of these myriads. Now, on the grand scale of the universe, we, the occupiers of this ball, which performs its round among the suns and systems that astronomy has unfolded, may feel the same littleness and insecurity. We differ from the leaf only in this circumstance, that it would require the operation of greater elements to destroy us. But these elements exist. - 5. The fire which rages within, may lift its devouring energy to the surface of our planet, and transform it into one wide and wasting volcano. The sudden formation of elastic matter in the bowels of the earth and it lies within the agency of known substances to accomplish thismay explode it into fragments. The exhalation of noxious air from below may impart a virulence to the air that is around us; it may affect the delicate proportion of its ingredients; and the whole of animated nature may wither and die under the malignity of a tainted atmosphere. A blazing comet may cross this fated planet in its orbit; and all the terrors which superstition has conceived of such an event, may be realized. 6. We can not anticipate with precision the consequences of an event which every astronomer must know lies within the limits of chance and probability. It may hurry our globe toward the sun, or drag it to the outer regions of the planetary system, or give it a new axis of revolution; and the effect, which I shall simply announce without explaining it, would be to change the place of the ocean, and bring another mighty flood upon our islands and conti nents. 7. These are changes which may happen in a single instant of time, and against which nothing known in the present system of things provides us with any security. They might not annihilate the earth, but they would unpeople it; and we, who tread its surface with such firm and assured footsteps, are at the mercy of devouring elements, which, if let loose upon us by the hand of the Almighty, would spread solitude, and silence, and death over the dominions of the world. 8. Now, it is this littleness and this insecurity which make the protection of the Almighty so dear to us, and bring with such emphasis to every pious bosom the holy lessons of humility and gratitude. The God who sitteth above, and presides in high authority over all worlds, is mindful of man; and though, at this moment, His energy is felt in the remotest provinces of creation, we may feel the same security in His providence, as if we were the objects of His undivided care. 9. It is not for us to bring our minds up to this mysterious agency. But such is the incomprehensible fact, that the same Being, whose eye is abroad over the whole universe, gives vegetation to every blade of grass, and motion to every particle of blood which circulates through the veins of the minutest animal; that, though His mind takes into His comprehensive grasp immensity and all its wonders, I am as much known to Him as if I were the single object of His attention; that He marks all my thoughts; that He gives birth to every feeling and every movement within |