230 THE BEAUTY OF THE CREATION. 



dispelling the nocturnal gloom, and cheering all 

 nature with her refulgence. While we reflect on 

 these things, let us remember that the Great 

 Creator of all we see, and of all we enjoy the 

 compassionate Saviour of the world, went about 

 doing good, yet had no place where he could lay 

 his head. If our minds were disposed as they 

 ought, to reflect on this astonishing fact, to con- 

 sider, the sufferings, want, fatigue and privations 

 of Him by whose command all things were made, 

 we may well be lost in astonishment at the stu- 

 pendous love and mercy shewn to us. There may 

 be an affectation of ignorance and indifference in 

 some, and doubts may be raised where none ought 

 to exist. An inward monitor has been implanted 

 in the breast of every one that assures him, not 

 only that there is a future state of existence, 

 but that he is an accountable being, and accoun- 

 table to that Saviour who died for him. Health, 

 prosperity, youth, high spirits, and above all 

 all the pride of our hearts, may keep away reflec- 

 tion for a time, but when disease, adversity, old 

 age, and melancholy have the ascendancy, the 

 mind is tortured with painful doubts, fears to 

 scrutinize its awful responsibility, and shrinks 

 from a task which has been neglected and has 

 therefore become dreadful. The cheerful grass- 

 hopper of the field, the faithful dog that frisks 

 around us, the soaring and singing lark, then 



