of  nature  is  prejudicial  to  the  existence  of  a  Highest
Being;  the  more  perfect  it  is  in  its  developments,  the
b«  tter  its  genera]  laws  contribute  to  order  and  harmony,
the  more  conclusive  is  the  demonstration  of  the  God-
head from  whom  these  relations  are  borrowed.  His
productiveness  is  no  longer  the  operation  of  chan>
the  consequence  of  accident;  from  Him  flows  every-
thing according  to  unalterable  laws,  which,  therefore,
must  produce  only  what  is  fit,  because  they  are  only  the
reflection  of  a  scheme  infinitely  wise,  from  which  all
disorder  is  banished.  It  is  not  the  fortuitous  concourse
of  the  atoms  of  Lucretius  which  has  builded  the  world,
implanted  forces  and  laws  whose  source  is  the  wisest
Understanding,  and  have  been  the  unvarying  cause  of
that  order  which  can  only  flow  from  them,  not  by
chance  but  by  Ordination."*

II.  Our  second  lesson  from  the  snow-crystals  is  a
practical  one.  Let  us  imitate  the  Great  Creator  in
Faithful  Doing  of  all  Life's  Work  and  Duty

The  simplest  creatures  of  the  Divine  Hand  and  the
minutest  details  of  their  structure  are  not  deemed  un-
worthy of  Infinite  Power.  Who  could  have  thought
these  crystals  of  the  snow-storm  worthy  of  such  care  ?
Only  a  snow-flake !  Is  it  not  a  waste  of  beauty?  What  un-
numbered myriads  <>t  them  are  floating  there  through  the
skies!  How  they  blanket  the  fields ;  drift  in  great  banks
along  the  fences  and  railway  tracks ;  fill  the  ravines  in  the
hills;  pack  the  gorges  of  the  mountain ;  and  lieheapson
heaps  upon  tin-  highest  summits!  Surely,  as  we  think
of  the  seeming  wastage  <  >fbeauty,  we  may  sing  over  these
flowers  of  the  snow,  these  crystal  gems  of  the  winter
storm,  as  Gray  sang  in  his  "  Elegy:  " —

I'ull  many  a  gem  of  puresl  ray  HTcnr

l  In-  dark  unfathom'd  <  ■<■  in  bear  ;

Full  many  a  flower  is  born  t<>  blush  un
Ami  waste  its  SW<  the  desert  air.
