merous beyond calculation the worlds which incessantly roll throughout the immensity of space!

7. What countless legions of intellectual beings, of every rank and capacity, must crowd the boundless dominions of the King eternal, immortal, and invisible! And how glorious and incomprehensible must He be, whose word caused this vast fabric to start into existence, and who superintends every moment, the immensity of beings, with which it is replenished! In attempting to grasp such scenes, the human mind is bewildered and overwhelmed, and can only exclaim :-" Great and MARVELOUS ARE THY WORKS, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!"

8. "SEEST thou those orbs that numerous roll above?
Those lamps that nightly greet thy visual powers,
Are each a bright capacious sun like ours.

The telescopic tube will still descry
Myriads behind, that 'scape the naked eye,
And further on, a new discovery trace
Through the deep regions of encompassed space.

9. "If each bright star so many suns are found,
With planetary systems circled round,
What vast infinitude of worlds may grace,—
What beings people the stupendous space!
Whatever race possess the ethereal plain,
What orbs they people, or what ranks mairtain!

10. "Though the deep sccret Heaven conceal below,
One truth of universal scope we know,—

Our nobler part, the same ethereal mind,
Relates our earth to all their reasoning kind;
One Deity, one sole creating cause,

Our active cares and joint devotion draws.

11. "Child of the earth! O, lift thy glance To yon bright firmament's expanse,The glories of its realms explore,

LESSON XLIII.

NOTE.-The following sublime Ode to the SUPREME BEING, is said to have been translated into the Chinese and Tartar languages, written on silk, and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin. The Emperor of Japan had it translated into Japanese, embroidered in gold, and hung up in the Temple of Jeddo.

DIRECTION.-The following poetry, though in Rhyme, resembles, in style and punctuation, Blank Verse. Care is, therefore, requisite in the reading to denote the final pause, in order that the similarity of final sounds may be clearly expressed. The monotone should prevail in the utterance, and the movement should be slow, expressive of sublimity.

GOD.

From the Russian of DERZHAVIN. 1. (%)O THOU ETERNAL ONE! whose presence bright All space doth occupy-all motion guide;

2.

3.

Unchanged through Time's all-devastating flight—
THOU ONLY GOD! There is no God beside,-
Being above all beings! Mighty One!

Whom none can comprehend, and none explore;
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone,
Embracing all-supporting-ruling o'er ;-
Being whom we call GOD,—and know no more!

In its sublime research, Philosophy

May measure out the ocean deep-may count
The sands, or rays of sun,-but God! for Thee

There is no weight or measure; none can mount
Up to Thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark,
Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try
To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark;

And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments in eternity.

Thou from primeval nothingness didst call
First chaos, then existence ;-Lord, on Thee
Eternity had its foundation ;-all

Sprung forth from Thee—of light, joy, harmony,

Sole origin, all life,—all beauty, Thine,

Thy word created all, and doth create;—

Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.

Thou art, and wast, and shalt be glorious! great!
Life-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

4. Thy chains the unmeasured Universe surround;
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath!
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,
And beautifully mingled life and death!

As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze,

So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee; And, as the spangles, in the sunny rays,

Shine round the silvery snow, the pageantry Of Heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise. 5. A million torches, lighted by Thy hand,

Wander unwearied through the blue abyss;
They own Thy power, accomplish thy command,
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light!
A glorious company of golden streams?

Lamps of celestial ether burning bright?

Suns lighting systems with their joyous béams? But Thou to these art as the day to night.

6. Yes! as a drop of water in the sea,

All this magnificence in Thee is lost

What are ten thousand worlds compared to Thee?
And what am I, then? Heaven's unnumbered host,
Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed

In all the glory of sublimest thought,
Is but an atom in the balance weighed

Against Thy greatness,-is a cipher brought
Against infinity! What am I, then?-NAUGHT!

7. Náught! but the effluence of Thy light divine,
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom, too;
Yes! in my spirit doth Thy Spirit shine,

As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew. Náught! but I live, and on hope's pinions fly, Eager toward Thy presence; for in Thee

I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high,
Even to the throne of Thy Divinity.

I am, O God! and surely Thou must be!
8. Thou art directing, guiding all, Thou art!
Direct my understanding then to Thee;
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart;
Though but an atom 'midst immensity,
Still I am something, fashioned by Thy hand!
I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth,
On the last verge of mortal being stand,

Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
Just on the boundaries of the spirit-land!

9. The chain of being is complete in me; In me is matter's last gradation lost, And the next step is spirit-DEITY !

I can command the lightning, and am dust!

A monarch, and a slave; a worm, a god!

Whence came I here, and how? so marvelously Constructed and conceived? Unknown! This clod Lives surely through some higher energy;

For from itself alone it could not be.

10. Creator! Yes!

Thy wisdom and Thy word
Created me! Thou source of life and good!
Thou Spirit of my spirit, and my Lord!

Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitude
Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring
Over the abyss of death, and bade it wear
The garments of eternal day, and wing

Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere,
Even to its source-to Thee-its Author there.

11. O thought ineffable! O vision blest!

Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee,
Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast,
And waft its homage to the Deity.

God! thus above my lowly thoughts can soar;

Thus seek Thy presence-Being wise and good;

'Midst Thy vast works, admire, obey, adore;
And when the tongue is eloquent no more,
The soul shall speak in tears of gratitude.

LESSON XLIV.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. PLA' TO, a great Athenian philosopher, was born 465 years before Christ. He was for eight years a pupil of SOCRATES, and wrote a faithful account of that great philosopher's acts and sayings.

2. SOC' RA TES, the most celebrated philosorer of antiquity, was a son of SOPHRONISCUS, a sculptor. He was born 470 years before Christ. The purity of his doctrines, and his independence of character, rendered him popular with the most enlightened Athenians, though they created him many enemies, by whom he was falsely accused, and was arraigned and condemned to drink hemlock, the juice of a poisonous plant. With cheerfulness he continued to instruct his pupils and his ardent friends who attended him, particularly urging the doctrine of the soul's immortality, till the moment of his death. When the hour to drink the poison had come, the executioner handed him the cup with tears in his eyes. SOCRATES received it with composure, drank it with an unaltered countenance, and in a few moments expired.

3. A RIS TI' DES was an Athenian, whose great temperance and virtue procured for him the title of Just.

MAJESTY AND SUPREMACY OF THE SCRIPTURES

CONFESSED BY A SKEPTIC.

ROUSSEAU.

1. I WILL confess that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the Gospel hath its influence on my heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers with all their pomp of diction. How mean, how contemptible are they, compared with the Scriptures! Is it possible that a book, at once so simple and sublime, should be merely the work of man? Is it possible that the sacred personage, whose history it contains, should be himself a mere man? Do we find that he assumed the tone of an enthusiast or ambitious sectary?

2. What sweetness, what purity in his manner! What an affecting gracefulness in his delivery! What sublimity in his maxims! What profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of mind, what subtlety, what truth in his replies!