166 



wonderful mechanism destroyed, did the sun rise 

 and set at uncertain intervals. So would it be 

 with man. A period of sleep once in the twenty- 

 four hours is necessary to restore the bodily en- 

 ergies, which have been exhausted by a day's 

 activity ; and unless his corporeal frame were 

 quite altered from what we now know it to be, 

 the recurrence of night only three times in the 

 week, instead of once in the twenty-four hours, 

 would not only diminish the duration of life in- 

 stead of extending it, but be a drag on his acti- 

 vity, instead of propelling it to exertion. 



Finally, then, the revolution of the seasons is 

 an inexhaustible theme for praise, if we regard 

 the goodness of God, and of wonder, if we con- 

 template the stupendous machinery which is in 

 constant and unerring operation for its govern- 

 ment and regulation. Well has it been said by 

 the royal lyrist of Jerusalem, that " day unto day 

 uttereth speech, and night unto night teacheth 

 wisdom." Taken individually, each of the sea- 

 sons has its peculiar delights. When the storm 

 of winter beats against the pane, the social circle 

 feel more intensely the comforts of the domestic 

 hearth, and the student poring over his books, 

 finds it the most genial time for holding com- 

 munication with the recorded thoughts of by- 

 past ages ; and few minds are so destitute of 

 sensibility as not to expand with grateful emo- 

 tion, as earth spreads forth the exhaustless vari- 

 ety of spring. In the luxuriance of summer the 



