232 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



circle of individual activity, — the yearning of the crea- 

 ture to be united with the Creator ? 



As with Life, so also with Knowledge, which is in- 

 tellectual life. In the early days of man's history, 

 Nature and her marvellous ongoings were regarded 

 with but a casual and careless eye, or else T^dth the 

 merest wonder. It was late before profound and re- 

 verent study of her laws could wean men from im- 

 patient speculations ; and now, what is our intellectual 

 activity based on, except on the more thorough mental 

 absorption of Nature ? When that absorption is com- 

 pleted, the mystic drama will be sunny clear, and all 

 Nature's i^rocesses wiU be visible to man, as a divine 

 Effluence and Life. 



