O, frozen is thy heart, if it glow not with gratitude for all things: In the perfect circle of creation not an atom could be spared, From earth's magnetic zone to the bindweed round a hawthorn. The sage, and the beetle at his feet, hath each a ministration to perform: The briar and the palm have the wages of life, rendering secret service. Neither is it thus alone with the definite existences of matter; But motion and sound, circumstance and quality, yea, all things have their office. The zephyr playing with an aspen-leaf,--the earthquake that rendeth a continent; The moon-beam silvering a ruined arch,--the desert-wave dashing up a pyramid; The thunder of jarring icebergs,--the stops of a shepherd's pipe; The howl of the tiger in the glen,--and the wood-dove calling to her mate; The vulture's cruel rage,--the grace of the stately swan; The fierceness looking from the lynx's eye, and the dull stupor of the sloth: To these, and to all, is there added each its USE, though man considereth it lightly; For Power hath ordained nothing which Economy saw not needful. [Illustration] All things being are in concord with the ubiquity of God; Neither is there one thing overmuch, nor freed from honourable servitude. Were there not a need-be of wisdom, nothing would be as it is; For essence without necessity argueth a moral weakness. We look through a glass darkly, we catch but glimpses of truth; But, doubtless, the sailing of a cloud hath Providence to its pilot, Doubtless, the root of an oak is gnarled for a special purpose, The foreknown station of a rush is as fixed as the station of a king, And chaff from the hand of the winnower, steered as the stars in their courses. Man liveth only in himself, but the Lord liveth in all things; And His pervading unity quickeneth the whole creation. Man doeth one thing at once, nor can he think two thoughts together; But God compasseth all things, mantling the globe like air: And we render homage to His wisdom, seeing use in all His creatures, For, perchance, the universe would die, were not all things as they are. [Illustration: Of Compensation] OF COMPENSATION. [Illustration: "E"]