her, and a shrine at which we may worship
him acceptably. He has not given us this delicate sense of Beauty to be
neglected. It is our duty to preserve it well and cultivate it
diligently. None of us love Beauty too much, if our love is enlightened
and devout. He who has no love of Beauty in his soul is a great way from
God, and very near the earth, the animal. The love of Beauty is refining
and elevating in its tendency. Yet it is too often indulged without a
thought of God or a reverent emotion. It is a love which may be united
with earthly desires, or with heavenly aspirations. It may lead us
downward or upward, according to the use we make of it. It may pander to
pride and vanity, lust and appetite, or inspire to virtue, religion, and
inward life. It is a love which should be brought within the sphere of
moral government as much as the passions of our lower nature. It is a
love, too, which perhaps leads as many astray, corrupts as many lives,
degrades as many natures, as almost any feeling we possess. Its abuses
are fearful in their character and wide in their influence. It is a
power of mind lovely to behold, and even when degraded it is like a
diamond in the dust. So far as the love of natural things is concerned,
there is but little danger of abuse. Nature is always lovely, and always
to be admired. She always reminds us of God and our duty; always teaches
us our own littleness and frailty, and works upon all our passions a
calming subduing influence.

But we may pass from Beauty in nature to Beauty in man. Strictly
speaking, man is a part of nature; but by common usage we often speak of
nature as distinct from both God and man. Really, man is a part of
nature, and God is in it all. Take God away from his works, and where
would they be? They would vanish like a body deprived of its soul. Take
God out of a flower, and it would wither and vanish in an instant. Take
God out of a sun or star, and they would go out as a candle in the wind.
Take God out of any thing--a tree, an animal, a man--and it would cease
to be. So take God out of nature, and there would be no nature. Not that
nature is God, but that there is no nature without God. God is in all
things; he pervades, sustains, and moves all things. The laws of nature,
of which we often speak, are the arteries and veins which God has made,
along which he pours through the great body of his universe the spirit
of his infinite being. Man, then, as a part of this natur