22 MEETINGS. 



revealed religion — science now counts among- her most zealous vota- 

 ries the brightest ornaments of the Anglican and other branches of 

 the Christian Church. The Press too, that potent engine of 

 civilisation, is with the celerity of thought, daily spreading far and 

 wide the brightest emanations of the human intellect, and the sub- 

 lime revelations of scientific inquiry ; and surely whilst such presses as 

 those of the Chambers', the Knights', the Bohns', and a host of others 

 are engaged in this work, it cannot be said that it is merely working 

 for the benefit of a privileged class. 



" In view of these facts then, shall he who is condemned by a 

 cruel fate to toil day after day, from the grey dawn to the setting 

 sun, for the pittance necessary to supply his continued wants, be left 

 to act his tedious part in the dull drama of life — his career a long un- 

 interrupted struggle for existence, unrelieved by a single cheering 

 ray of " divine philosophy " — by a single aspiration worthy of a 

 being endowed with such noble capacities, and yet not be apprised 

 that within the swarthy envelope that shrouds the mysterious cham- 

 bers of his soul, heaven has secreted a key, which legitimately 

 employed would literally unfold to his wondering vision " a new 

 heaven and a new earth," making him the happy possessor of 

 pleasures and riches of which he could form no previous conception, 

 of enjoyments eminently calculated to allay the bitterness of toil, 

 to lighten the pressure of adversity, and to render even his cruel lot 

 comparatively enviable and happy ? Shall the industrious cultivator 

 of the soil — he whose lot is cast in the very laboratory of nature's 

 most interesting operations — he to whom the warbling birds, the 

 murmuring rivulets, the sweetly smiling flowers, the perfumed 

 zephyrs, are daily bringing notes of invitation to her well supplied 

 banquet — shall he also be allowed to remain deaf to all these pressing 

 appeals, and to close his eyes on the beautifully varied panorama 

 which is ever passing in review before him ? The cool refreshing- 

 beverage which Nature distils from her bosom for his use ; the balmy 

 air which he breathes ; the " gentle dew " and refreshing shrubs that 

 crown his fields with plenty, and clothe his meadows with verdure ; 

 the beautiful structure of plants, their endless varieties, their splen- 

 didly variegated flowers, the manner of their growth and repro- 

 duction ; the action of manure on soils ; the revolution of the 

 seasons ; the phenomena of heat, light and combustion ; the habits 

 and instincts of animals — all these are themes suggested by objects 

 and phenomena immediately surrounding him and having intimate 

 reference to his own vital interests — themes which properly investi- 

 gated would enlarge his conceptions, give a charm to his long hours 

 of labour, furnish him with topics of absorbing interest for his seasons 

 of leisure and convert the otherwise Sahara of earth into a blooming 

 Eden. It will be only in investigations such as these that he will 

 indeed 



" Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones and good in everything, 



and that the broad face of Nature upon which he had perhaps hitherto 



