NATURAL THEOLOGY. 311 



to me to be a relation which was expressly in- 

 tended. Two points are manifest ; first, that the 

 animal frame requires sleep ; secondly, that night 

 brings with it a silence and a cessation of activity 

 which allows of sleep being taken without inter- 

 ruption and without loss. Animal existence is 

 made up of action and slumber ; nature has pro- 

 vided a season for each. An animal which stood 

 not in need of rest would always live in daylight. 

 An animal which, though made for action, and 

 delighting in action, must have its strength re- 

 paired by sleep, meets, by its constitution, the re- 

 turns of day and night. In the human species, 

 for instance, were the bustle, the labour, the mo- 

 tion of life upheld by the constant presence of 

 light, sleep could not be enjoyed without being 

 disturbed by noise, and without expense of that 

 time which the eagerness of private interest would 

 not contentedly resign. It is happy, therefore, for 

 this part of the creation, I mean that it is con- 

 formable to the frame and wants of their consti- 

 tution, that nature, by the very disposition of her 

 elements, has commanded, as it were, and im- 

 posed upon them, at moderate intervals, a general 

 intermission of their toils, their occupations, and 

 pursuits. 



But it is not for man, either solely or princi- 

 pally, that night is made. Inferior but less per- 

 verted natures taste its solace, and expect its re- 

 turn with greater exactness and advantage than 

 he does. I have often observed, and never ob- 



