The Christian naturalist

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THE

CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

BY THE

REV. EDWARD BUDGH, B.A. -

LAUNCESTON :

CATER AND MADDOX.
’ SIMPKIN, MARSHALL AND CO., LONDON.

1838.

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‘ How charming is Divine Philosophy !
Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar’d sweets

Where no crude surfeit reigns.’—Milton’s Comus.

‘So reads he nature whom the lamp of. truth

Illuminates, thy Lamp—mysterious Word.’—Cowper.

TO THE

REV. HENRY ADDINGTON SIMCOE, A.M.

Tiis Tolume,

WHICH OWES ITS ORIGIN TO THE

PENHEALE-PRESS,

18, WITH MUCH CHRISTIAN RESPECT AND AFFECTION,
INSCRIBED BY

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

Ir may be needful here to state, that a considerable
portion of the following work has already been before
the public, in a small monthly Periodical, entitled,
‘Light from the West, or the Cornish Parochial
Visitor,’ which was commenced in January, 1832.
During the latter part of this year, the first number
of the Christian Naturalist appeared in that work.
The favorable manner in which the series of papers:
under that head were received by its numerous
readers, have now led to their re-publication. Being,
however, now presented to a more: general class, some
pains have been taken by the Author to submit his
observations to the public in the form that might be
most useful and attractive; and with this view some
alterations and corrections have been made, and many
additions. A. different arrangement has also been

adopted. In agreement with the Calendar of Nature,

vi. PREFAUCE.

the work has been divided into twelve chapters or
numbers, and for this purpose a union of such subjects
as would admit of this connexion, was necessary. —
One of these, which forms the subject for July, under —
the title of ‘The Cornish Tors,’ has been written
entirely for the present work. Those who are
acquainted with the Publication, for which this series
of papers was originally composed, will be fully aware
that a rapid sketch of the most striking phenomena
of ‘the varied year,’ was all that could be permitted
or attempted in a Periodical where brevity and
_ simplicity were indispensable. To have enlarged
these observations to a much greater extent than
has been now attempted, would have been inconsistent
with the plan of the writer, which was to set forth the
works of God as they display themselves upon a
grand scale, and only so far as they may be made
subservient to his word. Nothing more, therefore,
is here attempted, than to unroll a few of the broader
and more brilliant pages of the book of Nature, and
to read them by the mingled light of science and of

Revelation.

Launcells, August, 1838.

—— - S. UTCCee ee eee
bs ;

CONTENTS.

January.—The Seasons

Ditcsey the Starry Heavens
Rarch: — Seca Time

April.—The Rainbow, Clouds, &c.
May.—Spring

ae Flower Garden

July.—The Cornish Tors é : .-

August.—Insects.—The Beehive

September.—The Corn-Field.—Larvest Home
October.—The Sea

November.—Autumn.—Fall of the Leaf

December.—Winter and Concluding Reflections.

PAGE.

114

125

154

179

194

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THE

CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

JANUARY.

THE SEASONS.

‘ These, as they change, Almighty Father, these,
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of thee.’

A sInGcuE glance at any portion of the world around
us is sufficient to discover that the Creator intended to
awaken attention by an ever-changing variety of scenes.
So many, however, and so diversified are the proofs
thus afforded of his being and goodness throughout
the whole calendar of the Seasons, that it would be
no easy task for the Christian Naturalist to determine
from what point he should begin his observations.
But, happily, the succession of the Seasons, and the
order of the months, obviate the difficulty. A path

B

2 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

opens before us which might almost seem to be that
which the Deity himself prescribes. There can be but
little doubt that the sun was placed in the heavens to
mark our years by a complete revolution, and the
moon to number and divide our months. Thus a lawis
proposed for the guidance of our thoughts and the regu-
lation of our earthly affairs, at once simple and beautiful.
To pursue this order seems therefore the appropriate
business of the Christian Naturalist, who endeavours
to watch the operations of the Divine hand as they
variously manifest themselves, and to suggest those
topics of reflection which may be made subservient to
man’s interest, with reference to an immortal state of
being.

In entering upon the first month of the year we can
hardly fail to direct our thoughts to that marvellous
provision which the Providence of God has made
for man in the very changes of the several Seasons.
As month succeeds to month and year to year, we are
apt, however, to become so familiar with this succession,
as to lose sight of its necessity. And yet so necessary
is this variety to the comfort of our present existence,
that we should soon grow tired of one season however

pleasant. It would be like always sailing over the

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 3

same smooth sea, or hearing the same sweet strain of
music. It is right then to understand, as well as to
admire, the nature of that economy by which the
Creator has provided us with the means of this variety.
Yonder sun, which enlightens us, might have shone in
_ the heavens just as we now behold him: and have rose in
the East, and set in the West daily, but this would not
have produced the Seasons and their changes. Some-
thing more was necessary to give us spring and summer,
autumn and winter; and this diversity has been
effected in the simplest manner by the Divine hand.
The sun’s path through the heavens, instead of being
always the same, is a varied one; he traverses in turn
all the northern and southern signs of the Zodiac: or,
to speak more in the language of science, he appears to
do so by that peculiar direction or inclination which is
given to the earth’s axis, with respect to the line of its
path or orbit.

Thus it is that seed-time and harvest, summer and
winter, each appear at regular intervals; and every
part of the world receives in turn those advantages
which result from the change of seasons. Men, ani-
mals, .and vegetation, all seem alike to share in the
benefits of the change. Without it many parts of the

B 3

4 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

a

earth would be utterly uninhabitable; as for instance,
those under the equinoctial line, as well as at the North
and South Poles: and even our own island, whose
genial climate is surpassed by none on the globe, would
have been but a desolate region. It could have had
only the heat of a March or October sun, which would
have been insufficient to ripen corn, or any other of the
valuable fruits of the earth: whereas, by the present
plan of a benevolent Creator, it produces in succession
almost every article of comfort—nay, even of luxury—
and is enabled to rise superior in many respects to the
inhabitants of warmer and more fertile climates.

To the mere observer of nature, this view of the
beneficial effects arising from the Seasons may well
inspire wonder, and serve to reconcile him to the chill
and dreary months of winter. But to the Christian
Naturalist it will afford not only wonder and content-
ment, but gratitude to God, that he thus keeps up as
it were in every change of the year, ‘‘ the memory of
his great goodness,” and makes every season the
instrument of conveying fresh blessings to his unworthy
creature man.

Another view in which the Seasons present themselves

to our notice, and one no less important, is that of

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 5

gentle and friendly monitors. Advantageous as they
undoubtedly are, there is a melancholy pleasure in
beholding some of them, and in taking leave of others.
The balmy breezes of spring, which tell of the long »
expected revival of nature, are but of short duration, and
‘summer prodigal of heat, and teeming with life, soon
gives place to autumn ; whilst autumn itself, though rich
with its golden harvests, gradually falls into ‘‘the sere
and yellow leaf,” which marks its decline: and then,
rapidly rushing on upon his steps, comes winter—stern
icy, winter—with his mantle of snow, and his breath
of mists and storms. Now these changes, well known
and expected as they are, can never be attentively
observed, without in some degree, saddening the gay,
and solemnizing the sober-minded. It is not merely
that they remind us of mortality; they teach rather a
lesson of immortality. For, as it has been well

remarked, if we look nature through,—

— ‘’Tis revolution all,—
All change, no death !’
+ —— ‘All toreflourish fades ;
As in a wheel, all sinks to reascend :
Emblem of man who passes, not expires.’

Where the heart then is truly affected by religious
BS

6 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

feelings, the right observation of the Seasons must
produce a deep impression; for each of these vicissi-
tudes to which the natural world is subject, are to the
wise like the voice of the great Lord of Nature
addressing Adam in the garden of Eden, and saying,
‘* Adam, where art thou?” Each of them seems to call
man to the arduous duty of self-examination ; to remind
him who and what he is; and to question him as
to what are his hopes, and his pursuits. They forcibly
awaken him to his real situation ; for he sees himself to
be the inhabitant of a world ever-changing, and feels
that human life also has its changes,—its autumn and
its winter,—as well as its spring and its summer.
Whether in the bloom of youth, or of more advanced
age, he beholds in the varying aspect of nature, a picture
of that change which is inevitable to all mortal condi-
tions; and is sensible that, like the dying year, he also
must ‘‘ fade as a leaf,” and be swept away into a land of
forgetfulness. How happy is it then for the man who
thinks and feels thus, if the spirit of the departing year
whispers peace to i conscience !—if, whilst he beholds
the fleeting scene which earth exhibits and all its
glories, and is conscious that these are emblems of

his own mortal changes, he is also sensible that these

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 7

only resemble the great vicissitudes of nature, which
are so regulated by their Divine Author as to become
pregnant with blessings at each revolution !

In this feeling of decay and vicissitude, there is

assuredly much to soothe as well as solemnize the

‘Christian mind. The character of the opening

month of the year, considered as a link between
Winter and Spring, is one which supplies a striking
analogy with religious experience. The observer of
nature is unable to mark any peculiar difference
between this and the foregoing month. As yet no
advances seem to be made towards a better season.
The woods still wear the same hoary aspect of
desolation. The sky still lowers with the same dark
and oppressive load of vapours; and except that here
and there may be seen a snow-drop rearing its lovely
and pensive head amidst the frozen clods, we might
imagine that a death-like palsy had seized upon all
the vegetable world. But although there is thus an
apparent stagnation, the machine is not stopped in its
course. Silently, but surely, and majestically, it is still
moving forwards according to the plan appointed by
its Creator. No sooner has the sun passed the Tropic

of Capricorn than he begins to approach us a little

8 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

nearer every day. And although with our dull eyes we
see not the progress, so gradual is it; although we
mark not the precise period when he begins to

return, yet—

‘That breathing moment on the bridge where Time

Of light and darkness, forms an arch sublime,’

has been passed, and we may thence look forwards with
increasing hope to the balmy breezes and brighter days
of the returning spring.

Thus also is it with the faith even of thé true
believer. Ofttimes does it wear an aspect not unlike
that of a January month; a sort of intermediate state
between light and darkness ; between joy and despair.
If, indeed, the great turning point of spiritual life has
been past, still this world presents not unfrequently the
face of a wintry scene. Its cloudy and dark days
are many. ‘Trials and disappointments of various
kinds, for the most part, still keep its hopes, like the
forest, bare and unpromising; and its patience only
rises like a flower that smiles upon a surface of snow.
Thus like the patriarchs and pruphets of old, the
Christian has to wait long for the salvation of his

Lord; and if he rejoices at beholding it, it often rises

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. g

to his view as through a mist, in which he sees but
darkly the face of the Sun of Righteousness, His
portion, however, it is to know that “light is sown for
the righteous ;” that God is faithful to his promise ;
and that every day brings nearer the coming of that
happy season, when all that the prophets and saints of
old have predicted shall be fully realized. Hence
the state of the Christian is one of anxious expectancy,
in which he has always to be standing as it were upon
‘this connecting point between two worlds; watching
with eager eye that chariot of nature, which as it rolls
silently onwards, carries along with it the chariot of
providence and of grace; has the eye of a Spirit in all
its wheels; and is hasting at every revolution to that
bourn, where the voice of the Divine power which
regulates the whole machine shall at length stay
its progress, and utter the decree, ‘‘ Sing O ye heavens ;
for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of
the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O
forest, and every tree therein, for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”
(Isai. xliv. 23.)

Such are the reflections which every true Christian

ought tocherish. The darkest season should not quench

10 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

his faith and dependance upon that God in whose hands
are all his times, as well as all his ways. His privilege
it is to take the blessing of Jacob to himself; ‘* The
Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the
everlasting arms.” The divine promises are his constant
support under all terrestrial changes ; for he remembers
who it is that has said to his people, “ Even to your old
age I am he, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you.”
‘Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the
earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like
smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment,
and they that dwell therein shall die in like
manner, but my salvation shall be for ever, and my
righteousness shall not be abolished.” (Isai. li. 6.)
Thus it is, that on the assurance of God’s own word, the
Christian watches the eventful changes of his mortal
history, whatever they may be, with far more pleasure
and gratitude than the naturalist experiences in behold-
ing the charming variety of the Seasons; for it is his
peculiar privilege to believe that no change canessentially
harm him, that if his Spring, his Summer, and his
Autumn are already fled, and the long Winter of the
grave is about to descend upon him, still he is only

hastening to a land where his sun shall no more go

SS So ee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. ll

down ; where his hopes shall no more be doomed to
wither, or to shed their blighted leaves ; but where they
shall continue in immortal verdure, to bloom for ever
like that ‘‘Tree of Life which is in the midst of
the Paradise of God.”

FEBRUARY.

THE STARRY HEAVENS.

ooo

“* By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens.”—Job xxvi. 13.

Wuar a spectacle of grandeur, glory, and mystery

is presented to the observer of the heavens on a clear

winter’s night! Always splendid and sublime as
this sight is, the frosty atmosphere causes every star
to sparkle with even brighter lustre than usual; while
the intense darkness which now pervades the firmament
in the absence of the moon, gives a brilliancy to the

whole scene greater than is perceived at any other

12 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

season. In the East glows the sign of the Zodiac,
termed by Astronomers the Lion. The West is enli-—
vened by the presence of Venus, the most splendid of the
planets, while higher up in the heavens, and almost over
our heads, glitter the lovely groups of the Pleiades
and Hyades, forming part of the sign of the Bull.
But the most striking part of the hemisphere is the
South, where Orion, with his glorious band of diamond-
like orbs, blazes forth, the most brilliant constellation
of the heavens! Surrounded also as this constellation
is with several others of great splendor, the beholder
may now stand lost in admiration at the most magnifi-
cent view which this part of the starry firmament
- affords, especially when he is told that it is visible to all
the habitable world !* ;

In looking round upon this gorgeous spectacle, we
cannot wonder that the Almighty himself should have
challenged the attention of man to it as one of the
noblest exhibitions of his power and greatness.
‘‘Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or

loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth

*The constellation of Orion is for the most part included
within the limits of the Zodiac ; hence it must be visible in all,
except in very high northern latitudes.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 13

Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons ? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ?
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth ?”’*
Job xxxvili. 31—33. Who can help being amazed
when he casts his eyes again over yonder vast expanse
which almost appears, to use Milton’s expression,
‘powdered with stars ;’ more especially when he is
informed by the discoveries of the telescope, that that
luminous Zone’ in the heavens, called the “Milky Way,’
is a vast assemblage of stars, too small, or too distant,
to be visible to the naked eye! The number of the
heavenly bodies appears at first sight to confound
calculation; and though science has numbered and
arranged those which are visible, yet how is the

imagination even of the wisest lost and bewildered

* The expressions used here, refer to the particular seasons of
the year, when the sun rises about the same time as these signs.
The ‘Bands of Orion,’ are descriptive of Winter, as the *‘ Sweet
influences of Pleiades’ are of Spring; the latter of these signs
is better known by the name of the ‘ Seven Stars,’ and Orion
is easily observed by the three remarkable stars usually termed
‘Orion’s Belt :’ by the Arabians, ‘ Jacob’s’ Staff.’ Arcturus,
perhaps, ought to have been rendered ‘the Great Northern
Sign,’ 7. e. the ‘ Great Bear,’commonly called ‘ Charles’s Wain,’
and sometimes ‘the Plough.’ Mazzaroth, according to Chry~
sostom, means the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and our
marginal version adopts this explanation.

Cc

14 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

at the thought, that each of these sparkling points to
which we give the name of fixed stars, are in reality
suns, glorious, vast, and, no doubt, beneficial as our
own.

‘It is one of the wonders of creation that any
phenomena of bodies at such an immense distance from
us should be perceptible to human sight; but it has
clearly been a part of the Divine Maker’s plan, that .
although they do not act physically upon us, they
should be so far objects of our consciousness, as to
expand our ideas of the vastness of the universe, and
of the stupendous extent and operations of Omnipo-
tence. By them we are enabled to ascertain that
existing space expands around and beyond us for
millions and millions of our earthly miles; and that
his creations accompany and abound in all this
marvellous extent, which displaying no boundary, no
terminating ends, may be justly called infinite. _ It is
an ocular reality, which gives us a sensible idea of
actual infinitude.. These lofty mansions of being also
indicate to us that they have the same Creator as
ourselves, and are but so many other magnificent

scenes of his sovereignty and care.’ * When we

* Sharon Turner’s Sacred History of the World, Vol. 1. p. 41.

a a ee ee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 15

stretch the mind to such contemplations as these (and
surely there is no rational being who has not thought
on this subject at some time or other,) we may well be
filled with astonishment at the power of that Divine
Word by whom these worlds were made : who “ telleth
the stars by number ;” who calleth them all by their

names, and who marshals their shining hosts with the

‘same ease as a skilful general directs the movements of

amighty army.

The 19th Psalm is an evidence of what ‘the man
after God’s own heart” could think and feel on sucha
subject; and when he observes, that ‘‘they have no
speech, nor language, and yet their voice is heard,”
he utters a paradox as beautiful as it is descriptive of
the effect which the Starry Heavens have in all ages

produced upon mankind. The very circumstance that

‘men have in many countries adored the sun, and the

moon, and the stars; and that this was the earliest

species of idolatry, is a proof of the admiration which

—As to the number of the fixed stars, it may be observed
that modern Astronomers have discerned, by the aid of the
telescope, a far greater number than are visible to the naked
eye. Upwards of 75,000 stars have been so observed, and their
positions determined, within a 24th part of a Zone, extending
15 degrees on each side of the equator.

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16 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

these attracted, though it serves also to shew the
lamentable proneness of human nature to lapse into
error and guilty superstition, and to pervert to sinful
purposes even those things which most clearly display
the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator. The
same may be said of that depraved fancy of the Greeks
and Romans, which imagined many of their favorite
heroes and kings to be transformed into stars and con-
stellations. But, surely, we are hardly less guilty if we
neglect these heavenly luminaries, which might, if
rightly studied, shed much light upon our souls,
and benefit us even far more than they can do by the
rays with which they enliven and adorn the night.
They were created, as the book of Genesis tells us,
among other purposes, for that of being signs; signs,
not indeed of earthly events, as our superstitious
forefathers supposed, but rather of the Creator’s bound-
less power and skill, who has placed them where they are
to raise our thoughts to Him as the ‘‘ Father of lights,
from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift,”
Hence, as the Psalmist observes, ‘‘ The heavens
declare,” (or, as the original implies,) ‘‘ the heavens
are distinctly telling,”* i.e. in every star, the glory of

*This is the exact meaning of the original, as the words
printed in italics in the ordinary version shew.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 17

God. They are the most evident signs and tokens to
all of his glory as a Creator; of his Majesty as a
Sovereign; of his Power as a Preserver. For what
but Omnipotence could have established the laws by

which so many burning suns and ponderous worlds are

- prevented from rushing against each other, and

rendering the universe a scene of ruin and conflagration,
like that which it shall really become at the last great
day, when the stars of heaven shall cast themselves to
the earth, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll? (Rev. vi. 13.)

Science and observation have led, even some of the
most distinguished of modern astronomers, to believe
that many of these heavenly bodies are undergoing
changes as great as that which overtook our globe at the
time of the universal deluge, and which shall again over-
take it at that ‘‘day of doom,” when “‘ The heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved,and the earth, and all the works
that are therein, shall be burned up.”’ Several stars have
been observed in the heavens from time to time, whose
light has at first surpassed the planets, and been visible
even at noon day; and these after a time have gradually
become more and more dim, till at length their light has
totally expired; from whence we may reasonably con-

c5

18 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

clude with La Place, that they have been enveloped in a
conflagration, like that which takes place on earth when
bodies are set on fire, and then gradually extinguished.

In looking forward to that tremendous period, so clear-
ly foretold in the book of God, we see the subserviency
of all the purposes of the Almighty to his moral glory.
It is the connexion of yonder shining worlds with the
destiny of immortal beings, that gives them an interest
far higher than the mere astronomer can entertain for
them, who gazes at them with his telescope, and com-
putes their motions with the greatest accuracy. The
Christian’s privilege is to see, that

‘ Eternity is written in the skies !’

and that the most profitable lesson he can read there,
is the value of that soul which must live in happiness

or misery,

‘ When like a taper all these suns expire!’

How forcibly then does the Poet of the ‘Night

Thoughts’ exclaim,—

‘ Know’st thou the value of a soul immortal ?
Behold this midnight glory : worlds on worlds!
Amazing pomp! redouble this amaze;
Ten thousand add, and twice ten thousand more ;
Then weigh the whole : one soul outweighs them all!’

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 19

‘¢ As one star differeth from another star in glory, so
is the resurrection of the dead.” This is St. Paul’s
inference from the scene now before us: and a high
consolation it is if we have a well grounded hope,
that we shall shine even as a star of the fifth or sixth
magnitude in the kingdom of our Father! Our blessed
Lord dig nifies this subject, and gives it the highest
practical bearing, when he observes, that at the day of
his second coming, ‘‘ The righteous shall shine as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father.” And the
prophet Daniel, referring to the same momentous period,
declares, “‘ That they who are wise shall shine as the

brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many

_ to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever,” xii. 3.

Wisdom for ourselves and others; a zeal that leads us
to promote the glory of God and the good of our fellow
mortals ; as well as a moral and spiritual fitness for
heaven; these seem to be qualities essential to the
lowest degree of heavenly exaltation. Without these
even the soul of a Newton, would but grovel in the
dust, though it might be able to reach the loftiest
flight of geometrical knowledge, and to measure and
weigh the shining orbs above us. Religion, after all
that may be said; is the sublimest science, and science

20 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

without religion is only an ignis fatuus, which will lead
its followers into a bog, whilst they are attempting to

grasp it. It has been well observed, that

if

‘ An undevout astronomer is mad !’

and, happily, the case of Sir Isaac Newton may be
cited as a proof that the profoundest views of Nature
do not necessarily deprive a man of the grace of true
humility. ‘I know not,’ said that great man a short
time before his death, ‘what I may appear to the
world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a
boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in
now and then finding a smoother pebble, or a prettier shell
than ordinary, whilst the vast ocean of truth lay undis-
covered before me.’ How finely do the views of such a
man serve to humble as well as to exalt our nature,
whilst we gaze for a moment at that splendid canopy of
sparkling lights above us! And how beautifully does
such a sentiment accord with that which the inspired
Psalmist utters as he looks upwards upon a similar scene,
and exclaims, ‘‘ When I consider, thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast
ordained, Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of
him, and the son of man that thou visitest him !”

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 21

A feeling of this nature, is the best preparation for
the right reception of the humbling, yet ennobling
truths of the gospel. Until we feel our own littleness,
we shall not seek after true greatness. We must first
be sensible of our own ignorance and darkness, before
we can sincerely desire or discern the presence of that
omnific Word, which caused the light to shine out of
darkness, and which still ‘Shines into the hearts of
men to give them the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.” Bright and glorious as
are the luminaries which now shine above us, and cheer
the gloom of a wintry night, they will shine upon a
fallen world in vain, if they do not remind it of that
Saviour who is, ‘“‘The Day Spring from on high ;”—
‘“* The Bright and Morning Star ;’—‘‘ The Son of
Righteousness, with healing under his wings.” ‘* He is
the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into

the world,”-—

*Nature’s immortal, immaterial Sun.’

Enlightened and guided by his word of truth, we are
enabled to direct our way with more comfort and safety

through the wilderness of time, than the ancient mariner

22 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

could steer through the ocean, or the Arab through
his sandy desarts, by the aid of the stars. And the
end of our mortal pilgrimage if thus pursued, will be
an inheritance among the saints in light; a mansion of
glory above; from whence we shall be able to look
down upon those shining worlds that now attract our
attention upwards, and behold them, perhaps, but as
the glittering gems that sparkle on the footstool of the
Eternal God, or as the gloriously-bespangled curtain of
that heavenly temple, within which sits enthroned the
uncreated Majesty of Him ‘‘ who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto,

to whom be honour and power everlasting, Amen.”

ee eee ee, a

i ae

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 23

MARCH.

oe

SEED-TIME.

‘*Doth not the husbandman plow all the day and openeth
and breaketh the clods of his ground, that he may sow? When
he hath made it plain will he not spread abroad the vetches, and
sow cummin, and cast in wheat by measure, and the appointed

_ barley and rye in their place? God will instruct him to

discretion, even his God will teach him,” Isaiah xxviii. 23—26.
—Cranmer’s Bible, Ed. 1541.

ee

Marcu may justly be called the seed month. The
Sower now goes forth, and anxiously commits his
precious treasure to the ground, in the full assurance
that the vegetative powers of nature will reward him
for his labour thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold. The
operation of sowing is indeed simple and common;
but does the husbandman ever stop to consider the

inexplicable change his seed must undergo before his

expectations can be realized? A moment’s reflection

will be sufficient to shew that the vegetation of seeds
is one of nature’s wonders, or rather of nature’s God:

for, as an old writer observes, ‘nature is nothing less

24 ‘THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST..

than the order of the divine works.’ Let us imagine,
if we can, a man who had never seen this order —
exemplified in this particular instance, and he would be
just as ready to disbelieve that plants and trees could
spring from seed cast into the earth, as we are to
calculate upon the certainty of the fact. What resem-
blance is there indeed, between the future plant, and
the seed from which it springs? How little could
mere reason, without experience, venture to predict
the result that follows from a few handfuls of grain
scattered over the soil! What if we adopt the
supposition of some Naturalists, and imagine that each
seed contains within it a perfect image of the future
plant ?* What if it should be true, that the acorn
is only the gigantic oak in miniature? How does this
lessen the difficulty of understanding this natural
miracle ; and why may we not. as well believe, with
mankind in general, that the seed is only a seed,—

mere rudiment. or principle, which acquires by degrees:

all the properties and forms which it afterwards: becomes.

* Most.seeds, says Ray, have-in'them a seminal plant. perfectly.
formed, as the young in the womb of animals; the elegant
complication thereof in some species, is a very pleasant and
admirable spectacle.—Wisdom of God, p., 122.

aie

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 25

possessed of. After all that might be said or written
on this subject, St. Paul’s conclusion is the best and
wisest, “God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him,
and to every seed his own body.” Interesting as
it might be, to understand something further of this
mystery of the natural world, it is of more importance
to remark the beneficial consequences of this operation,
and to be thankful to that providential wisdom which
so orders it, that when a man has cast his seed into the
ground, “‘ it springeth up and groweth night and day,
he knoweth not how.”

Another fact, which ought equally to engage our
feelings of devotional wonder at the present season, is
the adaptation of the climate and the soil to the seed
which is now deposited in the bosom of its mother
earth. In the temperate Zone many circumstances
concur together for this purpose; as for instance, the
increase of temperature, the drying winds which
usually prevail in the month of March, and which are
so necessary after the relaxing effects of rain and frost,
as well as that moderate degree of heat and moisture
which are so essential to germination. Either of these
circumstances, being deficient in any considerable

26 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

degree, would, it is evident, be highly injurious to the |
agricultural labours of this season. |

We should also be led at this time to observe, not
without grateful emotions, how well every climate and
soil is suited to answer the design of its good Creator.
Tn this kingdom, for example, every variety of soil may
be found which characterizes the whole globe; and we
find likewise that each is ‘well adapted, by one circum-
stance or another, to yield an ample return for the
care bestowed upon its cultivation.

