of his bleeding feet, these are events, the high import and matchless grace of which, angels desire to look into, and the human intellect is too feeble adequately to conceive. When

the believer thinks of them, his heart overflows with gratitude; and the deep emotion which they excite finds no language more suitable for its expression, than the short, but emphatic exclamation of an apostle, Thanks be to God for

his unspeakable gift!'

FIRST WEEK-MONDAY.

THE CHARACTER IMPRESSED ON NATURE.-COMPENSATION.

BEFORE proceeding to the examination of particulars, with the view of exhibiting the attributes of the great Creator, as manifested in the seasons of the year, it is of importance to discover the nature of the principles which are to form the subject of our investigation; more especially, as there is certainly something very remarkable in the character impressed on the created objects within the sphere of our observation. Were we to commence the inquiry without the aid of experience, founding our expectations on the abstract theories of perfection which we might form in the closet, we should assuredly meet with difficulties and disappointments at every step of our progress. We shall in vain seek for proofs of absolute perfection, either in the physical or moral condition of this lower world. It is a scene of perpetual change; of beauty, ending in deformity; of pleasure, succeeded by pain; of success, giving way to disappointment; of life, vigour, and brightness, alternating with gloom, decay, and death; and, if the actions of rational agents be regarded, it is a union of wisdom and folly, nobility and meanness, virtue and vice. Instead of perfection, we have here the very reverse. Where, then, are we to seek for the wisdoin and goodness of an Allpowerful and Intelligent First Cause? Our answer is,-In the general character and tendencies of the system; in the

arrangements by which evils are averted or mitigated, and excellence is drawn from the very bosom of apparent defect and worthlessness. We are not to expect absolute, but only relative good; not the absence of evil, but compensations for it; not perfection, but a bias towards it. In regarding the whole system, we seem to behold a piece of vast and amazing mechanism, of which the materials are defective or positively unsound, but the workmanship perfect. The wisdom lies in the admirable execution of a work apparently full of difficulties and obstructions; and the goodness, in the conversion of what would seem to be naturally evils, into agents of virtue and instruments of enjoyment.

This, however, is certainly not the real, but only the apparent state of things. That the power of the Eternal, as well as his intellectual and moral perfections, is infinite, it is on other grounds impossible to doubt; that we cannot perceive these perfections, in all their extent, manifested in his works, must therefore proceed from a deficiency in the grasp of our minds; but we must treat of them according to our own perceptions; and the evidence of Divine wisdom and goodness which, under the modification we have endeavoured to explain, breaks in upon us from every side, is probably, in some respects, better suited to call forth the wonder, admiration, and gratitude of such limited creatures as we are, than even if we were to see the hand of the Creator less darkly. The view might be too vast, and the glory too effulgent for our mortal vision.

An apt illustration of the kind of defect and compensation, which seem to be inherent in the system of our world, may be found by attending to the state of external nature in the present season of the year. That there are disadvantages and privations in winter, under which all animated nature. seems to shrink and groan, is undeniable; yet how many abatements, and how much positive enjoyment have we to place in the opposite scale!

It will be my duty to examine these abatements of evil, and these actual blessings, separately, in the course of our

inquiry; but let us take one example by way of illustration. In our climate, and in all the regions which verge toward the poles, within certain limits, one of the discomforts of winter, which must occur to every person who thinks on the subject, is the shortness and gloom of the day. The sun rises late, looks down for a few hours with diminished glory on a blasted world, and then goes rapidly away, leaving all nature to the darkness of a tedious night. This is dreadful; yet see how it is rendered a source of pleasure and improvement! If, during the absence of the sun, we look at the starry heavens, what an inexhaustible fund of wonders does astronomy unfold, at once to exalt and to humble the human mind, -to fill us with admiration of the Divine perfections, and to teach us the salutary lesson of our own insignificance. It does not require that we should dive into the mysteries of this science, by means of the telescope, before these sentiments arise. They belong to every age of the world, to every stage of advancement in science, and to every station in life. There is no expression of devotional feeling to which even 'babes and sucklings,' as it is emphatically said, more readily respond, than that of the psalmist, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, O Lord, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?' How blank and dismal would be the darkness of a long winter night, were it not cheered and rendered sublime by the splendour of the starry firmament!

