But, my dear children, I think I never wrote you so long a letter
before, and I must hasten to relieve your attention by only just briefly
recapitulating the seven properties of the atmosphere I have en-
deavoured to explain to you.
before, and I must hasten to relieve your attention by only just briefly
recapitulating the seven properties of the atmosphere I have en-
deavoured to explain to you.
Childrens - The Creation
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? LETTER III.
23
by night. I might write you a great deal more on this subject; but
I must pass on now to consider the second great property of the atmo-
sphere, as the great reservoir of rain and snow. Now, suppose you
read in 1 Kings xviii. 2--5, there you see what would be the state of
the land if there was no such reservoir as I have mentioned; for then
God withheld the rain in judgment, and all things perished. The
accounts from Australia, also, received in our last letters, give ample
proof of the same thing in our day. But this is the exception to the
general rule; for since the beautiful Bow has been seen in the cloud,
seed-time and harvest have not failed. But here I imagine a diffi-
culty that would be quickly proposed if I were sitting by you--** Do
not the clouds ever get emptied ? I should have thought that a few
such nights as we had about a month since would have emptied all
the clouds. " The remark, dear children, is not at all a foolish one;
for the clouds of course would empty themselves, but for one thing.
" Now what is that one thing ? " I suppose you are all curious to in-
quire : and I answer,--it is the principle of evaporation, by which, in
infinitely fine particles, lighter than the air near the earth,* there
ascends up to the clouds, and this continually, an amazing body of
water; and so by this invisible agency they are kept always supplied.
And here I place before you, dear children, two calculations of great
interest:--first, it is estimated, that in England and Wales alone,
rain falls yearly to the extent of 100,000 millions of tons (and so I
* See Appendix.
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? 24
THE CREATION.
do not wonder that you should think that the clouds should at last
empty themselves): and secondly, that four-fifths of this rain or snow
returns to the clouds by evaporation. This is truly perpetual motion,
which the Philosophers have sought in vain to discover. It is thus
that these bottles of heaven are kept continually supplied--and thus also
that our earth is continually refreshed with the early and the latter rain.
But the subject of evaporation is one of great interest. Now sup-
pose you go to your large map of the world, and look for the
Mediterranean, known in the Scriptures by the name of the Great
Sea, and in profane history as the Mare-internum. It is entered, you
will observe, by the Straits of Gibraltar, which are about four leagues
in width, having Africa on the right side, and Europe on the left:
these were formerly called the Pillars of Hercules. There is continually
flowing through this entrance a steady current from the great Atlantic
Ocean; you will see also the Nile on the right side, rising in the king-
dom of Gojam, Abyssinia,* full 1300 miles distant from its mouth, and
pouring down its torrents, till at last, through its seven streams, it also
empties itself into the Great Sea. Then, again, if you trace the left
side, there are the Ebro in Spain, the Rhone in France, the Po and
Tiber in Italy. These all flow into the Mediterranean; there is also
the Black Sea, supplied by the great northern rivers, the Danube,
Don, Dnieper, coming down through the Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmora, the Dardanelles, into the Archipelago, or Sea of Islands,
* See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
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(among which you will see Patmos, memorable as the scene where the
Apostle John had the visions of the Kevelation,) and finally joins the
Mediterranean. And yet with all this amazing continual influx, the
Great Sea neither rises nor falls; but is the same to-day as it was
when St. Paul "sailed under Crete, and the south wind blew softly;"
and this simply by the principle of evaporation, which, with a scale
of the most accurate adjustment, preserves the balance in this
astonishing manner. *
If there were no rain from the clouds, the earth would soon present
a desolate wilderness; and if there were no evaporation from the
earth, it would in time be a waste of waters. At the flood, the Lord
opened the windows of heaven, and miraculously poured down in
torrents the waters suspended above, and, it may be, stayed the prin-
ciple of evaporation; but though, my beloved children, these results
may be traced back to natural causes, yet we should never, no not for
a moment, forget, that the Lord presides over the whole of nature. He
has not ordained certain causes and effects, and then left the world
to be governed by these--but Himself, who appoints, rules over all
in infinite Wisdom, Compassion, and Love. I mention this, as it is
now so much the fashion to say--" Nature did this;" but if you again
refer to the beautiful thirty-eighth chapter of Job, it is manifest that
* The remark, which is so common in the country, about the sun drawing
water, has a good deal of truth in it: for its rays, beaming through the at-
mosphere, detect the principle of evaporation, which, however, is going on just as
much all around.
C
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? 2G
THE CREATION.
all creation is always under the most minute government and direction
of Him that made it,--" Who hath divided a watercourse for the
overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause
it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein
there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ? Hath the rain a
father ? or who hath begotten the drops of dew ? Out of whose womb
came the ice ? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it ?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "
(Job xxxviii. 25--30. )
Yet even now if a drought prevails, or a flood increases, or the
pestilence rages,* God is acknowledged and prayed to as the immediate
governor of the universe; but the best and happiest state is, to wait
on him in the calm continually--and when the tempest arises, ice shall
find him ever nigh. (Ps. cxix. 114. )
The next blessing connected with the atmosphere, which I will
direct you to, is its power of refraction.
Though the atmosphere may extend in an exceeding rarified
state more than forty-five or fifty miles in height, yet it does not
refract the rays of light beyond that ; but within that distance
the rays of the sun come to us in a bent or arched line, and
thus, excepting when the heavenly bodies are in the Zenith, that is,
* Surely the Lord acknowledged the cry of England in 1830, and turned back
the cholera in answer to that cry, for his mercy endureth for ever.
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? LETTER III.
27
immediately over our heads, they always appear to us some degrees
more elevated than they really are,--so, long after the sun has set
we see it, and this is true of all the heavenly bodies; thus, at the
time of full moon, we see the sun after it is gone, and the moon
before it rises.
