hat most gracious fountain. God not
give benefits! Whence, then, all you possess, all you give, or refuse or
keep or seize?

Whence comes the infinity of delights for eye, ear, and understanding?
Whence that abundance that even furnishes our luxury? Think of all the
trees in their rich variety, the many wholesome herbs, and such
diversity of foods apportioned among the seasons that even the sluggard
might find sustenance from the casual bounty of earth. Whence come
living creatures of every kind, some bred on solid dry land, some in
water, others speeding through the air, to the end that every part of
nature may yield us some tribute? Those rivers, too, that, with their
pretty bends, environ the plains, or afford a passage for merchandise as
they flow down their broad, navigable channel? What of the springs of
medicinal waters? What of the bubbling forth of hot wells upon the very
seashore?

And what of thee, O mighty Larian Lake?
And thee, Benacus, whom wild waves shake?

"Nature," remarks my critic, "gives all this." Do you not realise that
in saying this you simply change the name of God? For what else is
"nature" but God and Divine Reason pervading the whole universe and all
its parts?

It is a question whether one who has done all in his power to return a
benefit has returned it. Our opponent urges that the fact that he tried
everything proves that he did not in fact succeed in returning it; and,
therefore, evidently that he could not have done a thing for which he
found no opportunity. But if a physician has done all in his power to
effect a cure, he has performed his duty.

So your friend did all in his power to repay you a good turn, only your
good fortune stood in his way. He could not give money to the wealthy,
nurse one in good health, or run to your aid when all was prosperous. On
the other hand, if he had forgotten a benefit received, if he had not
even tried to be grateful, you would say he had not shown gratitude; but
as it was, he laboured day and night, to the neglect of other claims, to
let no chance of proving his thankfulness escape him.

HERBERT SPENCER

Education

Herbert Spencer was born at Derby, in England, in 1820. He was
taught by his father who was a teacher, and by his uncle, a
clergyman. At the age of seventeen he became a civil engineer, but
about eight years later abandoned the profession because he
believed it to be overcrowded. In 1848 he wa