CLOUDS. 317 



exercises of thought. But the only divine exhilaration 

 proceeds from contemplating the beautiful and sublime 

 scenes of nature as beheld on the face of the earth and 

 the sky. It is under this vast canopy of celestial splen- 

 dors, more than in any other situation, that the faculties 

 may become inspired without madness and exalted with- 

 out subsequent depression. I never believe so much in 

 the divinity of nature as when, at sunset, I look through 

 a long vista of luminous clouds far down into that mystic 

 region of light in which we are fain to imagine are de- 

 posited the secrets of the universe. The blue heavens are 

 the page whereon nature has revealed some pleasant in- 

 timations of the mysteries of a more spiritual existence ; 

 and no charming vision of heaven and immortality ever 

 entered the human soul but the Deity responded to it 

 upon the firmament in letters of gold, ruby, and sapphire. 



