152 mature Studies in ffierfcsbire. 



of birth and came out of humble station to his great 

 task of national service. Nor does God insist on 

 voluntary service ; He makes even rebels and sin- 

 ners do His bidding and become unconscious and 

 reluctant co-workers with Him. Pharaoh was His 

 unwilling coadjutor. So was George III. So was 

 Jefferson Davis. Doubtless Tammany Hall may yet 

 turn out to be the greatest reform movement this 

 country ever saw, and work out by the rule of con- 

 traries that purgation of municipal politics which it 

 is its own chief aim to hinder and to prevent. It 

 must be a very skilful agent which can outwit om- 

 niscience and escape carrying God's messages and 

 bringing His will to pass. Says the Concord poet- 

 sage, making God the speaker : 



"My will fulfilled shall be, 



And in daylight or in dark 

 My thunderbolt hath eyes to see 

 Its way home to the mark." 



But if the winds illustrate the process of human 

 unification, so they do also of another of the great 

 laws by which the labours of God go on. I know no 

 finer instance than they afford us of that great law 

 of rhythm, which characterises the whole creation, 

 which contains some of our most encouraging hopes, 

 which throws a light on the methods of the Creator, 

 and the plan of creation's unfolding life. 



You and I, my reader, have our most frequent in- 

 terest in the winds in connection with the storms 

 which come down upon our coast. And there is a 



