should vanish into nothing;-this earth, I say, which is, as it were, only a particle of dust in the boundless empire of the universe :-this earth is not the only dwelling-place of intelligent creatures! Other beings, surely, more perfect and noble than ourselves, live in other worlds. They, too, belong to the family of the heavenly Father, they also are the subjects of God's empire, and, perhaps, perform His holy will more perfectly than we. Oh, what a sublime insight have we into the realms of infinity! What endless grades of spiritual perfection! How the course stretches out beneath my eyes! How far above me stands the goal to which all my efforts tend! "Be ye perfect,"-the universe, no less than the Son of God, addresses us-" be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

I fall down in supplication, O most High, Eternal God! I, who am myself but dust, sink in the dust before Thee! Thou, whose Name millions of beings in millions of worlds hallow with devotion-Thou who, as the source of blessing, inhabitest the endless universe, and pourest joy and rapture over all the stars-Thou, in whose light immeasurable worlds continually play, like atoms in the sunbeam; and whose creation knows no limits-Lord, Lord, before whose Majesty all spirits are struck

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with awe, and the Seraph humbly hides his countenance-Thou great, Eternal-All! Thou art my Father!

Oh, let me call Thee FATHER! In that word there lies an unknown heaven for me, a blessedness, a peace worthy to be partaken of by Angels. Father, Father! who art in Heaven, Thy name is hallowed through a thousand thousand worlds. Thy kingdom also has come to this our Earth ; and embraces in its blessings the vastness of Eternity.

Yes; when night, with inspiring glory rises up, and draws aside the vail of sun-beams from the firmament; when from their endless distance, from the abysses of the universe thousands of new suns and worlds marvellously twinkle above our head, let not my enraptured sight be ever raised to the glory of the stars, without my thinking of Thy loftiness, magnificence, and might!

These stars declare Thy Majesty more worthily than the spirit of a mortal can declare it. Those stars which beam on me from the visible creation, are holy revelations from on high-are the prophets of eternity which call upon me with a cheering voice. They are predictions of that unknown world, which awaits me in futurity. O my God! I have perhaps already cast my eyes on the secrets of eternity. Perhaps I have already seen the beams

of a world, which may one day be my world-in which, perhaps, the spirits of those I love, purified and exalted, even now exist in superhuman bliss. Ah! they long no more for this earth! Perhaps they barely perceive it as a little speck among the stars, and know not, that this spot was, for the space of a short dream, their dwelling-place-they know not that there yet exists upon this spot a living heart, which calls on them in vain.

O my soul-refrain from these daring speculations! Thine eye transfers itself from star to star, whilst infinitely sweet forebodings of immortality hover round thee. Go, hide thyself in solitude-kneel before the throne of the Deityand PRAY.

XXVIII.

THE COMET.

66

GENESIS i. 16.

'And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also."

MANY of us have witnessed one of the most glorious spectacles in the starry heavens. A strange star has shone with wonderful majesty on the world; and the inhabitants of the earth looked with astonishment, rapture, and fear upon the resplendent, hitherto unseen light, which has journeyed hither from the interminable depths of the universe, and has again disappeared from hence.

In the silent hour of evening, when the benignant night veils the face of nature, and above us glitters in all its glory the eternal, brilliant realm-then the eye of the wise man raises itself, with wonder and reverence, to contemplate this strange star; and he silently asks: 'From what region of the boundless universe, O thou beauteous Comet, hast thou floated through the firmament, even down to us?

Oh how many spirits, much more perfect than ourselves in worlds which we have never yet discovered even as faint stars, have been saluted by thy light! Whither now dost thou speed thy course, thou noble star, who sailest through the immeasurable expanse with such rapidity? If beings capable of thought, inhabit thee, with what rapture must they admire the revelations of God in their marvellous journey through the plain of heaven,-sown, as it is, with stars and flames! Oh how much more must the Omnipotence of the Creator shine-how much more clearly disclose itself to them!'

Thus thinks the wise man-the Christian philosopher; his soul is deeply humbled, and filled with piety and devotion: he thus adores the majesty of the Eternal, the Incomprehensible Creator: " When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him ?"

But it is with melancholy feelings that we often hear expressed absurd notions and groundless apprehensions of the appearance of a comet. Many regard it without any other impression, than that of the same stupid, thoughtless astonishment, which they generally evince at every unusual sight.Scarcely can their sluggish curiosity be roused to