DECEMBER. 309 



founded, it recoils from the hopeless task, ach- 

 ing, dazzled, and humbled to the dust. What 

 a weary sense attends the attempt of a finite 

 being to grasp infinity ! Space beyond space I 

 space beyond space still ! There is nothing for 

 the mind to rest its weai'ied wing upon, and 

 it shrinks back into its material cell, in adora- 

 tion and humility. Such are the feelings and 

 speculations which have attended the human 

 spirit in all ages, in contemplating this magnifi- 

 cent spectacle. David has beautifully expressed 

 their effect upon him ; and there is a paper in 

 the Spectator, Vol. viii. No. 565, which forms 

 an admirable commentary upon his eloquent 

 exclamation. The awful vastness of the power 

 of the Deity, evinced in the scenes which night 

 reveals, is sure to abase the pride of our intel- 

 lect, and to shake the overgrowth of our self- 

 love ; but these influences are not without their 

 benefit ; and the beauty and beneficence equally 

 conspicuous in every object of creation, whether 

 a world or an atom, come to our aid, to reassure 

 our confidence, and to animate us with the 

 proud prospect of an eternity of still perfecting 

 and ennobling existence. 



But the year draws to a close. I see symp- 

 toms of its speedy exit. I see holly and misle- 

 toe in the market, in every house that I visit, 

 in every window that I pass, except in those of 



