07 



ing treasure to us ; and, whatever may be the fate 

 of external property, the change of persons or of 

 things about us, our true treasure that which is life 

 and life's gladness to us is beyond the reach of 

 accident, and proof against every contingency. 



But if we do not observe nature, we incur dis- 

 grace as well as suffer loss, we are ungrateful to 

 our Maker, and we are unworthy of ourselves. 

 Wherefore were the organs and faculties of observa- 

 tion given us, if we do not use them ? The senses, 

 though, as we have them without cost or study, or 

 effort on our part, and so are apt to undervalue them, 

 are, in reality, choice gifts ; and the productions of 

 nature are so admirably fitted for the gratification 

 of those senses, that it is altogether impossible for 

 us not to perceive that the one must have been made 

 for the other. 



Why was every tint and tone of colour so mingled 

 in the light of day as that they all come out clear 

 and perfect, and tell us, not merely of substance, but 

 of space ? and wherefore, when the sky is clouded 

 and the blackness of darkness shades the landscape, 

 is the arch of Hope with its sevenfold glory set in 

 the rain cloud, if it be not for us to look, and admire, 

 and learn, and love ? Why does the rose give forth 

 its odour, and the scent of the lavender and of the 

 mignionette steal viewless upon the still air around 

 us, and the blooming bean and the new-mown hay 

 outscent all the preparations of the apothecary, if it 

 be not to wile us unto the garden and the field, in 

 order that we may breathe health, and at the same 

 time cull pleasure and instruction there ? Wherefore 

 sings the breeze in the forest, why whispers foe 

 zephyr among the reeds, and how comes it that the 

 caves and hollows of the barren mountains give out 

 their tones, as if the earth were one musical instru- 

 ment of innumerable strings, if it be not to tempt 

 us forth in order to learn, how ever-fair, ever-new, 



