THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 199 



is a type of that moral discipline through which the 

 soul must pass before it can be the tenant of a region 

 where all is bright, peaceful, and pure. If nature in- 

 troduces us to the beauties of spring, not without first 

 passing through the horrors of Winter, how can we 

 suppose that the soul will be ordinarily fitted for the 

 celestial mansions, without passing through that earthly 

 ordeal of tribulation, which is intended to exalt and 

 purify. The path to Canaan lay through a wilderness ; 

 nor is the road to Heaven now easier, whatever some 

 may pretend. We are not to expect it to be scattered 

 with roses, nor fanned with the breath of pleasant 

 Zephyrs, — 



' But first by many a stern and fiery blast, 

 The world's rude furnace must thy blood refine ; 



And many a gale of keenest woe be passed, 

 Till every pulse beat true to airs divine.' 



The evils which aflElict us at this season, whatever they 

 be, are sent to remind us of our fallen and sinful con- 

 dition. They are intended to impress upon us, the 

 great truth, that the world we live in, is one which, like 

 ourselves, is still labouring under the consequences of 

 man's original defection from the service of his maker. 