This observation may here be fitly illustrated by an
example which has immediately fallen under the
writer’s observation. Throughout the whole extent of
the lands forming the Nofthern angle of this county,
and flanking the sea from the parish of Morwenstow
to that of St. Gennys, and for the distance of at least
twelve miles towards Devonshire, the soil is a stiff
yellow clay, resting upon a stratum of soft Greywacke.
Lime, which is so necessary an ingredient in the
cultivation of corn, is no where to be met with,
throughout this district. But what the land itself
does not supply, is afforded in the most liberal manner

by the sea: On the shores of the North coast of

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 97

Cornwall, and particularly at Bude Haven, there is a
vast and constant accumulation of fine sand, containing
a considerable proportion of lime, which is the result
of comminuted fragments of shells, which are mixed
with the siliceous matter of those rocks, which probably
form the basin of this part of the ocean, whose violence
here beneficially exerts itself if grinding down the
subjacent strata for the service of man. This sand
precisely answers the use of the farmer throughout the
district referred to, not only by supplying that ingredient
which is most deficient in the soil, as a manure, but
serving to loosen its otherwise too close and adhesive
quality. But for this arrangement of Providence, a
large portion of those lands which are now sufficiently
productive must have been left wholly uncultivated, and
would have been little better than mere sheep-walks.
A similar wise, and merciful adaptation, there can be
little doubt, prevails in other parts of this island, so as
to remedy what defects may exist in the soil, (according
to that wondrous principle of compensation which runs
through all the works of God) by placing the evil and
its antidote near together.

But amongst all the various and striking provisions

which have been made for the convenience of man by

28 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

a bountiful Creator, none perhaps is more wonderful
than the care which has been taken to preserve the
vital principle in seeds. It is well known that every
plant must at length degenerate and perish if its mode
of prupagation were confined to that of cuttings
and suckers, not to mention that what are called
annuals and herbaceous plants, as the different varieties
of corn, for instance, could never have been successfully
cultivated by such means. We have only however to
revert to the history of the deluge, to see how a world
could be again replenished and restored through the
instrumentality of those seeds, which were doubtless
imbedded in the soil when that catastrophe came upon
it; for it is hardly possible to imagine that any thing
of its previous vegetation could have remained amidst
the violent convulsions and wide-spreading desolations
which attended such an event. And yet we find that
within the short space of seven days from the first drying
up of the earth, the dove was enabled to return to the
Ark with an olive leaf. Whether this was the produc.

tion of a seedling,* or whether it was the new sprout

* Most probably this was the fact, for there seems little reason
to believe that any plants of the olive tribe could have retained
their vitality during the long submersion they must have

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 29

of a plant which had escaped the general destruction,
upon some of the high mountains of Armenia; certain
it is that within about the space of two months from
the first drying of the earth, it was again overspread
with a fresh vegetation; at least there was enough to
“maintain the various races of the berbivorous animals
that had been preserved with Noah in the Ark. Here,
then, we have a marvellous instance of that vitality of
the seeds of the earth which was so important for the
renovation of the face of nature, and the support of its
children. But however striking this fact may appear, it
‘is scarcely more wonderful than others which are
of almost daily occurrence. Ground which has not been
disturbed for some hundred of years on being ploughed

or tarned-up for a considerable depth, has frequently

suffered, not to take into the account that the whole surface of
the globe seems then to have been torn up either by some disrup-
tions from within, or by the force of the diluvial currents from
without. If it be asked how in seven days a leaf could have
been produced from the seed of an olive, the answer is obvious.
Some extraordinary energy was imparted to vegetation at this
period, or its surface could not so soon have afforded food for
the animal tribes. Two things, however, must be taken into
consideration; a tropical climate, with perhaps a higher
temperature than at present, and a soil saturated with
moisture.

30 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

surprised the cultivator by the appearance of plants |
which he never sowed, and often, which were then
uaknown to the country. This has arisen from ancient
seeds becoming deeply covered, and there remaining
inert, but yet retaining the principle ef life. ‘his
principle has been ascertained to be capable of existing
in this latent state for above two thousand years
uaaextiaguished, and springing again into active vege-
tation as soon as planted in a congenial soil. It even
remains unimpaired in blighted corn, and will grow from
this as vigorously as from the perfect seed.*

The practical use then to be made of such discov-
éries, is to learn another lesson of thankfulness and
confidence in God. We have only to watch how much
of the operations of vegetation the Creator still keeps,

as it were, in his own hand, to havea forcible commen-

* At the Royal Institution in 1830, Mr. Houlton, produced a
bulbous root, which had been discovered in the hand of an
Egyptian Mummy, where it had remained about 2000 years.
On exposure to the atmosphere it germinated, and when planted
in earth, it grew with great rapidity. In boring for water,
earth has been brought from a depth of 360 feet ; and though
carefully covered with a hand-glass, has been in a short time
covered with vegetation. Sir T. Banks, raised in a hot-house,
from $0 blighted grains of wheat, 72 healthy plants of wheat.
—See S, Turner’s Sacred History of the World, Vol, 1, p. 208.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 31

tary upon that petition, ‘‘ Give us this day our daily

bread.” Surely that man who does not draw near

to God, whilst engaged in those operations, which

especially require his blessing, and which cannot fail to
remind him how many things must work together for his
good if indeed he obtains the end he seeks for, is more

ungrateful and inexcuseable than even the heathen,

They (to use the words of the pious Flavel) ‘ when
they went to plough in the morning, laid ene hand upon

the plough ¢o speak their own part to be painfulness,

and held up the other hand to Ceres, the supposed:
Goddess of Corn, to shew that their expectation of
plenty was from their supposed deity.’

But if in natural operations, we ought continually to
remember who it is that giveth the increase, in spiritual
things our duty is not less plain and striking. The
success of the Gospel is compared by Christ to a grain
of mustard-seed, ‘‘ which is the least of all seeds; but
when itis grown, it is the greatest among herbs, so
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof.” And the Gospel is still ‘‘ the same incorruptible
seed which liveth and abideth for ever.” Why then
should we éver doubt’ or mistrust its power to increase
and propagate its Divine doctrines when, and where,

32 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

and in what manner its Divine Author pleases ? Hitherto
neither earth nor hell have been sufficient to stop the
growth of these immortal principles of truth and
holiness which have been watered with the blood of
Christ, his Apostles, and a noble army of martyrs.
Assuredly their successors ought to thank God and
take courage. However adverse the circumstances
may be in which they are placed as men, or as minis-
ters, they have to bear in mind that it is God’s
prerogative alone ‘‘ to multiply the seed sown, and to
-increase the fruits of righteousness.”

To the Christian Naturalist, many circumstances
serve to point out the analogy between the spiritual and
temporal Seed-time, considered with reference to the
hoped-for result. When the sower goes out to sow
his seed, as he is described doing in the parable of our
Lord, it is observable that only the fourth part of
what he sows, falls upon good ground. The other three
parts fall by the way-side, upon stony ground, or in
the midst of thorns. It may not be the case literally
that any agriculturist is foolish enough to sow his seed
upon such places, where he knows that no fruit can
possibly arise. Our Lord, therefore, only describes him

as doing this, because it is evident that for the far

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 33

larger portion of what he sows, the results are the
same to him, as if he had scattered his seed upon the
high-road, upon the barren rock, or in the midst of a
furze-brake.

To borrow an illustration from the Quarterly Journal
of Agriculture, ‘It is calculated that only one third of
the seed-corn sown on the best land grows, the other
two thirds are destroyed. The quantity of seed sown
in Great Britain and Ireland annually amounts to seven
millions of quarters. Two thirds are rendered unpro-
ductive by some agency which has hitherto been
uncontrolled. Thus there is annually wasted a quantity
which would support more than a million of human
beings.’ But is it, we may ask in the language of a
popular preacher of the day, strictly correct to say that
all this is wasted? Are human beings the sum total of
God’s creation here below, and are there no other
pensioners on God’s bounty? Who then has made
and who supplies the ravens, the sparrows, and the
other multitudinous tribes of busy life? All are God’s
creatures, and our heavenly Father feedeth all. He
feedeth them by man’s instrumentality, rendering the
necessities of man, instrumental to the supplies of the

inferior creatures; and then turning his all-working

34 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

hand, he renders the inferior creatures so supplied,
subservient to the necessities and accommodation of
mankind. The -agriculturist sows for the harvest,
this is his one design; but in so doing, he is over-
ruled of God to accomplish a number of collateral
designs. Under the secret control of the beneficent
design of the Creator, the farmer sows for the raven,
for the sparrow, for the fly, for the slug; he cannot
help himself. If, by a parsimonious sowing, he should
attempt to defeat the benevolent designs of God, he
would defeat his own design as regarded the harvest ;
and, on the contrary, if by a liberal hand in sowing, he
would secure his own object in a plentiful harvest he
cannot but choose to accomplish, passively and
undesignedly, the-bountiful designs and objects of the
Creator of all. It is delightful to consider how even
the'very covetousness of man is made subservient to
_ the bounty of God; how the sower is forced by his
own interest, to be lavish, to be profuse. Man must
eat; in order to eat, he must reap; in order to reap,
he must sow; in order to reap plentifully, he must sow
plentifully ; for as the Journal of Agriculture observes,
two thirds of his seed are destroyed by an agency

hitherto uncontrolled. There is a noble overflowing large-

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 35

ness in the works of God. What man calls waste abounds
on every side. For example, amongst the millions of
blossoms which in the spring-season emit their frag-
rant odours in the fields, and gardens, and orchards,
how few will bear food for the use of man? But will
| they all therefore be wasted? Will they turn to no
other use? Yes, even the very blight which ruins them
for man’s use, does itself produce unnumbered myriads
of the creatures of God, who feed, and fatten, and
enjoy their fleeting existence.’

But is it not also true that there is just as little of
waste in the labours of him who sows spiritually? If
the farmer who sows so much that is unproductive to
himself, has but little reason to complain, still less
should those repine who have to scatter much of the
seed of the word of God upon places where it brings
forth no fruit. The argument is susceptible of appli-
cation upon the broadest as well as the most narrow
scale. It applies itself to the labours of Christian
Missionaries generally, and not less to the National
Church of this country. It may be that a large portion
of its Ministers are enabled to see as little fruit from
the gospel-seed which they scatter among their people

from time to time, as do those zealous labourers who

36 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

go forth to cast their seed upon the stony wilds of
heathen Jands. But what of this? They have no
more reason to desist from their holy enterprise, than
has the farmer to abstain from sowing. Ill, therefore,
would it become the Protestantism of this land to
withdraw from the scene of its labours, even in such a
country as Ireland. To use the means of conversion is
man’s proper work; to command success is God’s.
Nature teaches us thus much at the present season ;
and the wisest of kings gives us a precept worthy of
his wisdom, when he observes, ‘‘ Cast thy bread upon
‘the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening’ with-
hold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether
shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both
shall be alike good.” (Eccles. xi.)

The Divine Being himself anticipates the short-
sighted objections of those who measure their duty by
their success, when he declares, ‘‘ As the rain cometh
down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower
and bread to the eater, so shall my word be which goeth

forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 37

void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in’ the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isai. lv.
10.) Rain’ and show, as experience proves, are most
uncertain in the time of their coming, but never fail to
come at last, and to confer the benefits intended by
their Creator; And’ 0 also’ the gracious influences of
the Spirit of God; of which these elements are
figurative, are under the guidance of that same word
which assures us, ‘That neither is he that planteth any
thing, neither he'that watereth ; but God that giveth the
increase.” To every one therefore, who is instru-
mental in sowing the Word of Life; whether in the
high capacity of’ a ruler, vending forth, or maintaining
Christian ‘teachers, or whether actually as a Minister in
dispensing this Word, or as a layman, in lending his
assistance to speed the Gospel plough, and to scatter
the'good seed of the kingdom, the encouragement will
ever be thé same as of old, when it was said, ‘‘ Sow to
yourselves in»righteousness; reap in mercy.’ (Hosea
x. 12.) “To him that soweth righteousness shall be a
sure reward,”’ (Prov. xi. 18.)—‘‘ Light~is ‘said to” be
sowii for the righteous,” (Psalm xcvii. 11,) to intimate
that the glorious fruits of their exertions will not be
seen, till like the seed it has been sometime buried in

E

38 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

‘sees: The time will, however, assuredly come,
when a far larger and more rapid increase shall follow
the exertions of. the spiritual sower. The Gospel
which in its propagation, now resembles an “‘ handful of
corn sown in the earth upon the top of the mountains,”
will then bear its fruit in a majestic harvest that shall
every where shake like the forest of Lebanon. (Psalm
Jxxii. 16.) Thenalso will be experienced the fulfilment
of that prophecy, ‘‘ Blessed are ye that sow beside all
waters,” (Isaiah xxxii. 20,)* which alludes to the
happiness of those who cast their seed, as the inhabi-
tants of Egypt do, in lands recently watered by the
river Nile, or sow in the confidence of an abundant
increase. To every period of the church of God, there
is however a measure of the same success, unequivocally
assured; for by a similar metaphor, Israel was cheered
during the Babylonian captivity, and every faithful mem-

ber of the church militant upon earth may therefore take

*Or more properly, according to the Hebrew, “ upon all
waters.”’ So the Septuagint Version renders, and the Genevan
Bible. ‘ This (says Sir J. Chandler in his travels) exactly answers
the manner of planting rice ; for they sow it upon the water ;
and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they
cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses and asses, who
go mid-leg deep: and this is the way of preparing the ground
for sowing.’

TAE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 39

up the language of the same song for himself, ‘‘ They
that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless

come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”’

(Psalm 126.)

Inspiring, therefore, as the present Season is to the
highest and best hopes of the Church, and affording as
it does the str°ngest arguments to spiritual exertion, we
should not quit the review of it without having our
thoughts carried forward to that sublime event in
man’s desti y—the great day of the Resurrection.
The operation of sowing the seed in the ground, is one
which it appears from the highest authority bearsa strik- _
ing resemblance to that death of the human frame, which
is to be preparatory to its future life. Referring to his
dissolution and resurrection, the Son of God observes,
‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John xii. 24.) St.
Paul, following out the same idea, appeals to it as an
irresistible proof of that doctrine which lies at the
threshhold of our faith: ‘‘ But some maniwill say, How
are the dead raised up, and with what body do they

come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quick-

40 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

ened except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it
may chance of .wheat, or some other grain: but God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every
seed his own body.” (1 Cor. xv. 35—388,) The
forcible comparison which is here drawn between a
lifeless and unsightly grain allied to the earth in its
qualities, and that same grain when transformed into a
living plant, shooting up its verdant. blade into the air,
and ascending towards the skies, leaves no room to
doubt that the body of man, shall at that future period
be so divested of its present qualities, that there shall
be no nearer resemblance between its state then, and now,
than between the seed, and that plant which is its genuine
offspring. The heavenly Saviour, as that same apostle
tells us in another place, will so ‘‘ Change our vile body
that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious
body, according to the working of that mighty power
by which he is able even to subdue all things unto him-
self.”’ (Phil. iii. 21.) Glorious, indeed, as will be this
change, when soul and body shall thus be linked toge-
ther in indissoluble bonds ; it will not be a new creation ;
it will be the transforming only of a natural into a spiri-

tual body. The same substance will be cast into a new

”

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. _ 41

mould; the building constructed of its old materials,
though polished and adorned into celestial beauty by a
high effort of Deity, and made the fit habitation of an

angelic soul. Who then can presume to resolve the

problem, in what the identity of the resuscitated body

will consist ? or to determine whether by certain stami-
nal particles (as some have imagined,) or by the reunion
of all those particles which were once laid in the grave,
this identity will be preserved? Let it suffice us to
believe that to him who annually performs a similar
miracle in the growth of every grain that falls from the
sower’s hand, that to him who fashioned the fair frame
of our great primeval mother from a single bone of
the first Adam, and who raised the body of the second
Adam in all the fulness of its uncorrupted particles,
nothing can be impossible. Of far higher consequence
will it be for every one to resolve as well as he may, the
great practical problem of his own moral and spiritual
fitness for the resurrection of the just; of his own
soundness in that faith, whose glorious anticipations
bring with them such solemn and weighty responsibili-
ties. For as in the natural world, all the seeds which are
sown do not spring up, but some rot in the very act
of vegetating, so will it be in the final state of man :
E5

my ee Be

42 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

some will only awake to shame and everlasting con-
tempt. And the reason of this is plain, ‘‘ God is not
mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the
flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit,
shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. vi. 7.)

APRIL.

ae

THE RAINBOW, CLOUDS, &c.

etn ns

——‘ Say, what mean those coloured streaks in heaven,
Distended, as the brow of God appeased ?
Or serve they, as a flowery verge, to bind
The fluid skirts of that same watery cloud,
Lest it again dissolve and shower the earth >’

Tuz Rainbow is peculiarly the ornament of a
showery April sky. This grand and impressive object
seldom fails to attract the eye by the beauty of its co-
lours, or to awaken the mind to some of those Scriptural

recollections which are associated with it. The Son

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 43

of Sirach, the Apocryphal writer of the book of
Keclesiasticus, has shewn much wisdom by the manner
in which he refers to this lovely specimen of the
Creator’s works: ‘ Look upon the Rainbow,” says
he, ‘‘and praise him that made it; very beautiful it
is in the brightness thereof; it encompasseth the
heavens about with a glorious circle, and the hands
of the Most High have bended it.” There are but
few persons who will not acknowledge the propriety
of thus directing their attention to an object which is
at once so conspicuous and striking, as to claim a tribute
of I from all persons, whether young, or old,
learned, or ignorant. How vast is the extent, how
delicate the texture of its shadowy arch! How elegant
in its form, and rich in its tinctures! but how much
more delightful in its sacred significancy! for while
the violet and the rose blush together in its beautiful
aspect, the olive branch smiles in its gracious import.
It writes in radiant dyes what the angels sang in
harmonious strains, ‘‘ Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will toward men!”

In a natural point of view, the agency of the clouds
which produce the Rainbow so frequently at this sea-

son, is especially necessary to nurture and quicken the

la,

44 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

growth of those plants, which are now beginning to.
germinate and spring up under the influence of warmer
skies. All vegetable productions, like the young off-
spring of the animal world, seem to need a more fluid,
or watery nourishment in their infancy than when in
a more advanced state. Hence} the reason that Pro»
vidence now accumulates in our atmosphere an abun-
dance of moisture, which condensing, or becoming
heavier than it is in ascending, falls in those genial
showers which are so characteristic of the month of
April. !

The economy of the clouds, and the various means
by which they are made to minister to the wants of
nature, is a subject deserving of equal wonder and
gratitude. Elihu alludes to it, in language that de-
scribes significantly how the process continually goes
on under the divine management: ‘‘ Behold, God is
great; he maketh small the drops of water: they pour
down rain according to the vapours thereof, which the
clouds drop and distil upon man abundantly.” (Job 36.)
The greatness of God is very conspicuous in this part
of his works. The Almighty himself, speaking to Job
from the whirlwind, is represented as proposing a num-

ber of questions, each of which were intended to

I Oa

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 45

rebuke the ignorance of man, and among these we find
the following, ‘‘ Hath the rain a father, or who hath
begotten the drops of dew? ‘Who hath put wisdom in
the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to
the heart? Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
or who can stay the bottles of heaven?” Questions,
such as these are intended to make it manifest, that the
curtain of a deep and unchangeable mystery, will al-
ways hang over much of this part of the works of
God. Meteorology is still a science that has maile but
comparatively small advances even in modern times.
Much more it is true is known of this and every part of
nature, than in the days of the patriarch Job. The dis-
coveries of Electricity and Chemistry have thrown much
light upon some of the laws which govern the atmos-
phere. Under the guidance of these sciences, evapora-
tion is believed to be a gradual solution of water in
air, produced and supported, as other solutions are,

through the agency of attraction, heat and motion.*

* Evaporation is one of the most important considerations in
the whole natural history of air, but it is at the same time one
of the most difficult, because we are not acquainted with_that
particular property, by means of which the atmospheric fluid is
enabled to take up moisture from the surface of water, and of
all humid substances, and again to deposite this moisture in rain

46 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

The ascent and descent of the clouds, and their
general formation, are greatly influenced, as is evident,
from numerous experiments, by the electric fluid. The
discovery of the barometer, and of the great principle
that the air of the atmosphere is a combination of two
gases, Oxygen and Nitrogen, may well be considered
as among the happiest and most brilliant efforts of
modern genius. But although some of the general
principles which regulate the phenomena of Meteorology
are thus better understood than in ancient times, this
science is one in which man must be content to obtain
but a glimpse of the ways of God. WNature’s labora-
tory is on too gigantic a scale to be imitated by the
pigmy experiments of man. An angel's eye, and an
angel’s hand would be required to work the vast machine,
which could alone unravel the operations of those mighty
laws which regulate the changes of the atmosphere,
and teach us how to know “the balancings of the
clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect
in knowledge.” A_ single glance at the sublime
phraseology used respecting this branch of science in
or snow, for the refreshment of those very plants, and the
replenishment of those very waters, from which this moisture

is in the first instance taken.—See Mudie on the Air, an inte-
resting work on these subjects.
: mo.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 47

the book of Job,* will serve to shew the splendid
mystery which seemed to attach to it in the eyes of the
wisest and most learned of ancient times ; a conclusion
which must at least suffice to convict of transcendent
folly, the pretensions of those in our own day, who
attempt to predict the changes of the weather with as
much certainty and particularity, as if they could
indeed, (to adopt the language of the Divine Speaker,)
“ Lift up their voices to the clouds, that abundance of
waters may cover them, or send lightnings that they
might go, and say unto them, here we are.” chap. 38.

Far wiser and more commendable is their employ-
ment who extract from the varied, the beautiful, and
the beneficial aspect of the clouds, fresh matter for
admiration of the Divine benignity and wisdom. A sky
without clouds would have lost much of its beauty.
It would have been like a world without its hills and
vallies; or like a countenance in which there was no
perceptible emotion of joy or sorrow. The loveliest
landscape would have been divested of a portion of its

charms, if not occasionally beheld under the enchant-

*I entirely acquiesce in the reasoning which the matchless
Faber has advanced, to prove that Moses was the author of the
book of Job.—Treatise on the Three Dispensations, vol. 2, b. 2,
c. 6, )

48) THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

ing’ influence’ of that soft’ veil of shadows, which is
thus thrown over its features; not to mention that we
should never have seen the glorious face of nature lit
up with that animated and celestial splendour which it
frequently puts on, when under the influence of arising
or a setting sun.

The benefits enjoyed by man through the agency of
the clouds, are so apparent as to commend themselves
_ to the most common observation. Every mortal, how-
ever rude and ignorant, is able to understand how
dependant we are upon these, for that due supply of
moisture which is so essential to vegetation at all sea-
sons, and without which it must adorn sicken and die
even in this temperate climate. How few are there,
however, who look up with gratitude proportionate to
the benefits they receive from those descending show-
ers, so pregnant with the bounty of heaven! Sarely it
becomes the Christian not merely to remember, but to
be always mindful, that the uncertainty which attaches
to these’ blessings, is intended to teach an habitual
reference to the’ power’and goodness of our Divine
Benefactor.. We are too much accustomed’ to’ refer
these things to the order of nature, not considering
that there is a providential disposition of them, to which

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 49

nature and its laws are altogether subservient. Occa-
sional instances of drought render this truth more
apparent, just as the stopping of a single wheel in a ma-
chine enables us the better to perceive the exquisite
perfection of its parts and movements, and to acknow-
ledge the skill of him who constructed it. But inspired
testimony throws an additional light upon this conclu-
sion, from the history of the ancient people of God.
When, for instance, we observe the windows of heaven
shut up, as they were over a guilty land for the space of
more than three years, at the prayer of Elijah, we see
that the hand which made the machine, still directs
and controls it for great moral purposes. Hence
we are brought to the same inference as Elihu, ‘‘ By

watering he wearieth the thick cloud, he scattereth the
bright cloud. And it is tarned round about by his coun-
sels, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth
them upon the face of the earth. He causeth it. to
come, whether for correction, or for his land, or. for
mercy.” (Job xxxvii. 11—13.)

But to return to the Rainbow, although itis gene-
rally known, that this meteor is the effect of the falling
shower, it is probable that many are still content to

remain ignorant of the precise natural cause whicli pro-
Fy

50 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

duces so glorious an object. To understand this phe-
nomenon perfectly, would require an acquaintance with
one of the most intricate of modern sciences; for it is
only since the laws of the reflection and refraction of
light were explained by Sir Isaac Newton, that the science
of optics, which alone can illustrate this subject in a satis-
factory manner, has been fully understood. Suffice
it, therefore, to observe here, that each ray of light
consists really of the three, or, to speak more correctly,
of the seven colours seen in the bow: and that these
colours become visible to the eye by being reflected upon,
and through the innumerable drops of a dense cloud de-
scending opposite to the sun. - Each of these drops thus
serves as a cut crystal or prism, to reduce the rays of
light falling upon them, to their most simple or coloured
state, and hence they present the eye with an arch of
coloured drops, corresponding with the arch of the
heavens. The same law of light which colours the
Rainbow, is that to which we are indebted for the vivid
green which decks the face of the earth, the azure vault
of the heavens, and all the various hues and tints which
bodies assume. A stream of light is to be considered
as a cluster of seven rays, whose mixture forms white,

and the division of which produces seven principal and

a a ee ee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 51

immutable colours. When this union is destroyed, as
in the case of a ray passing through water and viewed
at a certain angle, or through a piece of glass having a
certain number of sides and termed a prism, it is said
to be refracted, or broken back into its simple state in
which its separate colours are rendered visible. The
surfaces of bodies, or rather the particles which form
their surfaces, being then considered as so many little
prisms that break the light, it is obvious that they will
reflect a variety of colours.* In bodies, however,
whose substance is opaque, one uniform colour will be
assumed, which will depend upon its tendency to absorb
some of the coloured rays, and to emit, or reflect,

others. In plants, for instance, only the green rays

* Dr. Brewster has well observed, that ‘If the objects of the
material world had been illuminated with white light, all the
particles of which possessed the same degree of refrangibility,

_ and were equally acted upon by the bodies on which they fall, all

nature would have shone with a leaden hue, and all the combina-
tions of external objects, and all the features of the human
countenance would have exhibited no other variety than that
which they possess in a pencil sketch, on a china-ink drawing.
But he who has exhibited such matchless skillin the organiza-
tion of material bodies, and such exquisite taste in the forms
upon which they are modelled, has superadded that ethereal
beauty which enhances their more permanent qualities, and
presents them to us in the ever-varying colours of the spec-
trum.’—Life of Sir John Newton, p. 78.

§2 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

will be given out, and in some other substances only
the red rays.. This is the general principle upon which
we may account for the delight which the eye ex-
periences from that variety of colour which is seen in
its parts, in the various objects around us, but which is
contemplated as a whole in the magnificent splendor of
the ethereal bow.

The theory, as well as the actual appearance of the
Rainbow, are thus beautifully depicted by Thomson in
his Poem to the memory of the Great Philosopher, whose
discoveries in the science of optics alone, would have

immortalized his name,—

—‘ Light itself, which every thing displays,
Shone undiscovered, till his brighter mind
Untwisted all the shining robe of day ;

And, from the whitening undistinguish’d blaze,
Collecting every ray into his kind,

To the charm’d eye educed the gorgeous train
Of parent colours. First, the flaming red
Sprung vivid forth; the tawny orange next ;
And next delicious yellow ; by whose side

Fell the kind beams of all refreshing green.
Then the pure blue, that swells autumnal skies,
Ethereal play’d : and then, of sadder hue,
Emerged the deepen’d indigo, as when

The heavy skirted evening droops with frost,
While the last gleaming of refracted light

Dy’d in the fainting violet away.

| a

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 53

These, when the clouds distil the rosy shower,
Shine out distinct adown the watery bow ;
While o’er our heads the dewy vision bends
Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.
Myriads of mingling dies from these result,
And myriads still remain ; infinite source

_ Of beauty, ever blushing, ever new;’

It can scarcely be expected that by a description of
this nature, the reader who is previously unace
quainted with these subjects should fully understand
all the causes which are concerned in producing the
Rainbow. Enough, however, has been said to convey
a general idea of the manner in which the sublime
spectacle is produced. It is of more importance to our
present purpose, to direct the heart of the devout
Christian to a consideration of the ends for which this
noble object was designed by its Creator.

