Nor found one sunny resting-place, And hope, and feeling, which had slept Blest tears of soul-felt penitence! Of guiltless joy that guilt can know. And now behold him kneeling there, * And hymns of joy proclaim through heaven LESSON LXXXIV. INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. RULE III. Interrogative sentences commencing with a verb, or questions which may be answered by "yes" or " no," usually end with the rising inflection. EXAMPLES. Can the soldier, when he girdeth on his armor, boast like him that putteth it off? Can the merchant predict that the speculation, on which he has entered, will be infallibly crowned with success? Can even the husbandman, who has the promise of God that seed-time and harvest shall not fail, look forward with assured confidence to the expected increase of his fields? In these, and in all similar cases, our resolution to act can be founded on probability alone. To the Ursa Major. HENRY WARE, JR. WITH what a stately and majestic step Ages have witnessed thy devoted trust, Unchanged, unchanging. When the sons of God Sent forth that shout of joy which rang through heaven, And echoed from the outer spheres that bound The illimitable universe, thy voice Joined the high chorus; from thy radiant orbs The glad cry sounded, swelling to His praise, Who thus had cast another sparkling gem, Little, but beautiful, amid the crowd As thou art now, so wast thou then the same. Ages have rolled their course, and time grown gray; The earth has gathered to her womb again, And yet again, the myriads, that were born Of her uncounted, unremembered tribes. The seas have changed their beds; th' eternal hills Have stooped with age; the solid continents Have left their banks; and man's imperial works The toil, pride, strength of kingdoms, which had flung Their haughty honors in the face of heaven, As if immortal - have been swept away, Shattered and mouldering, buried and forgot. But time has shed no dimness on thy front, Nor touched the firmness of thy tread; youth, strength, And beauty still are thine -as clear, as bright, As when the Almighty Former sent thee forth, Beautiful offspring of his curious skill, To watch earth's northern beacon, and proclaim Th' eternal chorus of eternal Love. I wonder as I gaze. That stream of light, Undimmed, unquenched, - just as I see it now,Has issued from those dazzling points, through years That go back far into eternity. Exhaustless flood! forever spent, renewed Six autumns fade, six springs renew their bloom. Yea, glorious lamps of God! He may have quenched Your ancient flames, and bid eternal night Rest on your spheres; and yet no tidings reach This distant planet. Messengers still come Laden with your far fire, and we may seem To see your lights still burning; while their blaze But hides the black wreck of extinguished realms,. Where anarchy and darkness long have reigned. Yet what is this, which to th' astonished mind Seems measureless, and which the baffled thought Confounds? A span, a point, in those domains Which the keen eye can traverse. Seven stars Dwell in that brilliant cluster, and the sight Embraces all at once; yet each from each Recedes as far as each of them from earth; And every star from every other burns No less remote. From the profound of heaven, Untravelled even in thought, keen, piercing rays Dart through the void, revealing to the sense Systems and worlds unnumbered. Take the glass And search the skies. The opening skies pour down Upon your gaze thick showers of sparkling fireStars, crowded, thronged, in regions so remote, That their swift beams - the swiftest things that be Have travelled centuries on their flight to earth. Earth, sun, and nearer constellations, what Are ye, amid this infinite extent And multitude of God's most infinite works? And these are suns! - vast, central, living fires, Lords of dependent systems, kings of worlds, That wait as satellites upon their power, Known but to thee, blessed Father! Thine they are, Like the mean mote that dances in the beam Tell me, ye splendid orbs, as from your thrones Ye mark the rolling provinces that own Your sway, - what beings fill those bright abodes? How formed, how gifted? what their powers, their state, Their happiness, their wisdom? Do they bear The stamp of human nature? Or has God Peopled those purer realms with lovelier forms And more celestial minds? Does Innocence Still wear her native and untainted bloom? Or has Sin breathed his deadly blight abroad, And sowed corruption in those fairy bowers? Has War trod o'er them with his foot of fire ? And Slavery forged his chains ? and Wrath, and Hate, And sordid Selfishness, and cruel Lust, Leagued their base bands to tread out light and truth, |