under his inspection. Though he warms the breast of the highest angel in heaven, yet he breathes life into the meanest insect on earth. He lives through all his works, supporting all by the word of his power. He shines in the verdure that clothes the plains, and the lily that delights the vale, and the forest that waves on the mountain. slender reed that trembles in the sturdy oak that defies the tempest. He supports the breeze, and the Far in the wil derness, where human eye never saw, where the savage foot never trod, there he bids the blooming forest smile, and the blushing rose open its leaves to the morning sun. There he causes the feathered inhabitants to chant their wild notes to the listening trees and echoing mountains. There nature lives in all her wanton wildness. From the dark stream that rolls through the forest, the silver-scaled fish leap up, and dumbly utter the praise of God. Though man remains silent, yet God will have praise. * When you survey this globe of earth, with all its appendages; when you behold it inhabited by numberless ranks of creatures, all moving in their proper spheres, all verging to their proper ends, all animated by the same great source of life, all supported at the same great bounteous table; when you behold not only the earth, but the ocean and the air, swarming with living creatures, all happy in their situation; when you behold yonder sun, darting a vast blaze of glory over the heavens, garnishing mighty worlds, and waking ten thousand songs of praise; when you behold unnumbered systems diffused through vast immensity, clothed in splendor, and rolling in majesty; when you behold these things, your affections will rise above all the vanities of time; your full souls will struggle with extacy, and your reason, passions and feelings, all united, will rush up to the skies, with a devout acknowledgment of the existence, power, wisdom and goodness of God. Let us behold him, let us wonder, let us praise and adore. These things will make us happy. They will wean us from vice, and attach us to virtue. 1795. TO THE AUTUMN FOREST. BY WILLIAM J. PABODIE. RESPLENDENT hues are thine ! Triumphant beauty-glorious as brief! Burdening with holy love the heart's pure shrine, What tho' thy depths be hushed! More eloquent in breathless silence thou, Gone from thy walks the flowers! Thou askest not their forms thy paths to fleck ;— The dazzling radiance of these sunlit bowers Their hues could not bedeck. I love thee in the Spring, Earth-crowning forest! when amid thy shades The gentle South first waves her odorous wing, And joy fills all thy glades. In the hot Summer time, With deep delight thy sombre aisles I roam, But O, when Autumn's hand Hath marked thy beauteous foliage for the grave, How doth thy splendor, as entranced I stand, My willing heart enslave! I linger then with thee, Like some fond lover o'er his stricken bride; When My last hours are come, Great God! ere yet life's span shall all be filled, Bathe thou in hues as blest Let gleams of Heaven about my spirit play! In glory pass away! FROM A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED ON THE SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF PROVIDENCE. BY THE HON. JOHN PITMAN. It was in the summer of 1636, that Roger Williams, banished from Massachusetts, and warned by the friendly voice of the Governor of Plymouth, sought an asylum beyond the territories of Christian men. Forsaking his plantation at Seekonk, he embarked on the Pawtucket, approaching the western shore, was greeted with the friendly whatcheer of the natives, and doubling the southern promontories directed his little bark where a beautiful cove received the waters of the Moshassuck. Here he landed; beneath the forest boughs, and beside a crystal spring, he sought refreshment and repose; here he offered up his thanks to God, that when the hearts of his civilized brethren were alienated, he had found sympathy, protection and sustenance from the rude children of nature; and here in the thankfulness of his heart for past mercies, and full of pious hope for the future, he fixed his abode and named it Providence. The spring remains and sends forth its refreshing waters, the only local memorial of the place of his landing and settlement. The principle remains which brought him hither, unimpaired by time, its truth tested and enforced by the experience of two hundred years, and now constituting, not the reproach of a small, despised, and persecuted colony, but the glory and happiness of millions of freemen. To commemorate this event, to honor this founder, to dwell on some passages of our history which may help us to appreciate the perils, toils, and sufferings of the Narragansett pilgrims, to discharge a portion of that debt which is due to the memory of our worthy ancestors, to cherish those principles which have made us what we are, and which we hope to transmit as their best inheritance to posterity -for these high purposes we are here assembled. The dimensions of our State are humble; the |