LETTER XVIII. 



201 



assumes, its real origin in man, its primary source in 

 man's moral nature, and its true meaning in the insti- 

 tution of marriage ; — an institution which, as it has 

 been beautifully said by Bishop Taylor, " is the 

 mother of the world and the nursery of heaven, liUing 

 cities and churches and heaven itself — the proper 

 scene of piety and patience, of the duty of parents 

 and the charity of relatives — promotes the interests of 

 mankind, and is that state of good things to which 

 God has designed the present constitution of the 

 world." * 



17. Hence a distinction of sexes, and hence a neces- 

 sity for such a modification of the bud as we meet 

 with in the seed. Hence also, peradventure, the real 

 occasion of the seed. 



18. But if this whole view should be deemed too 

 transcendental, I shall not insist upon it. Only grant 

 me that the seed and the bud are co-ordinate and 

 co-equal, different forms merely of one and the same 

 thing, both answering the same end, but each in a 

 way that the other cannot. Grant me this and I 

 am content. You grant my whole theory of trees. 



19. And, now, not to pursue these speculations 

 farther, but with the view merely of showing how 

 truly identical in character and constitution both the 

 bud and the seed are, let us glance for a moment at 

 the skill and adaptation to circumstances, with which 



* Sermon On the Marriage Ring, passim. 



