TJ WALKS AND TALKS. 



admired the forms fa>hioned in beauty by the hands of the 

 _ r i<':il fonts before we know that it had a geolo. 



- I any geologioal significance, or.had passed 

 through long ages of preparation. We have been like chil- 

 dren horn in tin- parental dwelling, reared in the midst of its 

 comforts and adornments, without once thinking that, before 

 \\ were horn, some mind planned the dwelling, some hands 

 d its walls, laid its floors, and fashioned every doorway 

 and casing. Now, this terrestrial dwelling, with all its beau- 



and conveniences, its wonders and sublimities, is something 

 to set us thinking; just as we reflected, when the thought first 

 eame into our minds, that father's house has had a history, 

 and was the product of study and labor, which we had never be- 

 fore considered. The green slope was made ; the pretty lake was 

 scooped out; the swelling hill was shaped ; the dark mountain 

 was upbuilt, its foundations were laid, its vast weight has 

 been sustained and is to-day sustained by some support, with 

 strength proportioned to the requirement. It is time for us to 

 to a realization of these facts. 



W- may begin in this very spot to inquire how this ter- 

 restrial home was fashioned. It was made without hands, but 

 n<t without the use of the same forces of nature and proper- 

 ties of matter as were employed in the building of our paternal 

 dwelling. Its plan was not drafted on paper and carried out 

 under the direction of a builder, who issued his orders in 

 audible tones; but our terrestrial abode is built under a plan 

 just as real and just as intelligible, and is just as truly a fit 

 subject for study. There is this difference, that we may ar- 

 rive at a complete understanding of the plan, and purposes, 

 and modes of construction of the paternal home; but of the 

 -trial home we can only arrive at an incomplete under- 

 standing. As far as we proceed, the methods of understand- 

 ing and interpreting are the same; but the whole plan, in its 

 depth, and breadth, and complications surpasses our powers, 

 and \\e inuM, like young children, content ourselves with a 

 comprehension of some of the most obvious things sure that 

 if our powers were loftier, we might proceed in the same way 



