And to conclude the warning in the quaint, but significant closing of that beautiful Autumnal Poem, a stanza so well illustrative of the glory of immutable and heavenly principle, 66 Only a sweet and virtuous soul, But though the whole world turn to coal We see her not, nor them. Thus blind, yet still Unhappy he, whom youth makes not beware Enough we labour under age and care; Yet we, that should the ill we now begin As soon repent, (Strange thing!) perceive not; our faults are not seen, But past us; neither felt, but only in The punishment. But we know ourselves least; mere outward shows Our minds so store, That our souls, no more than our eyes, disclose But form and color. Only he who knows Himself, knows more. DONNE. THE elements of necessity and free will are reconciled in the higher power of an omnipresent Providence, that predestinates the whole in the moral freedom of the integral parts. Of this the Bible never suffers us to lose sight. The root is never detached from the ground. It is God everywhere; and all creatures conform to his decrees; the righteous by performance of the Law, the disobedient by the sufferance of the Penalty. COLERIDGE. The Statesman's Manual. I PRESUPPOSE a humble and docile state of mind, and above all, the practice of prayer, as the necessary condition of such a state, and the best, if not the only means, of becoming sincere to our own hearts. Those inward means of grace [are to be used], without which the language of the Scriptures, in the most faithful translation, and in the purest and plainest English, must nevertheless continue to be a dead language: a sundial by moonlight. Appendix to Statesman's Manual. CHAPTER XXV. Voices of the Autumn, continued-The circle of Divine ProvidenceGrace and Providence, Spiritual and Natural Law-Man's position in regard to them-Consequences of transgressing them-Safety and happiness in Faith. THE full completed circle of the Seasons is a wondrous cycle of God's Divine Providence. The very compulsion of our reason forces us to regard it as an Omnipresent Providence; there is no other possible logical conclusion. It is only faith, the moral feeling, a confiding trust, that we need to make the logical conclusion a happy breathing of the heart. Into this Faith, the very inmost convictions of our nature, and the universal beliefs of the human race, are ever pressing us. The universal and particular providence of God is perhaps a more positive element of natural belief than even Immortality itself. The same language may be used in regard to it, that Mr. Coleridge has used, in his Aids to Reflection, concerning the native belief of Immortality. "I dare not," he says, "decry the religious instincts of Humanity as a baseless dream. The misallotment of worldly goods and fortunes was indeed one principal occasion, exciting well disposed and spiritually awakened natures, by reflections and reasonings to mature the presentiment of Immortality into full consciousness, into a principle of action, and a well-spring of strength and consolation. Yet am I persuaded that as the belief of all mankind, of all tribes and nations and languages, in all ages and in all states of social union, it must be referred to far deeper grounds, common to man as man; and that its fibres are to be traced to the Tap-root of Humanity." That Tap-root connects Humanity with God; and for that reason, the idea, and almost consciousness, of Divine Providence, keeps company with that of Immortality. The arrangements and incidents of the seasons are a part of the great Anthem, in which Nature, as well as the Word, sings the song of Providence. IT IS GOD EVERYWHERE; AND ALL CREATURES CON FORM TO HIS DECREES; THE RIGHTEOUS BY PERFORMANCE OF THE LAW, THE PENALTY. DISOBEDIENT BY THE SUFFERANCE OF THE The revelation of God in his Word as the God of Providence, is everywhere grand and solemn. It is grand beyond expression to behold God, as a Sovereign God, ordering all things after the councils of his own will, to work the purposes of his own good pleasure, and to this end, even while leaving his creatures to the exercise of their own freedom as voluntary intelligent agents, yet overruling even the free will of his enemies for the accomplishment of his own will, out of evil itself ever bringing forth good, and causing even the sin and wrath in the hearts of the wicked to praise him. It is the mighty, incomprehensible, and supreme prerogative of Jehovah alone to do this, and in the exercise of this prerogative all beings and things are made to do his bidding; the believing and the loving by obedience and love, the unbelieving and rebellious by the sufferance of the penalty. But, oh! what a difference it makes to the creature, whether |