Like all the rest of his works, it had a fixed
purpose, and was intended to be a sign and seal of
his covenant with man to destroy the earth no more
with the waters of a flood. (Gen. ix. 13—15.) Surely,
therefore, we ought never to forget when we see it,
that it is an illustrious pledge of the divine mercy and
goodness, and is intended to confirm our faith and confi-
dence in God, Other pledges and symbols of this nature

have had their use, and have passed away; but here
F5

54 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

one designed for all ages, and one which is as fresh,
beautiful, and as full of promise now, aS when it
cheered the hopes of righteous Noah and his family
more than 4000 years ago. In short, to adopt the lan«
guage of an eminent modern poet,—
‘ As fresh in yon horizon dark,
As young its beauties seem,

As when the eagle from the ark
First sported in its beam.

For faithful to the sacred page,
Heav’n still rebuilds its span,

Nor shall the type grow pale with age
That first spoke peace to man.”

{t is an enquiry upon which we cannot here enter,
whether the world before the flood had ever seen a
Rainbow.* The sacred narrative seems clearly to im-
ply that it had not. Itis of more advantage to enquire
what was designed by the form of the Rainbow.
Many circumstances render it probable that the

atmosphere of the earth underwent a great change

*If Noah had seen a Rainbow before, it is evident that as @
sign it could afford him no consolation, or certainty, beyond
what he had already. There seems reason to think that the
circumstances of the primitive earth were such as not to require
rain, See Genesis ii. 5, 6. 1f the reader wishes further con-
-firmation on this point, let him consult the work of an able
writer of the present day, Dr. Ure’s, new System of Geology.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 55

by that dire event; and even if it did not,
surely he who maketh the ‘clouds his chariot, could
have so regulated their appearances that they might
never have exhibited the Rainbow. As all the pro-
phetic symbols have had a meaning, this would seem to
have been intended as the bow of mercy, in opposition
to those bows used in war, and in the chace from the
earliest times, which were rather weapons of wrath and
destruction. The imagination of Noah and his pos-
teritv might in this bow well figure to themselves the
noblest symbol of power, united with forbearance; the
emblem of Almighty strength, divested of its fearful
arrows of wrath, and no longer strung for purposes of
hostility, but suspended in heaven as a potent war-
rior’s trophy and token; being alike adorned with the
colours of anger and peace, as if to denote at once
_ the wrath of an offended God towards his enemies, as
well as the eternal duration of his favor to all the re-
pentant and believing sons of Adam.

If to Noah the Rainbow might have suggested thus
much, may it not teach a still higher lesson to us? Is
it not now the emblem or type of anew and better
covenant than that which God made with his Old

Testament Church? Such, assuredly, we may deem

56 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

it, on the authority of that sublime vision which St.
John tells us he saw; (Rev. iv. 2, 3;) ‘I was in the
spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and
one sat on the throne; and there was a Rainbow
round about the thro ne; in sight like unto an emerald.”
What, indeed, can here be signified but that covenant
of grace with which the throne of Christ as a Redeemer
is as it were encircled under the gospel dispensation ?
And what can convey a higher idea of that kindness
which actuated him to deliver a lost world from
- eternal destruction, than the figure of an emerald
bow. In nature the most refreshing and delightful of
all hues is green, the colour of the precious emerald ;
and green is also a significant emblem of fertility and
curation. Thus in the glorious object which St. John
beheld surrounding the great Head of the Church in
Heaven, we have a splendid token of that great cove-
nant of salvation which contains within it every blessing
for time and for eternity, which is ordered in all things
and sure; and in virtue of which it is the duty, as
well as the privilege of the believer, to look upward,
and regard the celestial bow, with its meteoric splendor
as the ‘“‘ bow of God ;’’a lovely apparition, shedding its

lustre upon the storm and upon the cloud—teaching us

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 57

to hope in the midst of adversity, and coming forth
amidst the passing scenes of this ‘ peevish April day,’
to soothe and to tranquilize; at once the messenger
and the symbol of the Redeemer’s love, and an earnest
of future peace, triumph, and deliverance in the eternal

world.*

*The Rainbow is thus made the subject of a very pithy
application by an old writer, which we shall give in his own
language, of the year 1615; ‘TheRainebow is taken asa figure
of Christ; and therefore we are thereby taught, that when
either the darke blacknesse of ugly sinne, or the thick clouds
of griefe, and adversity, do threaten unto us any feareful over-
throw, we should clap our eies upon our Rainebow Christ
Jesus, and be assured that though that blacknesse of sinne
be never so great, yet in him and by him it shall be done away,
and never have power to cast us away ; though those mists and
fogs of adversity be never so thicke, yet shall they by him, as
by a hote and strong sunne, be dispersed and never able to
drowne us.’—Bishop Babington’s comfortable Notes on Genesis.

58 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

MAY.

eniiinieitemee

SPRING.

wae Ae

‘The Spring is here—the delicate footed May,
With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers,
And with it comes a thirst to be away,

Wasting in wood-paths its voluptuous hours—
A feeling that is like asense of wings,
Restless to soar above these perishing things.’

“Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ;
the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the sing-
ing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land!” So sung Solomon, in the lovely
land of Judea, a thousand years before the Christian
aera. But Spring has been a season delightful in all
ages and climates; though in none perhaps more so
than in the British islands. Willingly therefore may
the Church listen to the royal Poet, as if Christ himself
were addressing her in the gospel language of pure
affection, ‘‘ Arise, my love, my fair one, and come

away.” To this call the Christian Naturalist would

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

readily respond, and go forth amidst those scenes
which now bear the loveliest impress of the Redeemer’s
hand. He would enter upon the first of May with

something of that ardour of spirit which led our rural
ancestors to welcome it with a variety of festive cere-

monies ; and though he would not imitate the custom of
our pagan ancestors in dancing round a may-pole in hon-
or of the imaginary goddess Maia from whom this month
derives its name, he would esteem it a delightful and
profitable employment to go forth and gather flowers
on the first May morning; to greet the beams of the
rising luminary, while the heavy dews are yet glistening
in countless drops upon the rising herbage.* What can

be more interesting than thus to hail the arrival of a

*One of our old Rural Poets thus expostulates with the
Sluggard on a May morning :—

* Nay, not so much as out of bed,
When all the birds have mattins said,
And sung their thankful hymns ; ’tis sin,
Nay, profanation to keep in:
When as a thousand virgins on this day
Spring sooner than the lark, to fetch in May.’

It should be observed that by the alteration of the style, the
first of May, so renowned in the poetical calendar, was thrown
back 12 daysinto April. This may in part account for the day
being somewhat colder than it was at an earlier period,

60 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

season which is full of pleasing ideas, and which is so
anxiously looked forward to, amidst the gloomy and
stormy months of winter? Doubtless there is much in
Spring to awaken the attention of every inquiring mind,
and call forth a tribute of gratitude to the Creator from
every thankful heart: Who can listen to the thrush,
warbling amidst the groves, or behold the lark mounting.
upwards towards the gates. of heaven, without wishing
to join in the melodious concert. of praise which is now
poured forth by these and innumerable feathered song-
sters of the earth and air? Who can survey. the fields
clothed with verdure, the trees expanding into full leaf,
and the flowers putting on their gayest and freshest dress,
without feeling as it were a new emotion, a sensation
peculiar to the season of Spring? Fragrance is in the
air, beauty in the earth and brilliancy in the sky. Under
the influence of a reviving temperature, fresh vitality
seems infused into all the springs of nature. It wears
the aspect of youth, and its blushes and smiles are those
of virgin innocence and loveliness. We look and we
look again at.the picture, and it seems.to carry, back the
thoughts to that period when man came fresh and.
uncorrupted. from, his Maker’s. hand; ‘‘ when the

morning stars first sang together, and all the sons of

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 6]

God shouted for joy ;” when the earth blossomed forth
into unnumbered beauties beneath its Creator’s first
blessing; when sin had not yet cursed the ground
for man’s sake; and man himself, the lord of this
lower world, walked forth amidst the charms of Eden,
to make his first delicious banquet. upon the tree of
life.

Our great Poet Milton has most happily pictured the
sensations of Adam, upon his first awakening into
being, and beholding the beauties of the newly-created
world; and they are no less adapted to describe the
face of nature, and the feelings which must be inspired
in some degree with every returning Spring, in the
bosoms of those who are susceptible of any right

impression :—

‘ About me round I saw

Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,

And liquid lapse of murmuring streams ; by these
Creatures that liv’d, and mov’d, and walk’d, or flew,
Birds on the branches warbling ; all things smiled ;
With fragrance, and with joy my heart o’erflow’d.

Thou Sun, said I, fair light,

And thou enlighten’d Earth, so fresh and gay,
Ye hills, and dales, ye rivers, woods and plains,
And ye that live and move, fair Creatures, tell,
Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here ?

G

62 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

Not of myself,—by some great Maker then,
In goodness and in power preeminent :

Tell me how I may know him ; how adore,
From whom I have that thus I move and live,
And feel that I am happier than I know.’

But if our thoughts are thus carried backward by the
season of Spring, to that time when man had not yet
fallen, they may also be carried forward to a period and
a place of still greater importance; to that world where
there is fulness of ‘joy ;—an eternal spring of all con-
ceivable blessedness in the heavenly Paradise. Poetry
may help'to express this idea, and has well ‘embodied

the sentiment in a few lines addressed to the Creator,—

‘Oh Thou our good beyond compare,

If thus thy meaner works are fair ;

If thus thy glories gild the span

Of ruin’d earth, and sinful man,

How glorious must that mansion be
Where 'thy‘redeem'‘d shall live with thee !’

It has pleased our God in infinite mercy, notwithstand-
ing the fall, to leave us a taste of those pleasures which
we might altogether have been deprived of upon earth,
in order that we may better know how to prize, and
earnestly seek “after, those joys which are at his*right
hand for evermore. Surely this is the right improve-

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 63

ment we ought to make of Spring! We shall have
lived to little purpose, and have looked upon the beau-
ties of opening nature in vain, if these things do not
carry our thoughts upwards, and quicken our steps to-
wards that heavenly Eden where pleasures, such as the
season now presents us with, shall not be transient and
uncertain as they are here, but lasting and never-fading
as their great Author. The world we live in is still for
the most part a goodly world; it is still sumptuously
stocked and adorned, and was evidently intended for a
better guest than man in his present state, is. But the
heavenly Paradise, though infinitely more beautiful, will
find all its inhabitants worthy of it. Its glory will be
as much, nay far more, enhanced by the presence of
these, than the earthly Paradise was by the presence of
Adam. Here, indeed, there is too often a strange in-
congruity. Human fiends pollute the scenes which might
almost seem fit for the residence of angels. Hence,
although lovely in themselves, they lose much of their
charms; and we are filled with shame and sorrow at
beholding what seems almost a confirmation of the
infidel sentiment with regard to some beautiful coun-

tries,—
* Where all save the spirit of man is divine.’

64 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

But in the Paradise above, nothing of this seeming op-
position shall exist. Heaven, with its angelic bands,
and its glorious company of the just who have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb, shall present no unharmonious feature; it shall
receive within it nothing that defileth, The element
and the scene shall not be more pure, than the blessed
inhabitants that breathe its air and behold its beauty.
The beams of an eternal spring shall only serve to
burst the buds, and to unfold the blossoms of eternal
righteousness.

In the contemplation of such a season, it cannot but
inspire a feeling of melancholy, that man should think
so little about this high and immortal destiny which
awaits the righteous hereafter. The same book of nature
which now displays the resurrection of a vegetable world
from the death-like sleep of winter, exhibits a striking
emblem, and a strong proof, drawn from analogy, of the
wonderful power by which God will finally raise the
bodies of all the seed of Adam that shall sleep in the dust,
when the Archangel’s tramp shall summon them to
judgment. It is the Gospel volume only, however, which
reveals the secret of man’s indifference to that great event,

and proclaims him to be already ‘‘ dead in trespasses and

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 65

sins.” It is here also we discover the necessity of
recovering that image which was lost in Paradise, and
which must be again regained by a new creation of the
heart; a moral spring of the human character; under
the quickening influence of Christ as the Sun of Right-
eousness. He who has experienced this renewing of
his mind, has already passed from spiritual death to
spiritual life. His heart has responded to the Gospel
call, ‘* Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light ;” and it is his
privilege, while he views ‘ all nature quick and bursting
into birth’ at this season, to behold this transformation,
but as a type of that still more glorious period when
there shall be ‘‘ new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness.”’

But what solace can the sinner, who is not ‘‘ made alive
unto God,” derive from such reflectiuns, or indeed from
any thing in the present season! It has been well ob-
served that ‘a blighted spring makes a barren year, and
that the vernal flowers, however beautiful and gay, are
only introduced by Nature as preparatives for autum-
nal fruits.” And if this be true in the natural, how much
more so with reference to the spiritual world! Vain
will it be forthe man who has trifled away the spring-

a 5

66 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

time of his life,—who has suffered the happiest season
of grace, and the day most favorable to his salvation, to
pass awiy without improvement, to expect that comfort,
and trae happiness which religion only can yield in
maturer age. Hence the sensation which ‘‘ men of the
world” have sometimes experienced at the return of
another Spring, has been only that of sadness; for it
has seemed to recal the vision of earlier and better
days, when their time and talents had not yet been
suffered to run to waste. The vanity of life is more
sensibly felt by such men, from the associations which
are awakened by the sight of that external world,
which however beautiful, is as they are sensible rapidly
passing away, and bearing them nearer to that future
which they fear to contemplate. They feel, indeed, that
the spring of life can for them return no more, and
that they have none of these fruits of solid peace and
joy, of which they once hoped that their bright and early
days gave promise. Alas! to the eye of one who has
none of the hopes and comforts of the gospel, nature
smiles in vain even at- this beauteous season. She
seems to put on, not her bridal but her funeral dress.
As she rises from her tomb, her sweetest voice falls

upon his ear like the hollow voice of a spectre; for it

AES

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 67

rings the knell of an accusing conscience, which pro-
claims, that the wintry curtain of spiritual sleep and
death still hangs over his soul. The leaves and flowers,
the birds and breezes, and the balmy skies, oan yield

him no pleasure; for he is ever haunted by the reflec-

‘tion that he must full-soon awake from his dream of

folly, but only to learn the dreadful truth, that for him

even Eternity has no second Spring.

JUNE.

SUMMER.—THE FLOWER GARDEN.

‘From brightening fields of ether fair disclosed,
Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes.’

‘ Thus in the train of Spring arrive
Sweet flowers! what livingeye hath viewed
Their myriads ? Endlessly renewed
Wherever strikes the sun’s glad ray.’

Tue course of the seasons has now brought us to
Summer; a part of the year in which we may see

abundant reason to admire and bless the divine hand

68 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

which thus unlocks all the treasures of creation, and
displays its infinite resources of grandeur, beauty,
and fertility. If Spring is the season of expectation,
Summer is the season of enjoyment. Nature now
brings rapidly to perfection the various productions
of the earth, upon which the sustenance of man and
the inferior animals depends. The Sun has reached
his highest throne in the heavens, and, like the monarch
of all he surveys, seems to look down with the full
pomp and pride of his beams upon this lower world
which lies basking in his smiles. Whatever are the
other provisions which the Creator has made for man
in his Providence, surely all these would be worth but
little were it not for the animating presence of this
great orb of light and life. At all seasons of the year
we feel the benefits of this luminary, and hail his light
as the first-best blessing of the works of God: but
Summer is the season when we are most fully sensible
of our obligations to that degree of warmth and vitality,
which he sheds down upon the earth and its inhabi-
tants. It is now that the sublime language of the
Psalmist is especially verified: ‘‘He cometh forth as
a Bridegroom cut of his chamber, and rejoiceth as

@ giant to run his course; his going forth is from the

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 69

end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it,
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”

It is, perhaps, to the too abstract consideration of
the unnumbered benefits derived from the Sun as the
great and main agent to whom we are indebted for
every blessing that Summer skies afford, that the Gen-
tile nations have been so ready to fall into the awful and
pernicious idolatry of paying their homage to this glo-
rious specimen of the Creator’s power, rather than to
the Creator himself. Our privilege as Christians it is
to thank God that we have been kept from this idolatry,
and to shew that we are fully sensible to whom we owe
our obligations, while we are thus permitted to behold
his beams shining upon us,—

‘To drink the spirit of the golden day,
And triumph in existence.’

Tn looking at the Sun our thoughts should at this
season more peculiarly revert to him who is the Father
of Lights,—

* Nature’s immortal, immaterial Sun’—

who reveals himself in his word as the Sun, no less than
the Shield of his people; who is Light, and dwelleth in
Light ; and who, though he will not give his glory to

70 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

another, has expressly directed our thoughts to him
who is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the
express image of his person. The rising of this great
spiritual luminary upon the world was reserved for the
New Testament dispensation, and the present part of
it may be considered as the Summer season-of God's
Church ; and the realization of the famous prophecy
of Malachi, “Unto you that fear my name shall the
Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

If, indeed, in contemplating this great mystery of
godliness, *‘ God manifest in the flesh,” we are struck
with wonder and astonishment, our thoughts may
naturally turn also to the mystery which envelopes the
solar orb. Surely if we cannot comprehend the mate-
rial image of the Creator and the Redeemer, how much
less can we presume to know of that Great Being him-
self, who is the cause of causes and the power of
powers; by whose word it is that all the wheels of
nature are kept in continual motion through the agency
of the Sun as the main-spring, or central wheel, of
the whole system. Let those who deny the doctrine of
Christ’s Godhead, because they cannot reason upon if,
explain to us first the mysteries of the natural world.

Let them tell us, what is Light? and whether it is a

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 71

part of the Sun, or something wholly distinct from it.
Philosophers have written much upon the laws of light ;
but after all that has been said, its essence is as much
unknown to us as the essence of God himself. This,
therefore, may teach us caution in judging of divine
things, ‘‘ For who by searching can find out God ?”
But the Christian Naturalist would not forget the
earth, with its tribes of living beings all gay and full
of animation, and its beautiful kingdoms of vegetable
nature, all spread gut like a splendid picture to feast
the eye, to fill the mind, and to awaken the gratitude
of man that was once crowned king and lord of all
this lower creation. Wherever he looks at this season
he sees innumerable beings animated with life, and ap-
parently rejoicing in their existence. The Swallow
with the swiftness of an arrow, darts through the air,
and reminds him, by the regularity of its return, of
that law of instinct which so forcibly rebukes the in-
consistency and carelessness of man towards his Maker.
See Jeremiah viii. 7: The ‘Bee ‘buzes from flower ‘to

flower, to gather honey for its winter store, as if to

give us ‘a beautifwl example of ‘industry ‘and ‘prudent
foresight, And even the little Ant, so laboriously
working at this season, teachesa ‘lesson to ‘the sluggard

72 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIS®,

which Solomon thought worth inculcating.* (Prov. vi. 6)
So also the painted Butterfly, tricked out in all the
hues of Summer, and fluttering to and fro continually
amidst the sunshine, may remind the sons and daugh-
ters of pleasure, by the brevity and apparent inutility
of its existence, of the vanity and shortness of that
life of pleasure to which they devote themselves. But
this lovely attendant upon a Summer’s day may also
teach us a nobler truth. The changes through which
this and many other of the insect téibes pass, froin the
egg to the caterpillar, from the caterpillar to the chry-
salis, and from this to a perfect fly, is one of the most
striking things in nature, and is no mean type of man
in his translation froma mortal to an immortal state.
An elegant Poet of the present day has thus apostro-

phized the butterfly, and sketched out its typical exist-
ence :—

*It is not necessary to suppose from this passage that the
Ant usually stores up grain against the winter, which is not
agreeable to the fact at least in our climate, where the Ant is
perfectly torpid duringthe winter. It appears, however, that
one species of Ant has lately been discovered in the East Indies
which does lay up corn agreeable to the commonly received
opinion. The name of this species is ‘ Atta providens.’—See

Kirby’s Bridgewater Treatise, v. 2. p. 344, and Entomology, v. 2.
p. 46.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 73

‘Child of the Sun! pursue thy rapturous flight,
Mingling with her thou lov’st in fields of light ;
And where the flowers of Paradise unfold
Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold:
There shall thy wings, rich as an evening sky,
Expand and shut with silent extacy. |

—— Yet wert thou once a worm, a thing that crept
On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb and slept ?
And such is man ; soon from his cell of clay
To burst a seraph in the blaze of day.’—Rogers.

This subject is in itself so interesting that it deserves
here a further illustration, and this has been done with
much propriety by a distinguished Entomologist of the
day, whose words we take the liberty to borrow: ‘ Al-
though,’ he observes, ‘ the analogy between the different
states of insects and those of the body of man is only
general, yet it is much more complete with respect to
his soul. The first appears in this frail body a child
of earth, a crawling worm, his soul being in a course
of training and preparation for a more perfect and glo-
rious existence. Its course being finished, it casts off
the earthly body, and goes into a hidden state of being
in Hades, where it rests from its works, and is prepared
for its final consummation. The time for this being
arrived, it comes forth clothed with a glorious body,
not like its former, though germinating from it, for

H

74 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

though it was ‘‘sown an animal body it shall be raised
a spiritual body,” endowed with augmented powers,
faculties, and privileges, commensurate to its new and
happy state. And here the parallel holds perfectly
between the insect and the man. The butterfly, the re-
presentative of the soul, is prepared in the larva (the
caterpillar) for its future state of glory ; and if it be
not destroyed by the ichneumons and other enemies to
which it is exposed, symbolical of the vices that destroy
the spiritual life of the soul, it will come to its state of
repose in the pupa which is its Hades ; and at length,
when it assumes the imago, break forth with new powers
and beauty to its final glory, and the reign of love. So
that in this view of the subject well might the Italian
Poet exclaim, ‘Do you not perceive that we are cater-
pillars, born to form the angelic butterfly.’*

Nature is ever changing, ever beautiful; but per-
haps the richest feast which it presents to the eye at

this season is to be found in the Flower Garden. Not,

* Itis worthy of remark that in the North and West of Eng-
land the moths that fly into candles are called saules, (souls)
perhaps from the old notion that the souls' of the dead fly
about in search of light. So among the Greeks, Pysche, signi-
fied a butterfly as well as the soul, and upon sculptures the lat-
ter was often represented by this insect.—Kirby and Spence,

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 75

indeed, that the productions of the fields and hedges
are undeserving of our regard, for in Devonshire and
Cornwall, at least, there is no lack of those sweet and
lovely wild flowers which may form a rich and even
splendid nosegay. Still, however, art wisely displays

its taste in selecting some of the choicest of these, and
also intermingling them with the more curious and
brilliant productions of other lands. We have always
regarded the pleasure that is taken in cultivating a
Flower Garden, as more like that enjoyed by the first

man in Paradise, than any other kind of earthly plea-

sure; and hence we have always been accustomed to
consider the pains that are taken in the collection and
nurture of a variety. of choice flowers, as well bestowed :
and affording a better omen of industry, cheerfulness,
and. a degree of comfort unknown in former times,
than any other outward circumstances. The neat cot-
tage garden, of which we see so many examples in
Cornwall, gay and smiling, as it looks at this season,
with some of the most splendid productions of the
‘East—the Tulip, the Anemone, and the Ranunculus—
is a sight most gratifying to the mind as well as to the
eye, for it tells of peace, and security, and of those

blessings with which Providence has so richly crowned

76 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

our land by commerce. We may generally, perhaps,
form some notion of the character and situation of the
inhabitants of a cottage, by looking at the little garden
in front of it. Where there is nothing of this sort, we
may be almost sure to meet with poverty in its worst

form, if not with ignorance and vice. It would be
delightful, therefore, to see every cottage with its
_ proper ornament of a few beds of flowers to gladden
) the eve of the owner, and to bespeak his sense of the

beauties and. wonders which the Divine Hand has so
richly lavished upon this part of the creation.

Flowers are, indeed, among tlie most interesting of
those productions which display the exquisite skill and
boundless wisdom of the Infinite Mind. Their variety
astonishes, as much’as their beauty captivates us.
Every country has its peculiar species. Some of these
love the burning suns of India; some the barren desarts
of Africa; and America ‘and New Holland are as much
distinguished. by flowers of ‘singular and rare beauty
as by their animals, which differ greatly from those of
all the rest of the globe. © Then, again, there are some
flowers which are the natives only of temperate cli-
mates, and afew are confined to the snowy regions of

the North. . Each. has also its own select situation

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 77

and soil; some choose the mountain, and some the
valley ; some flourish best in poor ground, and many
are to be found only in the richest pastures. Nor are
they less remarkable for their different qualities. In
some are combined the qualities of fragrance and
beauty ; but those which have little of the latter, have
often valuable properties as medicines. Even those
which were formerly esteemed poisonous, are now found
to be useful to the skilful Physician, and class among
the most beneficial of his remedies. In short, every
combination of beauty and utility that the mind can
conceive, and far more than it could have imagined,
is to be found in those flowers which are so widely
scattered over the fair face of the whole earth, as if
for the express purpose of awakening man’s attention
every where to the beauty of the works of God, and
convincing him that the ‘same Almighty Wisdom inte-
rests itself in the small, as in the great things of the
universe ; no less in the ornaments with which it has
decked the earth, than in those stupendous orbs of
light with which his Spirit hath garnished the heavens.

It is not, however, a mere admiration of the beauties
of the Flower Garden that we recommend to our
readers. he Christian Naturalist sees in the variety

H5

78 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

and beauty of its productions, a pleasing picture of the
vast diversity of character which adorns the members
of the Church of Christ. The brilliant hues of. some
flowers, and the fragrance of others, aptly represent
those who adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in
all things, and whose example diffuses the sweet savour
of life and salvation to all around them. But there are
others of a humbler class, which have peculiar excellen-
cies of their own, which the skilfal eye of the observer
can trace with as much ease as the experienced florist
discerns the beauties of his favorite flowers. In the
Christian Church, the gifts and graces of men widely
differ. Some are adapted to adorn one station of life,
and some another; these to flourish best in the humble
valley of life, and those to bear the rough blasts of the
mountain. Thesoil of poverty is best suited to unfold
the qualities of some, and others flourish well amidst
the strong sunshine of prosperity, and the fertile soil in
which their lot has been planted. All, however, are
alike nourished by the same general means of grace,
though the Spirit ‘‘ divideth to every man severally as
he will ;” but prayer, the breath of heaven, is the at-
mosphere in which al/ must live. All must be baptized

and watered by the same Spiric, aud be fed with a due

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 79

portion of the wholesome food of God’s word. Thus
nurtured and strengthened, every member of the Church
in his proper season and place, like the flowers of the
garden, adorns the situation which he fills, becomes a
bright and beautiful example of godliness in his particu-
lar sphere of duty, and abundantly proclaims the wis-
dom and goodness of him who transplanted him from
the wilderness of this world, to a place where he may
adorn and magnify the riches of divine grace.

