O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all:  the earth is full of Thy riches.—­Psalm 104:24.

The laws of nature are just, but terrible.  There is no weak mercy in them.  Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable.  The elements have no forbearance.  The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries.  And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the laws of man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the laws of nature,—­were man as unerring in his judgments as nature.—­Longfellow.

Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts; the sight of the deep-blue sky and the clustering stars above seems to impart a quiet to the mind.—­T.  Edwards.

Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her. 
—­Wordsworth.

The works of nature and the works of revelation display religion to mankind in characters so large and visible, that those who are not quite blind may in them see and read the first principles and most necessary parts of it, and from thence penetrate into those infinite depths filled with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.—­Locke.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul. 
—­Pope.

It is a great mortification to the vanity of man that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature’s productions, either for beauty or value.—­Hume.

Read nature; nature is a friend to truth;
Nature is Christian, preaches to mankind;
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. 

          
                          —­Young.

Lavish thousands of dollars on your baby clothes, and after all the child is prettiest when every garment is laid aside.  That becoming nakedness, at least, may adorn the chubby darling of the poorest home.—­T.W.  Higginson.

Our old mother nature has pleasant and cheery tones enough for us when she comes in her dress of blue and gold over the eastern hill-tops; but when she follows us upstairs to our beds in her suit of black velvet and diamonds, every creak of her sandals and every whisper of her lips is full of mystery and fear.—­Holmes.

Nature ever faithful is
To such as trust her faithfulness. 
—­Emerson.

What profusion is there in His work!  When trees blossom there is not a single breastpin, but a whole bosom full of gems; and of leaves they have so many suits that they can throw them away to the winds all summer long.  What unnumbered cathedrals has He reared in the forest shades, vast and grand, full of curious carvings, and haunted evermore by tremulous music; and in the heavens above, how do stars seem to have flown out of His hand faster than sparks out of a mighty forge!  —­Beecher.