Nature is the living visible gaimeut of Gotl. — Goethe. 



Nature is the lime-vesture of God, that reveals him to the wise and 

 hides him from the foolish. — Caklyle. 



Nature never deceives us ; the roots, the mountains, the streams, 

 always speak the same language ; a shower of snow may hide the verdant 

 woods in spring ; a thunderstorm may render tlie blue limpid streams foul 

 and turbulent ; but these effects are rare and transient: in a few hours, or 

 at most in a few days, all the sources of beauty are renovated, and Nature 

 affords no continued train of misfortunes and miseries, such as depend 

 upon the constitution of humanity ; no hopes for ever blighted in the bud ; 

 no beings full of beauty and promise taken from us in the prime of youth : 

 her fruits are all balmy and sweet : she bears none of those blighted ones, 

 80 common in the life of man, and so like the faded apples of the Dead 

 Sea, fresh and beautiful to the sight, but when tasted full of bitterness and 

 ashes. — Sib Humphrey Davy. 



