in,
Our bleak rock yet the tidings heard:
"There shall be spring again!"

8. Worth all the waiting and watching,
The woe that the winter wrought,
Was the passion of gratitude that shook
My soul at the blissful thought!

9. Soft rain and flowers and sunshine,
Sweet winds and brooding skies,
Quick-flitting birds to fill the air
With clear delicious cries;

10. And the warm sea's mellow murmur
Resounding day and night;
A thousand shapes and tints and tones
Of manifold delight,

11. Nearer and ever nearer
Drawing with every day!
But a little longer to wait and watch
'Neath skies so cold and gray;

12. And hushed is the roar of the bitter north
Before the might of the spring,
And up the frozen slope of the world
Climbs summer, triumphing.

XCIII. RELIGION THE ONLY BASIS OF SOCIETY.

William Ellery Channing (b. 1780, d. 1842), an eminent divine and orator,
was born at Newport, R.I. He graduated from Harvard with the highest
honors in 1798, and, in 1803, he was made pastor of the Federal Street
Church, Boston, with which he maintained his connection until his death.
Towards the close of his life, being much enfeebled, he withdrew almost
entirely from his pastoral duties, and devoted himself to literature. Dr.
Channing's writings are published in six volumes, and are mainly devoted
to theology.

1. Religion is a social concern; for it operates powerfully on society,
contributing in various ways to its stability and prosperity. Religion is
not merely a private affair; the community is deeply interested in its
diffusion; for it is the best support of the virtues and principles, on
which the social order rests. Pure and undefiled religion is to do good;
and it follows, very plainly, that if God be the Author and Friend of
society, then, the recognition of him must enforce all social duty, and
enlightened piety must give its whole strength to public order.

2. Few men suspect, perhaps no man comprehends, the extent of the support
given by religion to every virtue. No man, perhaps, is aware how much our
moral and social sentiments are fed from this fountain; how powerless
conscience would become without the belief of a God; how palsied would be
human benevolence, were there not the sense of a higher benevolence to
quicken and sustain it; how suddenly the whole social fabric would quake,
and with what a fearful crash it would sink