S40 LECTURE VII. 



that, if occasionally I may have appeared to 

 sermonize, I have quoted both the chapter 

 and verse of my text from the Book of Na- 

 ture. I address you, Gentlemen, as students 

 of that great book, and earnestly exhort you 

 to study it with such sentiments as I have 

 endeavoured to inculcate. The conviction 

 that every thing tends to some immediate or 

 eventual good, is the greatest incentive to its 

 study. It was this conviction that excited 

 Hunter to such continual enquiry, or in- 

 volved him occasionally in the depths and 

 perplexities of intense thought ; for he was 

 never satisfied without being able to assign 

 an adequate reason for whatever he observed 

 in the structure and economy of animals. 

 This conviction makes the study of Nature 

 highly interesting, and may indeed be said 

 to render labour delightful, or to medicate 

 the pains attendant on its toil. To those 

 who entertain such sentiments as I have en- 

 deavoured to inculcate, every thing seems 

 animated, beneficent, and useful; they have 

 the happy talent of discovering even 



" Tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks. 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 