Another important property of the atmosphere, is its power of
reflecting light. We watched the setting sun the other evening; the
light of day seemed to linger on the earth long after it was gone,
while colours of every hue glowed in the western sky, seeming to
promise that the sun should rise again. " But how was the light pro-
longed ? " you may inquire. The beautiful arch of refraction had kept
the sun with us long after the orb itself was sunk; and now, when its
hays could no longer reach our eyes, but passed far above our heads,
we got them reflected as from a glass. And what language can de-
scribe that gentle, quiet light, the even-tide ? so sacred to meditation,
(Gen. xxiv. 63,) which an eastern writer beautifully calls " The
curtain of night gently drawn around the closing day. "
Another most gracious property of the atmosphere is its motion,
"the wind. " The principle of this is very simple:--when, from a
variety of causes, any portion of the atmosphere gets rarified, or ex-
panded, it immediately ascends till it meets with the air in a kindred
state--that is, of the same weight; but instantly that this process
begins, the air around hastens to fill the vacancy. If the previous
process had been gentle, the wind is gentle; but if rapid, the wind is
r2
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? 28
THE CREATION.
high and stormy; sometimes the light air, at another time the terrific
hurricane. *
The phenomena of the wind, or the atmosphere in a state of move-
ment or agitation, come to man fraught with blessing: for the storm
and tempest have beneficial results. It is the great conservator or
preserver of health: but for it, disease and death would gather on
every side. Have we not found, in climbing the sultry hills near
Malvern, when we reached the heights, the balmy air came to us all
sweet and refreshing, adapted to our very wants, by the hand of that
ever watchful Being who is as kind as he is powerful ? How often
have I at Jamaica looked longingly to the sea, watching the sea-breeze
come rippling and sparkling in the sun-beam, till at last it reached our
vessel. It was a delightful sight to see our ensign, (just like the one
your dear grandmamma made for you,) that had been hanging down as
if partaking in the general sultriness, on a sudden stream out almost
instinct with the joy of all around; and at night, when the sea-breeze
had died away, and all was calm and still, the air, cooling from the
fervent rays of the sun which had " shone the live long day," now
came hasting down the mountains, as the land messenger, vying in
refreshment with that from the sea; but though cooler, yet not so
invigorating. The cause of the land and sea breeze is simply the
arifying and condensing of the atmosphere. In the morning, after
the sun has arisen to some height, the whole air around begins to feel
* See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
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its power, and soon expands or rarifies; and (as I before re-
marked on the causes of the wind) the neighbouring sea-air rushes
in to fill the vacancy: and at night, when the heat has passed
away, the air that had ascended, again condenses, and comes
down to us cooler than even the sea-breeze. But one must dwell,
dear children, in tropical countries to know the mercy of these
things.
But not only is the wind so valuable to us, as the preserver of
health; but it is also the principal means of all our communications
with other countries. Let us look again at your map of the world. *
See how the water preponderates over the land. Look at the various
Ports and Harbours and Rivers, as if the Lord intended the sea as the
great highway by which the nations of the earth should have inter-
course. Imagine that you could in a moment of time see all the
ships that are at this moment on the ocean, all with their respective
colours, how full of interest would the sight be. There you would see
the union of England, the eagles of Russia and Prussia, the tri-coloured
flags of France and Holland, the stars of America, some sailing this
way, some that; some for pleasure, and, blessed be the God of peace,
but few for war. But all intent on one thing,--to reach the port to
which they are bound: for everything in a vessel's voyage bears on
this. If you could hail each vessel, and ask them this question,--
? The surface of the globe contains about 196 millions of square acres, 147 mil-
lions being water, and 49 millions land.
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? 30
THE CREATION.
" Where are you bound ? " not one* of the many thousands would say,
" I don't know. " No; they are in earnest; but, alas! how many
hundreds of thousands are sailing on the ocean of life, surrounded with
danger, and yet, if you ask them whither they are going, they would
be constrained to say, " I don't know:" for without a pilot, without a
compass, without a rudder, they are driven on by fierce winds; and,
if the Lord interfere not, ere long they will make shipwreck of their
souls.
But reflect, my dear children, on the scene before you; and with
the exception of those few steam-packets (few in comparison) which
seem to pass on regardless of the winds, the commerce of the world is
kept up by the unaided agency of the wind. I say unaided agency;
for though the sailor spreads his snowy canvas " low and aloft," yet
he is altogether dependent: the wind bloweth where it listeth; and
only as he is obedient to its dictates he prospers. One while you see
him in the midst of storm and tempest, ploughing his way through
seas that seem to threaten his destruction; and at another time, in the
light and gentle airs of summer, his vessel, like the bird, seems to
ruffle her plumagef with delight, extending her utmost sails to catch
? See a valuable little book, entitled " An Address to Seamen, by the late
lamented Dr. Payson;" which, though addressed particularly to seamen, is
equally suitable for all classes, as the language is so plain, heart-searching, and
simple. -- Wright, Bristol.
t Looking on a beautiful vessel, with every sail spread, almost seeming instinct
with life, hastening on at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, one can hardly
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? LETTER III.
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the straggling zephyr. I have sometimes been struck with wonder
at the thought of a vessel leaving the Thames, and going the circuit
of the globe and coming back to her first anchoring, and not one
finger of man put out to impel her. The wind has done it entirely--
man has simply acted as its servant. Beautiful is the language of our
poet Cowper, when speaking of the ship that bore some missionaries
to India:--
" Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd,
To furnish and accommodate a world;
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark that ploughs the deep serene,
That flies, like Gabriel, at its Lord's commands,
With message of God's Love to heathen lands. "
Cowper s Poems:--CHARITY, line 201. ?
