Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1859-01-14
miscellaneous.
SUBLIMITIES OF NATURE.
Iron the Ohio Statesman. !

- AhlES u. MCSANN, Vi hIuSkllSum COun-
ty, who died March 30th, 1S47, in the
23d year of his age:
How elevating, how purifying, is all
speculation upon Natures sublimities !!
1t leads the mind to contemplate the
beauty and grandeur of Creation, and the
heart to pour forth its garnered fullness
in enraptured strains, to Him'who is the
Author of all animate and inanimate
things. When we cast our eyes over the
broad expanse of creation, our senses are
continually feastcd with the most sublime
works of Natures hand, and our mental
and moral faculties are drawn to scenes
of which this world is mere prelude.
But it is the properly cultivated mind
alone which is capable of viewing the
varied panorama of nature with satisfac-
ton to itself or benefit to others. IT'S
the cultivated mind that can wander
through the various windings of nature,
and feast the Imagination with those i'm
mortal fruits which vegetate only that he
may Gull and enjoy himself upon their
varied sweetness.
BY his imagination man can transport
himself to the frozen zone of the North,
where the hyperberean blast hurls its
slccty charge against the icy mountains,
and the glacier meets with stern and
sullen rebound, chilling all animate ma
ture, and locking all living things in the
icy arms of death-can visit the uncul-
tivated Esquimaux in his rude hut of
snow, see him wrapt in darkcned igno-
rance, and his mind harrassed with in
tuitively taught superstition, who thinks
of nothing bright to enliven his soul
nothing to hope for.
He can pass down the stream to the
land where the proud eagle of freedom
flaps her wings and scars into the untrod-
den sities with conscious dignity and
knowledge of her superiority, who as she
wings her fight can sec her form DER the
proud flag of our country, floating on
every breeze, on every sea, in every port
and on the wide oceans extended plains
can see the banner of liberty unfurled
and fearlessly wave, proud of its freedom,
and glorying in its might. He can pass
still further down the stream TO the land
Of perpetual spring, where blossoms and
flowers forever blooming, continually
meet the eye at all seasons of the year,
and the breezes laden with aromatic in
censc of the spicy cline continually greet
him-can wander in those spicy groves,
and join his heart with nature to hymn
forth praises to Him who doeth all things
well. He can climb the rugged sleeps
Of the volcano, stand above its crater and
gaze with mute astonishment upon the
boiling, burning mass beneath him, and
see the wrath Of the Omnipotent depict
ed in lines too indeliblc to be mistaken.
lie can climb the giddy heights of the
lofty Andes, and while he can view the
calm blue azure vault over head, can see
far beneath him the vivid lightning's
fash, and hear the terrific thunder roll
the returning sound making earth and
sky revcrberate with the echoes of its
awful sound, which has taught even the
untutored native to call the voice of the
Great Spirit. Yes, even the unlettered
savage has looked upon natures sublime
works and has learned to adore Natures
God, and to see in her the mysterious
foot prints Of the Almighty
Then with his microscope be enters
new field vast as space, filled at every
turn with the most sublime specimens Of
the handiwork Of creation, he takes a
single drop Of stagnant water and in it
he sees thousands of animalcule swim
ming as the huge leviatban plows the
great deep; in every plant he finds the
most ineomprehcnsibie work he finds in
animals too small for the naked eye to
discern, those possessing the necessary
organs Of life, and who move, live, and
enjoy being; in every flower the compli-
Gated and sublime workings Of that mys-
terious power
He turns from the trifing things of
this terraqueous sphere, and by the help
Of the telescope his imagination dwells
with rapture on the celestial scenery that
presents itself TO every beholder. He
has Travelled through the tracklcss void
of space, and visited the pale lunar orb
which sheds its mellow light DER this
mundane sphere. lie has explored its
hidden recesses, looked with delight upon
its diversified scenery, and pcopled il with
creatures Of his own fancy-has taken
fight to the bright orb of day, DER whose
brightness the eyes Of man cannot dwell,
and found it to be the centre Of the solar
system that it is millions Of times larger
than the earth which we inhabit; that
its rays gladden. thousands of other
worlds which, in magnitude, our world
bears no comparison. He has wandered
from star 10 star, and from system TO
system, and has found far beyond the
reach of mortal sight, worlds whose mag
nitude is incomprehensible, and whose
distance some idea can only be obtained
or conceived Of, when VIC consider that
light travels 95, 900, 900 Of miles in only
eight minutes Of time, and that our best
astronomers have calculated, that, al
though light travels at that amazing We
locity, yet it would take over 5000 years
to come from some Of the heavenly bodies
The mind Of man cannot have the least
conception Of such a number. Nothing
but the intellect Of God himself can emu
merate such a number. His mind visits
systems after systems, travels to the'con-
fines Of space, and rests is unwcaricd
flight on the verge Of Eternity, scales
the ramparts Of Heaven, and views the