DECEMBER. 311 



completed one of those journeys in the heavens 

 which perfect all the fruitful changes of its 

 peopled surface, and mete out the few stages 

 of our existence ; and every day, every hour of 

 that progress has, in all her wide lands, in all 

 her million hearts, left traces that eternity shall 

 behold. 



Yet if we have not been burdened with man's 

 cares, we have not forgotten him, but many a 

 time have we thanked God for his bounties to 

 him, and rejoiced in the fellowship of our na- 

 ture. If there be a scene to stir in our souls 

 all our thankfulness to God, and all our love for 

 man, it is that of Nature. When we behold the 

 beautiful progression of the Seasons — when we 

 see how leaves and flowers burst forth and 

 spread themselves over the earth by myriads 

 in spring, — how summer and autumn fill the 

 world with loveliness and fragrance, with corn 

 and wine, it is impossible not to feel our hearts 

 "breathe perpetual benedictions" to the great 

 Founder and Provider of the world, and warm 

 with sympathetic affection towards our own 

 race, for whom he has thought fit to prepare 

 all this happiness. There is no time in which 

 I feel these sentiments more strongly than when 

 I behold the moon rising over a solitary summer 

 landscape. The repose of all creatures on the 

 earth makes more sensibly felt the incessant 



