102 OSCILLATIONS OR VIBRATIONS 



portion of eternity ; yet, why doubt the immortality of that 

 higher manifestation of life called mind, when it can sweep 

 over the vastness of Nature and unfold the principles of 

 things ? If the value of man is to be estimated by the 

 duration of his frail and perishable body, then is he of less 

 importance than the tree which he fells for timber, for that 

 frequently outlives him and his successive generations. 

 Oh, let us not think thus meanly of ourselves ! The mind 

 is the man ; and " one living mind is worth more than a 

 dead universe." Never can I sympathize with those who 

 seek to inspire man with low, reptile feelings, and try to 

 shame him out of his trust in his Creator. What moral 

 good can ever result to the human race from the advocacy 

 of such sentiments ? 



I see the sun now sinking in the West. He is casting 

 his parting rays on our landscapes. How beautiful the light 

 reflected from the clouds in his neighborhood ! Another 

 beat of the great pendulum of the universe ! Whence that 

 thought ? It arises from my appreciation of the advance 

 of Nature. The landscapes are now enveloped in the 

 earth's shadow. It is night. Why did that sunset give 

 me so much pleasure ? Because the sun was made to 

 minister to my gratification. I am then of more import- 

 ance than that sun. Yet it shone myriads of ages before 

 I came to regard its splendors, and it will soon shine on 

 my lowly grave. That will contain my body, but NOT ME. 

 Others shall look on thy setting beauties, thou glorious 

 sun, and read these lines when I am gone, and oh! may 

 they inspire in them my own unfaltering faith in Provi- 

 dence and immortality ! 



As the tree is connected with the material world and re- 

 ceives impressions from without which mould its character, 

 so with the organism of man. He is bound by inseparable 

 ties to the material creation. Locke in his " Essay on the 

 Human Understanding," has shown us the nature of this 

 connection : that sensation links us with matter, is the 

 germ of intellect, and the avenue of human knowledge. 



