8

SPRINGS OF ACTION.

without their moral lesson to us in some points of our conduct as men. We have seen in the watch, that if the main-spring were left to its own action, without control, the watch would run down in little longer time than what is required to wind it up, and thus it would be perfectly useless as a time-keeper. But the balancespring, duly adjusted and properly applied, prevents this, and distributes regularly over the twenty-four hours that action of the other spring which, but for this regulation, would exhaust itself in a few seconds. The desires and passions of mankind bear some resemblance to the main-spring of the watch: they are wound up by various excitements; and, left to themselves, they would run down in vanity and dissipation, and derange the whole machine. But reason, and still more revelation, is the balance-spring, by the proper application of which, the life of man should and can be regulated; and under the proper government of religion, it may go regularly, and keep time during the appointed period of human life. It is thus that dumb things admonish us as to what is our duty; and the goodness of the Creator plants a tongue in every thing about us, so that if we have wisdom to profit by it, "day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night proclaimeth knowledge;" and there is no shadow or turning where the willing ear may not hear the voice of instruction.

Such is one simple instance of the application of the word spring; but though we have purposely taken this as purely mechanical, and wholly under the control of man, the word has far more numerous and extended meanings. In all of these it alludes to the

1

DAY-SPRING.

origin. When we say a spring of water, we always allude to that primary source which supplies the fountain; and when we would more emphatically describe the purity of a brook or rivulet, we call it "the daughter of springs," thereby implying that its waters are pure and original. The early dawn is the "day-spring;" youth is the spring time of human life; and all growth or increase, whether in corporeal volume or in mental acquirements, is aptly described as a springing.

The day-spring is new to us every morning, and such is its beneficial effect upon the human feelings, that they who are up to meet it the most frequently, always have the liveliest sense of its freshness. This is a very every day matter, and, as is apt to be the case with every day matters, we generally pass it unheeded; but were we wise, and did we take proper heed of what constitutes our real happiness upon earth, we should prize the day-spring above every worldly enjoyment of the day.

Even those who have been travelling, or watching and weary, during the night, find the breaking of the dawn come upon them as a spring-time of life. The head may previously have been heavy, the hands folding for sleep, and the whole body inactive and drowsy, and thought entirely at a stand: but the first pencil of light which the coming sun throws on the upper air, tells upon every nerve of the body, and every feeling of the mind, before it is visible to the eye; and one starts unconsciously into vigour and capacity of action, in the same manner as though roused from a sound and healthful sleep. They who are

strangers to the early dawn, and who slumber till the sun has arisen in his strength, do not know how delightful a world God has made for those who are up by times, and enjoy the morning. There are some situations in which the morning view is very superior; but there is no situation where the cheering influence of the day-spring cannot find out and refresh those who are awake, and alive to its impression. Even in the dungeon where the captive is confined, and on the cold earth without a pallet of straw, or even a stone on which to rest his head, the morning finds him out, and brings a new ray of hope to cheer his drooping spirit.

Unquestionably there is something in this refreshing influence of the day-spring, which human philosophy cannot explain. It is not the light falling on the eye, or anything which produces a specific effect upon any one sense. It is like the Spirit, one cannot tell "whence it cometh;" but its passage is to the heart, and its effect there is most renovating, and most delightful. There is even matter for much philosophical reflection in it, though it refers to points of philosophy all too deep for our common understandings; but which still strongly tempts us to inquire into it, as one of the most extraordinary displays of Almighty wisdom and power. Every one in the least conversant with the most simple principles of natural philosophy, is of course acquainted with the decomposition of the solar beams by means of the well-known instrument, a triangular prism of glass; and the seven primitive colours, reduceable, however, into three, red, yellow, and blue, into which the spectrum, or image of a beam of solar

COLOURS OF LIGHT.

11

light, is divided by that prism. Many must also be aware, that when the coloured spectrum is obtained, there is a different distribution of solar heat over the various colours which compose it. The prism refracts the beam of light, or turns it into a different direction, and each part which is differently coloured yields differently to the refractive power of the prism. The red light is the most stubborn, and the others pass away through the orange, the yellow, the blue, the purple, and the violet, until the margin is an indescribable grey, to which no descriptive name can be given. Now, at the red end of the spectrum, and absolutely without the red colour, the heating power is the greatest, and it diminishes along the spectrum, until at the margin of the grey it vanishes, and a power of an opposite character appears to occupy its place. This is too fine for common observation, and too shadowy for being made matter of ordinary philosophy; but there seems no doubt, that beyond the purple and the grey there is an energy in the solar beam, which is the very opposite or antagonist of the energy of heat. It is the grey

which first comes to us a visible signal of the day-spring; and before this visible sign, there is no doubt that a viewless emanation from that chosen instrument of God in the earth's economy, the glorious sun, comes down to prepare nature for his appearance; and that, could we so write it in words, and so demonstrate it by experiments, this is that voice of the morning which, though inaudible to the ear, and untranslatable into the words of ordinary language, brings renovation and refreshment to every living thing.

12

COLOURS OF LIGHT.

There is another ground for this belief, which must be familiar to every one that loves the country, (and who is there in nature that knows the country and does not love it?) The night may have been dewless, and the drought of day may have continued upon nature during the hours of darkness; but just at the day-spring, and before visible light has tinged the east, there shall be dew upon every bud, and every blade of grass, as if the earth were anointed in preparation for the appearance of that mighty creature which God has appointed as the regulator of its economy; so that when the sun at last beams forth, and light and shadow give to the morning landscape that power and that beauty which are unknown at noonday, all nature is fresh and sparkling; and he who has the good fortune to be a-field betimes, beholds, reflected from the dew-drops, colours far more radiant and more rich than are to be found in all the cabinets of jewels of all the monarchs upon earth.

A single dew-drop, however small, furnishes in turn gems of all imaginable colours. In one light it is a sapphire; shifting the eye a little, it becomes an emerald; next a topaz; then a ruby; and lastly, when viewed so as to reflect the light without refracting it, it has all the splendence of a diamond. But to obtain this beautiful display of natural colours, it is necessary to take advantage of the morning, when the beams of the newly-risen sun are nearly level with the surface of the earth; and this is the time when the morning birds are in their finest song, when the air and the earth are in their greatest freshness, and when all nature mingles in one common morning song of gratitude.