ADVANTAGES. 21 



society. And there is not an individual who will not 

 find them uniformly connected with some practical ad- 

 vantage. Is he a disciple of Hume ? let him forsake 

 the wretched dogmas of his master, turn from the soph- 

 istries of reason, the cold and cheerless realms of infi- 

 delity, to contemplate the works of his God ; and he 

 will be compelled to acknowledge it was truly said, the 

 Botanist cannot be an Atheist. Is he a minister of the 

 Gospel? the Bible is his book, the volume of nature 

 its best appendix. Both proceed from the same source, 

 and we are required by the same authority to search the 

 scriptures, and to consider the liljies of the field. Is 

 he a physician ? I need only remind him of the language 

 of the beloved Rush, to arouse his attention to the veg- 

 etables of his country. Is he pursuing the pleasures 

 of youth ? how many of our amusements at that inter- 

 esting period of life have an intimate connexion with 

 natural objects, and when those objects are consecra- 

 ted by science and friendship, the fields become more 

 verdant, the flower garden more inviting, and every 

 scene more charming. 



If such be its happy influence on youth, what may 

 we not expect when old age has folded us in his man- 

 tle. In the evening of life, when the horizon of friend- 

 ship is illumined by here and there a solitary star, mem- 

 ory shall invite us to scenes of past enjoyment, where 

 every flower will excite the recollection of some hap- 

 py event, or reflect the image of some absent friend, 

 absent perhaps in the regions of immortality, contem- 

 plating the moie splendid works of the same Almighty 



hand. 



The object of this work is to present a compendious 



view of the science which is recommended by such 



powerful examples and by its own intrinsic worth. It 