A Flower Garden then mav be considered as a
nursery of sacred wisdom. In comparison with other
pleasures, with those which are formed by the world in
general, it commends itself by the strongest arguments
to the attention of all. ‘An indulgent Providence,’ ob-
serves Dr. Young, ‘ has provided us with irreproveable
pleasures ; why are these swept away with an ungrate-
ful hand, to make room for poisous of our own deadly
composition in their stead? Epicurus was in love
with his garden; a garden has ever had the praise
and affection of the wise. What is requisite to
make a wise and happy man, but reflection and peace?
and both of a garden are the natural growth. Nor is
a garden only a promoter of a good man’s happiness,

but a picture of it; and. in some sort, shews him to

80 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

himself. Its culture, order, fruitfulness, and seclusion
from the world, compared to the weed’s wildness and
exposure of a common field, is no bad emblem of a
good man compared to the multitude. A garden weeds
the mind; it weeds it of worldly thoughts, and sows
celestial seed in their stead. For what see we there,
but what awaken in us our gratitude to Heaven? A
garden to the virtuous is a paradise still extant ; a para-
dise unlost. What a rich present from heaven of sweet
increase to man was wafted in that breeze! What a
delightful entertainment of sight glows in yonder bed,
as if in kindly shower, the watery bow had shed all its
most celestial colors on it ! Here are no objects that fire
the passions, none that do not instruct the understand-
ing, and better the heart, while they delight the sense.
Who cannot look on a flower till he frightens himself
out of infidelity? Religion is the natural growth of
the works of God; and infidelity, of the inventions of
men.’*

Not only, however, may the Christian here gather an
argument against the infidel and the sensualist, but he
may here be profitably reminded of the vanity and
fleeting nature of the best of worldly things. From the

_* Centaur, not fabulous.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 81

short-lived duration of many of the beauties around
him, he may learn the transitory nature of all human
glory, and the little reason there is that any mortal
should pride himself upon those distinctions which at
the best are fleeting as a lovely flower. It is a favorite
metaphor with the sacred moralist when they speak of
man and of his brief existence here, to compare him
to a flower. ‘‘ Man,” says Job, ‘‘ cometh forth as

a flower, and fleeth as a shadow, and continueth

>?

not,”” So also the Psalmist, ‘‘ As for man, his days

are as grass, as a flower of the field so he flourisheth,
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the
place thereof shall know it no more.” To the Christ-
ian who contrasts with this, the mercy of- his God
which is from everlasting to everlasting, and who has
learnt with St. Paul to ‘‘ die daily,” the ephemeral
character of many of the flowers which he most ad-
mires, suggests no mournful impression. He walks by
faith and not by sight; and thus learns that while the
things seen and temporal are always uncertain, the
things unseen and eternal can never deceive him. Thus
instructed by the fleeting beauties. of the Flower Gar-
den, he ‘acquires the heart of living above the present

world while he lives in it ; pants after a more durable

82 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

glory than any thing here can bestow, and feels a hal-
lowed sobriety even in the midst of the most joyous

scenes of his earthly existence.

All the flowers of the field and of the garden may
in this manner teach us to ‘‘ redeem the time.” But
there is a certain class which does this in so happy and
forcible a way, that it requires some further notice in
this place. We allude to what are sometimes termed
by Botanists ‘ Dial-plants,’ from the circumstance of
their opening and shutting their blossoms at particular
hours. The celebrated Linneus has given a list of
flowers of this description, which has been not inaptly
termed ‘Flora’s Watch.’ It would be easy to assemble
these in one group, so as to mark the flight of time, by
the closing and expanding of their flower-petals; and
this with almost as much accuracy as by the hands of a
clock. To what cause this curious feature in their
natural history is to be ascribed, is yet unascertained.
Whether it be analogous to the sleep of animals, or
whether it be the effect of a peculiar irritability which
is peculiar to the vegetable kingdom, seems altogether
doubtful. The fact, however, is one which though in-
explicable, ought not to be lost upon us. We can

scarcely doubt but that it was designed by a merciful

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. . 2

Creator to teach us not only the necessity of number-
ing our days, but of exactly regulating our hours, so
as ‘*to apply our hearts unto wisdom ;” in other words,
of giving to each of the duties of life, their proper
time and season, so that the whole circle of our exis-
tence may be filled up by that variety of cares, or
employments which are assigned to us; one closing and
another opening, and each with a different colour, to
mark the changeable character even of those minuter
portions of time into which our lives are daily divided.
A Flower-Dial thus constructed,* having each of its
hours marked by an appropriate plant, might be as use-
ful asa Sun-Dial. No more fitting motto could be
found for it, than that which a distinguished female pen
has suggested ,—

‘*Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours
As they floated in light away,
By the opening and the folding flowers,
That laugh to the Summer’s day.

*In a recent work entitled ‘ Conversations on Nature and
Art,’ the reader will find the Linnzan list of plants, that may
be used for this purpose, with the times of their opening and
shutting. But in Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Gardening, p.
885, will be found a list of plants more generally accessible,
The Colvolvolus met with near the sea, opens between 5 and.6,
A.M, So also does the Dandelion, ‘The Pimpernel, between
7 and 8, and the commen Chickweed, between 9 and 10.

84 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

And is not life, in its real flight,
Mark’'d thus—even thus on earth,

By the closing of one hope’s delight,
And another's gentle birth.

Oh let us live, so that flower by flower
Shutting in turn, may leave
A lingerer still for the sun-set hour,
A charm for the shaded eve.’—Mrs. Hemans.

If our contemplations in a Flower Garden thus re-
mind us of things which are of such inestimable impor-
_ tance, we shall walk there at this delightful season with
new sensibilities and hopes. To see God in these his
beautiful works, is one object which a true Christian
will ever keep in view; and to see Christ, the God-
Man, in the glory of his Church, is another, which
every thing in nature will assist him to do, if he views
it rightly through the glass of Scripture. Our blessed
Lord himself, in the days of his flesh, looked upon the
flowers around him, with as deep and intense a feeling
of admiration as any of his followers are capable of ex-
pressing : ‘‘ Consider,” said he, ‘‘ the lilies of the field,
how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin: and
yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God

60 clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 85

to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matth. vi.
28—30.) Whata striking comparison is this, and how
beautifully is the anxiety of the disciples about their
raiment reproved by a simple reference to the Divine
care which is bestowed even upon the perishable pro .
ductions of a day! How gentle and yet at the same
time how forcible the admonition which is thus conveyed
to'the heart of the weak believer! In what an endear-
ing light does the concern and sympathy of his
Heavenly Father display itself towards him when he
looks at the lilies, and is taught to remember that the
prodigality of skill and beauty which is lavished upon
them affords but a faint idea of the merciful Providence
which is so constantly and so richly engaged in behalf
of him, and of all his. temporal as well as_ spiritual
eoncerns! What a beautiful school of piety then is
the Flower Garden when viewed in this light! Here
let the Christian learn what flower he most resembles in
the graces of his character. Here also let him learn
more and more the necessity of faith in him, and con-
formity to his holiness, who was once the noblest flower
in the garden of God’s Church—the emblem of all that
is pure, sweet and lovely—the pattern of all true dig-

I

86 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

nity and humilty—* the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily
of the Vallies.” (Sol. Song. ii. 1.)

Oh! how earnestly must the Christian look forward
to the period when, in all the glory of his person and
in all the riches of his grace, man shall every where
see and admire that Saviour ‘‘ who is the fairest among
ten thousand, and the altogether lovely!” Then, with
infinitely more satisfaction than the delighted florist
now gazes upon his choicest flowers, shall the enrap-
tured Church exclaim in the glowing language of the
Canticles iv. 16, ‘Awake, O North wind; and come,
thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices may
flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and
eat his pleasant fruits.” And then will be realized in
all its glory and universality the truth of the prophecy,
“The Lord shall comfort Zion : he will comfort.all her
waste places, and he will make her ‘wilderness like
Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy
and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and

the voice of melody.” (Isaiah li. 3.)

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 87

JULY.

——

THE CORNISH TORS.

—‘The mountains, cover’d with mysterious calm,
Like thrones of immortality ;—

The lordly hills that rise from earth to heaven,

And take our spirit with them.’

In the warm months of Summer, no recreation is
more delightful than a visit to those high rocky emi-
nences, which are familiarly known in Devonshire and
Cornwall by the name of Tors. The transition from
the sultry heat of the plains and vallies to the cool
breezes of the mountain tops, is generally esteemed as
a Juxury; and on the summits of the Cornish Tors, a
variety of interesting observations | present themselves
to the Christian Naturalist, which will sufficiently repay
him for the trouble of climbing up their steep and rug-
ged sides, and of visiting them even from a distance.

Whoever has looked over a map of the Counties,

must have observed that both this, and the sister

88 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

County, are almost intersected by a mountainous re-
gion, the main trunk of this intersection serving al-
most like the vertebral column of the human body, to
give stability to a structure that might otherwise
seem but too slender. If the Tourist through Corn-
wall leaves the ancient and picturesque town of Laun-
ceston, and proceeds towards Liskeard, he will at the
distance of about eight miles from the former, and
about six from the latter, arrive at the foot of that
chain of hills which may be regarded as the extremity
of the great moor district towards the East.* On the
most Southern flank of the range he may ascend the
highest of these eminences, which is Caradon. Follow-
ing the course of the chain, he will then successively ar-
rive at the several Tors known by the names, ‘ Chees e-
wring,’ ‘ Sharp-Tor,’ ‘ Kilmar,’ and ‘ Hawks-Tor.’ The

distant view of this group of hills is from various

* Hengist, or Hingston down, again occurs at the distance
of six miles due East ; but Kit-hill, as the summit of this Down
is called, is what Geologists term an outlier. It is a granitic
elevation, 1000 feet above the level of the sea, but has no
connection with either of the Dartmoor or Cornish granite
chains ; it stands as it were in the centre of the basin of land
that interposes between these chains in an isolated position,
commanding very extensive and beautiful views.

. THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 89

points* highly picturesque and beautiful. Indeed, it
may be questioned if there is any thing either in this,
or the rest of the English counties, which approximates
so nearly to some of the romantic features of an Alpine
ridge. When, however, the distant view of it is ex-
changed for that from the summit, the emotions which
here take possession of the soul are something beyond
that of mere admiration. Though we may not be able

to exclaim with Goldsmith in his Traveller,—

‘ E’en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,
I sit me down a pensive hour to spend ;
And, placed on high ahove the storm’s career,
’ Look downward where a hundred realins appear ;’—
Yet if we consider that this is our own country, and
that the associations are all British, (how much is com-
prehended in this word!) it may perhaps be admitted
that the gratification derived from the prospect out-
spread before us, is scarcely inferor to that which is felt
when standing on the peaks of a still grander and sub-
limer region. From the top of Caradon, the eye sur-
veys towards the East a wide expanse of cultivated
scenery, and in the distance it catches a glimpse of
* Especially from the fields in the neighbourhood of the Par-

sonage of South-hill, where the greater portion of the pages of
the Christian Naturalist were written.

15

90 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

Plymouth, the first navel arsenal in the world, with its
unrivalled harbour of Hamoaze. Towards tne South,
the view is only bounded by the blue waters of the
English Channel, and in the opposite direction, the bluff
headlands of the Northern coast, and the isle of Lundy
may be faintly descried in clear weather, though the
distance of the latter cannot be less than forty miles.
But when from the East the spectator turns to the
West, the change is at once singular and impressive.
Nothing is to be seen but a wide waste of dreary
moors, peat bogs, and bleak hills. Scarcely a vestige
of cultivation; scarcely a trace of man or his works,
relieves the stern and solitary aspect of nature in this
her wild and awful retreat. But for the herds of cat-
tle which pick up a Summer’s subsistence over an ex-
tensive range of course herbage, and a human form
occasionally emerging from the turf-pits which are to
supply a winter’s fuel, all signs of vitality would here
appear to be extinct. With very few exceptions, the
whole region may be regarded as in the same state it
was at the time of the Roman conquest, and affords, —
perhaps, an exact specimen of what a large portion of
our island would have been to this day, without the

blessings of civilization.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 91

In thus looking out as it were from one of nature’s
watch-towers, and heholding on one hand the progress of
national genius assisted by the bounty of Providence, with
natare herself smiling upon man in her happiest mood,
we seem to perceive but few vestiges remaining of the
original curse upon the ground; but when we turn our
back to this prospect, and look upon the other side of
the picture; when we contemplate the penury of the
soil, the dreary and savage aspect of these rugged
moors, the desolation in short, which seems here to
have tossed the rocks into the wildest forms, and to shed
a cheerless aspect upon all around; we seem again to be
transported to that ‘elder time,’ when the world and
man were stil] writhing as it were under the immediate
stroke of the fall. The sight of such a wilderness may
at least serve to teach us, what nature and man might
have been, as contrasted with what they really in gene-
ral now are. And nought but thankfulness for the
past, and hope for the future, can fail to animate us
while we look around ona scene which at once presents
to us an image of what man is in his state of nature,
and of what he becomes under the transforming influ-
ence of Christianity.

The whole of the country which here stretches away

4

92 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

as far as the ae can reach, and much farther. to the .
West and North-West, may be regarded as a truly
primitive region. There is no portion of the earth’s
surface which has perhaps undergone less change,
during the lapse of ages. On just such a sceneas this
might Noah have stept out of the Ark. The mighty
devastations of the deluge are nowhere more visible
than here. Blocks of granite of all sizes and forms,
some half buried beneath the soil, others naked and
bare, or covered only with the hoary lichen, lie scat-
tered about in all directions, bearing every where the
marks of a tremendous convulsion which must have
torn them from their native beds, and hurled them up
and down with the same facility, as a child projects his
balls or marbles on the floor, Amidst these ruins of a
former world, there is no spot which affords stronger
evidences of the mighty agencies which must have been
formerly at work here than the Tor, commonly called
the ‘Cheese-wring,’ from its resemblance to that kind of
press in which cheeses are placed to drain in this coun-
ty. This rocky pile consists of several huge blocks.
The upper form of these rest upon a similar number,
which are so much smaller, and on every side so appa-

rently disproportionate to sustain the weight of those

a SPS i ne
: =
ay

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 93

above, that it might almost seem a miracle for this
column which rises to the height of thirty-two feet, to
have retained its position, and to have stood the storms
of so many centuries in this lofty and exposed situa:
tion.* As if to mock the puny strength of man,
nature seems here to have displayed her most sportive
and gigantic energies, in mimicking his architectural
powers; and this, by piling into all imaginable forms
the ruins of one of her own vast temples. Sometimes
we see the rocks assuming the form of a colossal co-
lumn, as in the instance just referred to. At other
times, as in the neighbouring hill of Sharp-Tor, they
are shaped into the likeness of a pyramid. Then
again, as in the two remaining eminences of the chain,
a striking resemblance is presented to a line of fortifi-
cations. In short, on which ever side the eye ranges,

* Dr. Borlase supposed that the Cheese-wring might have
been a rude image of Saturn, which was brought to its present
form by the ancient idolaters who frequented these hills. But
from an attentive observation of this singular structure of
rocks, Iam persuaded that it is altogether a natural curiosity
effected by some agency of the currents during the time of the
deluge, which carried away the surrounding masses, leaving
these blocks deposited just as they were in their native bed. It
seems doubtful if granite is ever found really stratified. It

would rather appear to occur in large masses of irregular forms,
derived originally from the prismatic.

94 THE' CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

fresh matter presents itself for wonder, andthe most cu~
rious speculative enquiries. It is evident that there was a
time when the huge’ masses which are here lying about
singly, or piled togetlier in heaps, were under the action
of a tremendous current of waters, whose direction ap-
pears to have been from! West to East. This current
seems to have employed itself in. sweeping down the
summits of the granitic ranze, and in strewing its ruins:
on the Eastern declivities. Its effects are also. visible
in the deep vallies which have been scooped out around,
the sides of the'Tors; and the rounded state of the rocky,
fragments. generally, whether lying solitary, or in heaps,
sufficiently: attests, that like the pebbles on the'sea-shore,
their angles and’ sharp points: have: been much: worn
down both by contact with each other, and the long
continued’action of water in a state of agitation. Who-
ever has. witnessed this striking scene must acknow-
ledge that no human agency could have effected so:stu-
pendous aruin. The works of man are soon effaced, and
buried under the soil from which they spring. Babylon
and Nineveh, the two largest cities of the ancient
world, have been wholly obliterated. Their exact. site
is now scarcely known, and the ruins of more recent

cities are fast hastening away to the same all-entombing

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 95

sepulchre, which is reserved for manand his works.
But not so is it with the wonders.which we are survey-
ing. No lapse of the world’s ages, though they might
be prolonged.to.a million years, would serve to efface,
or to remove the awful vestiges of that creating
and destroying hand, which here present themselves.
Standing upon these indelible monuments of omnipo-
tent agency, we seem to catch the murmurs of that
swelling ocean which gleams in the distant horizon, and
tells us of a period when it rolled its mighty surges
over these inland summits. We are thus affectingly
reminded that the same dread power which turned back
their overflowings, though not, however, until they had
left behind them sufficient evidence of his desolating
wrath, is the Being whom man_-still continues to pro-
voke by his obstinacy and rebellion; the Being ‘‘ who
weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a
balance,” and before whose presence, when he cometh
a second time to judge the world in righteousness, the
solid rocks shall flow down, and.be ‘‘ molten under him,
as wax before the-fire.” (Micahi. 4.)

Here then is a school in. which. the sceptic and the
unbeliever might learn much wisdom. In the midst of

the rugged scenery of the Cornish Tors, many a whole-

96 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

some lesson may be taught in unison with reason and
revelation. Here the evidence of the most terrible
event in the world’s past history, stands graven in im-
perishable records. As certainly as we conclude that
some great city has been overthrown, where we see the
plains strewed with fallen pillars, and the fragments of
man’s art, so may we point to the granite crags, with
their wendrous piles, and the huge boulders which strew
these hills and the adjacent vallies, as evidences that the
wrecks of a fallen world’s greatness are here,—monu-
ments alike of man’s guilt, and of the stroke of an
avenging Deity.

It would seem, however, as if from a very early
period of history, the Cornish Tors had been the resort
of those who were in some measure enabled to appre-
ciate the sublime and awful in the works of God.
That the Druids once held their assemblies on these
heights, has been commonly believed. The vicinity
of the remains of the supposed Druidical circle, termed
the Hurlers, which stand at a short distance from the
Cheese-wring, has been considered as sufficient to place

this conclusion on a sure foundation. The rock-basins,*

* Some Geologists have supposed that these remarkable
excavations, are the result of the Granitic substances reduced

i eee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 97

of circular excavations, which are formed on the tops
of many of the granite masses, and especially on the tops
of the Wring, are also viewed as corroborating the fact
of Druidical rites having been here formerly celebrated.
Whether these conclusions are not fanciful, and whe-
ther we may not rather suppose that the relics referred
to belong to a stil] more ancient, and perhaps patriar-

chal period,* it is impossible to determine. Certain,

*It has been, perhaps, too hastily concluded that the stone
circles of ancient times, are of Druidical origin, The Druids,
as their name imports, worshipped in grovesof the oak. That
such groves once flourished on Stonehenge, and the heights of
the Cornish Fills, seem very improbable. There is a better
reason for supposing that all these venerable specimens of an
ancient period of worship, were temples used by the original
tribes that peopled this island, either Celtic or Gothic. The
custom of erecting stones to consecrate a place was as early as
the patriarchs, (see Gen. xxviii. 13, Joshua iv. 20—24,) and
such stone structures of different kinds are found in almost
every country of the world. It is probable that they are the
earliest relics of the worship of Baal, or the Sun, as the Lord
of the heavenly host.

to a state of disintegration through the decomposing tendency
of the felspar. But if this were the case these hollows or hasins
would be much more common than they are. They are most
probably artificial, and were to the ancient religionists of these
hills what our baptisinal fonts are now. I have seen some of
them of the size and form of a church font, and in the height of
summer nearly filled with rain water.

98 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

*

however, it is, that religious worship of some kind was
anciently performed on these hills. These wild soli-
tudes might have been selected for this purpose, either to
promote a feeling of mystery or terror, or with a due
veneration for that which is most grand and awful in
the-works of the Divinity. If, as some have supposed,
the worship of the hcst of heaven was that which made
the devotees of this ancient idolatry to fix upon those
elevated spots, which commanded an uninterrupted
view of the Sun, and Moon, and Stars, in their varied
courses, then we have only a remarkable instance of the
manner in which a taste for the sublime and beautiful
of God’s work may be so perverted, as to lead to the
idolatry of the creature, rather than the worship of the
Creator. Certainly, a finer observatory than the tops
of one of the Cornish Tors could hardly have been
selected. It is worthy of observation that in an age of
superstition, no pains, nor self-denial, were deemed too
great to obtain the privilege of holding intercourse
with the Deity. We have a proof of this in the many
extraordinary monuments of antiquity which are yet
remaining. The works ascribed to the Druids in the
Northern regions of Europe; the temples of Elora in
the East, and the Pyramids of Egypt in the South, all

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 99

alike bear testimony to the fact that some mighty im-
pulse of religious zeal once animated the multitude in
the execution of works which are now considered as
almost superhuman.* It would be well if something
more of this enthusiasm in the cause of God pervaded the
mass of those who are now called Christians. We should
neither then want places of public devotion, where there
is a superabundant population, nor would those which
are built lack a due attendance of worshippers. If
more of the feeling which led our Cornish ancestors to
these hills, although to celebrate a superstitious and
perhaps idolatrous worship, were diffused through the
community at large, we should see less of that spirit of
indolence which is so prevalent in regard to the public

homage which is due to the Almighty. It may be that

* No mere exertion of arbitrary power acting upon the mul-
titude could have effected these wonders. The supposition is
altogether absurd. We might as well suppose the magnificent
edifices of what are termed the Gothic ages, were the result of
the despotica! will of the Prince and the servile state of the peo-
ple. But history confutes this supposition, and leaves us no al-
ternative but that of concluding that the labor employed in these
structures was voluntary. What a strange reflection is it that
to superstition we owe those monuments, which true religion
finds itself now too feeble to imitate, and this even with a far-
greater population !

100 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

those who have formerly frequented their temples on
these Tors, will ‘‘ rise up in the judgment,” and con-
demn those who have deserted their churches in the
plains. |

It can scarcely be doubted that one design of the
great Author of Nature, in affording to man the pri-
vilege of ascending such heights as these, was to give
him a proportionate elevation and enlargement of soul.
Man has not wings to fly upwards as a bird, and if his
view were always bounded by level plains, he could
have had comparatively, but a very narrow glimpse of
the divine works; and his ideas of them must have
been therefore much more mean and contracted than
they now are. One of the distinguished Poets of the
day has embodied this idea in a remarkable charac-

ter, whom he describes as

‘ A Herdsman on the lonely mountain tops.’

Taking occasion to shew how this occupation had en-
hanced his views of the word, as well as the works of
God, he has the following lines :—

* O then how beautiful, how bright appear’d

The written promise : early had he learn’d

To reverence the volume that displays
The mystery, the life which cannot die :

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 101

But in the mountains did he feel his faith,
Responsive to the writing, all things there
Breathed immortality, revolving life,

And greatness still revolving ; infinite ;

There littleness was not ; the least of things
Seem’d infinite ; and there his spirit shaped

Her prospects, nor did he believe, he saw.

What wonder if his being thus became

Sublime and comprehensive ! low desires,

Low thoughts had there no place.’— Wordsworth.

This picture is well drawn, and depicts the sensations
which a well regulated Christian mind must derive
from viewing the works of God as they are exhibited
upon the grandest scale. It is when man climbs nearer
to the heavens, by these stairs which the Divine Archi-
tect has provided for him, that his thoughts and
desires begin to acquire something of the character of
celestial magnitude. A new sense of the vastness of
the works of God is opened. Standing in the midst of
such a scene, the sentiment of the great Origen seems
to be fully experienced: ‘In this solitude the air is
purer ; heaven nearer; God more intimately present.’
Nor is the exclamation of Seneca here less appropri-
ate,—*‘ O how contemptible a thing is man, unless he
raises himself above human things.’ The mountain top
does indeed seem to furnish a happy image of the pious
K 5

102 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

soul exalted to a state of high moral freedom, and
placed beyond the reach of those ‘ low-thoughted’ and
grovelling cares which occupy so large a share of the
lives of men in general !

Well may the Poet of the Night Thoughts, revol-
ving the character of the good man in this point of

view, exclaim,—

‘Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw
What nothing less than angel can exceed,
A man on earth, devoted to the skies,
Like ships in seas, while in, above the world.
With aspect mild, and elevated cye,
Behold him seated on a mount serene,
Above the fogs of sense, and passion’s storm ;
All the black cares and tumults of this life
Like harmless thunder, breaking at his feet,
Excite his pity, not impair his peace.
Earth’s genuine son, the sceptic, and the slave,
A mingled mob, a wandering herd, he sees
Bewildered in the vale,’

In the economy of nature, mountains are de-
signed to answer many important uses. They serve
not only as the boundaries of nations and tribes, but
as a friendly shelter to protect the neighbouring lands, by
breaking the vioience of certain winds. Bat, perhaps,
one of their most beneficial purposes is to condense

into clouds those vapours which might otherwise pass

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 103

over the lands, without imparting to it their watry
treasures. Thus they act as alembics, to distil, to cool,
and to amass those fluids of the atmosphere which are

to be dispersed in springs and rivers. They may be

‘ considered as the reservoirs of nature, especially in those

countries where the summits of the mountains are
covered by considerable quantities of snow during all
or a greater part of the year. Had there been no
mountains, it is probable that we should have been ex-
posed to the miseries of a soil alternately parched, or
swamped. Theclouds would descend in rain upon vast
tracks at once, or pass over them, without descending
at all, as they do over the great and level desart of
Africa. Further, it must not be overlooked, that
mountains are generally the repositories of the mineral
kingdom ; of this the Cornish Tors are a striking ex-
ample. The whole range of hills which we are now
contemplating is traversed by numerous veins of tin,
copper, and other of the more valuable metals. Mi-
ning operations are here carried on, generally upon the
declivities of the hills, and at the places where there is
a junction between the slaty and granitic strata. Thus
it is that these rocky ridges of the earth’s surface, fulfil

Many important ends in its economy. Stern, rugged

104 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

and cheerless as they may appear in themselves, we
should sadly mistake did we conclude that they are a
blemish in the works of God. | His wisdom is here as

elsewhere apparent in making all things subservient to
the wants of man, and even to the most inanimate parts
of the creation, the mountains and hills to minister to
his praise. (Psalm cxlviii.)

Many, indeed, are the scriptural associations which
connect themselves with mountains, and some of them
are inthe highest degree interesting. Nor is this a
matter of surprise, when we know that Palestine was a
country richly diversified with hill and dale; not how-
ever, be it observed, of a mountainous character through-
out, like Switzerland, but more perhaps, resembling the
Highlands of Scotland, and what the district of the
Cornish Tors would be with a richer soil and a warmer
climate. Many of the most remarkable events of the
Old and New Testament took place on mountain
heights, and these not much greater in elevation than

some of the highest hills in Devonshire and Cornwall.*

* For example, mount Carmel, which is about 2000 feet high,
some say 1800 feet. Mount Tabor abouta mile. This is pro-
bably the highest of the mountains of the Holy Land, with the
exception of mount Lebanon, which belongs rather to Syria.
The highest land in Cornwallis Brown-willy, 1368 feet; but

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 105

A passing glance at the most striking of these will
shew to what an extent, the mountainous scenery of
the Holy Land has been the theatre of some of the
most memorable deeds in man’s history. Ona moun-
tain it was, according to the opinions cf the most il-
Justrious critics, that the Paradise of our first parents
was situated. On a mountain, most probably, Noah
builded the Ark, and we know that it was upon mount
Ararat that it rested, when the deluge had subsided.
On a mountain in theland of Moriah, Abraham offered
his son Isaac as a type of the crucified Messiah. Ona
mountain, the law was given to assembled Israel, and
Sinai and Horeb are still visited as hallowed spots,
which once blazed with the majestic presence of a
descended Deity. On a mountain, Moses and Aaron
look their last farewell of the tribes whom they had
brought up out of the house of bondage. Aaron died
upon mount Hor, and Moses from the top of Pisgah
cast his eyes over the goodly prospects of the promised
land, and then expired. Eliiah, upon mount Carmel,
vindicated the honour of Jehovah in the presence of the
priests of Baal, and produced a triumphant token of the

some of the Dartmoor hills reach nearly to the elevation of
2000 feet.

