that He did not send them into any exceedingly
hot country, where they would have become utterly lazy and profligate,
like the negroes and the South Sea islanders, who have no need to work,
because the perpetual summer gives them their bread ready-made to their
hands. And it was a kindness, too, that God did not send our forefathers
out into any exceedingly cold country, like the Greenlanders and the
Esquimaux, where the perpetual winter would have made them greedy, and
stunted, and stupid; but that He sent us into this temperate climate,
where there is a continual change and variety of seasons. Here first,
stern and wholesome winter, then bright, cheerful summer, each bringing a
message and a lesson from our loving Father in heaven. First comes
winter, to make us hardy and daring, and industrious, and strips the
trees, and bares the fields, and takes away all food from the earth, and
cries to us with the voice of its storms, "He that will _not work_,
neither shall he eat." "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways,
and be wise: who layeth up her meat in the summer, and provideth her food
against the time of frosts." And then comes summer, with her flowers and
her fruits, and brings us her message from God, and says to us poor,
slaving, hard-worn children of men, "You are not meant to freeze, and
toil, and ache for ever. God loves to see you happy; God is willing to
feed your eyes with fair sights, your bodies with pleasant food, to cheer
your hearts with warmth and sunshine as much as is good for you. He does
not grieve willingly, nor afflict the children of men. See the very bees
and gnats, how they dance and bask in the sunbeams! See the very
sparrows, how they choose their mates and build their nests, and enjoy
themselves as if they were children of the spring! And are not ye of
more value than many sparrows? you who can understand and enjoy the
spring, you men and women who can understand and enjoy God's fair earth
ten thousand times more than those dumb creatures can. It is for _you_
God has made the spring. It is for _your_ sakes that Christ, the ruler
of the earth, sends light and fruitfulness, and beauty over the world
year by year. And why? Not merely to warm and feed your bodies, but to
stir up your hearts with grateful love to Him, the Blessed One, and to
teach you what you are to expect from Him hereafter."

Ay, my friends, this is the message the spring and summer bring with
them--they