This is a favourite subject with me, as you know; but I must leave
it, and pass on at once to two other gracious properties of the
atmosphere.
What made those sounds come to our ears so sweet the other
evening ? or, indeed, what made them come at all, when we heard
the beautiful hymn--
wonder at the poor Esquimaux thinking that Captain Ross's ships were some
large birds about to light on their coasts.
* See Appendix.
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? . 32
THE CREATION.
" Why those fears? behold 'tis Jesus
Holds the helm, and guides the ship:
Spread the sails and catch the breezes,
Sent to waft us through the deep,
To those regions,
Where the mourners cease to weep? "
It was still the gracious agency of the surrounding atmosphere, one
of whose properties is to convey sound ; and this too, just in the pro-
portion to make those sounds pleasant: for if indeed they were
deeper, or our sense of hearing sharper, or more acute, what misery
should we be in;--or if the case was reversed, life would be a con-
tinual exertion, stretching the ear to hear; but as it is, loving-
kindness and goodness mark this gracious boon. The proof of sound
being conveyed by the atmospheric air is very simple. Now suppose
we put our large bell in any glass vessel, and then exhaust the air;--
now shake the vessel hard--all is quiet, and yet we see that the
clapper has touched the side. Why does it not sound ? The air is
gone. But now let the air in, and shake the bell, and it rings as
usual. The sound was caused by the resistance of the atmosphere,
through which it had to break its way. Suppose for a moment that
the atmosphere was deprived of this property, what consternation
would gather on every side,--all christian communion, all social
intercourse would be at an end, and the business of the world would
stand still, and every man would be as one that was dumb. Well,
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LETTER IIL 33
then, may we join in that transport of praise, and with the Psalmist
cry aloud, "Praise God in the firmament of his power. " (Psalm
el. 1. )
How fragrant the air was the other evening when we walked by
the fields where they were gathering in the hay; but why did we inhale
the fragrance so pleasantly ? Here, again, the same means that con-
veyed the sound conveyed also the scent; for if instead of the bell,
you had plucked a rose, and put it in the glass vessel, and exhausted
the air, it would wither and die, without emitting one particle of scent
to tell you what it once was.
But, my dear children, I think I never wrote you so long a letter
before, and I must hasten to relieve your attention by only just briefly
recapitulating the seven properties of the atmosphere I have en-
deavoured to explain to you.
1st, Its power of sustaining life, whether animal or vegetable.
2nd, Its being the reservoir of the rain,* snow, and dew, &c
.
3rd, Its gracious properties of refraction and reflection of light.
4th, Its gracious property of reflecting light.
5th, The wind or agitated atmosphere;--the great preserver of
health; and the means of all commercial intercourse.
6th, Its being the medium of sound, and therefore that by which
all social communion and general intercourse is kept up.
7 th, The medium of scent.
? See Appendix,
c3
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? 34
THE CREATION.
Think of these properties, beloved children, and remember that you
always enjoy the first, and continually one or more of all the other six;
and so may you in everything be led by God's Spirit to give thanks;
and thus living in a continual state of dependence, you will live in a
continual state of peace.
Believe me,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
35
LETTER IV.
AND THEY THAT BE WISE SHALL SHINE AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT.
Daniel nil. 3.
My dear Children,
Though the Scriptures say to us but little of the firmament itself in
the way of illustration, yet in a variety of ways it is alluded to; for if
I were to mention and enlarge upon all the passages that introduce
the rain and hail and snow, in this way, my letter would swell out
to a very long one.
Now suppose you turn to your Bibles, and look at Gen. i . ii. ; there
you will see the order of Adam's creation to be thus;--first God
formed him from the dust of the earth, and then breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul; and from
that time his natural life was sustained, according to God's appoint-
ment, by means of his inhaling, as we do, the vital air. But both his
spiritual and natural life depended on his obedience to the command
to eat not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen. iii.
tells us, that listening to the counsel of Eve, who before had been
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? 36
THE CREATION.
beguiled by the serpent, Adam ate of the tree, and instantly, dying,
he died:--that is, his soul died; his body became mortal or dying;
and body and soul exposed (when the day of judgment should come)
to the second death. Gen. v. records, that Adam begat a son in his
mcn likeness:--not God's, but his own; the likeness of a dead man--
a man cut off from God: and to this St. Paul alludes when he says,
. --" by man came death:"--but though man was thus cut off from
God, yet still, as St. Paul testified to the gentiles at Athens, " In
Him we live and move and have our being,"--that is, we depend
every moment for our existence on God;--He takes our breath, we die.
This, my dear children, brings strikingly to our minds the omnipresence
of God, or God being always present, in all places and at all times;
and I know of no figure that so fully illustrates this as the all-pene-
trating, all-pervading atmosphere; so that, when light itself in vain
knocks for admission, (as in a cavern or darkened room,) the air comes
in as the rightful occupant and dweller in all things--day and night,
place or distance, makes no difference, and there is no possibility of
putting it away but by artificial means, as I have shown in my pre-
vious letter; and then, wherever its absence is--there is death,
reigning and ruling in all its power. There was one scene once acted
upon the earth, the first (and oh that it might be the last) that affords us
the most solemn and awful consideration on this subject: I allude to
the French Revolution of 1793, of which we were reading some time
since. There it was that a nation of 20,000,000 of people, priding
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? LETTER IV.
37
themselves on being the most polite nation of the earth, and whose
language was spoken in most of the courts of Europe, proclaimed by
an edict of its national assembly two awful decrees,--first, that there
was no God; and second, that death was an eternal sleep. Like the
fool that said in his heart, they said openly, " Tush, there is no God
and the Lord left them for a little, and France was as if there was no
God. And, oh! who can describe the horrors of that awful period ?
