Is an emblem of human life. Behold! how swiftly the sands run, and how
rapidly our lives are drawing to a close! We cannot, without
astonishment, behold the little particles which are contained in this
machine; how they pass away almost imperceptibly! And yet, to our
surprise, in the short space of an hour, they are all exhausted. Thus
wastes man! To-day he puts forth the tender leaves of hope; to-morrow,
blossoms, and bears his blushing honors thick upon him; the next day
comes a frost, which nips the shoot; and when he thinks his greatness is
still aspiring, he falls, like autumn leaves, to enrich our mother
earth.
757
_The Greatness of God._--Said Dr. Guthrie, "If philosophy is to be
believed, our world is but an outlying corner of creation; bearing,
perhaps, as small a proportion to the great universe, as a single grain
bears to all the sands of the seashore, or one small quivering leaf to
the foliage of a boundless forest." Yet even within this earth's narrow
limits, how vast the work of Providence! How soon is the mind lost in
contemplating it! How great that Being whose hand paints every flower,
and shapes every leaf; who forms every bud on every tree; who feeds each
crawling worm with a parent's care, and watches like a mother over the
insect that sleeps away the night in the bosom of a flower; who throws
open the golden gates of day, and draws around a sleeping world the
dusky curtains of the night; who measures out the drops of every shower,
the whirling snowflakes, and the sands of man's eventful life; who
determines alike the fall of a sparrow and the fate of a kingdom; and so
overrules the tide of human fortunes, that whatever befall him, come joy
or sorrow, the believer says--"It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth
Him good."
758
But as it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him."
--_I Cor. 2, 9v._
759
Every little blade of grass declareth the presence of God.
--_From the Latin._
760