324 VIEW OF NATURE. 



and refined enjoyment. Those who know nothing of this 

 source of happiness, cannot appreciate its value ; they may in- 

 quire the use of studying into the nature of objects, without any 

 reference to the enjoyment of the senses, to personal gain, or 

 honour. A celebrated naturalist* observes ; " The rich and 

 the great imagine, that every one is miserable, and out of the 

 world, who does not live as they do ; but they are the persons 

 who, living far from nature and from God, live out of the 

 world. Misled by the prejudices of a faulty education, I have 

 pursued a vain felicity amid the false glories of arms, the fa- 

 vour of the great, and sometimes in frivolous and dangerous 

 pleasures. 1 have never been happy but when I trusted in 

 God ; opposed to THEE, the AUTHOR of all things ! power is 

 weakness ! supported by THEE, weakness becomes strength ! 

 When the rude Northern blasts have ravaged the earth, 

 THOU callest forth the feeblest of winds ; at the sound of THY 

 voice, the zephyr breathes, the verdure revives, the gentle 

 cowslip and the humble violet cover the bosom of the bleak 

 earth with a mantle of gold and purple." 



To the pious reflections of this French writer we will add 

 the following quotation from an English author,^ the energies 

 of whose rich and cultivated intellect were devoted to the cause 

 of religion ; who viewed nature as a philosopher, but what is 

 far better, as a Christian. Happy indeed, are those in whom 

 philosophy and Christianity are blended, and delightful is the 

 intercourse even in this world between minds thus enlightened 

 and purified ! 



" There is peculiar sweetness in the recollection of those 

 hours which we have spent with friends of a kindred spirit, 

 amidst the beauties of created nature. The Christian can 

 alone find that congeniality in associates, who not only possess 

 a lively and cultivated sense of the high beauty which land- 

 scape scenery presents to the eye, but who can also see crea- 

 tion's God in every feature of the prospect. The painter can 

 imitate, the poet describe, and the tourist talk with ecstacy of 

 the sublime and beautiful objects which constitute the scene 

 before him. But he can only be said to enjoy them aright, 

 whose talents, taste, and affections are consecrated to the glory 

 of Him by whom all things were made, and without whom 

 was not any thing made that was made.' When the pencil 

 that traces the rich and animated landscape of mountains, 

 lakes and trees, is guided by a grateful heart as well as by a 



* St. Pierre. 



t Rev. Legh Richmond. 



Reflections on the study of natural science. 



