Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1818-10-27
AUTUMN.

The following beautiful extract, so appro-
pirate 10 this season Of the year, is from
the Sermons of the Rev. b. ALLISON.
There is an " euen-tide,' - 10 the day, ar
hour when the sun retires, and the slad-
ows fall, and when nature assumes the ap-
pearance Of soberness and silence. Its an
hour from which every where the thought.
less fly, as coupled only, ia their magma
tioo,with images of gloom; it is the hour,on
the other hand, which, in every age, the
wise have loved, as bringing with it senti-
ments aud affections more valuable than all
the splebdours of the day.
Its first impression is to still all the tur-
bulence Of thought or OF passion which
the day may have brought forth. We
follow with our eye the descending sun !;
We listen to the decaying sounds of labour
and Of toil-and, when all the fields are
silent around us we feel kindred stiffness
to breathe upon our souls, and to calm
them from the agitations of society. From
this first impression, there is second,
which naturally follows it !: In the day we
are living with men--in the scven-tide'
we begin to live with nature, we see the
world withdrawn from us--the shades 0
might darker over the habitations of men
and we feel ourselves alone. 1t is al
hour, fitted, as would seem, by Him who
made us, to still, but with gentle hand
the throb of every unruIy passion, and the
ardor of every impure desire; and while
| it wells for time the world that nisleads
us, to awaken in our hearts those legiti-
mate affections which the heat of the day
may have dissolved. There is yet far
Their scene it presents TO us--while the
world withdraws from us, aud while the
shades Of the evening darken upon our
dwellings, the splendours Of the armament
come forward to our view. To the mo-
ments when earth is overshadowed, heaven
opens to our eyes the radiance Of sub
liner being; our hearts follow the sue
cessive spIendours of the scene; and while
we forget. for time, the obscurity of
earthly concerns, We feel that there are
g yet greater things than these"
There is, in the second place, an G eoen-
tide" in the year-a season when the sun
withdraws his propitious light; when the
winds arise, and the leaves fall, and nature
around us seems to sink into decay. II
is said, in general, to be the season oil
melancholy; and if by this word be meant
that it is the time Of solemn and serious
thought, it is undoubtedly a season Of
melancholy; yet it is melancholy SO
soothing, SO gentle in its approach, and
SO prophetic in its influence, that they
who have known it, feel, as instinc,iveIy
that it is the doing Of God, and that the
heart of man is rot thus finely touched
but TO zine issues.
When we get out into the fields in the
evening Of the year, different voice APP
proaches us. We regard, even in spite
of ourselves, the still but steady advance.
of time. A few days ago, and the sum
mer of the year was grateful, and every
element was filed with fife, ard the sur
of heaven seemed to glory in his ascend.
ant. He is now enfeebied in his power
the desert no more " blossoms Ike tn,
rose J" the song Of Joy is no more heard
among the branches and the earth j.
strewed with foliage which once bespoke
the magniGcence of summer. Whatever
may be the passions which society ha.
awakened, we pause amid this apparent
desoIation Of nature. We sit down 10 The
lodge "of the uay.taring man IN the nil
derness," and we feel that all we witnes.
is the emblem of our own fate. Sucl
also, in few years, will be our own con
ditiou. The blossoms Of our spring, tn,
pride of our summer, will also fade int
decay and the pulse that now beats higt