V CONTEMPLATIONS ON 



the earth, clothed with verdure, and rich with its 

 variety of produce, and we shall be obliged to 

 acknowledge that nothing has come from the 

 hand of the Divine Creator, but what is excellent 

 and perfect in its kind, adapted with infinite skill 

 to its proper place, and fitted for its intended use. 

 Happy are they who give themselves to the con- 

 templation of these works, and find pleasure and 

 improvement in the study of them. If we com- 

 pare them with those of man, we shall find in 

 every instance that Almighty God never appears 

 so great, so powerful and so wonderful as when 

 the works of his hands are placed in contrast with 

 those of his creature. 



It is, however, in the contemplation of the 

 revelations of His goodness, by reflecting on His 

 love and beneficence to his creatures, that we 

 become aware of the mercies which have been 

 bestowed upon us. We have a free and open 

 access to the throne of the glorious God of 

 Heaven, if we ask for those blessings which he 

 has promised. This will afford us comfort during 

 the anxieties and miseries of this life, and procure 

 us peace at our last moments. It will secure us 

 from the torture and horror of the death-bed of 

 an ill-spent and unprofitable life, when the mind, 

 like that of a coward's, shrinks from a danger 

 it cannot avoid. 



It is an old remark that no sight is more beau- 



