THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 135 



read, " A fruitful land raaketh he barren, for th« 

 wickedness of them that dwell therein," (Psalm cvii. 

 34 ;) and, on the other hand, it is observed, " Thou 

 visitest the earth, and waterest it : thou greatly en- 

 richest it with the river of God, which is full of water ; 

 thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided 

 for it." (Psalm Ixv. 10.) How easily then may our 

 national or individual sins frustrate all the eflfects of 

 industry, by provoking God to make the '/ heavens as 

 brass, and the earth as iron ;" or to curse the ground 

 with that original sterility which it contracted by the 

 fall of our first parents. This curse, it should be 

 recollected with gratitude, has been greatly mitigated 

 in the lapse of years, through the mercy of that God 

 *• whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his 

 ways as our ways." The ground does not now bring 

 forth thorns and thistles merely : nor is man reduced 

 to the necessity, as Adam was, of eating the herb of 

 the field. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the 

 curse was so far fulfilled as to exemplify, in the most 

 striking manner, the evil consequences of sin. The 

 early history of man has in most countries been that of 

 a wild wandering savage. Sdch was the state of 

 Britain, (at least the far greater part of it,) before 