Historians, by common consent, have marked that era in the world's
great chart of time as the "Reign of terror. " Scenes too terrible
to describe followed each other in rapid succession! The rulers of
to-day were the victims of to-morrow! The prince of the power of
the air seemed the alone monarch of that unhappy land; and the
various forms of government that arose, were but as his vassals, till
at last, drunk with the blood of her own children, (if God had not in
mercy interposed! ) the whole empire seemed threatened with annihilation.
A military despotism succeeded the reign of terror; and this (bad as it
is in itself) was hailed with acclamation by the people. I did not
at all, when I commenced this letter, intend to have introduced this
subject to your minds, (though I am sure, in the present day espe-
cially, every child should know it,) but as it brought so forcibly
before me the blessing to man of the omnipresence of God, I could not
forbear. Oh, how full of consolation is it to that child who loves God,
and who is at peace with him in the precious blood of Christ, to know
that God is as much about his every footstep invisible, as He was
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38
THE CREATION.
visible about the tents of Israel when marching through the wilder-
ness I We have our cloud by day, our light by night; we have our
manna, our bread of life, in this desert wilderness, and water flowing
from the rock that follows; we have a robe that never wears, and a
foot that never swells; and above all, far above all, a Lamb, even the
Lamb of God, which (like the heavenly pattern seen by Moses in the
mount, and shown out in the altar of burnt-offering) is as a sweet
savour unto God, and bears away the sin of the world. While, then,
beloved children, you breathe the air of life so freely and happily, oh,
think of Him who is yet nearer still to you: for not only as his crea-
tures " do we live and move and have our being in Him," but if adopted
into his family, then are we partakers of the divine nature: for the
word is full of grace which speaks of the oneness of believers with the
Lord Jesus,--" No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it,
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. " (Eph. v. 29. ) In the
prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 1--3, the figure of the firmament is intro-
duced with great force and beauty; the scene is the resurrection, and
the prophet says, " And those that be wise shall shine as the firma-
ment ; and those that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever. " In the margin it is " those that are teachers;" but in either
sense it is very beautiful. But what makes the firmament so bright
--so transparent--so dazzling? The Sun has his tabernacle there, and
the firmament is bright in his brightness. Oh, never forget His love
that purchased that glory! (for it is a glory of redemption) and remem-
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? LETTER IV.
39
ber, that to secure it He gave that brow, now surrounded with glory,
to be encircled with thorns; and that we might cry " Abba Father "
in the spirit of adoption, He uttered the piercing cry, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani? --My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? "
(Mark xv. 34. ) " He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. " (2 Cor. v. 21. ) I
know not how to stop on this subject. The love of Christ is infinite;
it has lengths and breadths and depths and heights which pass know-
ledge. Eph. iii. 19. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. "
(2 Cor. ix. 15. )
How fertile the fields looked the other day after that long and
painful drought. The rain came down the previous night, and we
could almost see the arid and parched field change its colour as we
gazed on it . Such is the blessing of the word of God when minis-
tered by God's Holy Spirit to the soul. His gracious presence is like
the showers upon the mown grass! How beautiful the language of
Moses,--"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear, O
earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. " (Deut. xxxii. 1, 2. ) And
again in that most interesting chapter of Isaiah,--" For 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
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? 40
THE CREATION.
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. " (Isa. lv. 10--13. ) Here the
illustration is exactly the same as in Deuteronomy, and though the
ultimate extent of the prophecy looks forward to a period when all
shall be joy--the times of the restitution of all things, when Creation,
delivered from the bondage of corruption, shall rejoice in the reign of
its rightful King who has redeemed it--the second Adam, the Lord
from heaven, yet doubtless now there is an earnest of it in those who
have the first-fruits of the Spirit, (Rom. viii. 23,) for where the Holy
Spirit dwells, the brier and the thorn, the angry and cruel passions, are
exchanged for the myrtle and the fir--so beautifully emblematic of
the fruits of the Spirit, (see Gal. v. 22,23,) for though sin is not eradi-
cated, it is subdued; and God's Holy Spirit, and not Satan, has the
dominion, and reigns in, and over the new-born child of God.
(Rom. vi. 14. )
Another beautiful figure in nature is the Deir, and none is more fre-
quently used--but I will mention three especial allusions to it. Do
you remember the other morning, in our drive to H. , it would have
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? LETTER IV.
41
been in vain to have sought to count the glittering dew-drops of the
morning: the sun was up, and every drop seemed a radiant gem upon
the indescribable beauty around. I thought of that multitude which
no man could number, and it seemed to me at once to expound the
sublime description in Psalm ex. " thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. " Hebrew scholars
say the word " willing " is used in the highest degree, it is most willing,
and the last clause is literally " thy progeny shall be as dew from the
' womb of the morning. " Bright and glorious will be the morning of
the Resurrection of the just: then the Sun of Righteousness shining on
the dew, every drop shall glisten and be resplendent in His brightness.
But not only is the dew thus used, but it has also a second order of
illustration; when speaking of Israel's captivity being turned, in
Hosea xiv. 5th verse, the Lord says, "I will be as the dew unto
Israel: he shall grow (or blossom) as the lily, and cast forth his roots
as Lebanon. " Last year, if you remember, I told you of my visit to
the great synagogue in Duke's Place, London, at the feast of the
Passover; and how I was struck with astonishment at the number of
the prayers offered to the Lord as the Father of the Beu; entreating
him to be as the dew to Israel. I asked an aged Jew by me what it
meant, and he said it was all a figure, but I said of what ? and he looked
at me as if disinclined to answer. Poor Israel! yes, you shall again be
visited by the dew, the Lord shall indeed return to Jerusalem with
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? 42
THE CREATION.
mercies, (Zech. i. 16,) he will yet be as the cloud of dew in the heat
of harvest; for Israel, with the Spirit poured out from 011 high, shall
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isa. xxvii. 6 ;
Micah v. 7; Zech. viii. 12, 13. ) There is yet one more use of this
gracious figure; it occurs in Psalm cxxxiii.
