IX.] MELANCHOLY HOURS. 3Go 



that all they know of themselves is that they live, but 

 that from whence they came, or whither they are going, 

 is by Xature altogetber hidden ; that impenetrable gloom 

 surrounds them on every side, and that they even hold 

 their morrow on the credit of to-day, when it is, in fact 

 buried in the vague and indistinct gulf of the ages to 

 come ! These are reflections deeply interesting, and 

 lead to others so awful, that many gladly shut their eyes 

 on the giddy and unfathomable depths which seem to 

 stretch before them. The meditative man, however, en- 

 deavours to pursue them to the farthest stretch of the 

 reasoning powers, and to enlarge his conceptions of the 

 mysteries of his own existence ; and the more he learns, 

 and the deeper he penetrates, the more cause does he 

 find for being serious, and the more inducements to be 

 continually thoughtful. 



If, again, we turn from the condition of mortal exist- 

 ence, considered in the abstract, to the qualities and 

 characters of man, and his condition in a state of society, 

 we see things perhaps equally strange and infinitely 

 more affecting. In the economy of creation, we perceive 

 nothing inconsistent with the power of an all-wise and 

 all-merciful God. A perfect harmony runs through all 

 tlie parts of the universe. Plato's syrens sing not only 

 from the planetary octave, but through all the minutest 

 divisions of the stupendous whole: order, beauty, and per- 

 fection, the traces of the great Architect, glow through 

 every particle of his work. At man, however, we stop : 

 there is one exception. The harmony of order ceases, 

 and vice and misery disturb the beautiful consistency of 

 creation, and Ix-ing us first acquainted with positive evil. 

 We behold men carried irresistibly avray by corrupt 

 principles and vicious inclinations, indulging in propen- 

 sities destructive as well to themselves as to those around 

 them ; the stronger oppressing the weaker, and the bad 

 persecuting the good ! we see the depraved in prosperity, 

 the virtuous in. adversity, the guilty unpunished, the un- 

 deserving overwhelmed with unprovoked misfortunes. 

 From hence we are tempted to think, that He whose 

 arm holds the planets in their course, and directs the 



