275 



means of Saving Banks, he now comes forward to confer upon the minds of his 

 countrymen of every rank a boon of equal, if not greater value. He desires to 

 engender in them a habit of viewing all the natural occurrences of the year as 

 evidences of the being and attributes of an Omnipotent and Benevolent Deity. 

 He wisely coincides in opinion with Dr. Paley, that " if one train of thinking be 

 more desirable than another, it is that which regards the phenomena of Nature 

 with a constant reference to a Supreme Intelligent Author." 



It has been well said by an elegant American writer, that " the study of Na- 

 ture, like the contemplations of religion, is * for ever rising with the rising mind.' 

 Nature opens to Genius that immense horizon, in which, to the end of time, it 

 may exercise its strength, and at every step behold the boundary receding to a 

 greater distance." But how much greater the pleasures and advantages when the 

 study of Nature and the contemplations of religion are united ! To express this, 

 we must call in the aid of the poet : — 



" There is a lofty thrilling joy — 



The bounded powers of speech it spurns — 

 Which lightens in the raptured eye, 



And in the swelling bosom burns : 

 'Tis that ineffable delight, 



When, like the glorious lord of day, 

 The soul, exulting in its might, 



Speeds through the realms of thought away. 



* When soaring, limitless, afar, 



Wide through the universe it strays, 

 Till not the feeblest twinkling star 



On Night's swart brow escapes its gaze. 

 But higher far its strong wing soars 



In loftier and sublimer flight, 

 When in rapt trances it adores 



The very God of Life and Light !" 



Nor is it in connexion with natural religion alone, that the amiable author 

 treats his subject : the bearings of it upon revealed religion are equally pointed 

 out, in a manner as creditable to his liberality of mind as to his piety. The fol- 

 lowing extract will exemplify our meaning : — 



" Would we read the book of Nature aright, and see God in his creation, we 

 must have recourse to the book of Revelation ; for these two great volumes, 

 written by the same hand and for a similar purpose, cast a strong light upon each 

 other. As the book of Nature, by the visible impress of Divinity stamped upon 

 it, is fitted to prepare us for the more glorious display of the divine perfections 

 contained in the book of Revelation — so is this latter the truest and safest guide 

 to the profitable perusal of the former. In the Bible, the great productions and 



2 n2 



