MAY. 135 



why beauty, and flowers, and fruit, should be 

 scattered so exuberantly where there are none to 

 enjoy them. But the thoughts of the Almighty are 

 not as our thoughts. He sees them ; he doubtlessly 

 delights to behold the beauty of his handiworks, and 

 rejoices in that tide of glory which he has caused to 

 flow wide through the universe. We know not, 

 either, what spiritual eyes besides may behold them ; 

 for pleasant is the belief that 



Myriads of spiritual creatures walk the earth. 



And how often does the gladness of uninhabited 

 lands refresh the heart of the solitary traveller! 

 When the distant and sea-tired voyager suddenly 

 descries the blue mountain-tops, and the lofty crest 

 of the palm-tree, and makes some green and pleasant 

 island, where the verdant and blossoming forest- 

 boughs wave in the spicy gale; where the living 

 waters leap from the rocks, and millions of new 

 and resplendent flowers brighten the fresh sward ; 

 what then is the joy of his heart ! To Omnipo- 

 tence creation costs not an effort ; but to the 

 desolate and the weary, how immense is the happi- 

 ness thus prepared in the wilderness ! Who does 

 not recollect the exultation of Vaillant over a flower 

 in the torrid wastes of Africa 1 A magnificent lily, 

 which, growing on the banks of a river, filled the 

 air far around with its delicious fragrance, and, as 

 he observes, had been respected by all the animals 

 of the district, and seemed defended even by its 