\
106 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

greatness of Israel’s God in the descent of the holy
fire. Upon the sacred mount of Horeb was the same
prophet privileged to stand, while the Lord passed by,
and manifested his glory in the “‘ earthquake, the fire,
and the still small voice.” On a mountain did Solo-
mon build that magnificent temple, which was to per.
petuate the worship of Jehovah to the times of the
Messiah, and to be honoured by the presence of the
Msssiah himself, as the Lord of the Temple, and the
Messenger of the New Covenant. And on a mountain
within sight of this, was that Cross erected, which was
to open the gates of the heavenly Temple to all true
believers. The Saviour himself discovered no small
attachment to those places, which were consecrated by
so many affecting and awful associations. His favorite
haunt for solitary prayer and holy meditation was a
mountain. All the chief scenes of his life, as far as
they are recorded, happened in mountainous places.
} From his infancy he breathed the air of the mountain
hills; for Bethlehem, where he was born, and Naza-
reth, where he was brought up, were both situated in
some of the most elevated districts of the Holy Land.
The rock of Rimmon, (Judges xxii. 45. 47,) or mount

Quarantania, is believed to have been the scene of our

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 107

Lord’s temptation, and the spot where Satan affected to
shew him all the kingdoms of the world, and their
glory. Mount Tabor was without doubt signalized by
the splendid event of his transfiguration; and within
sight of this, on the mount of the Beatitudes, the mul-
titude assembled to hear him pronounce that most
beautiful summary of moral duties from which its name
is derived. On mount Calvary, the Redeemer expired,
and from mount Olivet he ascended to heaven. Finally,
in the day when Israel’s desolations are to be repaired,
his feet shall again stand upon this mountain to execute
the wonders of the Millenial age. (Zech. xiv.) And in
that day the mountain of the Lord’s house, as again
erected upon mount Zion, shall be exalted above the
hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. (Isaiah ii. 2.)
At that period which will be pregnant with mighty
events to the Church of God in general, and to the
world at large, it seems probable that Paganism,
Mahometanism, and Popery shall every where receive
a fearful overthrow, as the Prophet Isaiah declares, ii.
18. They who have been worshippers of idols shall
east them to the moles and to the bats; and so con-
founded shall they be with the fearful judgments around.
them, that ‘‘they shall go into the clefts of the rock,

108 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the
Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth
to shake terribly the earth.” At that period also it seems
highly probable that the terrible events of the sixth
seal shall receive either a literal or symbolical accom-
plishment. (Rev. vi.)* And as in the day when the
flood came, and the waters were every where rising,
men rushed in consternation to the tops of the lofty
hills for security, so in that day of terror and doom the’
mountains shall again be resorted to, not indeed with
the hope of salvation; for the lenguage of despairing
guilt will cry to the mountains and rocks, ‘‘ Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great
day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to
stand ?”

“What sublimer and more solemn thoughts, -then, can
anv part of the universe suggest, than those which are

stirred up within us, as we look on the rocky scenery

* Verses 12—17. Bishop Newton and others makes this
Seal refer to the revolutions which took place in the Roman
world, at the time Christianity was introduced by Constantine ;
but I adopt the hypothesis of the learned Vitringa in the above
interpretation, and prefer his Treatise on the Apocalypse to
every other that I have met with on that subject.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 109

which is now the subject of contemplation! Such
scenes as these the language of sacred history and pro-
phecy continually bring before us; and this for no idle
purpose, but that our hearts and memories and imagi-
nations may all be thereby more deeply engaged by
objects which are naturally suited to excite in us the
highest and noblest emotions! Who can doubt that
the sacred narratives would have had somewhat less of
that general interest which they now inspire, had the
scenes which they describe taken place in a flat or dull
country ? And who does not see that the writers who
describe or refer to these scenes so frequently, must
have been men possessed of a genuine and ardent sen-
sibility for those grand and romantic features of nature
which presented themselves to view in the Holy Land?
Let it not be thought extravagant to suppose that
the mountainous scenery of England, and even of this
county, may awaken feelings as holy, and exalted,
and as profitable as that to which it has become ahhidat
fashionable in the present day to perform a long pilgri-
mage. What, therefore, though it be not our privilege
to ascend an Alpine summit from whence we may com-
mand the view of kingdoms, instead of counties ?—
What though it be denied to us to follow the footsteps

L

110 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

of the Son of God up to the summit of that very mount
Tabor, from whence with him we might cast an eye of
delighted rapture around the glorious panorama of scenes
hallowed by every heavenly association, and by every
earthly charm? We need not complain ;—while the
Cornish Tors, and the many other hills of our own
land remain to us, we may mount their summits, and
feel a gratification much more intense than theirs who
look down from higher and more sacred eminences, but
upon lands far less favored than our own with the
blessings of liberty and true religion. Here, indeed,
also may the Christian learn as well as if he stood
upon a much higher pinnacle of rocks, that ‘as the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is
round about his people from henceforth even for ever.”
Here, too, may he profitably remember the might of
that Being, ‘‘ who setteth fast the mountains, being
girded with power.” And from hence he may gather
that lesson of confidence in God, so beautifully enforced
by the mouth of Isaiah, (liv, 10,) ‘‘The mountains
shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord,”

Nor while the pious obseryer here gains a lesson of

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. lll

faith, will he be less ready to gather up those maxims
of é¢aution and watchfulness, which the dangerous cha-
racter of thése rugged though lofty eminencies may
well teach him. Hence he will learn not to be high-
‘minded but to fear; ‘and while he glances around upon
these rocky wilds, and estimates the dangers of bemg
overtaken by the horrors of night in such a region, and
without a guide, he is enabled to see the evil of pro-
crastination in religion, and to feel the force of the
prophetic warning, (Jer. xiii. 16,) ‘‘ Give glory to the
Lord God, before he cause darkness, and before your
feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and while ye
look for light, he tarn it into the shadow of death, and
make it gross darkness.”

Farther, whilst surveying the solid and immoveable
forms of the huge masses that crown the summits of
these Tors, the Christian will not fail to be reminded of
the majesty and unchangeableness of that Divine Wis-
dom, which was set up from everlasting, before the
mountains were settled. (Prov. viii. 25.) Nor less will
the sense of that Almighty power which is here so
apparent, serve to awe his spirit, and excite his reve-
rence, especially when he remembers that this power

as it manifested itself of old, ‘‘ beheld, and drove asun-

112 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

der the nations, and the everlasting mountains were
scattered, the perpetual hills did bow.” (Habb. iii. 6.)
This terrible view of the majesty of God, as it manifested
itself in the giving of the law to Israel, will lead him to
the conclusion that nothing less than an act of the same

power must have attended the-greatness of the dying

sufferer whose parting groan caused the solid founda-
tions of mount Moriah to quake, and the hard rocks to
be riven. Thus beholding the greatness of his Saviour,

inscribed as it were upon the most durable moauments
of the globe, the disciple of Christ may learn more

truly to trust his Lord, knowing his strength as a sin-
cere believer, and being assured that ‘a a mountain of
difficulties lay in his path, and he had “faith only as a
grain of mustard-seed, he might say to this mountain,
‘« Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and
it should be done.” (Matth. xxi. 21.)

Such are some of the topics of Christian reflection,
which a visit to the Cornish Tors should suggest. In
the lowly retreats of the valley, as well, indeed, as
upon the mountain tops, suitable ideas of the God of
nature and of grace may be formed. But things which
are formed upon the largest scale of grandeur, as they

seem to bring us nearer to the Great Infinite, can never

5
=

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 113

be contemplated without the highest emotions. He
who has neglected when occasion offered to ascend to
the high places of the earth, must want a soul fitted
for the highest and noblest exercises of piety. He
turns his back upon a feast which his Creator has pre-
pared for him, and is destitute of that sensibility, which
the usages of every people, and the piety of every creed,
has confessed and sanctioned. We may sum up, in short,
the varied and striking attractions which here present
themselves in the glowing language of a modern writer:
‘ Mountains are the source of the most absorbing sensa-
tions; there stands magnitude giving the instant impres-
sion of a power above man;—grandeur that defies
decay ;—antiquity that tells of ages unnumbered ;—
beauty that the touch of time makes only more beauti-
ful ;—use exhaustless for the service of man ;—strength
imperishable as the globe ;—the monument of eternity;

—the truest earthly emblem of that everliving, un-
changeable, irresistible majesty, by whom and for

whom all things were made.’

b 5

114 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

AUGUST.

rs

INSECTS._THE BEEHIVE.

pee

‘ To their delicious task the fervent Bees,
In swarming millions tend ; around, athwart,
Through the soft air, the busy nations fly,

Cling to the bud, and with inserted tube,

Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul ;

And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare

The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows,
And yellow load them with the luscious spoil.’

To whatever part of the works of God we turn
our attention, there is much to draw forth feelings of
wonder and admiration. But perhaps if we could look
through nature with a more intelligent eye than we
possess, we might discover even higher cause for
astonishment among the little than the great things
of creation. The mighty Oak, which has braved the
storms of centuries; the huge Mountain, with its foam-
ing torrents; the Sun, shedding life and heat upon a
dark world; and the Moon, walking in her brightness

through the midnight heavens, are instances upon @

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 115

large and extensive scale of the grandeur of creation’s
God. But when from such objects we turn to those
small animated forms which we term insects, and
which swarm in myriads through every part of the
world which we inhabit, we are lost in the consideration
of that endless variety of skill which the Creator has
bestowed upon creatures which, though they appear,
at first sight, insignificant, are in reality highly im-
portant in the scale of being. To these has been given
not only a form which is “curiously and wonderfully
wrought,” but that peculiar faculty which naturalists
term instinct. God has furnised many of them with a
body, beautiful as well as curious. Some are equipped
with wings of almost celestial splendor ; and multitudes
of them are found, when closely examined by the help
of magnifying glasses, to be cased in glittering armour,
and possessed of weapons or instruments which man
has only invented for himself by the exercise of reason
during a long course of ages.

‘ All their operations,’ says an eminent Naturalist,
‘are performed with admirable precision and dexterity ;
and though they do not usually var'y the mode, yet that
mode is always the best that can be conceived for at-

taining the end in view. The instruments also with

116 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

which they are provided are no less wonderful and
various, than the operations themselves. They have
their saws, and files, and augers, and gimlets, and
knives, and lancets, and scissors, and forceps, with
many other similar implements, several of which act
in more than one capacity, and with a complex and
alternate motion to which we have not attained in the
use of our tools.’ ‘Nor is the fact so extraordinary as
it may seem at first, since ‘‘ He who is wise in heart,
and wonderful in working,” is the inventor and fabrica-
tor of the apparatus of insects, which may be considered
as a set of miniature patterns drawn for our use by a di-
vine hand.’*

The same author observes, ‘In variegation insects
certainly exceed every class of beings. Nature, in her
sportive mood when painting them, sometimes imitates
the clouds of heaven ; at others, the meandering course
of the rivers of the earth. Many are veined like beauti-
ful marbles, others have the semblance of a robe of the
finest network thrown over them. On many, taking
her rule and compasses, she draws with precision mathe-
matical figures, triangles, squares, circles, &e. On

others, she pourtrays with mystic hand what seem like

* Kirby and Spence’s Entomology.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 117

hieroglyphic symbols, or inscribes them with the cha-
racters of various languages; and what is more extra
ordinary, she has registered in others figures which
correspond with several dates of the Christian era.
Again, to some nature has given fins like those of fish,
or a beak like that of birds; to others horns; the bull,
the stag, the rhinoceros, and even the unicorn have in
this respect many representatives among insects,’
‘Insects also,’ says this writer, ‘ may with very little
violence be regarded as symbolical of beings out of and
above nature. The butterfly, adorned with every beauty
and every grace, borne by radiant wings through the fields
of ether, and extracting nectar from every flower, gives
us some idea of the blessed inhabitants of happier
worlds; of angels, and the spirits of the just arrived
at their state of perfection. Again, others seem emble-
matical of a different class of our earthly beings, when
“we survey their horns, spines, &c. the dens of dark-
ness in which they live, the impurity of their food,
their cruelty, the nets they spread, and the pits they
sink to entrap the unwary, we can scarcely help regard-
ing them as aptly symbolizing evil demons, the enemies
of man, for their crimes and vices driven from the

regions of light into darkness and punishment.’

118 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

The habits displayed by insects are, in numerous
instances, so curious and wonderful, as almost to sur-
pass the efforts of reason; while the structurés they
erect are often so stupendous in their bulk in proportion
to the size of the animal, and built with so much skill
as to put to shame the greatest monuments of power and
genius. The silken tent in which many caterpillars
live and undergo their change, is a more striking object
than the palace of a king ; and the Beehive is a greater
wonder than the Pyramids of Egypt; for in the ope-
rations of the insect tribes, we can trace far more
clearly and directly the impress of a divine wisdom
directing all their movements. We see the Creator’s
skill upon a small and reduced scale, but it is stil] the
same—infinite in littleness as in greatness. We are
still called upon to mark, with wondering eyes,

‘The unambiguous footsteps of the God

Who gives it lustre to an insect’s wing,

And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.’
As an insect well known to all, and remarkable for its
skill, we shall select by way of illustration the
Honey Bee. At the present season, the habits of this
interesting little creature come under our daily obser-

vation. Whenever the sun shines, we may see him

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIS?. 119

winging his way over the fields and gardens, alighting
upon every favourite flower, and drinking from each a
portion of their nectar. For this purpose the Bee is
provided with a most singular apparatus. Its tongue
is so constructed as to penetrate into every recess of
the flower where the honey lies, and this is received
into a bag capable of great inflation, previous to its
being swallowed and consigned to the honey stomach.
Its thighs are also so formed as to be capable some-
times of carrying home to its hive a load of the pollen,
or yellow dust of flowers, which is necessary for the
food of the young grubs; and at other times for the
collection of a gummy substance called propolis, which
is used as a cement for various purposes connected with
the hiye. This substance which is collected generally
from the poplar, birch, or willow is used to stop up the
chinks of the hive, but sometimes it is employed by the
Bees in a still more ingenious mannér, ‘They are ex-
tremely solicitous to remove such insects, or foreign
bodies, as happen to get admission into their hive.
When so light as not to exceed their power, they first
kill the insect with their stings, and then drag it out with
their teeth, But it sometimes happens that an ill-fated

slug creeps into the hive; this is no sooner perceived

120 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

than it is attacked on all sides, and stung to death.

But how are the Bees to carry out so heavy a burden ?

Such a labour would be impossible. In order therefore

to prevent such a noxious smell that would arise from

its putrefaction, they immediately embalm it, by covering
every part of the body with this propolis, or glue,

through which no effluvia can escape. When a snail
gets entrance into a hive, the disposal of it gives much

less trouble to the Bees. As soon as it receives the

first wound from a sting, it naturally retires within its
shell. In this case, the Bees, instead of pasting it all

over with this cement, content themselves with gluing
all round the margin of the shell, which is sufficiently
to render the animal immoveably fixed.

To enable them to collect this substance, and the
farina of flowers, and to transport these burdens to their
hives, nothing can be more curiously formed than the
apparatus of limbs which has been provided for this
purpose by the Creator. The middle portion of the
hind legs is actually formed into a sort of a triangular
basket by the aid of a margin of strong and thickly set
bristles, which thus secure whatever is placed within
them from falling out. Wonderful as this may appear,

our wonder is increased if we follow the Bee to ifs re-

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 121

treat. The architectural skill which is there displayed
in the construction of the hive, is well known to all
who have investigated the process. The six sided
cells erected to contain the honey, are exactly what a
human architect would build if he were required to
erect a building that should contain the largest quantity
of room in the smallest possible space, and with the
smallest quantity of materials. The most accurate ma-
thematical calculations have proved this to be a fact.
And have shewn that the Bee is so good a calculator as
to expend no needless portion of wax upon her habita-
tion. For that this is the most precious part of her pro-
ductions, being secreted in the scales of the abdomen
‘from the honey swallowed, and this only from the
bodies of a portion of the hive, has been shewn by
Huber,* the celebrated Bee Naturalist, who devoted a

large portion of his life to this curious investigation.

*For most of the information we possess on the Natural
History of Bees we are indebted to Huber, a native of Geneva,
who died in 1831. It is a singular fact that for 40 years during
which he prosecuted this study he was dlind, and pursued his
researches only by the eyes of his wife. Among other various
inventions by which he carried on his experiments, was a hive
which he called his leaf-hive, from its opening and shutting like
the leaves of a book.

122 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

When we further see how these honey store-houses
_ are exactly filled and sealed up for future use, it is im-
possible not to be struck with the astonishing instinct
thus displayed, which leads them to accumulate their
treasure with so much care against a period of want
and repose. Equally surprising, however, is the har-
mony which subsists in the Beehive, whose inmates are
perhaps seldom fewer than 15,000. The greatest order
is preserved amongst them; for all are industrious,
all know their places, and they have none of that love
of change which so frequently produces so many ca-
lamities among human beings. A distinguished Poet
well described them, when he thus compared them to a
well ordered monarchy,—

‘Creatures that by arule in nature teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom ;
They have a king, and officers of sorts,
Where some like magistrates correct at home ;
Others like merchants venture trade abroad ;
Others like soldiers armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds,—
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor,—
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ;
The poor mechanic-porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. _ 123

The sad eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o’er to ex-ecutors pale
The lazy yawning drone.’—Shakespeare.

This poetical description which was written more than
200 esis ago, has been verified by observers in subse-
quent times in all its main particulars. It has been as-
_certained to acertainty from numerous experiments that
every hive has a queen Bee, which is the mother of
the community, and whom they follow when the hive
swarms to seek a new settlement. Without a queen
they can neither be made to work, nor indeed to settle
any where; and the affection with which they regard
her, is as full of striking particulars as indeed are all
the other features of the history of this astonishing
insect.

The various instincts which divine Providence has
thus implanted in the Bee, will supply us with many
useful and religious hints as to our conduct as rational
beings, and as Christians. The industry of this little
animal in collecting honey against a season when no
honey could be obtained, may shame the indolence of
that man who, however industrious he may be about
the trifles of this life, makes no provision for a period

when if he has not laid up a store of those good things

124 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

by which he may be accounted rich towards God, he
must assuredly perish. (1 Tim. vi. 19.) And on the
other hand the diligence with which the Bee examines
every flower, when in search of its favorite repast, is a
beautiful example of the truly active and zealous
Christian who is constantly employed in his Heavenly’
Master’s service, whose meat and drink it is to do his
will, and to finish his work. He, like the honey Bee,
feasts himself continually upon the riches of God’s
word, and extracts nourishment therefrom for himself,
and the whole family of man. He is not selfish, but
divides the gifts of God with others; communicates
freely a portion of what he gathers ; bears cheerfully
his burdens; is a loval subject; a good citizen; a
useful and loving member of the Church to which he
belongs. He also, like the tenant of the Beehive, is a
wise master-builder, for he builds upon the good
foundation which God has laid in Zion; raises there-
upon Christ, the well ordered structure of a righteous-
ness framed with all the beauty of spiritual workman-
ship; lays up in hima store of bliss against the evil
day; and thus in the mean while is enabled to say with
David, ‘‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting

the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 125

wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right,
| rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring for ever: the judgment of the Lord
is true and righteous altogether. More to be de-
sired than fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the

honey-comb.”

SEPTEMBER.

Pore

THE CORN-FIELD.

ae

* Here Ceres’ gifts in waving prospect stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper’s hand ;
Rich industry sits smiling on the plains,

And peace and plenty tell Jehovah reigns.’

Or all the objects which attract the eye at this
delightful season, there is none of greater interest than
a fine field of standing corn. The Psalmist beautifully
gives vent to his feelings, and expresses the true fervor
of an admirer of nature, when he observes, ‘‘ The yallies

mM 5

126 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. .

are covered over with corn: they shout for joy, they
also sing.” (Psalm Ixv. 13.) Our blessed Lord, whilst
upon earth appears to have participated in such feelings,
and to have taken a deep interest in such scenes.
We find him on one occasion passing through the corn-
fields on the Sabbath-day, and taking advantage of the
circumstances of his walk there, to instruct his disciples,
and to reprove the Pharisees who accompanied him.
Three of the Evangelists have recorded the fact, as if
they deemed it especially worthy of notice. St. John
also has described him on another occasion, as drawing
one of his most beautiful illustrations of divine truth
from the ripening corn-fields which surrounded that
spot where he had first been conversing with the Sama-
ritan woman. ‘‘ Say-not ye there are yet four months,
and then cometh harvest: behold, I say unto you, Lift
up your eyes, and look: on the fields ; for they are white
already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that both
he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice toge-
ther.”

That we may imitate this custom of our blessed
Saviour, let us reflect while walking in the corn-field at
this season, upon the ideas which it most forcibly sug-

gests to the Christian.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 127

The first thing that strikes the attention amidst such
a scene, is the admirable proof of design which is dis-
played in the plant which produces corn.—‘ The very
structure of the stem-part,’ says an ingenious observer,
‘ carries in it the footsteps of eminent wisdom. It is
proper that this should be somewhat tall, that its spike
may be sufficiently elevated above the earth ; partly that
its precious treasure may not be exposed to the cold
vapours which in the evenings arise from the soil to a
certain height ; partly that it may not be rotted by too
much moisture : and perhaps that the juices from the
earth may be properly concocted by so long a tube, and
the many secretions which lie in so long a passage.
But then how difficult to support a vegetable to such a
height as five feet, when it is not above the sixth part
of an inch in diameter ? It must be so strong as to
stand, and yet not so stubborn as to refuse to bow

without breaking.* Hence its Contriver has wonderfully

/

* Galileo, the most profound philosopher of his age, when
interrogated by the inquisition as to his belief in a Supreme
Being, replied, pointing to.a straw on the floor of his dungeon,
that from the structure of that object alone, he would infer
with. certainty the existence of an intelligent Creator.—Dr.
Roget, in his Bridgewater Treatise, note in page 81. On vege-
table Organization, he further observes : The stems of grasses

128 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

provided that it should be divided into several partitions,
that each part, should be strengthened by a knot; and
that from each knot should proceed a covering that
shall preserve the division above it. By the great
strength which lies in these bands, the stem is preserved
from breaking, when under the impression of the winds
blowing from any quarter. Thus the growth of this
important vegetable takes place. The cane-like part
not appearing till all danger from the winter’s cold is
past; and when summer sheds its balmy influence,
Providence intrusts the most precious part, and for
which the other parts are all disposed, to discover itself.
It is curious to observe the various compartments which
are provided for every individual of the grains composing
the ear; the distribution is equal, that every one of the
little family may have its proper nourishment. Each
has a membrane between it and the stalk, and a two-
fold one outward, peculiarly to defend it where the

greatest hazard lies; and all are inclosed, as with a

are hollow tubes ; their most solid parts, which frequently con-
sist of a thin layer of silex, occupying the surface of the cylin-
der. Of all the possible modes of disposing a given quantity of
materials in the construction of a column, it is mathematically
demonstrable that this is the most effective for obtaining the
greatest possible degree of strength,

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 129

thorny hedge, that is, the beards, perhaps to keep off
some minute vermin. The whole of this beautiful ap-
paratus is probably intended to preserve the precious
inclosure from opposite inclemencies—thescorching rays
of the sun by which it may be shrunk up and withered
before it is sufficiently filled, and too great a lodgment
of rain or dew whereby it might be rotted.’

Another point equally worthy of notice, is the fer-
tility here displayed. The reader need not perhaps be
told, that this fertility arises in great measure from the
number of different stems which spring from each plant
or seed; but he may yet have to learn, that the ordi-
nary number of these which in the case of wheat seldom
exceeds four in this country, has in some instances
reached to forty or fifty: and if we may credit the
assertion of ancient writers, has occasionally amounted
to several hundreds. Now in this fertility, there is the
most evident proof of the goodness of the Creator, as
adapting itself to the wants and comforts of his
creatures,

As that great natural philosopher, Ray, observed,
long ago in his admirable Treatise, entitled, ‘the Wis-
dom of God manifested in the Works of Creation :’
‘It is worthy the noting, that. wheat which is the best

oo

130 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

sort of grain, of which the purest, most savoury and
wholesome bread is made, is patient of both extremes,
heat and cold, growing, and bringing its seed to ma-
turity, not only in the temperate countries, but also on
one hand in the cold and Northern, 7. e. Scotland, Den-
mark, &c. on the other in the hottest and most Southerly,
as Egypt, Barbary, Mauritania, the Kast Indies, Guinea,
Madagascar, &c. scarce refusing any climate,.’*

It is not a little remarkable that the original country
from whence this beneficial plant was derived is now
unknown. The same may be observed of the most
valuable grasses. It appears that wheat and millet,
though not of the same’ species as now cultivated in this
country, have been found in hillv situations in the East
Indies.t Like the potatoe, however, of which Hum-
boldt declares that the true original country is totally

unknown; a blessing seems to have been reserved for

* On the fertility of wheat, ‘Pliny remarks,’ says Ray, ‘ that
nothing is more fruitful than wheat ; Augustus’s procurator sent
him from Africa nearly 400 ears springing from one grain, and
to Nero were sent from thence 360. If Pliny a heathen could make
this fertility of wheat argumentative of the bounty of God to
mankind, surely it ought not to be passed over by us Christians
without notice taking and thanksgiving.— Third Edition p. 126.

+ Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Gardening, p. 203.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 131

the different species of grain which are used for the
food of man, in proportion to their diffusion. Though
removed far from the parent soil they do not appear to
have thereby degenerated in the course of ages, but on
the contrary to have become more productive, which is
not thecase with plants in general, What then can afford
a more striking proof of the superintending eye of Pro-
vidence, which in this instance has exerted so extraor-
dinary a degree of vigilance over the beneficial cultiva-
tion of those productions, upon which so much of the
tempors| happiness of man is suspended!

It must not, however, be forgotten that many ages
passed away before the people of this land were able to
realize fully the blessings which are here now so libe-
rally provided for them by the Great Giver of all good
things. It is only within our own era, that these bles-
sings have been placed within the reach of the lowest,
as well as the highest classes of society. The poor man
has now his wheaten loaf generally as well as the rich
man; and nothing can tend more fully to establish the
act of the improved condition of the labouring classes
generally, than this circumstance. When we recollect
that our ancestors lived upon barley cakes, and that

wheat was far too expensive a luxury for any but the

132 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

higher orders, we may see in the beneficial change that
has taken place in modern times, a sufficient proof of
our advancement as a nation, and of the favors which
the bounty of heaven heaps upon us. Let us contrast
those countries of Europe, as for instance Russia, and
Poland, where the peasantry still live upon their hard
black rye bread, with that of our own, where such food
is very rarely to be seen; or let us cast our eyes over
those numerous tribes of the earth where the bulk of
the inhabitants still live upon their roots, their acoras,
or even their *baked balls of clay; and we shall need
no further argument to prove that England is the hap-
piest country upon the globe, and its constitution, with
all ‘its imagined ills, the fruitful source of comforts
which no other nation upon earth, so richly enjoys.
There is a remarkable analogy observable between
the improvements of agriculture and the growth of
the . grain which the fields produce at this season.
The advances which each have made to perfection

are very ‘slow and gradual, and our Lord has taught

* See a curious account of the Ottomacos, a tribe of Indians
living near the Orinoco, whose chief diet consists of an unc-
tuous clay made into balls and baked.— Humboldt’s Tubleauge de
la Nature.

or

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 133

us to derive from this a lesson of spiritual instruction.
° So is the kingdom of heaven, as if a man should
cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise
night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up,

_he knoweth not how.” (Mark iv. 26.) Hereby intima-
ting to us that the progress of religion both in the
world and the human soul, is not as some suppose sud-
den and instantaneous, but rather resembles seed
committed to the ground, which after a few successions
of day and night, imperceptibly vegetates: peeps at
length above the surface ; then rises higher and higher ;
and, at last, ripens into the more perfect form which it
must assume, before it is gathered into the final store-
house.

There is another idea of equal importance, which
suggests itself by the lovely scene under contemplation.
Those beautiful ears of corn which now in all the ma-
jestic modesty of nature, bow to every passiny breeze,
but a few months since would have covered, if outspread,
only a few feet of ground, and were but a mass of dead
matter. But what are they now? Now, indeed, they
are full of life and splendour; and would appear to him
who should attempt to number them, numerous as the
drops of morning dew, or countless as the sands upor

N

134 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

the sea-shore. How glorious an emblem is this of the
resurrection of believers at the last day, when this cor-
ruptible shall put on incorraption ; and when the nar-
row limits that now confine the sleeping dead, shall
pour forth its myriads of glorified bodies who have
shaken off the bondage of corruption, and who are
ready at the blast of the Archangel’s trump which shall
summon them to the presence of their Father and their
God, to bow in humble adoration, and to cast their
crowns before the throne of him that liveth for ever
and ever !

