In all their affliction he was afflicted, And the angel of his presence saved them; And he fought against them. 4. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea With the shepherd and his flock? Where is He that put his Holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses, with his glorious arm, Dividing the water before them, To make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, As a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? 5. Look down from heaven, And behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory; The sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies toward me? Doubtless thou art our father, Though Abraham be ignorant of us, And Israel acknowledge us not; Thou, O Lord! art our Father, Our Redeemer: thy name is from everlasting. ISAIAH, OH. LXIII. LESSON CCXIII. APOSTROPHE TO MONT BLANC. 1. HAST thou a charm to stay the morning star Rave ceaselessly, while thou, dread mountain form, Deep is the sky and black: +transpicuous deep, As with a wedge! but when I look again, It seems thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, 2. Oh dread and silent form! I gazed on thee, Till thou, still present to my bodily eye, Didst vanish from my thought. +Entranced in prayer, Yet thou, methinks, wast working on my soul, 3. But I awake, and with a busier mind, 4. Hand and voice, 5. Who sank thy sunless pillars in the earth? Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, 6. And who commanded, and the silence came, 7. Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven 8. Ye dreadless flowers, that fringe the eternal frost! Ye signs and wonders of the elements, 9. And thou, oh silent form, alone and bare, And to thy summit upward from thy base COLERIDGE. LESSON CCXIV. THUNDER-STORM ON THE ALPS. 1. CLEAR, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake, That I with stern delight should e'er have been so moved. 2. All heaven and earth are still; though not in sleep, Of that which is of all, creator and defense. 3. The sky is changed! and such a change! O night, + + 4. And this is in the night :-Most glorious night! In hate, whose mining depths so intervene, Which blighted their life's bloom, and then-departed!— Of years, all winters-war within themselves to wage; 6. Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way, That in such gaps as desolation worked, There, the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked. BYRON. LESSON CCXV. THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM. 1. AN old clock, that had stood for fifty years in a farmer's kitchen, without giving its owner any cause of complaint, early one summer's morning, before the family was stirring, suddenly stopped. Upon this, the dial-plate (if we may credit the fable) changed countenance with alarm; the hands made a vain effort to continue their course; the wheels remained motionless with surprise; the weights hung speechless; and each member felt disposed to lay the blame on the others. At length, the dial instituted a formal inquiry as to the cause of the stagnation; when hands, wheels, weights, with one voice, protested their innocence. + 2. But now, a faint tick was heard below, from the pendulum, who thus spoke: "I confess myself to be the sole cause of the present stoppage; and I am willing, for the general satisfaction. to assign my reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of ticking." Upon hearing this, the old clock became so enraged, that it was on the very point of striking. "Lazy wire?" exclaimed the dial-plate, holding up its hands. "Very good!" replied the pendulum; "It is vastly easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have always, as every body knows, set yourself up above me, it is vastly easy for you, I say, to accuse other people of laziness! you, who have had nothing to do, all your life, but to stare people in the face, and to amuse yourself with watching all that goes on in the kitchen. Think, I beseech you, how you would like to be shut up for life in this dark closet, and to wag backward and forward, year after year, as I do." 3. "As to that," said the dial, is there not a window in your house, on purpose for you to look through ?" "For all that," resumed the pendulum, "it is very dark here; and, although there is a window, I dare not stop even for an instant, to look out at it. Besides, I am really tired of my way of life; and if you wish, I'll tell you how I took this disgust to my employment. I happened, this morning, to be calculating, how many times I should have to tick in the course of only the next twenty-four hours; perhaps some one of you, above there, can give me the exact sum." 4. The minute-hand being quick at figures, presently replied, "Eighty-six thousand, four hundred times." "Exactly so,' replied the pendulum. "Well, I appeal to you all, if the very thought of this was not enough to fatigue any one; and when I began to multiply the strokes of one day by those of months and years, really it is no wonder if I felt discouraged at the prospect. So, after a great deal of reasoning and hesitation, thinks I to myself, I'll stop." 5. The dial could scarcely keep its countenance during this +harangue; but resuming its gravity, thus replied: "Dear Mr. Pendulum, I am really astonished that such a useful, industrious person as yourself, should have been seized by this sudden weariness. It is true, you have done a great deal of work in your time; so have we all, and are likely to do; which, although it may fatigue us to think of, the question is, whether it will fatigue us to do. Would you now do me the favor to give about half a dozen strokes, to illustrate my argument?" 6. The pendulum complied, and ticked six times at its usual pace. "Now," resumed the dial, "may I be allowed to inquire if that exertion is at all fatiguing or disagreeable to you?" "Not in the least," replied the pendulum; "it is not of six strokes that I complain, nor of sixty, but of millions." "Very good," replied the dial; but recollect that, although you may think of a million |