718 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Of man’s complex nature there can be no doubt. cc The 
body, made of the same material which it treads so proudly 
beneath its feet, is the finest organization of matter that can 
be found in the wide creation. It stands erect, and moves 
at the bidding of its illustrious tenant; the brow beams with 
intelligence, the eye flashes with a strange fire, the features 
express the state of the soul which animates them, and the 
whole piece of perfect workmanship is an honour to the 
Maker. Who but God would have planned anything like it ? 
Why might we not have lived in a body as simple and 
unpretending in its organism as the trunk of an oak ? Why 
all these nicely-moving joints, these strong ligaments of 
muscles, these thousand nerves, so delicate and sensitive, 
this beating heart, so curious and so busy, these blue veins 
which carry the vital blood through all the system, these 
fine adaptations and striking illustrations of design and fore¬ 
thought ? The structure and organism of plants is wonder¬ 
ful, but the skill displayed in the human body surpasses all 
other evidences of wisdom. The face which beams with the 
beauty of thought and affection has been called by the poet 
divine ; what hinders all the parts from being equally divine ? 
But we rightly attach more importance to it, and look more 
deeply into its wise arrangements and workings, by reason 
of its union with the soul, that loftiest part of man. The 
home of the viewless, thinking, feeling spirit must be 
glorious.'” The mind has been likened to the sun, the great 
awakener of force. The heaven-sent beam, itself silent, 
calls into life a thousand loud activities; sending the hus¬ 
bandman to the furrow, filling the city street with noise, 
and bidding the hammer ring upon the anvil. So a great 
mind stirs into genial activity ten thousand lesser minds, 
and over nations and hemispheres the energising influence 
spreads. Let this be withdrawn, all becomes a moral and an 
intellectual waste—’tis mental midnight. But the sun shines 
not for itself. To other celestial bodies it imparts its 
invigorating beams, and by its attractive power causes them 
to move each in its determined orbit, thus maintaining the 
beautiful order known to exist in the universe—the “ har¬ 
mony of the spheres,”—whilst throughout nature its beneficial 
influence is seen. 
