PREFACE. XI 



of comfort or pleasure. The infant who receives 

 its first sustenance from the bosom of its mother 

 will smile in her face, and hold out its little arms 

 towards her with the most ecstatic delight, when it 

 has ceased to expect that nourishment. Children 

 will always regard those kindly who are kind to 

 them ; and is it to be supposed that the great and 

 manifold blessings of heaven should fail to excite 

 the gratitude of man ? In speaking of the beauties 

 and properties of created things, we speak of the 

 beneficence of the Creator ; and in recalling to the 

 minds of men the pleasures to be derived from 

 them, we awaken a grateful sense of the source 

 from whence they flow. However men differ in 

 the forms of religion, its essence is still the same ; 

 and many who would listen without emotion to 

 volumes of religious admonition, will feel their 

 hearts glow with grateful admiration when they 

 walk abroad in the sunshine. 



If a man stand upon a rising ground, and look 

 abroad upon a fertile country, must he be told the 

 source of all that beauty ? must he be reminded 

 what he ought to feel before his heart will swell 



