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Let us cherish them tenderly, watching with care,
The ebb of affection's fragrance rare.

Though withered and fading, they ever impart
A soothing balm to the bleeding heart.

The bud and the flower in beauty are tossed,

But anon, the dead leaves hide the roots from the frost.
Though fair in our youth and strong in our prime,
It was last year's leaves gave us strength to climb;
And the blush on the bud as on cheek of love

Is penciled by artists that smile from above.

Now that is a sample of poetry depending wholly upon the element of beauty. Beautiful thoughts about beautiful things expressed in beautiful language and involving even beauty of character. There is no sublimity about it,— not even grandeur

merely beautiful.

no attempt to rise above that which is

This satisfies the aesthetic sense; but, now, there are higher emotions to be ministered unto; viz., the moral or spiritual. To be poetic in support of these faculties, we must be not only logical, though imaginative, but we must embody either grandeur or sublimity in sufficient measure to awaken like sentiments or emotions in the minds of those whose sensibilities are sufficiently developed to exercise or enjoy such a high grade of feeling.

As a sample of this form of expression I beg to offer you, in conclusion, an original epic, founded on the long meter doxology.

Try to rise with me to the full appreciation of this lofty sentiment, as I expand the familiar theme and clothe it with the grandeur and sublimity of God's own handiwork in

nature.

Now learn we a lesson from Nature,

God manifest unto the flesh;

But first as becometh the Creature,
His praises we utter afresh.

And we call upon Nature to praise Him;
The highest, the lowliest thing;

All goodness conspires to raise Him,

And crown Him of all kings, The King.

PRAISE.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly throng;
Praise God with Nature's ever glorious, all-
victorious song.

Praise God, ye living rocks of earth,
In adamant ye voice His worth;
With crystal tongue ye speak His praise,
His glory shines in Vulcan's blaze.

Thy molten lavas spake His praise,
Ere forests decked thy sloping ways;
Thy chemic unions symbolize,
Infinite Love in earth and skies.

Praise God ye strata, layers deep,

His holy records thou dost keep;
Thy fossils voice the All-wise Plan,
Thy testimony precedes Man.

Next let the note of praise be sung,
Where earth's primeval forests sprung;
Luxurious growth of giant fern,
Thy carbons now in praises burn.

Praise God ye depths of ocean bed,

Where conscious life first reared its head; Thy protoplasmic cells contain

The germ of nerve for Reason's brain.

Praise Him, ye molluscs, mammals, all-
Ye birds that fly, ye worms that crawl;

In evolution's chant ye sing
Eternal progress toward your King.

Praise God, O Man, thou crown of life,

Thou victor-born of Nature's strife.

Praise God that thou survivest all

Thou God-Man, type of All-in-all.

Praise Him in thought and word and deed;
Praise Him and reap eternal meed;

Praise Him in spirit and in truth;
Praise Him that gives eternal youth.

O Man, thou conscience-being, praise!

O Earth-born, knowing Heaven's ways;
O Soul-begotten, God-endowed,
Praise God who all thy gifts allowed.

Ye stars, ye suns, ye Time's first-born,
That lived ere nebulous earth was torn
From out the bosom of our Sun,
Praise God, while in your course ye run.

Praise God, ye oldest worlds in space;
Thy people long have run life's race;
By evolution high up-raised,

Awake thy voice, let God be praised.

Let praises ring from star to star,
From world to luminous world as far
As the Universe spreads its floods of light,
Praise God in whom ye move aright.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below,

Praise Him above, ye heavenly throng,

Praise God, with Nature's All-Triumphant song.

The lecture on the Philosophy of Expression closed with the above sample of epic poetry. For a further example of the inspirational forms of expression, we submit another of Professor Gould's poems which constitutes the closing lines of his lecture on "Geology and its connection with Astronomy." His treatment of the awe-inspiring processes of cosmogenesis, or world-building, is such as to prepare the hearer's mind most effectually for the appreciation of both the sublime244 259 and the beautiful, 200 as expressed in this poetic lesson from

nature.

