Oh, XVI.] THE SEED. 97 



cms eye the -vegetable species with which th* eartn begins to b 

 domed, seeing successively all the types or representations of 

 past generations of plants, admires the power of tie Author of 

 nature, and the immutability of His laws. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 Germination of the Seed. 



402. WE have now considered the various organs of plants. 

 \Ve have traced them through their successive stages of deve- 

 lopment, from the root to the bud, leaf, and flower, and from 

 the flower to the fruit and seed. We have seen in imagination, 

 the vegetable world fading under a change of temperature, the 

 "sear and yellow leaf," a prey to the autumnal blasts; and 

 even the fruits themselves, exhibiting a mass of decayed mat 

 ter. Were this appearance of decay and death, now presented 

 to us for the first time, how gloomy would be the prospect! 

 How little should we expect the return of life, and beauty, and 

 fragrance ! No power short of Omnipotence, can effect this 

 miracle. 



403. But A\e are now so accustomed to these changes, that 

 11 seeing, we perceive not ;" we think not of the mighty Being, 

 who produces them: we call them the operations of nature ; 

 and what is nature, or what are the laws of nature, but mani- 

 festations of Almighty power ? 



404. The word nature, in its original sense, signifies born 01 

 produced ; let us then look on nature as a created thing, and 

 oeware of yielding that homage to the creature which is due to 

 the Creator. The sceptic, with seeming rapture, may talk of 

 the beauties of nature, but cold and insensible must be that 

 heart, which from the contemplation of the earth around, and 

 *he heavens above, soars not, 



" To him, the mighty Power from whom these wonders are." 



405. How beautifully is the re-animation of the vegetable 

 world, used by St. Paul, as an illustration of our resurrection 

 Jrom the dead! The same power, which from a small, dry, 



403 Why are mankind so forgetful of the Great Being who pro- 

 duces the wonderful cnanges which nature presents? 



404. What is the meaning of the word nature, and how should we 

 regard it '\ 



405. What should remind us of the resurrection from the dead 1 



9 



