1832.] 
WINDS, 
397 
sentiments of wonder and veneration ? What mighty agencies 
are the winds — " the many-voiced and viewless winds !" What 
powerful and universal agents they are on the surface of this re • 
volving sphere ! How they roam in the woods, compelling the 
giants of the forest to tremble with fear, and humbly bow to their 
influence ! How mightily they rush down the hill-sides, and sweep 
over the plains, singing their wild and solemn notes of triumph as 
they pass ! How they career over the wide waters, exciting them 
to tumult, and driving on the waves till they fall thundering, but 
exhausted, on the shore ! 
"Nothing," says a modern writer, "can illustrate so livingly 
our idea of a spirit, as a mighty wind, present in its amazing 
power and sublimity, yet seen only in its effects." It may be 
added, that the illustration holds good in case of a gentle as well 
as a mighty wind. What is more like the ministry of a gra 
cious and soothing spirit, than the soft breathings of a gentle 
wind, bringing coolness to the fevered brow, and peace to the 
panting heart ! May it not be said that the winds, in their dif- 
ferent manifestations, suggest no faint or unworthy idea of the 
majesty and the mercy of the one Supreme Spirit? 
How indispensable to the salubrity of our earthly dwelling- 
place, are the ever-moving and changing winds. They may be 
called the exercise of our atmosphere, by which it preserves its 
healthful principles, and shakes off the terrible evils of stagna- 
tion. The heat and cold of the several zones of the earth are 
efficiently tempered by means of the winds, which convey 
grateful coolness to heated climes, and no less grateful warmth 
to frozen ones. And how could those floating cisterns, the 
clouds, be borne from land to land, to replenish the fountains, and 
refresh and fertilize the grounds, were they not propelled and 
guided by the winds?. "He maketh the winds his messengers."' 
Where would be the commerce between distant countries, 
without the winds ? Inconstant as they are said to be, yet how 
much of the business of the world depends upon their constancy !' 
What is the mariner without the winds ? And his goodly ship, 
what is it? It seems, indeed, to be "a thing of life," as it 
dashes aside the foam, and rides over the billows. But a calm 
soon convinces us that it is not,' and as it rolls heavily and un- 
easily on the waters^ we cannot but feel how helpless and useless^ 
