wants of the smallest infect, and furnished it with a lodging convenient for it, ought we to fear that he will neglect or abandon us? Are we not of more value than these little creatures? Should it happen, that on account of our perfeverance in the faith we fhould be exposed to perfecution, and that those who perfecute us, fhould force us to fly from our country, our houses and our homes, the Lord of the Universe will provide a place for us to retire to. Of this we have lately had an example in the perfons of the Saltzburghers. Thefe poor people, being driven from their habitations for the fake of the gofpel, have not wandered hither and thither without knowing how to provide for themselves. The Lord of heaven and earth made them find an asylum in many places, even in the bofom of America. Different fovereigns took pleasure in affording a retreat to people whom their cruel country had expelled. Should the perfecution be fo violent as to prefent no alternative between lofing life and renouncing the gofpel, let us not hesitate. Let us continue firm in the faith; perfuaded that our body alone will return to the dust, but that our fouls, redeemed with the precious blood of Jefus Chrift, will be received into thofe everlasting habitations which God hath prepared for the faithful after death. In my Father's house,' faith Jefus • Chrift to his difciples, are many manfions: had it not been fo, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you; and when I am gone and have prepared a place for you, I will come again, and take you with me, that where I am, there you may be allo." JOHN XIV. 2,3.

.

May we not likewife infer, from what has been faid of the fpermatic animals of which man is formed, and of that multitude of infects which live on us both within and without, how ill it becomes us to be proud? A creature which perhaps derives its origin from

an

an infect fo fmall as not be discoverable by our fenfes, and which ferves as food to fuch myriads of others, cannot be too humble or too fenfible of its own wretchednels. Worms make as it were a part of ourselves; they enter our bodies with the firit food we take, even in the womb, and from the common mother of all mankind, have perpetuated themselves continually from generation to generation. At our birth weare not delivered from them; the milk and other aliments we take are impregnated with them. They infinuate themfelves into our bodies, which become for them a fort of moving house where they grow, and feed, and multiply. As God has made no new creation, these infects muft undoubtedly have been formed at the beginning of the world; but I will not fay that they were created to inhabit man. If they were, -God has endowed them with the qualities neceffary for living in our bodies without hurt to us, or inconve nience to themfelves. The food deftined for them is perhaps a fuperfluity, the abundance of which would be hurtful to man. At any rate, God does nothing without a reafon; and if he meant that animals fhould live within us, we must believe that they are neceflary for our welfare. This we are fure of, that they are fo deeply rooted in our bodies that the fpecies has been preferved there from the beginning of the world without perifhing or being incommoded by the place they inhabit. Thus do wretched mortals carry in their bofom, millions of enemies ready to devour their bodies the moment the foul quits them. None are excepted from this general law, they no more refpect the carcafe of a lord, a prince or a king, than the loweft of the human race. Kings may defend. themselves against the attacks of their enemies by oppofing formidable armies; but can they refift thofe legions of infects! And who after this does not feel his own wretchedness? Who will not exclaim with one of the friends of Job? "The

66 moon

cr

moon and the stars are not pure in the fight of "God; how then can he be clean that is born of a "woman? man that is a worm, and the fon of man "that is but a worm?"-JOв XXV. 4.6.

CHA P. X.

OF THE MOTIONS OF INSECTS.

Ir is worthy of admiration that the faculty of motion is diverfified in as many different ways as it hath pleafed God to create beings. The courfe of the Sun and the Moon, and Stars is fixed and invariable; the Sea has its motion of flux and reflux in a manner peculiar to itfeif; and all animals have in general one fort of motion proper to their species and adapted to their wants. Some move in a straight line; others like lizards proceed in a winding line. The motion of fnails is very flow, they glide along almost imperceptibly by gluing their body to the ground on which they creep, by means of a flimy liquor they are abundantly provided with. Frogs move in a fingular manner, and can leap to a great diftance by means of their hind legs. The little green frogs called Graiffets by the French, creep with ease along the most polished surfaces, and find a fort of steps where we can fcarcely perceive the fmalleft roughness. The manner in which ferpents advance is very remarkable; they have neither wings nor legs to help

their motion; they move however at pleasure, fometimes quick, fometimes flow. The rings of the Kinder part of their body contracting thofe of the fore part dart forward, and draw after them the rest of the body. What agility do not fishes discover in their various movements? They fwim to every fide with equal facility, darting fometimes upwards and fometimes downwards with the velocity of lightning. The wings of birds fupport them in the air in which they move in all directions and cleave it with the greatest rapidity. The mole, blind and without a guide, makes itself a road under ground. This vaft variety, which is obfervable in the motions of different fpecies of animals, has appeared so remarkable to many authors, that they have thought it worthy of their particular attention; but as they have not entered at large upon the motion of insects, I hope it will not be ufelefs to take fome notice of it here, and to impart my obfervations on the subject to the reader:

The motion of infects varies according to the ele ment they inhabit. Those which live in water move in one way; and those which continue always on land in another. Befides, each fpecies has a motion peculiar to itself. In the water fome swim in a ftraight line, moving their head alternately to the right or left fide, while their tail keeps à corefponding but oppofite motion, and thus the animal always preferves the figure of the letter S. This is the cafe with the larvae of the common gnat. Others fwim from one fide to another, advancing fometimes in a straight line, fometimes defcribing a circle or fome other curve. Thus Swammerdam obferved three different ways of fwimming in the Monoculus Pulex, first in a right line like a fish; secondly, by an irregular motion like the flight of a sparrow, and thirdly by a fort of tumbling like fome pigeons. Some fpring in the

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water

water from top to bottom, or from bottom to top, with prodigious, velocity. The large Dytifcus has under his wings an aperture garnished with hairs in which he retains a quantity of air. When he is at the bottom, he holds himfelf there with his feet, for when he lofes his hold, the air brings him inftantly to the top. Some infects move with extreme flownefs, while others fwim with fuch velocity, that their members cannot be obferved. Some, when they reft, adhere to fuch folid bodies as they find, or fufpend themselves in the water; others walk on the furface of the water, or attach the cafes in which they live, to fome piece of wood in order to prevent their falling to the bottom. The limbs of all these infects are adapted to the motions they are destined to perform. Thofe which are obliged to move thro water, have an attenuated body which facilitates their progrefs in that element: others advance by means of their feet, or by a kind of fins made in the form of a plume of feathers. Although fome are furnish ed with feveral of thefe members, and one might think that if one were taken away there would ftilF remain a fufficient number, yet their motion then appears evidently retarded, and they execute with dif ficulty, what before they performed with the greatest eafe. So true it is that the Creator has bestowed nothing fuperfluous, nor given them any thing but what is abfolutely neceffary.

We find on the earth certain infects which like ferpents have neither feet nor wings, and which yet move with eafe. They go from one place to another with a ferpentine motion which is performed by the mufcles of their rings; thefe contract, and making the infect fhorter, give it the power, by dilating thofe of the forepart of the body, to advance. Such a mo tion may be diftinctly feen in the common earth worm. Others bend themfelves, and advance by a