Rhetorically speaking, the poem is cast in the dual form of Apostrophe 201 and Appeal, the stanzas set toward the left margin being an Apostrophe to Nature, while the stanzas set to the right are an Appeal to Man. The verse is Iambic Pentameter. Parts of paragraphs preceding the poem are also inserted here, as introductory.

The highest faculties of the human mind are called into action, when we contemplate the handiwork of Omnipotence, as wrought out by the forces of nature

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and everywhere exhibited to our wondering gaze. Not only is beauty unfolded in leaf and blossom, in gem and crystal, in sea and sky; but to the thinking mind that comprehends the processes involved and penetrates to hidden causes, all these phenomena are more than beautiful — they are sublime! The more striking exhibitions of grandeur, as in aurora, or cataract, or volcano, or eclipse, call forth universal expressions of emotion; but the thoughtful student, the thorough scholar, waits not for these unusual occurrences, for he sees in the commonest things, the results of prehistoric exhibitions, on a grander scale than human eye has ever witnessed. Beauty, and even grandeur are swallowed up in sublimity, as man grasps the full meaning of Nature's propositions. We comprehend the data, we test each and all the premises, as we pass by logical steps through the entire chain of cause and effect; and as each succeeding conclusion is necessitated, and we reach the final statement, a feeling of awe comes over us, born of the certain knowledge that we are thinking the very thoughts of the Almighty! Infinite Wisdom thought out the principles and wrought out the facts of Nature; and we, poor worms of the dust, are nevertheless endowed with so much of Godhood, that we are able to think His thoughts after Him, according to the eternal principles of reason. No wonder we feel our souls too full for utterance, when the sublimity of our thoughts forces upon us the full realization of the fact that we are created in the image of God.

✶ ✶ ✶ “ * “Imagine the time when the earth first became cool enough not to shine by its own light. Then, and not till then, was night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. Imagine how long it must have rained to rain the ocean full; and before there was any ocean bed, the waters covered the entire surface of the earth. Finally, the molten interior cooled and contracted so that the crust became wrinkled in adjusting itself to the smaller volume, and thus a few mountain ranges were formed and thrust their rocky peaks above the surface of the ocean. Thousands of volcanoes belched forth their fiery charges, and streams of molten lava ran hissing into the sea. Convulsion after con

vulsion raised new mountain chains and submerged the older floor was frequently ruptured, and the All was change, violent change!

ones. The ocean's waters had no rest.

* * * * * 66

Next imagine this vegetable stratum submerged until another thousand feet of rock accumulates above it, and the imprisoned trees become metamorphosed into coal. On and on this rising and falling of the vast continental areas has been continued; and although to us the time between these pulsations seems almost inconceivable, it is but the trifling period of a breath, measured off by the heaving breast of Mother Earth! In extent, also, these momentous changes are but slight in comparison. The highest mountain is not equal in altitude to a grain of sand on a 24-inch globe, and North America but the size of a man's hand. To raise or lower that amount of surface only a hair's breadth in comparison is to Mother Earth but a gentle sigh; and as to time, Eternity's clock ticks centuries!

* "We have already referred to the sublimity of this subject. The essential elements of its consideration from a standpoint of Mental Philosophy are such as to call forth the highest and best thought of each thinker. If there is any subject, the contemplation of which will inspire reverence for the Giver of all Good, it is this one. The great Sir Isaac Newton said, "Surely, the undevout astronomer is mad." You should not consider it a weakness and strive to throw off the influence, but rather encourage it, and let the lessons of Nature sink deep into your soul. Be glad you are created with qualities of mind high enough to recognize sublimity; and when you feel the strength of your emotion, as if choking you up, too full for utterance, you may take that as a compliment to yourself, because it is an evidence of the high grade at which you stand in the scale of existence.

"We have touched here upon three fields of thought Natural Philosophy, Mental Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy; but the philosopher hath not this realm to himself. Sublimity is one of the essential elements in poetry. Having this element in common, you will understand why it is that

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