But to return from such musings to the scene imme-
diately before us, If we ask the agriculturalist to tell
us how the change just alluded to has been effected, he
will probably reply, that his promising crop is the
result of favourable weather, of . good soil and of rich
. manure. Surely, however, if we would view this scene
aright, we must go at leuat one step. higher, and ac-
knowledge the Divine hand exercising its constant
-eontrol and superintendance over all. these its inferior
agents. For as ‘‘man doth .not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of

God,” so also the ground does. not yield. its increase

anless the blessing of God be upon it. Hence we

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 135

read, “A fruitful land maketh he barren, for the
wickedness of them that dwell therein,” (Psalm evii.
34;) and, on the other hand, it is observed, ‘‘ Thou

visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly en-

richest it with the river of God, which is full of water ;

thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided
for it.” (Psalm Ixv. 10.) How easily then may our
national or individual sins frustrate all the effects of
industry, by provoking God to make the ‘‘ heavens as
brass, and the earth as iron ;” or to curse the ground
with that original sterility which it contracted by the
fall of our first parents. This curse, it should be
recollected with gratitude, has been greatly mitigated
in the lapse of years, through the mercy of that God

‘‘whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his

"ways as our ways.” The ground does not now bring

forth thorns and thistles merely: nor is man reduced
to the necessity, as Adam was, of eating the herb of
the field. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the
curse was so far fulfilled as to exemplify, in the most
striking manner, the evil consequences of sin. The
early history of man has in most countries been that of
a wild wandering savage. Such was the state of

Britain, (at least the far greater part of it,) before

136 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

its conquest by the Romans. It was a land of forests
and of bogs, whose inhabitants trusted to that scanty
and precarious mode of existence which was to be
obtained by the chace, or by the feeding of cattle,
upon some of the more Juxurious spots. For the intro-
duction of all the more valuable arts of agriculture
they were indebted to the Roman Conquerors, who
to their praise left behind them here, as in other
lands, a knowledge of this and many other useful
arts. Thus by the overruling Providence of God,
that lovely plant, which is every where the symbol of 3
plenty and prosperity, was destined to spring up in the
iron footsteps of war. Rome was then the mistress of
the world, as Great Britain is now; and it may well
become the latter to consider whether she has conferred
upon other lands where she has obtained an ascendancy,
the same advantages that her heathen conquerors of old
did. This is a question which has been too much for-
gotten among us in past times. It must be confessed,
that as a nation, no efforts have been made on a scale
commensurate with our national greatness, to benefit
those spiritually, who have been brought under our
yoke. Though professing a religion far superior to

every thing that ancient Rome could boast of, we have

t

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 137

shewn an apathy to its extension, which our Roman Con-
querors would have been ashamed of, as if we feared
that too much religious zeal would weaken our con-
quests, or as if we had arrived at the conclusion that
the religion which is an acknowledged benefit to our-
selves, would be no bénefit to others. This has been
the case, especially with regard to India.* Happily,
however, there are signs that the spirit of the nation

is at length awakening from its long trance of apathy

and selfishness. And we trust the day is not far dis--

tant when as a people we shall roll away from us this
reproach of being indifferent to the spread of our
religion, and of being more anxious to unfurl the flag
of commerce, than the blood-red banner of the cross.

It is a consideration for those especially who now
share in the blessing of a plentiful harvest, whether
they are sufficiently sensible of their obligations to the
“‘ Lord of the harvest.” The bounty of heaven, which

* We allude to the custom of collecting a tax from pilgrims
going to the shrine of Juggernaut, and the employment of
British Soldiers to do honour to the idolatrous festivals of
the Hindoos, by military attendance and parade on these occa-
sions, as well as to the very small and disproportionate aid
which has been granted by the British Senate, to the extension
of Christianity in this the most important of its colonies,

n 5

138 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,» .

has so long been poured down upon this island de-
mands an adequate return. England, we believe, has
been permitted to take its high rank among the nations,
in order that like Israel of old, the ark of God’s testi-
mony might be preserved within her, and that her
name might be a tower of strength to the cause of
Protestant Christianity throughout the world. If by
any infidelity to her heavenly master, she betrays the
sacred cause with which she is entrusted, then also it is
no difficult matter to predict that her rank and glory
will soon be forfeited. ‘‘ The kingdom will be taken
from her, and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof.” | |

It should also be remembered, that combining in one as
this country does, the most valuable gifts of agriculture
and commerce, it possesses advantages which no nation
has hitherto enjoyed; at least in the same degree.
Truly it may be said of us ia the language of the Seer
ef old, ‘‘ How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy
tabernacles, O Israel.” ‘‘ As the valleys are they
spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees
of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar

trees beside the waters.* He shall pour the water

* This metaphor seems to refer to the practice of profuse

— a. hl UC SS —_ "wie es
ae.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 139

out of his buckets, and hiS seed shall be in many
waters,...... and his kingdom shall be exalted.”
(Num. xxiv. 5—7.)

With equal propriety might the departing Moses
have said of England, as of Joseph, could he have
viewed it in the present century, ‘‘ Blessed of the
Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven,
for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun,
and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and
for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for
the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the
precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and
for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush:......
irrigation, which is necessary at certain seasons in dry oriental
countries, especially for the young crops of rice. The exten-
sive and prosperous increase of the Jewish nation, is the fact
intimated by this highly figurative language. Waters are the
appropriate emblem of progeny. See Isaiah xlviii, 1, Psalm
Ixviii. 26, Prov. v. 5—18. With this interpretation the Greek
interpreter, and the ancient Targumists, agree. But water is the
symbol of the gospel, and of the Holy Spirit’s operations. See
John iv, 14, and vii. 38,39. As then the state of ancient Israel
was typical of the Christian Church, there is good reason for
supposing that this prophecy, like that of Isaiah xii. 3, is to be
spiritually understood of the pouring forth of the refreshing

waters of Christianity, through the instrumentality of a Jewish
race.

eS |

140 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

His glory is like the retliug of his bullock, and his
horns are like the horns of unicorns; with them he
shall push the people together to the end of the earth,”
(Deut. xxxili. 13 —17.)

Would to God that this splendid picture of national
prosperitv might awaken suitable feelings of gratitude in
every British heart! Then, indeed, a walk through the
cornefields at this season would not be in vain. For it
would serve to set before us an image of that fertility
and glory which adorns and dignifies our land; and we
should here gain that high incentive to the great work
of spreading the gospel, which is a duty especially
belonging to the inhabitants of this favoredisie. There
is, indeed, no stronger argument for the circulation of
the Holy Scriptures, and for the labours of Mission-
ary Societies, than that which is supplied by the smiling
scenes of plenty around us. For what are these but
a type of that harvest of the church of God, which
must at length be gathered in from every quarter of
the globe. And truly it may be said that the fields
are already ‘‘ white to this harvest.” Though the
labourers have as yet been but few and far between,
much progress has been made in preparing the way for

fina] success; and were the progress smaller than it is,

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 141

there would be no ground to mistrust the Divine
promises. If forty centuries were suffered to pass away
before the Sun of Righteousness arose, why should we
wonder that the spiritual harvest of the earth is not yet
quite ripe, after the lapse of only half this period ?
This event, however, like every other will come in its
appointed season. The Divine promises may be de-
layed, but cannot be frustrated. As surely as the
grain ripens in the autumn, that period is rapidly
hastening to its completion when the whole earth shall
be ‘‘asa fruitful field which the Lord hath blessed.’
It is the privilege of true faith to wait for the vision,
though it tarry long, and to adopt the triumphant per-
suasion of the dying lawgiyer of Israel. ‘‘ There is
none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon
the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the
sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath
are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the
enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain
of Jacob shall be upona land of corn and wine.” (Deut.
Xxxiii. 26.)

But the corn-field suggests other ideas of an equally

interesting kind. It is our Lord’s own emblem of the

142 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

Church, as at all times existing in the world. The
crop before us, though strong and heavy, is not free
from weeds. And thus the Church of Christ in the
present day, though promising and prosperous, is not
devoid of false professors. The tares* of Judea are
unknown in this land; just as many of the heresies of
ancient times are no longer apparent. But there are
other tares which still mingle whith the corn, and
cannot be separated from it without injury to the crop.
There is the shewy weed, aptly resembling the gay
—the carnal professor, but known and distinguished
by every eye from the true follower of Christ. There

are also weeds less showy, but still more obnoxious;

* The word Zizania, rendered Tares, (Matt. xiii. 25,) is a Sy-
riac word and describes some kind of grain which was either a
spurious kind of corn, or some plant that was noxious to the
growth and purity of the crop. It is quite, however, a matter of
uncertainty what plant is meant. Some have contended that it
is the bearded Darnel, or Lolium temulentum, so called from
its supposed intoxicating qualities. We are equally at liberty to
suppose all the English translations of the bible to be right,
which suppose a species of vetch to be here alluded to ; for by the
word Tare our language has always designated, not Darnel, but
various species of vetches that abound in corn fields. The
‘‘binding in bundi!es’? seems to sanction this meaning; nor
does the danger referred to Matth. xiii, 29, interfere with this
idea. The danger might arise not from the similarity of the
two plants the wheat and the tare, but from the process itself,

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 1438

fitly representing the barren professor, having a name
to live but spiritually dead. Again, there are others
so much like the corn itself, that none but an
experienced observer could discern the difference be-
tween them; forcibly presenting an image of those
whose life and conversation so outwardly, resemble
the true Christian, that none but the eye of an om-
niscient Judge can detect their insincerity.

Lastly, In every cornfield there are plants of sickly
as well as of a luxuriant appearance, supplying a fit
emblem of the various characters which compose the
true Church of Christ. Some indeed are stunted in
their growth by various causes; others ripening into
the full measure of the stature of Christ, having re-
ceived a larger measure of the Spirit of all grace, and
enjoyed a more copious effusion of the beams of the
Sun of Righteousness. Yet all these must be per-
mitted to mingle together till the harvest. Each have
their separate uses; .and as the wise. husbandman is
content and thankful if the weeds do not overpower the
corn, so the wise Christian will be grateful to God
that errors both in doctrine and practice are not more
abounding than they. are, being satisfied that in the

final issue and separation of the tares from the corn,

144 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

there will be nothing to complain of; but on the cor
trary, that the purposes of God will work their
through all human hypocrisy and weakness, so as t
fulfil the truth of the gracious promise, ‘‘ As the re 1
cometh down from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth ¢ ad
bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread t
the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth ow |
of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, bul |
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah ] |
10.) My

HARVEST HOME.

Harvest Home! What delightful sensations arey)

Naturalist, the scenes which have just been passing
before him—a rich and splendid harvest safely gathered
in—have presented a lovely mirror, in which he has}

been enabled to contemplate anew some of the noblest)

\

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 145

of the divine perfections. For what are all the boun-
ties of our God, as displayed in this lower world, but
so many varied manifestations of himself—so many
different expressions and shadows of his character—
designed to arrest the aftention, and kindle the devotion

of ‘thoughtless, cold, insensible man !

‘ These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! Thine this universal frame :
Thus wondrous fair ; thyself how wondrous then ;
Unspeakable : who sitt’st above these heavens
To us invisible, or dimly seen as
In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and pow’r divine.’
Such, most reasonably, may be our reflections at the
‘present season; when every stack of corn is a visible
memorial of the truth of God’s word,—‘* While the
earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and summer
and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
(Gen. viii. 22.)

More than 4000. years have rolled away since this
gracious promise was given to Noah, and every return-
ing Harvest Home is an additional confirmation of the
divine faithfulness, Partial failures there may have been
in some years and in some countries, but when or
where did the promise fail in its general intentions of

Oo

146 ‘THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

mercy to the human race. If occasionally, to remind.
us that we live in a diseased world, a blight has been

permitted to fall upon the fruits of the earth, how soon

has the evil been again. repaired, how rapidly has, the

serpent’s head been crushed when it. was about to
sting, and an additional proof afforded. of. the. Divine
goodness and forbearance.* As in ancient Egypt the
seven years famine, came not till it was provided for
by a seven. years plenty, so we shall still:find that no
divine judgment has at any time overspread the fruits

of the ground without an abundant compensation,

* “The annual riches given anew to mankind every summer,
by,the continued produce of the earth, would,amaze us by their
amount, if the whole could be ascertained and calculated. A
few instances will imply it. The yearly produce of France in
1828, on an. average of 4 years, was 21 millions of, quarters of
wheat, and 32 millions of other grains, The annual value of
all the grain in Britain, as computed in 1827, has been estimated
at.112 millions of pounds sterling. Few cultivate their soil as
they ought, but with all their indolence or ignorance, still
enough is raised from it all over the world to sustain a popula-
tion of 800 or 1000 millions, who are now living on the globe.

Now, if each inhabitant of. it, on an,average, required only the.

value of £10. produce for his yearly support, the earth is on

this calculation yielding. annually to the human race, from its
vegetable,system, either 8.or, 10 thousand millions, of, pounds

sterling in the feeding articles only, and this with a constancy
that never fails in its general sufficiency,’—Zwrner’s Sacred
History of ‘the World, v. 1, p. 147.

5 led

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 147

either before or after. If Divine Providence has held in
one hand a vial of wrath, in the other it has always
displayed a cornucopia of mercy, and nothing ‘can
afford a stronger proof of this than the fact that those
countries have’ been progressively increasing in popula-
tion and wealth, who have esteemed the earth’s gifts

their best inheritance, and thus made themselves pen-

sioners upon the bounty of heaven.

When we observe the certainty and regularity with
which this and every other season comés round, it is
incumbent on us to remember, that this arrangement
is governed not only by the Divine laws, but is de-
pendent on the Divine promise. We gain an argument
not only for the power and goodness of the Deity in the
unfailing fertility of the earth at a particular season, but
one which is equally strong to establish the veracity of
the Divine word. How strange is it then, that so many
continually think and act as if they deemed it possible
that the great and eternal Jehovah, “ with whom is no
variableness nor shadow of turning,” could break his
word ! And what infatuation is this which tempts men,
in spite of his express declarations, to gainsay or doubt
his purposes, without reflecting that if God has been

faithful in lesser things—in things which concern the

.

148 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

perishable body only—he must be at least equally dein |

things which relate to the immortal soul that was

created after his own image! The harvest just ga-

thered in, is, if we believe the record that he has
given us, a yearly emblem of the final judgment at the
end of the world. So our Lord himself tells us,
(Matt. xiii. 39.) But how many are there who by
their conduct shew their disbelief of that great event ?
whose profane lips, whose unholy lives, and whose im-
penitent hearts, continually give God the lie, and seem
profanely to ask, ‘‘ Where is the promise of his com-
ing?” ‘* But God,” as even unrighteous Balaam was
constrained to confess, ‘Is not a man that he should
lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.” To the
unbeliever, this is a truth which if he ever thinks of it
must strike terror into his soul ; for every Harvest Home
shall at last rise up as it were in judgment, and con-
demn him for not having listened to that voice, with
which it so loudly proclaims the eternal truth of
a sin-hating and a sin-avenging God.

But what says the same voice to the humble and
_ renewed Christian? It may, indeed, convict him also,
at the present time, of some remaining unbelief and

mistrust. It may, perhaps, whisper a doubt, whether

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. — 149

even he has always sufficiently relied upon the mercy
and faithfulness of a God, who is pledged by promise,
by covenant and by oath, ‘‘to make all things work
together for his good;’’ and he may feel humbled by
_ the reflection, that in seasons of difficulty and tempta-
tion he has but too feebly felt the force of that decla-
ration, ‘‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
Yet although the return of the present season may serve
to reprove these doubtings of a mind compassed with
infirmity, and to call forth with more fervour that de-
vout supplication of the disciples of old, ‘‘ Lord in-
crease our faith ? still, upon the whole, it affords to
| the sincere Christian matter of consolation, rather than
of reproof. To him it is the type and pledge of that
glorious day, when those * who have been redeemed
from the earth’ shall be safely gathered into the final
granary of their Father and their God. And there are’
many things in the earthly Harvest Home, which seem’
to point to the heavenly Harvest Home in which he
hopes to share. For,

1st. In what a soil have these fruits, which the farmer
beholds with so much pride end joy, been long grow-
ing ; and who could naturally have supposed that from
“the filth and offscouring of all things,’’ a crop of

o 5

150 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

purest grain should have been reared and nourished toits —

splendid maturity. This is, indeed, one of the greatest
mysteries of the natural world; and the process of ve-
getation eludes the researches of the wisest philosopher.

It is only from experience, that the cultivator of the

fields can trace out and predict the result; and in the —

kingdom of grace and glory, is it not equally a matter
of surprise, that man, a plant of the earth, should be des-
tined to bring fruit immortal and: heavenly ?—that he
should be quickened from dead works, and made a new
creature in Christ Jesus;—that though he is condemned
to vegetate amidst the bondage of corruption, and lives

in the midst of a carnal and impure world, these things

are not permitted to destroy his fruitfulness, but ra-

ther contribute to promote it, by stimulating his zeal,
faith, and love to ‘more vigorous exercises, so that
‘‘ where sin abounded grace does much more abound ;”
thus converting and sanctifying things originally defiled
to holy uses; ‘‘ confounding thewisdom of the wise :”
and, as in the first ages of the church, so in every
subsequent period, ‘‘ putting the treasures of the Gos-
pel in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of God.”’

2ndly, Through what vicissitudes has the present Har-

:
j
;
d

0S pee ee. a i EL ais ee el ee Tr Ls PU ed oe ee
-i 1-7, 3 ‘ -

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 151

“vest Home been safely reached! When the blade was
yet green, how oft did the farmer tremble while he
beheld it exposed to the biting frost, or the cutting
winds; and when it was advancing to maturity, how
anxious did he feel lest the rust, or the mildew, or the
worm should blight it, or lest it should at length be
beaten to the earth by the hail or tempest. | But if
through all thesd dangers, and many more, it is now
** saved,” then how sublime the assurance, that this pro-
cess of God’s preserving power in the natural world
will be no less assuredly: displayed in the spiritual and
heavenly world to which he looks forward! In all the
stages of his earthly pilgrimage, the believer is ‘‘ kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation,

>

ready to be revealed in the last time;” and he may
therefore indulge the firmest hope, that when that time
arrives, he shall look back with gratitude and exulta-
tion upon all the dangers he has escaped, upon all the
storms, the persecutions, the temptations, the afflic-
tions, and the changes of this mortal life, and, like his
Redeemer, ‘‘see of the travail of his soul, and be
satisfied ;” “ Knowing that he who hath begun a good

work in him will perform it until the day of Jesus

Christ,” he rejoices in the prospect of that day, when:

152 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

it shall be abundantly manifested that the sufferings of
this present time, work out for the sufferer ‘‘ a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Thus while the
Christian beholds the joy which is now visible in the
face of the agriculturist, and the thankfulness also
which is, or ought to be there, he is persuaded that
they who shall reap the fruits of a heavenly harvest
unto life eternal, will feel a joy and gratitude as far
surpassing all earthly feelings, as that music which is
struck from the harps of angels, exceeds the sweetest
melody of mortal instruments.

Joyful, indeed, beyond all conception and expression,
are such contemplations to the godly! Unspeakable
and full of glory are the anticipations of their heavenly
Harvest Home to those who are sowing to the Spirit!
But let us remember that the husbandman must first
labour before he can be a partaker: of the fruits.* (2 Tim.
- ii, 6.) Even a heathen historian could remark that

‘ they are most egregiously deceived who hope to unite

*So the Genevan Bible renders, and the rendering is sanc-
tioned in the margin of our present Bible. The Bishop’s Bible,
in its marginal note on the passage, observes, ‘ So that the pain
must go before the recompence.’ The context requires this
signification, rather than that which is given in the common
translation. :

‘

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 15

those most opposite things, the pleasures of indolence,
and the rewards of industry.’ Little therefore does it
become the Christian to think of expecting to reap
what he has never sown. ‘‘ God is not mocked.” As
well might we expect to gather an earthly harvest
where we have never cultivated the ground, or scattered
the seeds which are necessary to produce the crop, as
to expect that a life of procrastinating negligence,
careless indifference, or slothful indulgence, will be fol-
lowed by a harvest of eternal happiness. Men can
discern the necessity of making a due preparation for
any of the future advantages they expect in this life,
but for the life to come they seem to act for the most
part as if no preparation were necessary. Hence they
leave all to the miserable chances of a dying hour, or
to that more ‘‘ convenient season” which never arrives.
Opportunities of grace and periods suitable for repent-
-ance and reformation, are thus suffered to pass away
unheeded and unimproved ; and too many there are who
never awaken from this dream of unutterable folly, till it
be too late, till standing on the brink of a dark eter-
nity, they feel the force of that awful exclamation of
despairing Israel of old, ‘‘The harvest is past, the

summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

154 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

OCTOBER.

t enhaleeaeel

THE SEA.

(Peer mene

‘ And thou majestic main ;
—A secret world of wonders in thyself—
Sound his stupendous praise, whose greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall.’

“*O Lorp, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom
hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy
riches: So is this great and wide sea also.” (Psalm
civ. 24, 25.) From these words we may infer that the
attention of the divine Psalmist was deeply arrested
by a sight of the ocean; and who that beholds this
object with any degree of consideration, but must be
struck with its importance, if not with its beauty.
The Sea is evidently the chief source of all human
riches. Without the Sea, the earth must have been
a barren wilderness. From the Sea the clouds are
constantly supplied with those watery treasures, but

for which the earth could not have yielded its increase.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 155

| Had there been no showers, there would have been no
corn: and the fruits of the earth, which are yet
gathering in, (at whatever distance from the ocean, )
would soon have withered, but for the moisture com-
municated to. the atmosphere: from this inexhaustible
fountain. Hence therefore the Sea may justly be
viewed as a vast. and boundless reservoir of life and
blessing, to the whole globe. What the heart is to
the human body, the ocean is.to the land—the main-
spring, or pulse of the whole system; and as the for-
mer sends forth continually its crimson currents to
nourish the human frame, and receives it back again
after it has run its destined rounds; so also, with
regard to the latter, when the fluid evaporated from it
has fulfilled its purposes of watering the earth, the
rivers return a portion of the precious treasure to
the place from whence it came, to be again sent forth by
the agency of the clouds, to the most distant extremities
of that. mighty mass around which the Sea rolls its
waves, :

The. ocean is.a favorite topic of. reference with the
sacred writers: and what mind that is imbued with
any, thing like a Scriptural feeling, can behold this
glorious object without having his thoughts carried

156° THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

upwards to that Creator who ‘‘ measured these waters
in the hollow of his hand,” according to the sublime
language of Isaiah. Yes! The Almighty Spirit it was
which first brooded over the chaotic abyss when it was
yet without form or void! His Sovereign word assuredly
it was which pronounced the decree, ‘‘ Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together into one place,
and let the dry land appear!’ One of the ancients
of the Church, St. Basil the Great, has thus beauti-—
fully referred to this subject in his homilies on the days
of creation. ‘‘ Have you never reflected when seated on
the margin of a spouting fountain, how comes this
water from the bosom of the earth? what impels it
forward? when will it terminate its course ? how is it
that it never dries up, and that the sea, into which all
other waters empty themselves, never overflows? A
single sentence will serve as a reply to all these ques-
tions. Let the waters be gathered into one place.
The sea agitated by the temptests that rage over it, 4s
often raised to a prodigious height, but the moment it
touches the shore, all its fury exhausts itself in foam,
and it returns into its bed.

‘«¢Oh, how beautiful is the spectacle that the sea pre-

sents, when we see it in its calmness shining like

f

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 157

silver; when its surface, gently ruffled by mild breezes,
glows with purple and gold! when no longer breaking
with violence against its surrounding shores, it seems to
approach them softly, only to solace them with peaceful
caresses.”

Surely we cannot sufficiently admire that simple but
magnificent display of power, by which on the third day
of creation, the deep retired to the places appointed
for its reception, and heard the fiat which Omnipotence
uttered, ‘‘ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further :
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Well
might the Almighty himself demand attention to this
fact, and ask, ‘‘ Who shut up the sea with doors when
it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and
thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, And brake up
for it my decreed place ?” (Job xxxvili. 8-10.) No-
thing less than a feeling of amazement must seize upon
us, if, as we stand by the sea-side, and cast our eyes
over the expanse of waters, we try to understand
by what law it is that they are restrained from again
rushing over the shores. In some places, as en the coast
of Cornwall, we see a bold, rocky, and lofty boundary :
but in others, the very reverse of this,—a sandy and

be

a 447

158 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

almost flat shore, with nothing apparently to stop the
progress of the waves from overwhelming the land.
And when we further reflect upon the numerous proofs
which the land every where presents of having been
once covered by the sea, which has left behind it in-
numerable vestiges of its effects upon the solid rocks,
and upon the fossil remains of animals which these
contain, we may well confess our ignorance of the
means employed by God to prevent the same catas-
trophe as that of a universal deluge from occurring
again.* Indeed the fact is so striking that the Divine
Being himself employs it to chide the folly and to
alarm the confidence of his ancient people : “ Fear ye
not me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my
presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of
the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it ;
and though the waves thereof toss themselves,-yet can

they not prevail; though they rear, yet can they not

* Cornwall has generally been considered as a county contain-
ing no fossil remains. . This idea is now, however, proved to be
erroneous, The writer of this has several specimens in his
possession, of shells embedded in an argillaceous limestone,
worked in the parish of Southpetherwin, near Launceston»
which establishes the fact that this district was once covered
by the sea.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 159

is

pass over it?” (Jer. v. 22.) Were a man to see the
approach of the tide for the first time, he might well
be alarmed. But those who have often witnessed this
sight, and who know that the ebbing and flowing of
the water is regulated by the moon’s course, do not per-
haps sufficiently reflect upon the wonderful train of
natural causes which must have been put into operation
by the hand of Providence to produce this effect. The
return of the tide twice every day is not the less sur-
prising because science teaches us to believe, that this
is owing to the attractive influence which the body of
the moon exerts upon the earth, and especially upon
its great moveable fluid the ocean. For what a mys-.
terious page of nature does this fact open when we
thus behold ourselves linked as it were by an invisible
chain to a distant world! How forcibly should this
remind us of our mysterious connexion with the in-
visible world of spirits, which is continually drawing
us towards it, and holding us fast by a firm and ever-
lasting bond. Our close connexion with the moon
may also remind us of the relation which subsists be
tween all true believers, and that mystical body the
Church of Christ to which they belong. The moon is
the scriptural emblem* of that Church which holds all

* Sol, Song vi. 10.—Rev. xii. 1.

160 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

the faithful together by the holiest and most powerful q

ties. It is only by communion with this Church that
the streams of public piety are kept continually flow-
ing, and the blessings of religion are brought home to
every door: True religion also, be it remembered,
bears this further resemblance to the Sea, that though
it is always flowing, and always full, it has its pe-
riodical tides, some of which rise higher than others.
Twice every day at least, it pays its tribute of prayer
and praise at the footstool of its Creator and Re-
deemer; and on the Lord’s day, and at Sacramental
seasons especially, it enters his Courts with the spring-
tide offering of devotion; there paying its vows to the
Most High, and offering the sacrifices of righteousness
in all the beauty of holiness, with the same fulness of
energy, with the same extraordinary flow of holy emo-
tion that the Sea approaches the shores, and flows up
to its highest point, when the moon and the sun exert
their united influence upon its tides.

