56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



remains to point to the spot where his ashes He. Could a voice be 

 heard from their blue home, doubtless it would speak of a race that 

 passed from this continent long ere the canvas of Columbus was 

 furled on these shores ; a race that preceded the Indian ; a people 

 whose remains are yet among us, but whose history lies deep in 

 oblivion. All on earth has changed, but the glorious heavens 

 remain unchanged ; sun, moon, planet and satellite, stars and con- 

 stellations, galaxy and nebulcC, still bear witness to the power, the 

 wisdom and the love which placed them of old, and still sustains 

 them where they are. 



And now, our ramble over, we feel we have associated ourselves 

 more closely with Nature, and her mighty Master, God. The 

 materials with which that eternal power writes His name may vary, 

 but the style of the handwriting is the same. And whether in illu- 

 minated characters he paints it in the field, or in the starry alphabet 

 bids it flame forth from the face of the firmament : whether He works 

 in the curious mosaic of a shell, or inscribes it in Hebrew letters on 

 tables of stone, devotion recognizes its Heavenly Father's hand, and 

 admires with reverence His matchless autograph. 



In conclusion, let me impress upon the minds of all, how every- 

 thing in Nature daily speaks to us in the plainest language, points 

 out to us in its every phase something yet to come ; a something yet 

 unknown, a mighty hereafter. 



As the swallows homeward fly, their young brood raised, their 

 summer work accomplished, instinct points out to them an unknown 

 land to which to betake themselves from the chills and storms and 

 tempests of winter. Something, we know not what, tells them this is 

 not their rest. As the leaves fall off" withered and sere, having done 

 their work in Nature's mighty laboratory, the tree lies dormant for a 

 time, but only to gain strength to burst forth in fresh beauty at a 

 future time ; as the seed is committed to the ground, a dry, shrivelled 

 object, to all appearance destitute of life, its future as the plant is 

 provided for by Nature's hand ; as the sun goes down behind the 

 mountains, or is shrouded behind cloud, its light is hidden but for a 

 time, to burst forth again resplendent. As the river flows travelling 

 onward to mix its waters in the unknown depth of ocean, 

 leaving as it were forever the hills from whence it sprung, it is but to 

 assume the form of vapour to replenish those springs. As the reed- 



