THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 197 



Providence ; or to reason upon his character who is as 

 wonderful in his counsels of grace, as he is excellent in 

 the works of nature ! 



Winter is in truth one of those seasons in which the 

 greatness of God as a Creator, and his Sovereign and 

 Almighty power are strikingly shewn. Job, in his 

 majestic description of the works of God, refers to this 

 season in language of the most exalted kind. He 

 places it in point of dignity next to the thunder and 

 lightning ; for after describing these most awful and 

 impressive of all nature's wonders, he proceeds im- 

 mediately to dilate on the terrors of Winter. The 

 whole passage is eminently beautiful and poetical ; — 

 ** God thundereth marvellously with his voice ; great 

 things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For 

 he saith to the snow. Be thou on the earth ; likewise to 

 the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. 

 He sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may 

 know his work. Then the beasts go into dens, and 

 remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the 

 whirlwind ; and cold out of the north. By the breath 

 of God frost is given, and the breadth of the waters 

 is straitened." (xxxvii. 5 — 10.) Well then, indeed, 

 might Thomson, the Poet of the Seasons, imbibing 



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