? LETTER III.
23
by night. I might write you a great deal more on this subject; but
I must pass on now to consider the second great property of the atmo-
sphere, as the great reservoir of rain and snow. Now, suppose you
read in 1 Kings xviii. 2--5, there you see what would be the state of
the land if there was no such reservoir as I have mentioned; for then
God withheld the rain in judgment, and all things perished. The
accounts from Australia, also, received in our last letters, give ample
proof of the same thing in our day. But this is the exception to the
general rule; for since the beautiful Bow has been seen in the cloud,
seed-time and harvest have not failed. But here I imagine a diffi-
culty that would be quickly proposed if I were sitting by you--** Do
not the clouds ever get emptied ? I should have thought that a few
such nights as we had about a month since would have emptied all
the clouds. " The remark, dear children, is not at all a foolish one;
for the clouds of course would empty themselves, but for one thing.
" Now what is that one thing ? " I suppose you are all curious to in-
quire : and I answer,--it is the principle of evaporation, by which, in
infinitely fine particles, lighter than the air near the earth,* there
ascends up to the clouds, and this continually, an amazing body of
water; and so by this invisible agency they are kept always supplied.
And here I place before you, dear children, two calculations of great
interest:--first, it is estimated, that in England and Wales alone,
rain falls yearly to the extent of 100,000 millions of tons (and so I
* See Appendix.
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? 24
THE CREATION.
do not wonder that you should think that the clouds should at last
empty themselves): and secondly, that four-fifths of this rain or snow
returns to the clouds by evaporation. This is truly perpetual motion,
which the Philosophers have sought in vain to discover. It is thus
that these bottles of heaven are kept continually supplied--and thus also
that our earth is continually refreshed with the early and the latter rain.
But the subject of evaporation is one of great interest. Now sup-
pose you go to your large map of the world, and look for the
Mediterranean, known in the Scriptures by the name of the Great
Sea, and in profane history as the Mare-internum. It is entered, you
will observe, by the Straits of Gibraltar, which are about four leagues
in width, having Africa on the right side, and Europe on the left:
these were formerly called the Pillars of Hercules. There is continually
flowing through this entrance a steady current from the great Atlantic
Ocean; you will see also the Nile on the right side, rising in the king-
dom of Gojam, Abyssinia,* full 1300 miles distant from its mouth, and
pouring down its torrents, till at last, through its seven streams, it also
empties itself into the Great Sea. Then, again, if you trace the left
side, there are the Ebro in Spain, the Rhone in France, the Po and
Tiber in Italy. These all flow into the Mediterranean; there is also
the Black Sea, supplied by the great northern rivers, the Danube,
Don, Dnieper, coming down through the Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmora, the Dardanelles, into the Archipelago, or Sea of Islands,
* See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
25
(among which you will see Patmos, memorable as the scene where the
Apostle John had the visions of the Kevelation,) and finally joins the
Mediterranean. And yet with all this amazing continual influx, the
Great Sea neither rises nor falls; but is the same to-day as it was
when St. Paul "sailed under Crete, and the south wind blew softly;"
and this simply by the principle of evaporation, which, with a scale
of the most accurate adjustment, preserves the balance in this
astonishing manner. *
If there were no rain from the clouds, the earth would soon present
a desolate wilderness; and if there were no evaporation from the
earth, it would in time be a waste of waters. At the flood, the Lord
opened the windows of heaven, and miraculously poured down in
torrents the waters suspended above, and, it may be, stayed the prin-
ciple of evaporation; but though, my beloved children, these results
may be traced back to natural causes, yet we should never, no not for
a moment, forget, that the Lord presides over the whole of nature. He
has not ordained certain causes and effects, and then left the world
to be governed by these--but Himself, who appoints, rules over all
in infinite Wisdom, Compassion, and Love. I mention this, as it is
now so much the fashion to say--" Nature did this;" but if you again
refer to the beautiful thirty-eighth chapter of Job, it is manifest that
* The remark, which is so common in the country, about the sun drawing
water, has a good deal of truth in it: for its rays, beaming through the at-
mosphere, detect the principle of evaporation, which, however, is going on just as
much all around.
C
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? 2G
THE CREATION.
all creation is always under the most minute government and direction
of Him that made it,--" Who hath divided a watercourse for the
overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause
it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein
there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ? Hath the rain a
father ? or who hath begotten the drops of dew ? Out of whose womb
came the ice ? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it ?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "
(Job xxxviii. 25--30. )
Yet even now if a drought prevails, or a flood increases, or the
pestilence rages,* God is acknowledged and prayed to as the immediate
governor of the universe; but the best and happiest state is, to wait
on him in the calm continually--and when the tempest arises, ice shall
find him ever nigh. (Ps. cxix. 114. )
The next blessing connected with the atmosphere, which I will
direct you to, is its power of refraction.
Though the atmosphere may extend in an exceeding rarified
state more than forty-five or fifty miles in height, yet it does not
refract the rays of light beyond that ; but within that distance
the rays of the sun come to us in a bent or arched line, and
thus, excepting when the heavenly bodies are in the Zenith, that is,
* Surely the Lord acknowledged the cry of England in 1830, and turned back
the cholera in answer to that cry, for his mercy endureth for ever.
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? LETTER III.
27
immediately over our heads, they always appear to us some degrees
more elevated than they really are,--so, long after the sun has set
we see it, and this is true of all the heavenly bodies; thus, at the
time of full moon, we see the sun after it is gone, and the moon
before it rises.
