236 SPRING. 



ducing the Almighty within finite limits. We know 

 not what duration may be in the sight of God ; but all 

 that we can infer of his nature from creation, and all 

 that is revealed to us of his attributes in holy writ, 

 combine to convince us that, whether the work was 

 individual, or system, or universe, it required no second 

 effort to make it lasting as Him from whom it eman- 

 ated ; and that, though those properties of matter, which 

 we are bound to suppose are most conducive to the in- 

 tended purposes of the globe, make it necessary that 

 the sets of individuals should be dissolved, yet the re- 

 production is so closely connected, that we cannot 

 find the one without the other. And though, to us, 

 there seem to be evils and disasters, we cannot, unless 

 we shall take upon us to say that we know all the pur- 

 poses in nature, and all the means by which they are 

 accomplished, pronounce that any, even the most ca- 

 lamitous event, does not answer some beneficent end. 



In thus examining nature, and attempting to reflect 

 as we proceed, it is impossible to be systematic. We 

 can examine only one thing at a time, whether that be 

 object or event, and thus, when we meet in the field 

 or the forest the single plant or animal that draws our 

 attention, it makes us forget the rest, until, in the ab- 

 sence of the things themselves, we think upon the fact 

 of their connexion with each other, with the scene, 

 the season, and with creation. 



The migratory habits of the birds always give us a 

 greater share in this country than we have permanently 

 with us ; and, unless it be for a few weeks at those still 

 times of the year, the midsummer and the midwinter, 

 when there is little change in the length of the day or 