The Sea, in whatever light we view it, whether we

watch the grandeur of its movements, analyze its con- —

tents, or survey its magnitude, will yield much matter
for pleasing and serious contemplation. How astonish-
| ing is it that this stupendous mass should be thus ever

kept in motion, and so strongly impregnated with salt,

~

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 161

and yet yield us food as devoid of saltness as any other
animal production! Wisely, however, have these things
been arranged, though we can understand buat little of
the marvellous process necessary to produce the result.
Thus much we know, that without these qualities the
ocean, instead of being a source of almost every bless-
ing, would speedily putrify and become one wide reser-
voir of pestilence and death to all the globe. And in
spiritual things is there not a similar analogy sub-
sisting *? For what would be the moral world without
the salt of Christianity (Matt. xv. 13); without the
motions of the blessed Spirit of all grace continually

quickening, refreshing, stirring, agitating the whole

Baturally corrupt mass? But for these things, all its

other advantages would have been in vain. It is the
Gospel which alone supplies those mysterious but salu-
tary principles, by which the great process of spiritual
renovation is continually going on; and ‘a world that
lieth in wickedness” is yet preserved till that day when,
having answered all:the divine purposes concerning it,
“there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and
there shall be no more sea.” (Rev. xxi. 1.)*

* Whether this remarkable property in the new earth, that
the re shall be no more sea, shall be effected by the means

ep 5

162 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

If from these general reflections we proceed to take @

glance at the inhabitants of the ocean, we shall discover

that it isa world in itself, and as richly furnished as the
land with innumerable varieties of plants and animals.

These furnish the Naturalist with continual occupation,

while he observes how well constructed their organs .

are to the element in which they live; how infinitely
varied, and how full of beauty and curious contrivance.
He who had never seen a fish would be almost incre-
dulous of ‘the existence of such creatures, so widely
different is their organization from that of land animals.
Arguing from the effects which an immersion for any
considerable. season. under the water has upon the
human frame, he would perhaps pronounce it to be
impossible that any creatures should live there and
multiply. But so wisely has the Creator fashioned
these animals, that the water is to them as natural an
element as the air is to us; but what is still more
which the theorists of the earth have prescribed, or by any
other, time must discover ; but it is evident from hence, that
this new heaven and earth are not designed to take place till
after the general judgment ; for at the general judgment, (xx
13) “The sea gave up the dead which were in it.’”? Many
understand the expression figuratively, that there shall be no

troubles or commotions in this new world !—Bishop Newton
on the Prophecies, vol. 2. p. 387.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 163

wonderful, though they live in their own element, they
breathe air also, and by the peculiar construction of
their gills, are enabled to take in the air with which
the water is saturated, while at the same time the
water is excluded. When we attentively consider the
curious provision of their internal structure, and con-
nect it with their external covering, we shall be still more
deeply impressed with the peculiar adaptation of their
bodies to the element in which they live and move and
have their being. How beautifully have they been
clothed bythe Author of nature; not indeed with silks
and furs, for this would be unsuitable to their situation,
but with an armour of glittering scales, or plates, far ~
more curious and more protective than that which was
worn by the proud knights of old in fields of chi-
valry! Men have rivalled each other in their houses
and castles, but how inferior have all these been in
comparison with those inhabited by the Crab, the
Oyster, the Tortoise, and all the shelly tribes. No
wonder then that the book of Job should appeal to
this part of the creation for some of the most striking
proofs of his handy-work :—‘‘ Ask now...... and the
fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who know-
eth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath
wrought this ?” (Job xii. 7.)

164 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

Fertility is another striking circumstance by which
the tribes of the ocean are distinguished.* What can
equal the prodigious numbers in which these multiply ?
Very suitable, indeed, is the reflection which Bishop
Hall makes on this point. ‘ Here is an instance of thy —
liberalit y, O thou God of Providence! When thou
didst pronounce thy benediction on the works of thine
hand, thou didst distinguish the fish from the rest, and
put an emphasis upon it; and while thou didst give a
commission to other creatures to be fruitful and mul-
tiply, thou didst direct the waters to bring forth abun-
dantly the moving creature that hath life.’ (Gen. i. 20.)

On this subject the observations of an eminent Phi-
losopher of the present day are well deserving our
attention. ‘Of fishes alone the varieties, as to con-
formation and endowments, are endless. Still more
curious and anomalous, both in their external form and

their internal economy, are the numerous orders of

* * When I went to view the Port of Dieppe,’ says theauthor
of a celebrated work, ‘they brought us a very fine cod. I was
curious to count the eggs she contained ; in order to which 1
took as many as weighed a drachm, and having three of us
engaged to number them, and then weighed the whole, the
aggregate sums produced werenine millions three hundred and
. forty-four eggs.’ :

~

a

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 165

living beings that occupy the lower divisions of the
animal scale; some swimming in countless myriads
near the surface; some dwelling in the inaccessible
depths of the ocean; some attached to shells, or other
solid structures, the productions of their own bodies,
and which in process of time, form, by their accumula-
tion, enormous submarine mountains, rising often from
unfathomable depths to the surface. Whatsublime views
of the magnificence of creation have been disclosed by
the microscope, in the world of infinite minuteness,
peopled by countless multitudes of atomic beings,
which animate almost every fluid in nature? Of these a
vast variety of species have been discovered ; each ani-
malcule being provided with spontaneous powers of
motion, and giving unequivocal signs of individual
vitality. The recent observations of Professor Ehren-
berg, have brought to light the existence of Monads,
which are not larger than the 24,000th part of an inch,
and which are so thickly crowded in the fluid as to
leave intervals not greater than their own diameter.
Hence he has made the computation that each cubic line,
which is nearly the bulk of a single drop, contains
500,000,000, of these Monads, a number which almost
equals that of all the human beings existing on the

166 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

surface of the earth.’ ‘The same author observes that

in some parts of the Greenland Seas, the minute

species of Medusce abound to such an extent that
they give a visible tinge to the colour of the waves
for hundreds of miles. The total number of these
animals dispersed over that space, surpasses the utmost
stretch of the imagination. In these situations a
cubic foot of water taken indiscriminately, was found
by Mr. Scoresby, to contain above 100,000 of these
diminutive Medusee.’*

But to return from these marvellous discoveries of
modern times, it is worthy of remark that Christ
chose several of his Apostles from the humble rank of
fishermen, to denote perhaps, not so much the necessity
of humility in his followers, as to intimate that the pro-
vince of their labours, though apparently barren and
dangerous, was not so in reality, but abundantly stocked
with every spiritua) product, and containing a. richer
harvest of the heirs of the kingdom of heaven than
any former dispensation; a harvest which we] may
reasonably believe, only awaits the throwing forth of

the gospel-net more extensively and faithfully by the

* Dr. Roget’s Bridgewater Treatise, vol. 1. p. 13, and 194.

ae

i

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 167

appointed fishers of men to make it universal, and to
realize the splendid prophecy, ‘‘ The earth shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. ii. 14.) _ This pro.
phecy is one which was no doubt intended to give the
most enlarged conceptions of the blessings of universal
Christianity. There is nothing which conveys so forci-
ble an idea of vastness and depth combined, in other
words of fulness as the waters of the ocean. Its
waters are not only a covering which hide or invest the
bottom of the abyss, but a covering far deeper than
ever plummet yet sounded, and may for aught we can
tell reach to the very centre of the globe. From this
language we are therefore led to draw the inference,
that the triumph of Christianity shall at length be no
longer partial and superficial, as it has hitherto been,
but that it will extend itself throughout the whole
extent of humanity ; exercising its mighty influence
down from the lowest depths of degraded barbarism, up
to the very climax of smooth and civilized refinement ;
reaching from the very heart and centre of our social
and moral principles, and diffusing the happy effects of
this knowledge of God’s glory, as the deep blue waves
of the boundless ocean are diffused, throughout the ut-

most range of the habitable globe.

168 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

Many, indeed, and vast are the ideas which a sight

of the blue ocean may suggest; and he who can walk ~

on its shores and cast his eye over the mighty expanse:

he who can behold its rippling waves, or its foaming

billows, without feeling a deep emotion from the source
of all that is beautiful, awful and sublime rushing upon
his soul, must be dead to all true sensibility. In the
presence of such a scene, few will refuse to join with

~ the Poet when he exclaims,—

With wonder mark the moving wilderness of waves,
From pole to pole through boundless space diffused,
Magnificently dreadful! where at large

Leviathan, with each inferior name

Of sea-born kinds—ten thousand tribes—

Find endless range for pasture and for sport.

Adoring own

The hand Almighty, who its channell’d bed
Immeasurable sunk, and poured abroad ;
Fenc’d with eternal mounds the fluid sphere,
With every wind to waft large commerce on,
Join pole to pole, consociate sever’d worlds,
And link in bonds of intercourse and love
Earth’s universal family.

Here it is that we may contemplate the Great Governor

of the Universe in some of the noblest of his attri-
butes, and in some of the grandest of his dispensations.

Here it is that he talks with man in the voice of the

DG es ae

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 169

roaring billows. How awful the sound that proclaims
his majesty, and seems to say in the language of the
Prophet, “I am the Lord thy God that divided the
sea whose waves roared; the Lord of Hosts is his
name!’ With what rapidity do the thoughts take
their flight to that day of Israel’s redemption, when
he, ‘‘ whose way is in the sea, and whose footsteps are
in the deep waters,” manifested how easily he could
_ make the most terrible of his works subservient to the
safety and deliverance of his chosen! With what
’ delight also may we look down upon the stormy waves,
when we think that the Saviour of sinners walked
upon them with ~the same ease as upon the solid rock ;
and that his voice of ‘‘ Peace be still’ calmed in a
moment the fury of the roaring billows. What con-
fidence therefore may we not place in him, who, with
the same voice that stilled the tempest, will speak
pardon, peace, and salvation to all his true disciples,
when the floods of Almighty wrath shall again rush
forth to overwhelm an unbelieving world! Grand
also and solemn are the thoughts which come over us
as we listen again to the murmur of the waves, and re-
member that it is compared by St. John to the voice of
the whole redeemed multitude in heaven shouting forth

Q

170 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

their combined Hallelujahs around the throne of God.
(Rev. xix. 6.) Nay more than this,—that the voice of —
the Lord Jehovah himself, addressing itself to the ear
of his inspired Prophet under the Old Testament, and
his most favoured servant under the New, was “like
the sound of many waters.” (Ezek. xliii. 2, Rev. i. 15.)
Scarcely less noble and majestic is the idea which St.
Paul borrows from the same source; standing in
thought upon the shore of a measureless ocean, he be-
holds there an image of the unfathomable mysteries of
redeeming love, and exclaims in amazement, ‘O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out!” (Rom. xi. 33.)

But the reflections which here present themselves
are not confined to the serious Christian, or to the.
naturalist. The man who possesses any reflection
must be interested at beholding in the ocean, under its
various aspects, a striking picture of the moral
world in general, and of what is passing there. View
it at certain seasons, and what can appear more tempt-
ing and inviting. But how often does the sailor —

realize the fatal truth of the Poet’s description,—

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 171

‘ Fair laughs the morn, and soft the Zephyr blows
While proudly riding o’er the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes ;
Youth on the prow, and pleasure at the helm:

Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind’s sway

That hush’d in grim repose, expects his evening prey.’
The sea is, indeed, a treacherous element, and when
we contemplate the many dangers to which those who
pass over its waves are exposed, we cannot wonder at
the observation of Horace. ‘ Surely oak and threefold
brass surrounded his heart, who first trusted a frail
vessel to the merciless ocean. In vain has God in his
wisdom divided the countries of the earth by the sepa-
rating ocean, if nevertheless profane ships bound over
waters, which ought not to be violated. The race of
man, presumptous enough to dare every thing, rushes
on through forbidden wickedness.’* These ideas of the
Roman bard may, indeed,, appear somewhat extravagant
in the present day, when the art of navagation has become
familiar to all nations and contributed so materially to
lessen the dangers of the voyager. Nevertheless it is
but still too apparent, that no discoveries of science and
"no nautical experience can avert the perils which will

sometimes overtake man on his ocean path, even, per-

* Book 1. Ode 3.

172 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

haps, when he is least expecting them. Under the
smiling and deceitful surface, how often are there con-
cealed dangerous rocks and quicksands, on which the
bark of the mariner is doomed to strike and suffer
shipwreck! The sense of man’s weakness is never
perhaps more forcibly illustrated than when placed in
sudden contrast with the forces of an angry sea let
loose upon him. ‘What is the proudest ship of war,
with all her gallant crew, when placed amidst the fury
of the breakers upon a coral reef? What but the mere

sport of the watery element,—

‘These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,

They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar

Alike the Armada’s pride, or spoils of Trafalgar.’
In each and in all of these general aspects, the sea has a
moral counterpart in the world of the human heart.
The experience of so many thousand years has not yet
been able fully to unmask its treachery and hypocrisy. —
Many of the dangers around him the Christian has
learnt to avoid, but there are others which take him by
surprise and it is no uncommon spectacle to witness
those who like Hymenaeus and Alexander of old,
having held on the way of faith and a good conscience

for a season, have afterwards forsaken it, and suffered

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 173

spiritual shipwreck. (1 Tim. i. 19.) Against this
calamity neither height of station, nor weight of
learning, nor the counsel of friends ‘has been sufficient
to protect stich characters. They have been suddenly
engulphed in that vortex of worldliness, or sensuality,
where their weakness is fully exposed, and their ruin
is almost inevitable,

Happily, however, instances of this signal defection
from the truth, are perhaps as uncommon as the de-
struction of one of those “ Lords of the deep,” through
the treacherous agency of a sunken rock, or a coral
reef. But there are comparatively few whose course
has not sometimes been threatened by a danger of this
sort; though some there may be whose religious
career rather resembles that of a rock fixed amidst the
ocean surges, than a vessel sailing through these, with
dangers above, beneath, and around. Such a charac-
ter is beautifully described by one of the Greek Fathers,
St. Gregory Nazianzum, ‘ He who honours and follows
what is good for its own sake, inasmuch as he isa
lover of stability, possesses this quality. He retains
an intense desire of that which is excellent; thus pre-
senting something godlike to view, and being able to
say that which may be said of God, “I am not ano-

Q5

174 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

. ther.” Such a man will not be affected by any of the

changes of removal, or relapse, by times, or circum-

stances; becoming a different person at different sea-
sons, and taking as the polypedes do, the many colours
of the rocks on which they congregate. But he will

remain always the same; fixed amidst that which is

unfixed ; unturned amidst that which is turning; a -

rock, as.I think, not in the least shaken amidst the
attacks of winds and waves, but banquetting even upon
the assaults which they make upon him.”

How forcibly does such a state of religious stability
contrast itself with that restlessness and love of change

and novelty, which is the character of the present age !

How significantly does St. Paul describe the antagon-

ism of Christian unity, and growth in grace, when he
speaks of those who are children tossed to and fro, or
more literally agitated by the waves of a rough ocean,
and blown or carried about with every wind of doc-
trine. (Ephes. iv. 14.)

The Sea, no less than the world in general, is to
be regarded as exhibiting tokens of that disordered

state of things, under which ‘the whole creation

*Orat 27. § 13.

a ae

ca

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 175

groaneth and travaileth.” Its hidden depths, like the
world which man inhabits, are tenanted by a race that
ate far from being at peace one with another. Destruc-
tion and death meet not only on the visible surface of
the great abyss, to track the footsteps of man, but ex-
tend their empire to all the tribes that people its
waters. It abounds every where with creatures pursuing
and devouring each other; the small and the weak be-

coming a prey to the great and powerful, while for both
there is a grand destroyer—a Leviathan taking his pas-
time and seeking the perdition of all. View the Sea
also when agitated by winds, and then how fitly does its
commotion represent the restlessness and fury of godless
men, impelled hither and thither by the breath of their
wild and ungovernable passions. ‘‘'The wicked are like
the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast
up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God to
the wicked.” (Isai. lvii. 20, 21.) But thus it has
ever been. Turbulence and strife are as natural to all
the *‘ Children of disobedience,” as confusion and uproar
are to the ocean, Hence the Psalmist, referring us to
the power of him who stilleth the noise of the seas,
speaks of ‘‘ the tumult of the waves and the madness of
the people” in one breath, to shew that they are the

a ee en ee ee eh ee ee Ne

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176 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

same in character. So likewise St. Jude forcibly paint-—
ing the character of the ungovernable schismatics of
his own day, and of the last days, compares them
most forcibly to ‘‘ roaring waves of the sea foaming
out their own shame.” How full of sacred signi-
ficance therefore is that sublime vision, in which
St. John beholds heaven itself opened, and a victorious
host, having the harps of God, standing upon “ a sea
of glass, mingled with fire,” (Rev. xv. 2,) to celebrate
their victory: as if to convey the strongest idea of the —
glorious tranquillity of their redeemed state when con-
trasted with their former scenes of tribulation and tu-
mult, amidst the stormy billows of a changeable and
perilous world!

A different series of ideas crowd upon us from
the Sea, when we look at the ships that are crossing
to and fro upon its ample bosom. How naturally
does the Psalmist, while beholding a similar spectacle,
observe, ‘‘ There go the ships!” -What a number of
interesting reflections are included in these few words *
Ships and the Ocean are the connecting links of that
great chain of existence that runs round the globe.
What unites the merchant of England and the mer-

chant of India? ‘What enables the poor man of our

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 177
7

own country to make the comforts and luxuries of
distant lands his own? What furnishes the Christian
Missionary with the means of carrying the glad tidings
of salvation to the New Zealand Cannibals—the An-
tipodes of the British shores? What has brought
about this connexion with the opposite regions of the
earth’s surface, but ships and the ocean ?—Ships which
display as much of the mastery of human art, as the
ocean does of the wonders of the divine hand. Who
then when he thus looks at the blessings enjoyed; at
the combination of advantages thus resulting from the
ocean; can refuse a tribute of praise and adoration to
him who made the Sea for the same purpose as he
made the land, to shew forth his glory, and to teach
man his dependance upon him ‘‘who sitteth above the
water flood, and remaineth a King for ever !”
Valuable, however, as the ocean is to man, and
richly as he is indebted for it to the Lord of all, there
is one thing, but for which its value would have been
but little known. Without the magnet man would
never have obtained that dominion over the seas, which
Providence has assigned him in the present day. And
viewing this fact in regard to the spiritual conse-

qences that may now result from it, and which have

a oe | a ent
Tt pre ny

17 8 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

already resulted from it in the conversion of many a

heathen, we can only look upon it as another proof of |
that divine superintendence in human affairs which

nature and revelation abundantly declare. Looking
also at the Sea as an emblem of the present world, we
have reason to bless God that he has not left us to

chance or skill in crossing the great ocean of human
life. What the mariner’s compass is to the seaman,

the Bible is to the Christian; it is the heavenly nee dle
by which he may steer his bark though the waves of
time, and direct his course toa better land. Happy,
thrice happy, is the man, who with Christ for his

Pilot, and the holy gales of the Sprit to waft him
onwards in his voyage, keeps his eye continually on
this compass; for thus will he be enabled to navigate
with skill and safety all the seas he may have to cross ;
to weather out all the storms of life, and at length,
like some gallant ship that has long and ncbly bu ffeted

with the waves, to drop anchcr in the haven of eternal —

blessedness.

FS de id ay al * weliees. aconpiien | tee Gt 8
» < . A
:

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 179

NOVEMBER.

ee

AUTUMN.—FALL OF THE LEAF.

Autumn ! soul-soothing season, thou who spreadest
Thy lavish feast for every living thing,
Around whose leaf-strewed path, as on thou treadest,
The year its dying odours loves to fling,
Their last faint fragrance sweetly scattering ;
O let thy influence, meek, majestic, holy,
So consciously around my spirit cling,
That its fix'd frame may be remote from folly,
Of sober thought combin’d with gentle melancholy.

Tue feelings of the Autumnal period which have
been so happily depicted by une of our-modern Poets
in the above lines, must find a response in every heart
which has been accustomed to hold communion with
nature. This season is one which is peculiar to
northern climates like our own, and serves to answer
many beneficial purposes. It has been compared to the
evening of. life; and if we extend it to the verge of
winter, the comparison is a just one: for the beauty of

‘spring, and the maturity of summer, have then left no-

180 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

thing behind them but scenes of decay and cheerless

gloom, which are the best image of that declining age, —

when man is warned by every token, that his day is
past, and his night is approaching. There is, however,
the same wisdom and goodness apparent in the designs
of Providence, whether we consider this season in it-
self, or contemplate that of which it affords a beautiful
emblem. It is well known that twilight is highly be-
neficial, inasmuch as it affords to the organs of vision
that gentle transition from light to darkness, but for
which they must have suffered a sudden and daily
shock in passing from the glare of a meridian sun, into
midnight gloom. Similar is the benefit to the physical
world in general by such a season as Autumn. We
are not now plunged at once from the height of sum-
mer into the depths of winter, but we approach the
latter gradually. In the declining temperature, our
bodies are insensibly adapted to sustain the approaching

frosts and snows; and as the charms of nature gently

steal away from us, we become at length willing to ex~

change the bloom of summer, for the stern and hoary
aspect of winter. Thus also it is with man. Old age
does not come upon him at once. He descends as

gently into the vale of years, as the sun sinks in the

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 181

heavens; and even then there is a twilight,—an au-
tumn of his life which forewarns him by many peaceful

but sure tokens, that the year of his mortal life is
| drawing near to its close.

- That in all these transitions there is a benevolent
design, it is impossible to doubt. ‘‘He who knoweth
our frame, and remembereth that we are dust,” has so
regulated the world in which we live, that the very
changes and uncertainties of which it is made up, are
intended to promote a right discipline of the heart, by
enforcing upon us the necessity of vigilance and a pre-
paration for the future. Hence the present season is
one which speaks to us with the voice of an inspired
preacher, who, when he was fast sinking into the au-
tumn of his life, left behind him the best warning of
its vanity in that never to be forgotten precept, ‘* Re-
member thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when
thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. While the
sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not
darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.”’ (Eccles.
i ty’S.)’

One of the most affecting incidents of this season,
is the departure of those feathered tribes which have

R

182 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

taken up their residence with us during the summer —
months. The woods are, no longer enlivened with the
merry note of the Cuckoo, or the. mellow. strains of.
the Black-cap. The Swallow has ceased his twittering ~
on the chimney-top, and the Martin has forsaken his
nest under the cayes. All these, and many other of our
guests. during the warmer months, have left us to seek

a happier climate. But in their places,have arrived the
Woodcock, the Snipe, and, various species.of wildfowl,
which remind us that there are countries where winter —
has already begun his reign. It would be in. vain for.

- us_to ask by what law, these, inhabitants of the air are.
directed in their migrations. The subject is one of.
the most obscure in natural. history... Alluding to the
instinct of the Stork, which is,remarkably, displayed on

these occasions, well, may the. Poet.ask,

‘Who bid the stork, Columbus like explore,
Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before;
Who calls the council, states the certain day,
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way 2”

The discoveries of modern science leave us in the dark. ~
with respect to this wonderful faculty. of instinct. The

countries to and from which our birds of passage mi-.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 183

grate, is still involved in much doubt and mystery.*
The reasons of their migration may more readily be
explained. A supply of food for their young is pro-
bably the grand sprig of this movement, as it is of

* A modern traveller tells us of the storks, that they pay an
annual visit to Turkey ; they arrive, he says, in vast numbers
about the middle of March, and always in the night. They
arrange their progress very systematically ; they send forward

their scouts, who make their appearance in aday or two before
the grand army, and then return to give in their report; after
which the whole body advances, and in its passage leaves during
the night its detatchments to garrison the different towns and
villages in their way. Early in October, they take their de-
parture in the same manner, so that no one can know from
whence they come or whither they go. They are known in
the night time to leave all the villages, and have been seen in
the air like immense clouds.—Macgill’s Travels in Turkey, Italy
and Russia.

With respect to the country of the Swallow, Buffon says,
‘having had recourse to the most creditable travellers, I found
them agreed as to the passage of Swallows over the Mediter-
ranean,’ ‘And Mr. Adanson has positively assured me, that
during his long stay at Senegal, he observed the long tailed
Swallow, (the chimney Swallow) arrive constantly in Senegal
about the time it leaves France, and as constantly to leave Sene-
gal in the spring.’

Buffon, however, and Pennant inclined to the opinion that
some Swallows might remain during the winter in a torpid
state, and of this opinion was Gilbert White. See his [listory
of Selborne, with remarks of the Editor.—Constable’s Miscel-
lany, p. 78 and 165.

-

184 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

the migrations of many other tribes of animated na-
ture. In all these instances, however, we must con-
clude that nothing less than a Divine impulse guides
and directs them throughout their long journeyings.
Happy would it be for manif he were as forward to
obey the dictates of reason and revelation! Happy
would it be for him if he were as ready, as these birds
of passage are, to anticipate the future, to catch the
first ominous, though distant sound of winter’s stor-
my footsteps, and to plume the wings of faith and
hope, for a flight in due season to those peaceful
shores, where there shall bea refuge till the cloudy |
and dark day be for ever passed away.

The present season is, indeed, one which has many
objects to interest and awaken the attention of the
observer of nature. As an ingenious Naturalist ob-
serves, ‘ Every season has its peculiar product, and is
pleasing, or admirable, from causes that variously af-
fect our different tempers and dispositions ; but there
are accompaniments in an autumnal morning’s wood- |
land walk, that call for all our notice and admiration.
The peculiar feeling of the air, and the solemn gran-
deur of the scene around us, dispose the mind to con-

templation and remark ; there is a silence in which we

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 185

hear every thing, a beauty that will be observed. The
stump of an old oak is a very landscape, with rugged
Alpine steeps bursting through forests of verdant mas-
ses, with some pale, denuded, branchless lichen, like a
scattered oak, creeping up the sides or crowning the
summit. Rambling with unfettered grace, the ten-
drils of the briony festoon with its brilliant berries,
green, yellow, red, the slender sprigs of the hazel, ae
the thorn; it ornaments their plainness, and receives a
support its own feebleness denies. The agaric, with
all its hues, it shades, its elegant variety of forms,
expands its cone, sprinkled with the freshness of the
morning, a transient fair, a child of decay, ‘‘ that sprang
up in a night and will perish in a night.’’ The Squirrel,
agile with life and timidity, gambolling round the root
of an ancient beech, its base overgrown with the dew-
berry, blue with unsullied fruit, impeded in his frolic
sports, half angry darts up the silvery stem again, to
peep and wonder at the strange intruder on his
harvest. The Jay springs up, and screaming tells of
danger to her brood ; the noisy tribe repeat the call, are
hushed and leave us; the loud laugh of the wood-
pecker, joyous and vacant; the hammering of the
nuthatch, cleaving its prize in the chink of some dry
R 5

186 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. n

bough; the humble-bee, torpid on the disc of the
purple thistle, just lifts a limb to pray forbearance of

injury, to ask for peace, and bid us
*‘ Leave, leave him to repose.’

The cinquefoil, or the vetch, with one lingering

flower, yet appears, and we note it from its loveliness.

Spreading on the light foliage of the fern, dry and
mature, the spider has fixed her toils, and motionless in
the midst, watches her expected prey, every thread and
mesh beaded with dew, trembling with the zephyrs
breath ; then falls the sere and yellow leaf, parting
from its spray without a breeze tinkling in the boughs,
and rustling scarce audibly along, rests at our feet, and
tells us that we part too. All these are distinctive
symbols of the season, marked in the silence and so-
briety of the hour; and form, perhaps, a deeper im-
pression on the mind, than any afforded hy the verdant
promises, the vivacities of spring, or the gay profuse
luxuriance of summer.’*

This beautiful picture, which so strikingly exhibits

some of the most striking features of this season, is

intended rather to pourtray it as it appears in its

* Journal of a Naturalist, p. 113.

SS ee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 187

earlier, than in its later months. As we descend
lower in the year the gloomy and sombre aspect of
the landscape increases, till at length on entering the

month of November, a feeliag oppresses us like that

which Pope ascribes to the unhappy inmate of a con-

vent,—

‘ Black melancholy sits, and round her throws

A death-like silence, and a dread repose ;

Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene,

Shades every flower, and darkens every green :

Deepens the murmur of the falling floods,

And breathes a browner horror over the woods.’
It is with a sensation of this nature that we approach
this great event of the season,

‘THE FALL OF THE LEAF.’

