employed to depict it (See Ps. lxxx.; Isa. v.; Ezek. xv; xix; Matt. xxi; John XV; and several other passages). Many of the parables of the Lord Jesus come under this head; as also a large portion of the Song of Songs.
The examples which I have here selected might be greatly extended; but these are more than sufficient to illustrate the way in which the Word of God sanctions the study of his works. Not only do these passages require a considerable amount of acquaintance with the qualities of external objects, in order to be understood; but they afford us a warrant for a similar use of them. Not only is it legitimate to deduce the existence, and somewhat of the character of God from the creatures, but we may use them as remembrancers to suggest many truths which they could not teach us. Truths and doctrines which we could only learn from the written Word may be vividly brought to mind by the suggestive and emblematic imagery of nature. And thus the world of created things around us may become a mirror continually reflecting heavenly things.
This is one of the happiest and most profitable employments of natural science. I would that it were more familiar, more habitual, to me. It is a good thing to see the Creator in his works; but it is far better to trace in them the God of revelation, the God of Grace, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all who believe in his name. If we stop short at the former discovery, it will be of little avail to us.
We shall be like a prisoner under sentence of death, who when the king sends him terms of
