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they will need in the winter. That forefight is the effect of a wifdom which certainly they do not poffefs: Whence then do they derive it? The anfwer is ea fy: They have it from the author nature, the giver of every good and perfect gift.

The diverfity of their taftes which leads them to prefer certain aliments to others is likewife an effect of the infinite wifdom of God. If all fed on the fame thing there would not be enough in the world. for their fuftenance, and they would die of famine; their fpecies could not be preferved, and man would not be able to make any ufe of that which was not, destined for their food. But, by the wife difpenfation of the Creator, all infects have abundance of nutriment, and enough remains for other animals.

The things which they feed on would have been created in vain, had they not been endowed with the organs neceffary to convert them to their own ufe. Whence do they acquire that fagacity which makes them difcover at a distance the things that are proper for them? How have they procured that acuteness of fight, or that delicacy of fmell and tafte which prevents them from erring in the choice of their food! Of whom have they learnt those ftratagems and artifices which they put in practice in order to feize their prey, and devour it ?. What artist hath executed with fo much precision, and in a manner adapted fo much to their deftination, the organs which ferve them for eating and drinking? How happens it that they do not all require the fame quantity of food? What wife being hath regulated the difference between them in this refpect, fo that they fhall eat or drink more or lefs in proportion to the facility with which they are able to procure the things they want? The man muft be infatuated who could attribute all thefe circumftances to blind chance. Such marks of defign and

a plan fo wife, are fo evidently difcernible, that one muft fhut one's eyes against the light not to acknowledge in the whole the hand of a God all wife, and almighty.

If we confult the Scriptures they will fully confirm this truth. "The Lord fays the Pfalmift, cau"feth grafs to grow for the cattle, and herbs for the "fervice of man. All creatures wait upon thee, "that thou mayeft give them their meat in due fea"fon. What thou givet them they gather thou "openest thine hand, and they are filled with good. "Thou hideft thy face; they are troubled; thou ta

keft away their breath, they die and return to "their duft. Thou fendeft forth thy fpirit, they are "created, and thou reneweft the face of the earth."

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Ps. civ. 14,27,30. And in another place, "The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givet them their food in due feafon. Thou opereft thine hand, and fatisfieft the defire of every living thing." Ps. CXLV. 15, 16.

The care which God takes of infects carries with it so many diftin& marks of paternal folicitude as ought to induce mankind to place their confidence in his bounty. If we have not always every thing that it is neceffary for us, and if even common refources fail us, we ought not to loie all hope. The wife ruler of the world, who feeds with fuch abundance all thofe animals, will not forfake us his rational offspring. This fovereign monarch of the univerfe, who provides for the neceffities of the meaneft of his creatures, who leaves not deftitute the fmalleft worm, wi!! he allow to perith with hunger, the beings he hath defigned to call his children? This realoning is not mine, it is that of the Saviour of the world himfelf." Behold the fowls of heaven, faid he to his

difciples, they fow not, neither do they reap, nor

"gather

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ἐσ gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father "feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" MAT. vi. 26.—It is our duty then, that our trust in him may not be vain, to conduct ourfelves fo that we may gain the favour aad protection of the fupreme being. His bleffings will then be renewed to us every morning; for the Lord will never for fake thofe who put their truft in him.

CHA P. XII.

OF THE ARMS WITH WHICH INSECTS DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES; AND OF THE MEANS THEY EMPLOY FOR AVOIDING OTHER DANGERS.

In this Chapter I propofe to treat not only of the fagacity of infects in guarding aginst danger; but of the organs with which divine Providence hath furnished them, both for fecuring themselves against the inclemency of the feafons, and for efcaping the purfuits of their enemies. Galen, long ago, madẹ the following judicious remarks upon this fubject; "The body of all animals, fays that great man, is always proportioned to the faculties and inclinations of the mind. The horfe, that active, fierce, and noble animal has the hoofs of his feet hard and strong, and his neck is adorned with a mane, which contributes

contributes not a little to give him that majestic air which we fo much admire in him. The teeth and claws of the Lion correfpond exactly to his natural difpofition, which is daring and fanguinary. The fame may be faid of the horns of the bull, and the tufks of the boar. Timid animals fuch as the ftag and the hare, have only for their defence the fwiftnefs of their feet."

This reflection may be juftly applied to infects. God has not been at lefs pains to provide for their fafety, than for that of other animals. Some are endowed with fuch velocity as to efcape danger by the fuddenness of their flight. Some creep with a good deal of fpeed, but others fly moft rapidly; others allow themselves to drop from the place of their ordinary abode upon being difturbed. Those which cannot move with the fame facility, make ufe of addrefs. Some not being able to change their colour like the Camelion, choose for their abode, places of the fame colour as their bodies, that their enemies may not be able easily to discover them. Others wrap themselves up like a hedge-hog to put in fafety their heads, and the more delicate parts of of their body. Some feem willing to intimidate their enemies by an appearance of anger which they testify by a violent motion of the head and lastly, fome when they are touched, discharge a fetid liquor which difgufts their enemy, and forces him to

retire.

But the goodnefs of the Creator does not reft here. Many of them, have arms for their defence. The fkin of fome is hard enough to fecure them from ordinary injuries; the teeth of others are exceedingly formidable. Some are invested with fine and fharp hairs which oblige their enemies to quit them, from the piercing pain thefe darts occafion. Others have

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have horns with which they feize and crufh their ag grefiors. Some have ftings that pierce the hardest fubitances; and others putting the anterior part of their body into holes, leave the other expofed which ferves to defend them by the fharp points or pincers, with which it is armed.

All these are fo many vifible marks of the wife and provident care, which God hath had of these defpifed animals. It appeared fo great to fome philofophers, that they imagined nature had been more kind to them than to man, and that the acted as a ftep-mother to him, by denying him thofe weapons of defence the hath beftowed on other animals. The confequence however does not follow from the premifes. Reafon, which God hath given to man, is of more ufe to his prefervation, than all the means of defence he hath given to other creatures. He is capable of fabricating arms to himself for refifting the most ferocious and beft armed animals: he can invent the means of taming the most favage, and thofe that feem the moft ungovernable. But without enlarging further on this circumftance let us ftate the anfwer which. Galen gave to the fame objection. "Nature, fays he, hath given hands to <6 mad. Directed by his fagacity they are the in"ftrument by which he executes whatever he finds neceffary either for peace or war. He therefore had no ufe for horns; his hands can form a "fword or a lance which are weapons much longer " and more deftructive than horns. The feet, the

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claws and horns are of no fe at a diftance; but "the arms of man's invention can annoy at a dif "tance as well as near. Would the horns of a bull "be as ufeful to a man, as bows and arrows? We can not only procure arms for ourfelves by our "own induflry, but we can wrap ourselves up in a "coat of mail, which renders us more invulnerable

..

"than

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