216 



\vise the organs of respiration: we should gasp for 

 breath with as much difficulty, and as little success as 

 fishes do, when out of their native element. 



" The ground also is wrought into the most proper 

 temperature. Was it of a firmer consistence it would 

 be impenetrable io the plough, and* unmanageable by the 

 spade. Was it of a more loose composition, it would be 

 incapable of supporting its own furniture. The light 

 mould would be swept away by whirling winds, or 

 soaked into sloughs by the descending rains. Again, be- 

 cause every place suits not every plant, but that which 

 nourishes one, destroys another : the qualities of the 

 earth are so abundantly diversified as to ar.conrodate 

 every species. We have a variety of intermediate soils, 

 from the loose sand to the stiff clay ; from the rough 

 projection of the craggy rock, to the soft bed of the 

 smooth parterre. 



*' The sea carries equal evidences of a most wise and 

 gracious ordination. Was it larger, we should have 

 wanted land for pasturage and husbandry. W r e should 

 not have had room for mines, and forests, our subter- 

 ranean warehouses, and aereaf timber-yards. Was it 

 smaller, it could not recruit the sky with a proper quan- 

 tity of exhalations : nor supply the earth with a necessary 

 quota of fructifying showers. 



" May we not discover as exquisite strokes of wisdom 

 in each individual object] All that shines in he hea- 

 vens, and all that smiles on the earth, speak their infi- 

 nitely wise Creator. Need we launch into the praise of 

 the vallies clothed with grass, or of the fields replenished 

 with corn ? Even the ragged rocks, which frown over 

 the flood, the caverned quarries which yawn amidst the 

 land, together with the shapeless and enormous mount- 

 ains, which seem to load the ground, and encumber the 

 skies ; even these contribute to increase tlie general 

 pleasure, and augment the general usefulness. They 