Another important property of the atmosphere, is its power of
reflecting light. We watched the setting sun the other evening; the
light of day seemed to linger on the earth long after it was gone,
while colours of every hue glowed in the western sky, seeming to
promise that the sun should rise again. " But how was the light pro-
longed ? " you may inquire. The beautiful arch of refraction had kept
the sun with us long after the orb itself was sunk; and now, when its
hays could no longer reach our eyes, but passed far above our heads,
we got them reflected as from a glass. And what language can de-
scribe that gentle, quiet light, the even-tide ? so sacred to meditation,
(Gen. xxiv. 63,) which an eastern writer beautifully calls " The
curtain of night gently drawn around the closing day. "
Another most gracious property of the atmosphere is its motion,
"the wind. " The principle of this is very simple:--when, from a
variety of causes, any portion of the atmosphere gets rarified, or ex-
panded, it immediately ascends till it meets with the air in a kindred
state--that is, of the same weight; but instantly that this process
begins, the air around hastens to fill the vacancy. If the previous
process had been gentle, the wind is gentle; but if rapid, the wind is
r2
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? 28
THE CREATION.
high and stormy; sometimes the light air, at another time the terrific
hurricane. *
The phenomena of the wind, or the atmosphere in a state of move-
ment or agitation, come to man fraught with blessing: for the storm
and tempest have beneficial results. It is the great conservator or
preserver of health: but for it, disease and death would gather on
every side. Have we not found, in climbing the sultry hills near
Malvern, when we reached the heights, the balmy air came to us all
sweet and refreshing, adapted to our very wants, by the hand of that
ever watchful Being who is as kind as he is powerful ? How often
have I at Jamaica looked longingly to the sea, watching the sea-breeze
come rippling and sparkling in the sun-beam, till at last it reached our
vessel. It was a delightful sight to see our ensign, (just like the one
your dear grandmamma made for you,) that had been hanging down as
if partaking in the general sultriness, on a sudden stream out almost
instinct with the joy of all around; and at night, when the sea-breeze
had died away, and all was calm and still, the air, cooling from the
fervent rays of the sun which had " shone the live long day," now
came hasting down the mountains, as the land messenger, vying in
refreshment with that from the sea; but though cooler, yet not so
invigorating. The cause of the land and sea breeze is simply the
arifying and condensing of the atmosphere. In the morning, after
the sun has arisen to some height, the whole air around begins to feel
* See Appendix.
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? LETTER III.
29
its power, and soon expands or rarifies; and (as I before re-
marked on the causes of the wind) the neighbouring sea-air rushes
in to fill the vacancy: and at night, when the heat has passed
away, the air that had ascended, again condenses, and comes
down to us cooler than even the sea-breeze. But one must dwell,
dear children, in tropical countries to know the mercy of these
things.
But not only is the wind so valuable to us, as the preserver of
health; but it is also the principal means of all our communications
with other countries. Let us look again at your map of the world. *
See how the water preponderates over the land. Look at the various
Ports and Harbours and Rivers, as if the Lord intended the sea as the
great highway by which the nations of the earth should have inter-
course. Imagine that you could in a moment of time see all the
ships that are at this moment on the ocean, all with their respective
colours, how full of interest would the sight be. There you would see
the union of England, the eagles of Russia and Prussia, the tri-coloured
flags of France and Holland, the stars of America, some sailing this
way, some that; some for pleasure, and, blessed be the God of peace,
but few for war. But all intent on one thing,--to reach the port to
which they are bound: for everything in a vessel's voyage bears on
this. If you could hail each vessel, and ask them this question,--
? The surface of the globe contains about 196 millions of square acres, 147 mil-
lions being water, and 49 millions land.
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? 30
THE CREATION.
" Where are you bound ? " not one* of the many thousands would say,
" I don't know. " No; they are in earnest; but, alas! how many
hundreds of thousands are sailing on the ocean of life, surrounded with
danger, and yet, if you ask them whither they are going, they would
be constrained to say, " I don't know:" for without a pilot, without a
compass, without a rudder, they are driven on by fierce winds; and,
if the Lord interfere not, ere long they will make shipwreck of their
souls.
But reflect, my dear children, on the scene before you; and with
the exception of those few steam-packets (few in comparison) which
seem to pass on regardless of the winds, the commerce of the world is
kept up by the unaided agency of the wind. I say unaided agency;
for though the sailor spreads his snowy canvas " low and aloft," yet
he is altogether dependent: the wind bloweth where it listeth; and
only as he is obedient to its dictates he prospers. One while you see
him in the midst of storm and tempest, ploughing his way through
seas that seem to threaten his destruction; and at another time, in the
light and gentle airs of summer, his vessel, like the bird, seems to
ruffle her plumagef with delight, extending her utmost sails to catch
? See a valuable little book, entitled " An Address to Seamen, by the late
lamented Dr. Payson;" which, though addressed particularly to seamen, is
equally suitable for all classes, as the language is so plain, heart-searching, and
simple. -- Wright, Bristol.
t Looking on a beautiful vessel, with every sail spread, almost seeming instinct
with life, hastening on at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, one can hardly
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? LETTER III.
31
the straggling zephyr. I have sometimes been struck with wonder
at the thought of a vessel leaving the Thames, and going the circuit
of the globe and coming back to her first anchoring, and not one
finger of man put out to impel her. The wind has done it entirely--
man has simply acted as its servant. Beautiful is the language of our
poet Cowper, when speaking of the ship that bore some missionaries
to India:--
" Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd,
To furnish and accommodate a world;
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark that ploughs the deep serene,
That flies, like Gabriel, at its Lord's commands,
With message of God's Love to heathen lands. "
Cowper s Poems:--CHARITY, line 201. ?
This is a favourite subject with me, as you know; but I must leave
it, and pass on at once to two other gracious properties of the
atmosphere.
