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VIII.

Yet to the Sabbath those who toil will look,

And the seal'd volume of a world unseen

For man has greater charms than Nature's book,
Though there are pages for inspection keen
Unroll'd as yet: Geologists I ween

Have made but little progress in their lore!

What shall be known, compared with what has been, Will be, as if a noon-day sun rose o'er

This earth, intenser light on favour'd man to pour.

IX.

Philosophy is like the ladder high

In Padan-Aram, when in vision blest
The Patriarch saw uprising to the sky
And then descending Angels, to his breast
Giving the promise of a glorious rest :
Thus, by thy aid, Philosophy, is man

Enabled to discern, though care-opprest,

His relative state of being, since began

Time to unfold his wings, and life's first current ran.

X.

Impregnating all space, and mind effused

From its great parent-stock through worlds above And worlds around this globe of ours diffused Those elements in which all creatures move

And live; the universal bond is love. What pleasure 'tis in mind to trace the ties,

Numerous as are the leaflets in a grove,

That join our quick sensations as they rise
Fast as each shadow brief along the mountain flies.

XI.

High metaphysics are as faintly seen

As the gigantic mountain's shadowy height When twilight draws her veil o'er such a scene As heaven unrolls on earth for man's delight, Late glowing in the sunset's purple light: All may distinctly gospel-truths behold,

They are with ever-living splendours bright; Thus doth the noon-day sun in rays of gold Along the fertile vale each object fair unfold.

XII.

The moral atmosphere doth lighten now

As with a paradise-clearness,-thus appear'd The sky o'er Jordan's stream; a purple glow Invested heaven and earth as Jesus near'd

That Prophet, whom the Triune effluence cheer'd.

By man, (unsocial bigotry may frown,)

The bonds of brotherhood are more revered

Than in the olden times; is pride o'erthrown?

She quails, though on her head glitters the jewell'd crown.

XIII.

Life is a mystery, here we are placed

All on a level, wherefore vaunt the proud? Have they the genuine form of truth embraced? If not, in what do they excel the crowd Whom the thick-coming shades of error shroud? Oh! not to such vain spirits is it given To dissipate life's overhanging cloud, Or to direct for man the way to heaven! They have too much of earth's all-vitiating leaven.

XIV.

And strongly waxes now the word of God;
And very swiftly runneth through the world
Zeal, potent as the Seer's life-giving rod :
The banners of religion are unfurl'd

Far, and Aherman from his throne is hurl'd.
Through culture's aid the naked rocks may smile,
Mantled in emerald green, with dew impearl'd;
The seeds of truth shall ripen in each isle,
That now is rank with weeds of superstition vile.

XV.

Priestcraft in vain the flaming sword would turn
On all around who dare invade her own
Peculiar Eden; noble spirits spurn

Her narrow laws, despise the bigot's frown,

And Tabernacles build for Truth alone! Religion, central sun, pours forth her light

O'er all the minor orbs of knowledge thrown; Man, conscious of his intellectual might,

Rejects heart-withering creeds, that would o'erpower right.

NOTES TO "THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE."

P. 153, 1. 1.

Now is the spirit from on high pour'd forth

On man; and where the dragons lay encaved,
Fresh streams of water flow.

"For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."

"And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes."-ISAIAH, xxxv. 6, 7.

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"The imperfection of political institutions," says HUMBOLDT, for ages have converted places where the commerce of the world should be concentred, into deserts; but the time approaches when these obstacles will exist no longer. A vicious administration cannot always struggle against the united interests of men, and civilization will be carried insensibly into those countries, the great destinies of which nature itself proclaims, by the physical configuration of the soil, the immense windings of the rivers, and the proximity of the two seas that bathe the coasts of Europe and Africa."

"Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedron doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the tops of the mountains."

"Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis,

Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper !"

P. 153, 1. 7.

Peace smiles where late war's crimson banners waved.

"The fruits of the Spirit are peace," &c.

"The morality of peaceful times is directly opposite to the maxims

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