208 CONCLUSION. 



abode; to speak to him of the infinite power of that 

 Being who made them both. 



It is thus with everything in this world of ours; on 

 every side we are reminded of a superior, and an 

 All-wise, Creator. We have been tracing nothing 

 but the evidences of his wisdom and power, in the 

 simple yet beautiful laws which regulate ihe being 

 and growth of all living things; and here we have in 

 this bit of stone, an evidence strong as doubt itself ^ 

 could demand, that these same laws were in operation 

 thousands of years before any of our race existed. 



To study such laws, then, is a noble as well as 

 attractive pursuit; for they are not to outlast us, as 

 they will everything in the material world around 

 us, whose existence and whose periodical changes 

 they regulate. 



Our bodies, it' is true, will come under the uni- 

 versal power of death; will be resolved once more 

 into their various elements; will perform once more 

 their part in that great circle of life which we have 

 endeavored to follow in its varied round : but our souls 

 will be beyond all such influences; will, living, be acting 

 out an immortal destiny, in a world where every 

 transformation will not be a step toward ultimate 

 decay, and where the blossoms of this brief lifetime 

 will ripen into the sweet or bitter fruits of eternity. 



