270 PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. in its course, through much conflict, towards perfection; for its rocks and stones, tell not only of change, but of the struggles of its creatures to become linked to something higher :-Yes, ye Worlds, wondrous and innumerable, that shine aloft, and shower around us your many mystic influences,-ye, too are the abodes of sentience suited to your conditions; ay, and of Intelligence, different, far different from ours, and in states of approach to the Divinity of all possible gradations; but of which every constituent every creature of whatever kind-is pressing outward like the bud in Spring, and stretching with longings that are unutterable, towards the Infinite and the Eternal. Is the Moon younger-so to speak-than the planet she attends? Is that strange and anomalous crateriform surface, a picture of what our own world once was; and shall our midnight Luminary, after the travail of innumerable ages, pass from her primitive ruggedness to the condition of a globe carpeted all over by the most wondrous products of organization? Who indeed shall limit the prolificness of the Universe, or disbelieve its onward tendencies? Capacious indeed that awful.duration which its history is ordained to fill! I have spoken of chronological epochs which mark steps in the evolving of those energies which now predominate in the earth;-the rise, viz: of successive mountain chains, marking successive periods whose magnitude is akin to the intervals which divide us from the fixed stars; but in presence of what I now advert to, even spaces like these become the incidents of a special era in the course of far loftier changes. The Moon in contrast with the Earth, and these few intimations from our world's deepest visible antiquity, speak of a stupendous process of evolution, to which Agencies of Upheaval are themselves subjected; we see these energies in phase, passing duly from one mode of manifestation to another; and it is only within the instant belonging to one of these phases, that we have succeeded in placing a few milestones to mark the flow of time. And even if we join the Moon to the Earth, consolidating for the PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. 271 moment their two structures, so that we read them as consecutive chapters-how trifling the extent, after all, to which we may have penetrated among the destinies of either globe! To fix the absolute beginnings of their history, to cut off all anterior infinitudes, by hypothesis of molten planets and recent refrigeration, might indeed be pleasing to an insect's vanity, and consolatary to its weakness; but no such barrier has ever been successful,voices of profound tone crossing always from its further side, and proclaiming how unfathomable is the Universe! Nevertheless, let man labour in peace! The Omnipotent Hand is accompanied by the Omniscient Eye; nor is there height so stern, or darkness so profound, that the meanest breathing creature shall be withdrawn therein from the guardianship of Eternal Benefi cence. Strange indeed the thoughts with which, in presence of such speculations, we must gaze on these brilliant skies! even that jewellery of midnight-a birth, a thing of yesterday, a step in the awful march of the visible and sensible picturings of the purposes of the Eternal Spirit! Realize for a moment the position of a tenant of a hut on the banks of the mighty Amazon at one of its great bendings; tell him that the waters, whose opposite bank his vision can scarce reach, are not an immense lake with appointed boundaries, but that born of rills among mountains that are unseen, and ever increasing in depth and potency, they roll downwards until a whole continent is passed, and then mingle and lose themselves with an ocean engirdling the wide Earth with its everlasting waves. So, in the view of these high cosmogonies, seem to roll on the gorgeous stellar developments; whose limits no eye can now see; rising among the past depths of time in some hidden purpose of God; rolling onward as the ages flow, and augmenting as the mighty river, until the boundary of Time is reached, and their course ends among the quictude of Eternity! NICHOL. Absalom. THE waters slept. Night's silvery vail hung low Their glassy rings beneath it, like the still The reeds bent down the stream: the willow leaves Forgot the lifting winds and the long stems Are such a very mockery-how much The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer. He prayed for Israel and his voice went up ABSALOM. Strongly and fervently. He prayed for those, Whose love had been his shield: and his deep tones For his estranged misguided Absalom! The proud bright being who had burst away In all his princely beauty, to defy, The heart that cherished him—for him he poured The pall was settled. He who slept beneath, His hair was yet unshorn, and silken curls His helm was at his feet: his banner soiled As if he feared the slumberer might stir. A slow step startled him. He grasped his blade As if a trumpet rang: but the bent form. Of David entered, and he gave command In a low tone to his few followers, And left him with his dead. The King stood still 273 The pall from the still features of his child, "Alas my noble boy! that thou should'st die, "Cold is thy brow my son! and I am chill As to my bosom I have tried to press thee- Like a rich harp string, yearning to caress thee- "The grave hath won thee. I shall hear the voice Of music, and the voices of the young: And life will pass me in the mantling blush, And the dark tresses to the soft winds fling, "And Oh! when I am stricken, and my heart Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token! "And now farewell! 'tis hard to give thee up, With death so like a gentle slumber o'er thee; And thy dark sin-oh! I could drink the cup |