A DIVINE REVELATION. 21 



varieties in the forms of vegetable growth, in the colours 

 and perfumes of flowers, and a hundred other of the phe- 

 nomena of nature, we can only ascribe them to the power 

 and wisdom of the Creator, and, above all, to his goodness, 

 in so varying the objects which minister to our rational 

 pleasures and enjoyments, that there need be no weariness, 

 nor sense of satiety. Eespecting this particular source of 

 pleasure to which we are now more especially alluding, the 

 naturalist Kirby has well said : i Of all the endowments 

 of birds, none is more striking, and ministers more to the 

 pleasure and delight of man, than their varied song. When 

 the time of the singing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle 

 is heard in our land, who can be dead to the goodness which 

 has provided for all such an untaught orchestra, tuning the 

 soul not only to joy, but to mutual goodwill; reviving all 

 the best and kindliest feelings of our nature ; and calming, 

 at least for a time, those that harmonise less with the scene 

 before us. 7 



One can scarcely wonder that the North American In- 

 dians, as we are told they do, should consider birds to be 

 in some way particularly connected with the invisible world 

 of spirits, from their beauty of form and plumage, sweet- 

 ness of song, and aerial movements. The red man of the 

 West sees in the * Wakon Bird,' as he terms it, a symbol 

 and a representative of the Great Spirits whom he worships 

 with reverential awe, and in this traditionary belief we 

 catch, as it were, a faint glimpse of a great Christian reve- 

 lation. He marks the free-winged creature, of form and 

 motion indeed like an angel, gloriously apparelled, cleaving 

 the air as though on a mission of mercy and love. We, 

 instructed by the clearer light of the Gospel, behold the 

 Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and indicating the pre- 

 sence and the mission of our blessed Lord and Kedeemer. 

 The rainbow is to the Indian the track which the winged 

 messenger of the Great Father leaves in his flight ; and if 



The poor Indian, with untutored mind, 



Sees God in clouds, and hears Him in the wind 



hears Him alike in the gentle breezes which whisper amid 

 the trees of his native forests, in the roaring of that sea of 



