Page:Letters on the Human Body (John Clowes).djvu/160





In proportion as my attention continues to be occupied by the contemplation of the human body, with its multiplied parts and operations, in the same proportion I am forcibly struck with the conviction, that, whether viewed as a piece of mere mechanism; or under its higher character, as being expressive of the various powers and principles of its parent mind; or according to a feature of excellence still more sublime and affecting, as being the basis of the combined energies of the Divine love, wisdom, and power, and thus exciting our continual attention to those energies,—this shell of ourselves is calculated to demand our admiration, to call forth our astonishment and gratitude, and to supply us with edifying lessons of instruction, more than any other part of the visible creation here below. This conviction, I trust,