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arch of heaven with countleſs ſtars, and adorned it with all the lovely drapery of the ſkies: He who ſaid to the wide extended ocean, hitherto ſhalt thou come, but no further: He it is, who commands thee to remember the Sabbath day; and dareſt thou, O man! diſobey the ſtrict commands of thy God, who, in the twinkling of an eye, can annihilate thee to thy original nothing. An air of reverential awe reigns this day o'er the ſpacious world, and all nature ſeems to aſſiſt in the grand ſolemnity. The flowing treſſes of the beautiful Aurora, ſcarce waves in golden ringlets o’er the dappled eaſt, when the early lark in notes far ſweeter than his uſual lay, uſhers in the ſacred morn, while all the ſweet harmonious feathered tribe, in various plumage dreſt, that keenly perches on each lofty tree, or wings their way thro' fields of trackleſs air, join in the general concert to warble forth the praiſes of their Maker, and the world’s great Lord.
The leafy woods, the hollow rocks and plains, the fragrant bowers, whoſe grateful odours breath ambroſial ſweets, and blooming groves of ſweet enamel'd flowers in each fair garden, rings with the joyful ſong, till heaven’s high arch reverberates the ſound. The neighing horſe, the lowing ox, and all the numerous quadruped creation that ſport along the enamel'd plains, or ſavage rove through diſtant wilds, aſſumes this day an air of gravity. The buzzing reptiles humm from pole to pole, and breathe in inarticulate founds, the praiſes of their all-creating Lord. Noble examples, and ſolely deſign’d by God to inſtruct and teach mankind to ſhun the direful road of vice, and tread the golden paths of virtue, whoſe flowery walks lead after death to the manſions of eternal bliſs. Thus the irrational creation outvies man in his duty this day, and ſlrictly obſerves the laws impoſed upon them
