SACRED PHILOSOPHY OF THE SEASONS. SUMMER. FIRST WEEK-SUNDAY. SUMMER THE PERFECTION OF THE YEAR. SUMMER is the manhood of the year. Its powers are developed; its vigor is fresh; its plans are matured; it is in the full flush of beauty, and buoyant with the joy and bustle of existence. Turn where we will, there are proofs of operations begun and in progress, which indicate design, wisdom, and activity; of an infancy and youth spent in preparation, and ending in settled purposes reduced to practice, and useful employments industriously prosecuted. Such is the general character of this season; and when we take a more accurate survey of particulars, a thousand delightful illustrations occur, all leading us to the same sublime conclusion, that the natural operations which are silently proceeding around us, are the work of a present Deity, and a reflection of his attributes. In the sacred poetry of the Hebrews, we meet with many solemn and beautiful views, which show how much alive. the inspired writers were to such impressions. hundred and fourth Psalm is an example of this; and a few passages from that majestic production may serve as an illustration. He watereth the hills from his cham The bers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine; and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." "He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening." "These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather: Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled : Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: The Lord shall rejoice in his works." To such reflections, the pious mind is naturally led, in casting an eye over the luxuriant scenery which this season presents, and contemplating the various tribes of animated beings, for whose use such a profusion of bounties is scattered abroad. It requires no philosopher, deep-read in the mysteries of Nature, to inform us that there is a profound and beautiful adjustment among all the departments of Nature, in which the hand of an intelligent Creator is distinctly seen. The earth, the sea, the air, and the blue vault of heaven, with its orbs of light, all speak the same language. There is a harmony and an adaptation among these mighty elements, which strike the mind at first sight, and which are exhibited more clearly by every subsequent inquiry. Were any one of them either wanting, or even materially altered, the system. would be destroyed. And while they harmonize among themselves, they are peculiarly distinguished by their adaptation to the support of organized existences. Without the sun, the earth would be a dark and useless mass; without the sea, there would be no moisture to support organic life; without the air, there would be no machinery for conveying that moisture to water the soil; without any one of these, there would be no vegetation, no animals,—nothing but desolation, silence, and death. That these inorganic powers might exist independent of an intelligent Cause, might be admitted, although any reasoning which should demand such a concession, could only be founded on an appeal to our ignorance; but that they should exist in such proportions and combinations as to produce the phenomena of Nature, may be safely pronounced impossible. It is now our peculiar business, however, to consider these matters only in so far as they relate to the present season of the year. The contrivances connected with Winter and Spring, have already been traced; and, in considering them, we have had occasion continually to exclaim, in the language of the psalm from which we have quoted, "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all the earth is full of Thy riches." The very same character will be found impressed with equal distinctness on the appearances and operations of Summer. There is a pleasure peculiar to Spring in the contemplation of Nature rising, as it were, from the tomb, and bursting into life, and light, and joy; but that which belongs to Summer is not less intense, although of a different kind. The delight of this season arises from the view of the full developement or successful progress of the powers and processes which in Spring began to operate. The plants, which had just pierced the earth in the commencement of that season, have now shot forth their stalks, and expanded their blades, and opened their beautiful flowers to the sun; the trees rejoice in their leafy pride; the fields luxuriate in the abundance of their vegetable stores; and animated Nature is instinct with life and enjoyment. The whole scene is full of delight; but it is only when it is associated with religious feelings, and when it raises the mind to a Father Being, who called all this loveliness into existence, and whose unseen presence and III. 2 IX. mysterious energies cheer and bless the world He has made, that it can be enjoyed with its highest and most appropriate relish. It is this pious sentiment which gives such sublime beauty to the Hymn on the Seasons; and perhaps there is no part of that hymn which more successfully expresses the tenderness and devout admiration of a rightly-constituted mind, in contemplating the wonders of Nature, than that which refers to Summer. "Then comes thy beauty in the Summer months * Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.❞ There is an analogy between the world of Nature and the world of Grace. In the latter, as well as in the former, there is a Spring and a Summer,-an infancy and a manhood. The first breathings of Divine love on the heart are often faint and fitful. They come like the first breeze of spring, fraught with warmth, and bearing the promise of future fruit, but passing over a dead and barren region, to which they seem unallied and uncongenial. They are generally succeeded by wintry gloom and tempest, which, from contrast and disappointed hope, they render only more dismal. But still gentler breezes breathe, and longer light and a warmer sun shed their genial influences, till the whole soul glows and is renewed, and the germs of a Divine nature, springing into life, reveal the creative power of the Spirit which erewhile moved on the face of the deep, and gave order and beauty to the formless void of the material world. work proceeds amidst alternate sunshine and showers; the warmth and illumination increase; the virtues and graces grow and expand; what was wavering becomes steady; what was feeble becomes strong; what was sterile luxuriant ; the dark brightens ; the deformed is clothed The |