PREFACE. Xx 



admiration and his wonder ; deep reflection on 

 these leads him to 



Find tongues in trees, books in the living brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 



" In a moral view, " says an anonymous writer, 

 " I shall not, I believe, be contradicted when I 

 say, that, if one train of thinking be more 

 desirable than another, it is that which regards 

 the phenomena of nature with a constant refe- 

 rence to a supreme intelligent Author. To 

 have made this the ruling, the habitual sentiment 

 of our minds, is to have laid the foundation of 

 every thing which is religious. The world 

 thenceforth becomes a temple, and life itself one 

 continued act of adoration. The change is no 

 less than this ; that whereas, formerly, God was 

 seldom in our thoughts, we can now scarcely 

 look upon any thing without perceiving its 

 relation to Him. Every organized natural body, 

 in the provisions it contains, for its sustentation 

 and propagation, testifies a care on the part of 

 the Creator, expressly directed to these pur- 

 poses. We are on all sides surrounded by such 

 bodies examined in their parts, wonderfully 



