Live but to die, and die but to revive;
Immortal matter braves the transient storm,
Mounts from the wreck, unchanging but in form.”
The original mandate of the Creator has provided that by various natural processes a constant equilibrium shall be preserved and maintained, so that from age to age, until all the purposes for which the earth is sustained be completed, the same ends will be accomplished by the same agency:
“That very law which moulds a tear
And bids it trickle from its source,
That law preserves the earth a sphere,
And guides the planets in their course.”
We further know that all organized matter, whether animal or vegetable, possesses the materials of which they are composed, for a limited time only, life itself being but a boon, lent to serve the purposes of Infinite Wisdom—
“Which thus alternating with death fulfil