There is no time of the year when nature puts on
such an aspect of sadness, as when the trees have just
lost their verdure and shed their leaves. We cannot
help feeling a mournful sensation as we cast our eyes
abroad over the hedges and woods lately clad in all the
lovely tints of the seasons, but now stript of all their
gay and cheerful clothing, and reduced as it were to the
condition of a beggar who. has only a few old scanty
patches of rags to conceal his limbs and cover his

nakedness. The paths of our gardens and fields are

a ee

188 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

strewn with the spoils of the tempest, with the wreck
of that which was once fair as beauty in its spring,
and bright as prosperity in its highest noon. Such
a spectacle bids us be solemn. Nature is now cele-
brating the funeral of the past year, and consigning
over the beautiful offspring of many months’ vegeta-
tion to its wintry tomb. Surely there is no one of
our readers who does not sympathize with us in the
emotions which are due to the season, whose heart is
not now in some degree awakened to serious reflec-
tions, or who does not behold in the present decay of
the vegetable world, the type of his’ own mortality,
and fully enter into the. meaning of the Prophet’s
language, when he observes, ‘‘ We all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.”
All nature is full of the types and shadows of spi-
ritual things. ‘‘ Day unto day uttereth speech, and
night unto night sheweth wisdom.” If man could
only listen with a spiritual ear, and behold with a
spiritual eye, he would never want instruction. Every i
page of the book of nature is a commentary on the
book of divine truth, and reminds him that there is
nothing unchangeable but God; nothing permanent

and abiding but his promises; nothing that can at_

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 189

last escape the hand of decay and death, but that
wreath of incorruptible glory and victory in the
heavenly mansions, which shall be gathered from the
tree of life.
_ To the Christian Naturalist, as well as to the
Christian Moralist, there are many ideas suggested by
the fallen leaves which every where bestrew his path.
He sees, in what these once were, another proof that
the divine hand has made nothing in vain. These
now withered, but once vital members of the trees
around him, were wisely intended to answer the same
purpose in the vegetable economy, as the lungs do in |
the human body, and as the external skin or covering
does through which it perspires.* They remained
however long enough to imbibe that portion of the
atmospheric air which was necessary for the circulation

of a due supply of sap, and the formation of the new

* The fall of the leaf commences for the most part with the
colds of autumn, and is accelerated by the frosts of winter.
But there are some trees which retain their leaves throughout
the winter, though changed to a dull and dusky brown, and
may be called ever-clothed trees, as the beech. And there are
others that retain their verdure throughout the year, and are
denominated evergreens, as the holly. The leaves of both sorts
ultimately fall in the spring. Sir J. E. Smith considers that
leaves are thrown off by a process similar to that of the slough-

190 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

buds for the coming year. And when this purpose
was fully answered they did not fall at once: even
then Providence took care that they should decay and
wither on the trees themselves, rather than on the
ground; for the putrefaction of so much vegetable
matter ina green state on the surface of the earth
might have been attended with serious consequences
to the health of the human race. This therefore was
prevented by a gradual decay, and the leaves were also
kept long enough on the trees to previde for the safety
of the next generation of buds, which were at tliat
time in their infant state; thus affording not only a
striking instance of design in the system of natural
causes, but furnishing moreover a beautiful picture of
the careful provision which is made for the constant
renewal of the human race, notwithstanding the regu-—
lar inroads of death and disease upon the generations

of man in every age and country. ‘‘ One generation,”

ing of diseased parts in the animal economy: and Keith ob-
serves, that if it is necessary to illustrate the fall of the leaf by
any analogous process in the animal economy, it may be com-
pared to that of the shedding of the antlers of the stag, or of
the hair or feathers of othér beasts and birds, which being like —
the leaves of plants, distinct and peculiar organs fall off and
are renewed annually, but do not slough.—Loudon’s Encyclo-
pediaof Gardening, p. 196.

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 191

observes a sacred writer, ‘‘ passeth away and another
cometh, but the earth abideth continually.”’ Surely
nothing but a divine arrangement could have thus pro-
vided for a continual succession ; and when Adam_had
lost his privilege of being immortal upon, earth, have
ordained a constant renewal of his posterity from age
to age, till the end of all things. If, therefore, in the
present season, we behold a monument of desolation,
we see also a memorial of God’s care and providence !
We observe another instance of the mysterious man-
ner in which death and life ph linked together; how
provision is made for things future, even from the
destruction of things present; and how in the moral
world, as in the natural, God does not suffer indi-
viduals or generations to pass away, till they have
fulfilled their course, and their places are prepared to
be supplied by others. Thus we learn in silence to
adore the all-wise decrees of his Providence, who
neither suffers a sparrow nor a leaf to fall to the
ground without his knowledge; who is the same God,
yesterday, to-day, and for ever, whether he permits
his works to be ravaged by the hand*of the destroyer,
or whether he sends forth . his creative Spirit and re-

news the face of the earth. (Psalm civ. 29—31.)

192 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

It is to be observed, however, that all trees do not
share alike in the desolation that seems to overspread
the face of nature at this season. Some are by habit
evergreens, and retain a perennial verdure. And what
a happy emblem do these afford us of the manner in ©
which God preserves the graces and virtues of his
people, still flourishing and green, as it were, when all
around them is barren and desolate! Noah, Joseph,
Daniel, and many besides perhaps, in every age of the
world, have been thus suffered to stand as illustrious
monuments of holiness; men perfect in their genera-
_ tion, whilst the people among whom they lived were
grievously corrupt. Itis to be remembered then, that
those who would resemble them—who would flourish
like the fir-tree, or the laurel, amidst the storms and
frosts of winter—must have no fellowship with an
evil and adulterous generation; for it is written, ‘* The
Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself,”
and he only is pronounced ‘‘ Blessed, who walketh not
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way
of sinners, nor sitteth in*the seat of the scornful ;
whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who
meditates in his law day and night.” To him, indeed,

alone the promise belongs—‘ He shall be like a tree

Recs. Pr

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 1938

planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” —

But for those who live without God in the world
there is no consolation of this kind in store. Their
condition is infinitely more mournful than any thing
which is presented by the falling leaf, and the barren
and naked branches of the trees of the forest. The
forest will burst forth into fresh verdure under the
genial influences of spring; but who can say that
those hearts will ever flourish again in the beauty of
holiness, which have long lain withering under the

_ curse of sin and unbelief? He only, who knows all
hearts, can determine to what lengths a sinner may go
till he places himself beyond the .hope of mercy: but
no man may receive the grace of God in vain, and to
every man the warning-voice is addressed, ‘‘ Now also

the axe is laid at the root of the tree; every tree
therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn
down’ and cast into the fire.” (Matt. iii. 10.)

‘Spirit, proud spirit, ponder thy state,
If thine the leaf’s lightness, not thine the leaf’s fate :
it may flutter, and glisten, and wither, and die ;
And heed not our pity, and ask’not: our’ sigh ;

Mee ate. |

194 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

But for thee, the immortal, no winter may throw
Eternal repose on thy joy, and thy woe ;

Thou must live—live for ever—in glory, or gloom,
Beyond the world’s precincts—beyond the dark tomb ;
Look to thyself then, ere past in hope’s reign,

And looking and longing alike are in vain ;

Lest thou deem it a bliss to have been, or to be,

But a fluttering leaf on yon blasted tree.’—Jewsbury .

DECEMBER.

WINTER.

‘O Winter! ruler of th’ inverted year,
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’'st,
And dreaded as thou art!’

Tuus sung a Poet of the last century, whose harp
genius strung, and religion tuned in so noble and de-
lightful a manner, as to make us forget, while we listen
to his sweet and pious strains, the dreariness of the

present season. So enamoured was Cowper with

Winter, that he composed no less than three separate

poems upon this subject. If any therefore of our

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST, 195

readers are disposed to imagine that this Poet chose but
a barren theme to occupy his muse, we recommend them
» to read with attention his ‘ Winter Evening,’ and the
“Winter Morning Walk,’ as well as the ‘Winter’s Walk at
Noon.’ And when they have followed him in the series. of
meditations to which he and his lofty predecessor, Thom-
son, have struck the finest chords of poetic feeling and
description, we think they will agree with us, that Winter
may be as full of agreeable and profitable ideas as even
summer itself. It is therefore much to be lamented, that
s0 many persons, especially of the poorer class, are too
apt, like the dormouse, to spend in a state of torpidity
and slumber, so large a portion of those wintry hours,
which would if rightly employed have been highly
favourable to the purposes of mental cultivation, and
religious improvement.

To the Christian Naturalist, Winter abounds with
subjects of grand and interesting contemplation. What
indeed can be more worthy of attention, than that
beautiful fleecy mantle in which nature so often wraps
herself during this season! Let us stand a moment,
and watch the descending shower of snow! With what
softness and grace does it fall, and repose upon the

bosom of the earth! How lovely and pure the white-

196 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

ness of the flakes, and how curiously disposed in

chrystals of various forms! And then, how marvel-

lous the process by which water in its descent from the
clouds is thus suddenly changed into a substance as
entirely unlike rain, as rain is unlike air. This is one
of the wonderful transformations of nature upon which
many, perhaps, gaze heedlessly, because they have so
often seen it before. Did they reflect a little, they
would see that there is nothing in nature more remark-
able, or more worthy of admiration, than this rapid
conversion of water. into snow orice. Those, indeed,
who from always living in the hot climates of the
world, have never witnessed such a spectacle, can
hardly be brought to believe in the possibility of it, even
upon the strongest testimony. And we who have seen
it so frequently, are almost as much in ignorance of
the precise laws by which this change takes place, (and
this too in the age of Chemistry,) as before that sur-
prising science was discovered. Surely, then, this ig-
norance should teach us no small degree of humility
and modesty in speaking of the things pertaining to
the kingdom of God: for if we are at a loss to under-
stand the secrets of a drop of frozen water, how can

we presume to fathom the depths of God’s Almighty

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 197

Providence ; or to reason upon his character who is as
wonderful in his counsels of grace, as he is excellent in
the works of nature !

Winter is in truth one of those seasons in which the
greatness of God as a Creator, and his Sovereign and
Almighty power are strikingly shewn. Job, in_ his
majestic description of the works of God, refers to this
season in language of the most exalted kind. He
places it in point of dignity next to the thunder and
lightning ; for after describing these most awful and
impressive of all nature’s wonders, he proceeds im-
mediately to dilate on the terrors of Winter. The
whole passage is eminently beautiful and poetical :—
** God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great
things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For
he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth ; likewise to
the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
He sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may
know his work. Then the beasts go into dens, and
remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the
whirlwind; and cold out of the north. By the breath
of God frost is given, and the breadth of the waters
jg. straitened.” (xxxvii. 5—10.) Well then, indeed,
might Thomson, the Poet of the Seasons, imbibing

$5

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198 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,
something of the spirit of the sacred lyrists, exclaim,—

‘ Vapours, and clouds, and storms,—Be these my theme,

These! that exalt the soul to solemn thought,

And heav’nly musing !’
‘Heavenly musings’ are perhaps better cherished by
the gloom of winter, than by the sunshine of summer.
When all nature is bright and fair, we are apt to make
a heaven of earth; but when the elements frown upon
us, and desolation seems to ride the blast ; when the
rattling hail, or drifting snow, compels the peasant
te seek the friendly shelter of his home, then indeed
it is hardly possible for us if we have any serious
thoughts, not to indulge them freely. Our minds, sick-
ened as it were with the gloomy aspect of all things
around us, are in a condition to ascend to the contem-
piation of that God whose wrath, like a destroying
hail, shall at last sweep away all man’s “refuges of
lies,’” and who has provided for his righteous family a
secure retreat, where there are no storms—no Winter—
but one eternal sunshine of bliss in the green pastures,
beside the still waters of everflowing comfort.

It is the habit, indeed, of our nature too hastily to

aspire to this tranquillity, forgetting that this is not

our rest, ‘‘ that it is polluted.” The season of winter ~

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 199

is a type of that moral discipline through which the
soul must pass before it can be the tenant of a region
where all is bright, peaceful, and pure, If nature in-

troduces us to the beauties of spring, not without first

passing through the horrors of Winter, how can we

suppose that the soul will be ordinarily fitted for the
celestial mansions, without passing through that earthly
ordeal of tribulation, which is intended to exalt and
purify. The path to.Canaan lay through a wilderness ;
nor is the road to Heaven now easier, whatever some
may pretend. We are not to expect it to be scattered
with roses, nor fanned with the breath of pleasant

Zephyrs,—

‘But first by many astern and fiery blast,

The world’s rude furnace must thy blood refine ;
And many a gale of keenest woe be passed,

Till every pulse beat true to airs divine.’

The evils which afflict us at this season, whatever they
be, are sent to remind us of our fallen and sinful con- ,
dition. ‘hey are intended to impress upon us, the
great truth, that the world we live in, is one which, like
ourselves, is still labouring under the consequences of

man’s original defection from the service of his maker.

200 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

When, therefore, we look abroad at this season, and

_ behold the green earth swathed in a mantle of ice

and snow, we may almost imagine that we see nature
putting on this penitential robe of white, to express
her sorrow for man’s sin, and to remind him of the
necessity of humbling himself in the presence of an
offended Deity. Repentance for past sins, patience
under present evils, and submission to the Divine
chastisements—these are the lessons which are now
forcibly taught us. Undoubtedly these duties are

necessary at all times; but in a season when nature

herself seems struggling with adversity, her children

may be taught to lay them more seriously to heart, and
learn amidst the hoarse murmurs of the leafless woods,

the fitful wailings of the tempest, and the cold and

pallid aspect of all around, to sympathize as it were — ?

with the groans and sighings of a parent in the hour of
her extremity ; and to wait with patient submission
and humble; hope the coming of that better season when
_ Paradise with its,perpetual spring-tide of joys shall be
again restored to redeemed man, and the winter of this
world’s woes shall have passed away for ever. _
Considered, however, with reference only to the pre-

sent world, Winter is a season which if not always

4

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 201

agreeable is highly necessary, not only to make “us

love the spring the better when it comes, and to operate

both upon the mind and body with a salutary effect,

disposing the former to reflection, and bracing up the

“nerves of the latter which might otherwise be too .

much relaxed, but more especially by fitting and pre-
paring the earth to bring forth fruit in due season.
The Agriculturist knows well the value of Win-
ter, in mellowing and softening the ground for his
future crops; and the Naturalist sees also other advan-
tages in this season, as the rest of nature after the
severe exhaustion of summer. It may be justly con-
sidered, perhaps, as the Sabbath of the year, in the
benefits of which man and animals, and the soul itself,
yall largely share. Even the snow acts the part of a
benefactor ; not by the salts it contains as was formerly
supposed ; but by enwrapping the earth, with a dense
garment, which being a non-conductor of heat reserves to
it a large portion of warmth that would otherwise pass
off from it and be lost. Hence we find that the warmest
Spring generally follows the most intense Winter ; and in
North America, Norway, Russia, and the Polar regions,
where the snow always lies on the ground for a regular

interval, this result is uniformly experienced, by a far

eT oe

202 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

more steady and rapid developement of vegetation,
than in our own climate.* “Ry
Winter, therefore, is to be considered as a necessary
part of that system of providential arrangement under
which we live; and though nature may now appear tobe
idle, she is, as an ingenious Naturalist observes, busily
employed. ‘Silent in her secret mansions, she is now
preparing and compounding the verdure, the flowers,
the nutriment of spring: and all the fraits, and glorious
profusion of our summer year, are only the advance of
what has been ordained and fabricated in these dull
months,’ ;
Many are the reflections to which the observance of
these things will give birth in every mind that is truly
awake 5 a sense of gratitude to God, who thus in
the system of nature displays himself as the same
benevolent Being, who, in the system of man’s

redemption, brings the greatest blessings out of the

* We give here a brief Calendar of the vegetable year of’
Lapland and Siberia,—

July 1 Snow gone, August 2 Fruit ripe,
9 Fields quite green. 18 Snow, and from
17 Plants at full growth. that time Ice and Snow,
25 Ditto in flower. till the 23rd. of June

when they begin to melt.

“THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 203

worst evils. The man who is disposed to murmur at
the inclemency of the season, or at the loss of any of
those comforts which belong to the other seasons of the
year, should also reflect how far inferior his lot might
_ have been, had it been cast in those more northern
latitudes, where Winter almost divides the year, and
reigns with a rigour which is here unknown. Let the
discontented Englishman read the history of the Esqui-
maux, or of the inhabitants of Greenland, or Lapland,
and he will then learn how to prize his own land, and
his own temperate climate. Thanks be to God we
never lose sight of the sun for months together as they
do, and the comforts even of the poorest classes are
wealth and affluence compared to theirs. They have
moreover a moral winter resting upon their souls.
‘The Sun of Righteousness’’-has not yet arisen to cheer
them with his beams, and the mountains of ice, and
snow, which shut them out from the rest of mankind,
are but an emblem of the awful and deathlike coldness
which surround their prospects of another world.
How inscrutable, then, are the ways of God, that he
should thus have taken some and left others! ‘* How
past finding out” are the depths of that love which

has poured the light and warmth of divine truth over

204 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

favoured Britain, and has permitted so many other of

the tribes of. the earth to walk on still in darkness,

plunged, as it were, in all the horror of a polar winter. —

Much, however, is it to be feared that Winter is a
season but far too descriptive of the spiritual condition
of many even in this land! What is the state of their
hearts towards God? Are thev not cold and barren as
the season? What fruits do we see adorning their
profession? Or rather, it may be asked, are they not
like so many bare and leafless branches of the snow-
clad forest, through which the gusts of pride and
passion sweep with relentless fury, and upon which the
dews and showers of gospel grace produce nothing’ but

the cold icicles of vanity, sin and death ? Are there not

others whose profession is little better than a mantle of —

snow, beautiful and dazzling to the eye for a short time,
but soon melting and vanishing away into its native ele-
ment? And are there not to be found, in this as in every

age of the church, those whose splendid career has

resembled for a time that famous palace of ice built by — ¥

the Russian Empress, and sumptuously: adorned—a —

gorgeous fabric while it lasted, and surpassing im
beauty many more substanial ones—but destined to:

play but a visionary part upon the stage for awhile,—

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 205

* A scene

Of evanescent glory ; once a stream,

And soon to slide into a stream again ;
Treach’rous and false; it smil’d, and it was cold.’

What, indeed, is the hope of every ungodly profes-
hor of Christianity, but a delusion of this kind;—cold,
but splendid mockery, having no reality of faith or
good works, and vanishing into its native element, when
exposed to the full light and splendor of God’s law
and testimony. How melancholy also is the thought
that the most frightful image which a winter night can
suggest, is but a faint picture of the wretchedness of
that soul which is at length stopped in its career of
iniquity by the hand of death! Poetry has presented
us with striking descriptions of travellers perishing in a
_ snow-storm, and the event is far from being uncommon
at this season. We shudder with horror at Thomson’s
vivid representations of a catastrophe of this sort. But
if it be, indeed, so dreadful for the traveller to be thus

surrounded and trapped in the toils of death in the

midst of a wide waste,—

‘Far from the track and blest abode of man,
While round him night resistless closes fast ;
And every tempest howling o’er his head,

_ Renders the savage wilderness more wild,’—

T

206 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST,

how infinitely more horrible for the sinner to find him-
self suddenly grasped by the terrors of the Almighty,
with despair, his only portion, and that night of eternal
anguish about to close upon him which will know
no morning. While the guilty soul thus stands
shivering on the brink of the eternal gulph, who can
paint its agonies? In comparison of banishment from
the presence of God, and from the light of his coun-
tenance, what are all the horrors of winter? In com-
parison of the tempest of his wrath, what is the dead-
liest blast which freezes up the current of blood in the

veins of the traveller, shuts up sense,—

‘ And o’er his inmost vitals creeping cold,
Lays him along the snows, a stiffen’d corse.’

Melancholy as these reflections are, they cannot but be
salutary, if they lead us to “Seek the Lord while he
may yet be found, to call upon him while he is near.”
As a topic of true consolation and rejoicing, let
us remember that it was in the midst of a moral as
well as natural winter that Jesus Christ appeared to
give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow

of death. At the present season, therefore, when the

event of His coming in great humility is every where

commemorated, surely it must be the especial duty

;
i

Se ee

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 207

of Christians to hail the advent of that still more glo-
rious and solemn period, when to those who look for
Him, ‘‘ He shall appear the second time without sin

unto salvation.’’*

In following the course of the seasons it has been
the desire of the Christian Naturalist to direct ‘the
attention of his readers to some of those portions of
the visible world, which might serve to impress them
with a deep sense of the glory and goodness of the
great Creator. Each, therefore, of the principal scenes
of ‘ the rolling year,’ and some of the grander specta-

cles of nature, have in their turn been presented to our

thoughts, and for awhile detained our musings. We

have taken a glance at the stern features of Winter;

* There is every reason to believe that this festival is observed
at the season when the nativityreally happened. St. Chrysostom
preached a Homily, A. D. 386, in which he shews by several
arguments that the 25th. of December was the true period.
These are drawn from the general celebrity which this day had
obtained as Christ’s uatal day from the earliest times, and
from the clue which he supposes is furnished by Luke 7,
26. The learned antiquary Selden, published a Treatise to
prove the accuracy of this festival, and concludes that the ‘ yearly
celebration or memory, continued from the oldest Christian
times, has taught us the exact day of the month.’—Selden was
one of the lay members of the Westminster Assembly of
Divines, in 1643. =

908 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

‘

surveyed the characteristic beauties of Spring, Sum-

mer and Autumn; examined the most interesting of -

4
its Insect Tribes; meditated upon the wonders of the

Starry Heavens; ascended the Cornish Tors; expatia-

ted over the waves of the mighty Ocean; moralized
upon the Falling Leaf; and now we are again arrived
at that month which closes the calendar of nature, and
shuts up the scenes of her revolving drama. What

now remains but to drop the curtain over this brief

display of the works of God, and to recommend to all

those who have gone along with us in this brief sur-—

vey, to seek for a more extensive knowledge, or a

more habitual acquaintance with those interesting topics —
of enquiry, upon which the necessary limits here pre-

scribed to the Christian Naturalist have only permitted |

him to suggest a few imperfect hints. Rapidly as we

have passed over the field of our observations, it will be
admitted that enough has been said to shew, that the é
more we look into the operations of nature, the greater

cause we shall see, to admire and bless the divine hand

by which they are all guided and directed. We can-

not contemplate these with any attention, without being

struck with the importance of attending to them more

ra”) ae ee

earnestly, and without feeling the force of St. Paul’s

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 209

observation, Rom. i. 20, ‘‘ The invisible things of God
from the creation of the world, are understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power and God-
head.” And this conclusion is most important, since it
shews us that all ‘“‘those are without excuse,” who
do not thus seek as far as they are able, to obtain a
true and spiritual acquaintance with the being and
perfections of the Almighty. Nature thus rightly
studied, is and must be, the handmaid of grace. If
Revelation is the temple, within which sits enthroned
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, nature
is the sublimest porch which leads to it; and entering

here we ascend higher and higher, and discover more and

more of the Omniscient mind, and benevolent will of

him who has made nothing in vain.

In summing up, therefore, the importance of attend-
ing more to these things than is generally done, and
with a view to point out the spiritual advantages that
would result from a closer and better knowledge of
nature, the Christian Naturalist would not take leave

of his readers without suggesting to them the following —

observations.

Ist. That an extensive acquaintance with the won-
derful works of God will tend much to humble the
r5

210 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

natural pride of the human heart. Beautiful, curious,

and astonishing as are the facts which the natural

history of the things around us presents to our notice,

we shall find that each of them contains secrets which
will perhaps never be unfolded to mortal eyes. The
wisest have been obliged to confess their ignorance
even of many of the most simple laws of nature. ‘ The
great first cause, least understood,’ still wraps up many
things in clouds and darkness, to teach us our little-

ness: to stain the pride of all human glory, and to

make us confess our folly, weakness, and guilt. It was ~

not until the Almighty had spoken to Job from ont of

the whirlwind, and made all the glory of his works to

pass before him in splendid review, that he exclaimed
in the language of true penitence, ‘‘I have heard of
thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth
thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust

‘and ashes.” (Job xlii. 5,6.) From a view therefore

of the mysteries of the natural world, we shall be pre- —

pared in some measure to appreciate the mysteries of

the spiritual. The wonders which the one unveils will —

leave us without excuse, if we refuse to admit that e

which is made known to us in the other. Thus, instead

of rejecting the mystery of “‘ God manifest in the flesh,”

Ser

SS, Se

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 211

or any other of the gospel doctrines because these contain
things ‘hard to be understood,” we shall rather esteem
them as evidences that they have proceeded from the
same God who has written the characters of mystery,
no less than of beauty, over all his works.

Connecting also the history of Redemption with that
world which forms the theatre of this great event,
every object in it is invested with a charm, inasmuch
as it is a precious memorial of the Son of God, and of
the circumstances under which he came to visit us, in
mercy. ‘It is the glory of the world,’ says a dis-
tinguished preacher, ‘that he who formed it, dwelt
on it; of the air, that he breathed in it; of the sun,
that it shone upon him; of the ground, that it bore
him; of the sea that he walked upon it; of the ele-
ments, that they nourished him; of the waters, that
they refreshed him; of us men, that he lived and died
among us, yea that he lived and died for us; that he
assumed our flesh und blood, and carried it to the
highest heavens, where it shines as the eternal wonder,
and ornament of the creation of God.’

The progressive character of our knowledge of na-
tural as well as of | spiritual things, is another argument

for the cultivation of both these kinds of knowledge.

212 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST.

In each of these studies, for which the human soul isso

admirably fitted by its restless desire to look into all

mysteries, there is yet much to be learnt, and much

indeed that we can only hope to learn in eternity. As
yet we see many things in the kingdom of nature as well
as of grace, ‘‘ through a glass darkly.” Here we only
now enjoy the limited privilege of Adam after the
fall. To hold visible communion with the ‘ Divine
Presence’ is denied us, as it was to him after that event.
In a world like that we live in to ‘seek his bright ap-

pearances,’ and to trace his footsteps, as they were at first

perceived by our great Parent would be folly. Never-—

theless, we have still the privilege, if we understand
how to use it, of catching a glimpse of the Deity in

nay
his works and in his word. We may even now

‘Gladly behold, though but his utmost skirts
Of glory; and far off his steps adore.’

But a higher vision awaits us. And assuredly there

is nothing to which the renewed mind looks forward

with purer emotion, than to the anticipation of that day

when in God’s light it shall see light; and when as it
respects all natural as well as spiritual difficulties, the
thick film that overshadows and darkens our meatal

vision shall be purged away. And if in the midst of

[

THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 213

this profound ignorance we are yet able to receive such
a high degree of gratification from the revelations of God
in his works and his. word; if in the contemplation
of the beautiful analogy that now subsists between
Phen. we are able to find so many delightful sources of
contemplation opened to us; what indeed shall be our
enjoyment and satisfaction, when, in the highest sense
of the sacred language, ‘‘ the secrets of the Most High
shall be with us, and by his light we shall be enabled
to walk through all darkness!” To that high and
holy fruition of glorified spirits, it must be our duty
continually to look forward. For in the midst of so
much that is lovely and captivating around us, there
are still too many evidences of sin and wretchedness.
The whole creation as yet groaneth, and travaileth, and
waiteth for its redemption. (See Rom. viii. 18—23.)
It is only therefore, by directing the thoughts to a
world of boundless light, knowledge, and happiness.
of which the present affords but a dim anticipation,
that man can be assisted to learn how “ all things work
together for good to them that love God.” And further,
it is only by connecting both worlds in his view, that
man can either understand his own place in the scale

of being, or be led to seek after the glorious prize of

ERRATA.

Page 22, Read for a mansion o glory of glory.
— 24, For mere rudiment read a mere rudiment.
— 29, For berbiverousread herbiverous.
— 53, For here one read here és one.
— 71, For buzes read buzzes.
— 83, For colvolvolus read convolvolus.
— 92, For upper form read upper four.
— 97, Note. Read seem for seems.
— 97, For tops of cheese-wring read ¢op.
— 131, For establish the act read fact.
— 139, The note refers to the expression water out of
his buckets, not to the former clause.
— 182, For caves read eaves.

Cater and Maddox, Printers, Launceston.

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