What made those sounds come to our ears so sweet the other
evening ? or, indeed, what made them come at all, when we heard
the beautiful hymn--
wonder at the poor Esquimaux thinking that Captain Ross's ships were some
large birds about to light on their coasts.
* See Appendix.
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? . 32
THE CREATION.
" Why those fears? behold 'tis Jesus
Holds the helm, and guides the ship:
Spread the sails and catch the breezes,
Sent to waft us through the deep,
To those regions,
Where the mourners cease to weep? "
It was still the gracious agency of the surrounding atmosphere, one
of whose properties is to convey sound ; and this too, just in the pro-
portion to make those sounds pleasant: for if indeed they were
deeper, or our sense of hearing sharper, or more acute, what misery
should we be in;--or if the case was reversed, life would be a con-
tinual exertion, stretching the ear to hear; but as it is, loving-
kindness and goodness mark this gracious boon. The proof of sound
being conveyed by the atmospheric air is very simple. Now suppose
we put our large bell in any glass vessel, and then exhaust the air;--
now shake the vessel hard--all is quiet, and yet we see that the
clapper has touched the side. Why does it not sound ? The air is
gone. But now let the air in, and shake the bell, and it rings as
usual. The sound was caused by the resistance of the atmosphere,
through which it had to break its way. Suppose for a moment that
the atmosphere was deprived of this property, what consternation
would gather on every side,--all christian communion, all social
intercourse would be at an end, and the business of the world would
stand still, and every man would be as one that was dumb. Well,
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LETTER IIL 33
then, may we join in that transport of praise, and with the Psalmist
cry aloud, "Praise God in the firmament of his power. " (Psalm
el. 1. )
How fragrant the air was the other evening when we walked by
the fields where they were gathering in the hay; but why did we inhale
the fragrance so pleasantly ? Here, again, the same means that con-
veyed the sound conveyed also the scent; for if instead of the bell,
you had plucked a rose, and put it in the glass vessel, and exhausted
the air, it would wither and die, without emitting one particle of scent
to tell you what it once was.
But, my dear children, I think I never wrote you so long a letter
before, and I must hasten to relieve your attention by only just briefly
recapitulating the seven properties of the atmosphere I have en-
deavoured to explain to you.
1st, Its power of sustaining life, whether animal or vegetable.
2nd, Its being the reservoir of the rain,* snow, and dew, &c
.
3rd, Its gracious properties of refraction and reflection of light.
4th, Its gracious property of reflecting light.
5th, The wind or agitated atmosphere;--the great preserver of
health; and the means of all commercial intercourse.
6th, Its being the medium of sound, and therefore that by which
all social communion and general intercourse is kept up.
7 th, The medium of scent.
? See Appendix,
c3
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? 34
THE CREATION.
Think of these properties, beloved children, and remember that you
always enjoy the first, and continually one or more of all the other six;
and so may you in everything be led by God's Spirit to give thanks;
and thus living in a continual state of dependence, you will live in a
continual state of peace.
Believe me,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
35
LETTER IV.
AND THEY THAT BE WISE SHALL SHINE AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT.
Daniel nil. 3.
My dear Children,
Though the Scriptures say to us but little of the firmament itself in
the way of illustration, yet in a variety of ways it is alluded to; for if
I were to mention and enlarge upon all the passages that introduce
the rain and hail and snow, in this way, my letter would swell out
to a very long one.
Now suppose you turn to your Bibles, and look at Gen. i . ii. ; there
you will see the order of Adam's creation to be thus;--first God
formed him from the dust of the earth, and then breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul; and from
that time his natural life was sustained, according to God's appoint-
ment, by means of his inhaling, as we do, the vital air. But both his
spiritual and natural life depended on his obedience to the command
to eat not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen. iii.
tells us, that listening to the counsel of Eve, who before had been
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? 36
THE CREATION.
beguiled by the serpent, Adam ate of the tree, and instantly, dying,
he died:--that is, his soul died; his body became mortal or dying;
and body and soul exposed (when the day of judgment should come)
to the second death. Gen. v. records, that Adam begat a son in his
mcn likeness:--not God's, but his own; the likeness of a dead man--
a man cut off from God: and to this St. Paul alludes when he says,
. --" by man came death:"--but though man was thus cut off from
God, yet still, as St. Paul testified to the gentiles at Athens, " In
Him we live and move and have our being,"--that is, we depend
every moment for our existence on God;--He takes our breath, we die.
This, my dear children, brings strikingly to our minds the omnipresence
of God, or God being always present, in all places and at all times;
and I know of no figure that so fully illustrates this as the all-pene-
trating, all-pervading atmosphere; so that, when light itself in vain
knocks for admission, (as in a cavern or darkened room,) the air comes
in as the rightful occupant and dweller in all things--day and night,
place or distance, makes no difference, and there is no possibility of
putting it away but by artificial means, as I have shown in my pre-
vious letter; and then, wherever its absence is--there is death,
reigning and ruling in all its power. There was one scene once acted
upon the earth, the first (and oh that it might be the last) that affords us
the most solemn and awful consideration on this subject: I allude to
the French Revolution of 1793, of which we were reading some time
since. There it was that a nation of 20,000,000 of people, priding
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? LETTER IV.
37
themselves on being the most polite nation of the earth, and whose
language was spoken in most of the courts of Europe, proclaimed by
an edict of its national assembly two awful decrees,--first, that there
was no God; and second, that death was an eternal sleep. Like the
fool that said in his heart, they said openly, " Tush, there is no God
and the Lord left them for a little, and France was as if there was no
God. And, oh! who can describe the horrors of that awful period ?
Historians, by common consent, have marked that era in the world's
great chart of time as the "Reign of terror. " Scenes too terrible
to describe followed each other in rapid succession! The rulers of
to-day were the victims of to-morrow! The prince of the power of
the air seemed the alone monarch of that unhappy land; and the
various forms of government that arose, were but as his vassals, till
at last, drunk with the blood of her own children, (if God had not in
mercy interposed! ) the whole empire seemed threatened with annihilation.