Look, again, at the comforts and domestic endearments of a winter evening fireside. Who, that has experienced these, will allege that winter is inferior to summer, either in its enjoyments or in its means of improvement? When early night has spread its shade over external nature, and labour has ceased in the fields, and the sound of busy feet is more rarely heard along the streets; when the shutters are closed, and the curtains drawn, and the fire blazes in the grate, and the candle stands on the table, shedding artificial day, and an united family, shutting out the world, retire within their own

beloved circle, to enjoy the social hours; when the father and mother occupy their wonted chimney-corners, and the children, while their hands, perchance, are engaged in some light employment, listen with interest to the instruction of some well-chosen book, or bear their parts in edifying and endearing conversation,—who will not confess that there are advantages in this intercourse, which longer days, and a more genial atmosphere, with all the attractions of vocal woods, and flowery meads, can scarcely equal?

Here, then, we have compensation for an acknowledged evil; we have even more. This evil is converted into means of pleasure and improvement; and such is precisely the character of Creative Wisdom and Goodness, into which we have to inquire. He who expects to find a higher grade of perfection in those manifestations of nature with which he is surrounded, will assuredly be disappointed.

Yet this is a state of things far from being satisfactory to the inquiring mind; and the question still recurs,-Whence is this seeming contrariety and defect? Why does evil exist at all, under the government of an All-wise and All-powerful Providence? Again, and above all,-Whence is moral evil? How comes it that ingratitude to a benefactor of infinite perfection, and rebellion against the eternal laws of the great Moral Governor, should exist for a single instant, and should be permitted to brave, as it were, the Majesty of the Eternal?

These are questions too deep for human reason; at the bare statement of which, indeed, human nature stands aghast and confounded. Revelation, however, takes up the important subject, and utters its response. The world came from its Creator an image of his own perfections;-but it has been smitten with a curse. The chief of the Creator's sublunary works, he for whose abode the earth was prepared, and clothed in beauty, who was made but a little lower than the angels, and bore on his breast the impress of his Maker,— that lord of this nether sphere, received the precious gift of liberty, but abusing it, converted it into the means of his own miserable degradation. His destiny was altered, and the

world in which he was for a season to dwell was altered also. To fallen man, the earth was no longer to be a place of rest, but of pilgrimage; from a paradise of enjoyment, it has been converted into a school of discipline. That heavenly blessing which had filled the earth, the sea, and the air, with beauty and happiness, was withdrawn. Darkness and tempest, change and decay, were thenceforth to brood over inanimate nature; want, suffering, and death, were to invade the living creation; and the guilty author of this universal blight was himself to be blighted more than all !

But why? Not that this intelligent creature should exist a few unhappy years in a stricken world, and then perish for ever; but that, under the chastisement of a father's rod, he might learn wisdom; and, becoming the object of Divine mercy, might, by means of labours not his own, aspire to honours greater than those he had forfeited, and be made an heir of immortality in a higher and brighter world.

FIRST WEEK-TUESDAY.

THE CHARACTER IMPRESSED ON NATURE.-CONTRIVANCE.

FROM the example stated yesterday, some idea may be formed of the kind of compensation for permitted evils which is every where to be discovered in the works of creation; but another, and equally marked feature in the face of nature, is that of the most ingenious contrivances, to avoid evils which would otherwise occur, or to insure advantages which could not otherwise be obtained. An example or two of this un. equivocal proof of a wise and beneficent Designer will illustrate this subject.

For these I shall take advantage of the ingenious Treatise of Sir Charles Bell on the Human Hand, which is, throughout, a most masterly exposition of the argument, rising from this very view. The first which I select is taken

m his chapter on the 'Sensibility of the Surface, compared