Page:Duty and Inclination. Volume 3.pdf/236

234 if it were entranced in blessed communion with congenial spirits. Riding amidst those groves which so often in Wales strike upon the sight with such luxuriant beauty, and dismounting from his horse to pursue the path which lay beside, young pines impeding his progress, he stooped to gather a small branch, and falling insensibly into his accustomed reflections, "Like this tender thing," thought he, "my first knowledge above what is merely scientific, or earthly, sprung; it was nevertheless sweet and lovely, fresh and green, like this advancing higher, in more exalted and superior acknowledgements and perceptions of the wisdom of Providence!" He raised his sight upwards to those limits, bounding his physical, but not his mental vision; that, depending upon himself for its due exercise, he was aware could, by successive developments, soar even to those brighter spheres, which alike, in common with mankind, it was his noble privilege to inherit.

Descending from such lofty contemplations, his sight next encountered the ample spreading branches of an oak. "Emblem of a more perfect state," continued he, "it is to such we should aspire. How bounteous the Creator, to give to mankind lessons of wisdom in every object he beholds! How blessed," thought he, in viewing again the little branch of pine he still held in his hand, "if from this we arrive to the perfection of that magnificent tree; in mind expansive, like to that in form, faith and charity expanding and flourishing around us, as those branches, adorned with goodly leaves and fruit, springing from