A military despotism succeeded the reign of terror; and this (bad as it
is in itself) was hailed with acclamation by the people. I did not
at all, when I commenced this letter, intend to have introduced this
subject to your minds, (though I am sure, in the present day espe-
cially, every child should know it,) but as it brought so forcibly
before me the blessing to man of the omnipresence of God, I could not
forbear. Oh, how full of consolation is it to that child who loves God,
and who is at peace with him in the precious blood of Christ, to know
that God is as much about his every footstep invisible, as He was
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38
THE CREATION.
visible about the tents of Israel when marching through the wilder-
ness I We have our cloud by day, our light by night; we have our
manna, our bread of life, in this desert wilderness, and water flowing
from the rock that follows; we have a robe that never wears, and a
foot that never swells; and above all, far above all, a Lamb, even the
Lamb of God, which (like the heavenly pattern seen by Moses in the
mount, and shown out in the altar of burnt-offering) is as a sweet
savour unto God, and bears away the sin of the world. While, then,
beloved children, you breathe the air of life so freely and happily, oh,
think of Him who is yet nearer still to you: for not only as his crea-
tures " do we live and move and have our being in Him," but if adopted
into his family, then are we partakers of the divine nature: for the
word is full of grace which speaks of the oneness of believers with the
Lord Jesus,--" No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it,
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. " (Eph. v. 29. ) In the
prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 1--3, the figure of the firmament is intro-
duced with great force and beauty; the scene is the resurrection, and
the prophet says, " And those that be wise shall shine as the firma-
ment ; and those that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever. " In the margin it is " those that are teachers;" but in either
sense it is very beautiful. But what makes the firmament so bright
--so transparent--so dazzling? The Sun has his tabernacle there, and
the firmament is bright in his brightness. Oh, never forget His love
that purchased that glory! (for it is a glory of redemption) and remem-
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? LETTER IV.
39
ber, that to secure it He gave that brow, now surrounded with glory,
to be encircled with thorns; and that we might cry " Abba Father "
in the spirit of adoption, He uttered the piercing cry, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani? --My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? "
(Mark xv. 34. ) " He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. " (2 Cor. v. 21. ) I
know not how to stop on this subject. The love of Christ is infinite;
it has lengths and breadths and depths and heights which pass know-
ledge. Eph. iii. 19. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. "
(2 Cor. ix. 15. )
How fertile the fields looked the other day after that long and
painful drought. The rain came down the previous night, and we
could almost see the arid and parched field change its colour as we
gazed on it . Such is the blessing of the word of God when minis-
tered by God's Holy Spirit to the soul. His gracious presence is like
the showers upon the mown grass! How beautiful the language of
Moses,--"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear, O
earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. " (Deut. xxxii. 1, 2. ) And
again in that most interesting chapter of Isaiah,--" For 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
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? 40
THE CREATION.
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. " (Isa. lv. 10--13. ) Here the
illustration is exactly the same as in Deuteronomy, and though the
ultimate extent of the prophecy looks forward to a period when all
shall be joy--the times of the restitution of all things, when Creation,
delivered from the bondage of corruption, shall rejoice in the reign of
its rightful King who has redeemed it--the second Adam, the Lord
from heaven, yet doubtless now there is an earnest of it in those who
have the first-fruits of the Spirit, (Rom. viii. 23,) for where the Holy
Spirit dwells, the brier and the thorn, the angry and cruel passions, are
exchanged for the myrtle and the fir--so beautifully emblematic of
the fruits of the Spirit, (see Gal. v. 22,23,) for though sin is not eradi-
cated, it is subdued; and God's Holy Spirit, and not Satan, has the
dominion, and reigns in, and over the new-born child of God.
(Rom. vi. 14. )
Another beautiful figure in nature is the Deir, and none is more fre-
quently used--but I will mention three especial allusions to it. Do
you remember the other morning, in our drive to H. , it would have
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? LETTER IV.
41
been in vain to have sought to count the glittering dew-drops of the
morning: the sun was up, and every drop seemed a radiant gem upon
the indescribable beauty around. I thought of that multitude which
no man could number, and it seemed to me at once to expound the
sublime description in Psalm ex. " thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. " Hebrew scholars
say the word " willing " is used in the highest degree, it is most willing,
and the last clause is literally " thy progeny shall be as dew from the
' womb of the morning. " Bright and glorious will be the morning of
the Resurrection of the just: then the Sun of Righteousness shining on
the dew, every drop shall glisten and be resplendent in His brightness.
But not only is the dew thus used, but it has also a second order of
illustration; when speaking of Israel's captivity being turned, in
Hosea xiv. 5th verse, the Lord says, "I will be as the dew unto
Israel: he shall grow (or blossom) as the lily, and cast forth his roots
as Lebanon. " Last year, if you remember, I told you of my visit to
the great synagogue in Duke's Place, London, at the feast of the
Passover; and how I was struck with astonishment at the number of
the prayers offered to the Lord as the Father of the Beu; entreating
him to be as the dew to Israel. I asked an aged Jew by me what it
meant, and he said it was all a figure, but I said of what ? and he looked
at me as if disinclined to answer. Poor Israel! yes, you shall again be
visited by the dew, the Lord shall indeed return to Jerusalem with
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? 42
THE CREATION.
mercies, (Zech. i. 16,) he will yet be as the cloud of dew in the heat
of harvest; for Israel, with the Spirit poured out from 011 high, shall
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isa. xxvii. 6 ;
Micah v. 7; Zech. viii. 12, 13. ) There is yet one more use of this
gracious figure; it occurs in Psalm cxxxiii.
