( 25) 
The surest test of a true love of nature is decidedly the 
superinduction of suavity of manners, benevolence of mind, 
and amiability of temper, without which we are but the 
pseudo-priests of its fane and our worship is but lip-worship, 
an ulterior object being the aim. There are numerous 
instances upon record of men retiring from the world with 
embittered feelings and excoriated hearts, loathing its deceit 
and treachery, and who, like the poor wounded deer, have 
left the herd and passed into the glade and have there 
found sanatives in the study of nature which have restored 
their minds to health and enjoyment; for the true votary 
is wholly absorbed by its magnificence,—its order and 
harmony pass by inculcation into his soul and tranquillize its 
agitation, giving it a foretaste of its future state, one main 
occupation whereof, according to the opinion of sound and 
learned divines, will consist in the contemplation of the 
works of the Creator. 
