SABBATH IN THE WOODS. ' 199 



cloud gathers unseen, tlie coming of a storm is like 

 the spring of a tiger. A sudden peal of thunder, a 

 keen shaft of lightning which cuts through the 

 atmosphere in front of your startled vision, a puff 

 of air, or the spinning of a whirlwind across the 

 lake, and the tempest is upon you. So was it now. 

 Even as I gazed into the white mist, a heavy bank 

 of jet-black cloud rose up through its feathery 

 depths, unrolled itself as a battery imlimbers for 

 battle, and the next instant a sheet of flame darted 

 out of its very centre, and the air seamed rent into 

 fragments by the concussion. Here was an exhi- 

 bition of grandeur and power such as one seldom 

 beholds ; and yet it did not seem out of harmony 

 with the day. Behold, I said to myself, the sym- 

 bol of the old dispensation. Here is Sinai, the 

 terror, and the cloud ; here is law and judgment, 

 vengeance and wrath. And there, I said, turning 

 to the eastern ridge, upon whose crest the sun, not 

 yet obscured, shone warmly, is the symbol of the 

 new, — of Calvary, its light and love. Warned by 

 the scattering drops which, plunging through the 

 air, smote like shot upon the beach and water, I 

 hastened to the lodge ; and as, seated in the door, 

 I gazed into the dark masses now rolled in wild 

 convolutions together, — through whose gloomy 

 folds the winds roared and rushed, tearing the dark- 

 ness into shreds, and scattering black patches on 

 every side, — I thought of Him who " clothes the 



