184 IlEFLECTIONS. 



there is in heaven a remembrance of mercy.; 

 Is not this what revelation teaches us in aj 

 higher degree ? And do we not see an analogy in 

 the universal diffusion of these atoms, having 

 life and giving birth to living things that prey 

 on that which we regard the most valuable, to 

 the whole state of the moral atmosphere 

 around us, whence sins of all kinds enter the 

 heart upon the wings of every thought? Look 

 again at the mistakes made respecting these 

 pests. How continually have they been mis- 

 construed; and let us remember how little 

 man knows without the gospel, of the real 

 character of the miseries which beset him in 

 this life. It has been mentioned that certain 

 cultivators of the soil have regarded some of 

 their little foes as a favourable sign, accom- 

 panying a good yield of a valuable produce. 

 How many are continually making similar 

 errors with regard to the destroyers of that 

 which is for their highest interest. Multitudes 

 of people look upon certain irregularities in 

 youth, for instance, as signs of what they call 

 a good heart, a free disposition, a manly gene- 

 rous spirit ; and believe them to be compatible 

 with an abundant exhibition, in after-life, of 

 virtues of various kinds. But they forget that 



