The  transitoriness  of  this  world  might  have  been  purely  a
matter  of  revelation.  Instead  of  gradual  and  visible  decay,
God  might  have  arranged  his  cycles  so  that  change  should
not  have  been  perceptible  within  the  limits  of  a  lifetime;  that
dissolution  should  have  come  on  things  suddenly,  instead  of
by  slow  and  gradual  steps.  Instead  of  that,  He  has  merci
fully  chosen  that  it  should  not  only  be  a  matter  of  revelation,
but  of  observation  also.  This  visible  world  is  only  a  form
and  an  appearance,  (ind  has  written  decay  on  all  around
us.  On  the  lulls,  which  arc  everlasting  only  in  poetry  ;  their
outlines  changing  within  the  memory  of  man.  On  the  sen-
coast,  fringed  with  shingle.  Look  at  it  receding  from  our
white  elitls  ;  its  boundaries  are  not  what  they  were.  This
law  is  engraven  on  our  own  frames.  Kven  in  the  infant  the
progress  of  dissolution  h:is  visibly  begun.  The  principle  of


494  Lectures  on  the

development  is  at  work,  and  development  is  but  the  necessa
ry  step  towards  decay.  There  is  a  Force  at  work  in  every
thing,  call  it  what  you  will — Life  or  Death :  it  is  reproduc
tion  out  of  decay.  The  outward  form  is  in  a  perpetual  flux
and  change.
