-™-_^--:i,^*__;^--- -r-LW^r^^^^^^fui^^^t^KV^ 



j^i^^^izT ^^m'^-'-::^'^^^;^-- 



PREFACE. 



XVU 



if t 



require that the sci'ious business of life should 

 alternate with periods of pleasurable relaxation; 

 but as there is one point, to which all our pursuits, 

 as rational and responsible agents should tend, 

 it is of the greatest consequence to our present 

 and future well-being that our sources of amuse- 

 ment be wisely chosen. " Some studies seem to 

 contract the mind, but such is not the character 



I 



of natural science, which enlarges the under- 

 standing by a perpetual display of the power 

 and wisdom of God, and encourages our hopes 

 by sure testimonies of his goodness. He who 

 feeds the sparrows, and clothes the golden lily of 

 the fields in a splendour beyond that of Solomon 

 himself, invites us, his rational creatures, to con- 

 fide in his promises of eternal life. The simplest 

 blade of grass, and the grain of corn, to which 

 ' he gives its own body,^ are suflficient to convince 

 us that our trust cannot be in vain/^ * 



It is indeed true, that the works of nature, 

 eloquent as they are, do not to every one plead 

 with irresistible force. There have been some 

 persons, intimately familiar with natural science, 

 who, from causes too serious to be hero alluded to 



■r 



in a superficial manner, have had their hearts little 

 or not at all allected by the stupendous objects of 



* Preface to Smith's Eni^Iish Flora. 



