TRANSMUTABLE. 255 



there is one feature of the present age which 

 must not be disregarded, or held lightly, by those 

 who think at all about the destinies of a country 

 favoured above all others in the world, and that 

 is, its national indifference. 



It cannot be denied that such a feeling seems 

 to have crept in with our prosperity, and has 

 mingled itself with our greatest national interests. 

 We see it every day in the progress of political 

 or secular events. Are -we to permit such a state 

 of apathy to find us unmoved, while the great 

 charm which gilds our appreciation of the beau- 

 tiful in nature is being swept away? N Are we 

 to look with calmness, or indifference, or acqui- 

 escence, on doctrines which rob life of that by 

 which its loftiest and noblest aspirations are sus- 

 tained? Are we to look on with coldness, while 

 the daily Providence of God in Creation, and 

 even His existence there, are denied? '{ 



No, I cannot believe this! for the mountain 

 top, in its gloomy grandeur, shall still invoke its 

 living testimony, and the eagle and the vulture 

 shall there proclaim the design, which formed and 

 adapted them to their home and position in the 

 scale of being. The great deep shall have its 

 mighty whale, or its fairy nautilus, speaking of 

 the wisdom of its Maker. 



The forest or the beetling rock shall still be 

 alive with the hum of insects, or the carol of 

 the bird. And man shall still walk through the 

 scenes made by design for him and for his happi- 

 ness, and as he looks into that vast assemblage 



