more and more liberal of her vegetable stores, in the same proportion do the inhabitants of the animal world increase, to partake of the bountiful feast she spreads.

It is well worthy of remark, as an instance of those wonderful adaptations, which I have so often had occasion to notice, that the reproductive season of the vegetable creation is also that of the animal creation. When the various tribes, which have passed the winter in their embryo form, or have survived it in a state of insensibility, begin to move on the surface of the earth, they find a sweet and nutritious food newly created, as it were, for their use, varying in its kind, according to the wants of the animals destined to feed upon it. And the same thing may be said with regard to the young of those living creatures which reproduce their species at this season. The means of subsistence and of enjoyment are amply furnished both for themselves and their offspring, whether, during winter, they have been dormant in holes and caves, or have found scanty support in the half decayed herbage, or have preyed on other animals, or have plied their way from distant lands on unwearied wings.

The instincts, which so irresistibly and intelligently, and yet,—as far as regards the animal itself,—so blindly, impel almost all classes of the lower animals, at this season, to become parents, is another provision which we have noticed as a proof of beneficent design. There is no particular relating to these instincts which is not calculated to call forth the admiration and astonishment of the reflecting mind; but, above all, the long-protracted cares and incessant toils of the feathered tribes, cannot be contemplated without a peculiar interest. That a world doomed to mortality should continue to be peopled with living beings, indicates prospective contrivance of vast magnitude and extent. The various relations and adjustments, which such an enterprise implies, are such, that the bare contemplation of them overwhelms the human mind. Yet how admirably has the provision been made! With what consummate skill and fore

thought has every thing relating to this complicated subject been urged forward, balanced and controlled, so that one species of the numerous tribes which teem on the earth, does not press so hard upon another, as to occasion its destruction, and yet the whole globe is always peopled up to its resources! Into the details of the processes by which this remarkable balance has been effected and secured, I have elsewhere entered at sufficient length, I think, to show that the more deeply the subject is considered, the more clearly the perfections of the Creator will be elicited.

The principles on which agricultural labour depends, have also been adduced, as affording another example of beneficent contrivance, which exhibits a remarkable adjustment between the faculties of man and the powers of vegetation. That it should be reserved to man, the only rational being on the globe, by his own judicious efforts, to alter the natural balance of organized existences, so as to give scope for the more extended propagation and the increased comforts of this highest species, is itself a remarkable provision; and that these very efforts should be the means of calling forth and invigorating his faculties, both bodily and mental, and of urging him forward in a career of improvement, of which it is impossible to foresee the termination, is a view which tends inexpressibly to elevate our conceptions of the Creator, while it causes our hearts to overflow with gratitude for the paternal care which he exercises over

us.

This retrospective glance over the ground we have traversed, must recal to the mind of the intelligent reader a thousand minute particulars, which, when presented to him in the course of our inquiry, struck him with irresistible force, as indications of a Divine hand. Let him now consider all these particulars, as combining to form one accumulated argument in favour of the being and attributes of the Creator; and then let him say what he thinks of the strength of that argument. I do

not ask if it is possible, by dint of a perverse ingenuity, to elude its force, or, in consequence of a depraved heart, to oppose its legitimate influence on the conduct; for I am well aware, that there is nothing too absurd for the one, or too wicked for the other;-but I ask, whether any candid mind, weighing the evidence with the calm and unbiassed feelings of a philosophical inquirer after truth, can hesitate for a moment to admit that this evidence is complete and overflowing; and that, for a man, with these facts before him, to doubt of the being of an Almighty and Intelligent Creator, would not be a less decided mark of aberration of intellect, than to doubt of his own personal identity.

THIRTEENTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE ARGUMENT. THE GOODNESS OF THE CREATOR.

THAT God is good, is a deduction of reason from the views unfolded in the preceding papers, not less true and undeniable, than that he exists. His goodness is inferred from his having made pleasure, rather than pain, the stimulus to exertion. Dr Paley, following Dr Balguy, who first stated the argument in his "Treatise on the Divine Benevolence," observes, that the bestowment of certain functions and propensities, necessary to life, are not of themselves proofs of the goodness of God. They may prove the existence of a Being possessed of a high degree of power and intelligence; but then that Being may be malevolent. It may, by possibility, be supposed, that misery, and not happiness, was the object of such a Creator; and we can only with fairness infer his benevolence, when we perceive, further, that the tendency of His creation is to produce a preponderance of happi

ness.

Paley illustrates this view by instancing the appetite of hunger. A painful feeling of privation was necessary, as we are at present constituted, to create an effective desire for food; but it is all that was necessary, and a Creator not positively benevolent would have been contented with this stimulus. It is a proof of goodness that He has superadded some agreeable sensations to the gratification of the appetite, which were not necessary, and that He has given peculiar tastes and flavours to various kinds of food, that these sensations may be exercised.

The same reasoning applies very extensively to those propensities and instincts which are connected with reproduction. They might all have been invested with an adequate stimulus in a painful craving. It might have been merely to alleviate a constantly burning and never-satisfied appetite, that the feathered tribes, for example, were impelled to the laborious tasks of nestbuilding, of incubation, and of feeding and rearing their young; indifference, or even aversion, might have been made to attend the union of the parents in the prosecution of these duties; and yet, by means of new and corresponding modifications, the propagation of the species might have proceeded with the same regularity as at present. It is therefore a proof of benevolence in the Creator, that he has not only annexed pleasurable sensations to the parental duties, but has caused the enjoyment far to overbalance the pain. Evidences of the delight attending all these duties, are too obvious to require to be sought for. During the season of reproduction, every ear is saluted with the melodious voice of joy from every field, and wood, and grove. The very sky is made vocal with the enjoyments of wedded love. Look at the swallow, as it twitters from its half-built nest, to ply its laborious task, and say if there is not enjoyment there. Look at the barn-yard fowl as she patiently sits on her eggs, and continues day after day to prolong her monotonous duty, and say if even in this there is not enjoyment. Look especially at the mater

nal cares which attend the callow brood when hatched, and say again if there is not enjoyment. The whole important process is cheered on by conjugal and parental affection; and wherever there is gratified affection there is happiness.

But the pleasures of spring are not confined to these exercises. The whole season is a season of enjoyment, increasing and extending towards its close. Sometimes dark clouds may lower, and storms, deforming the face of Nature, may interrupt the flow of pleasure, and even bring destruction and sorrow. But these are exceptions. The general rule is enjoyment. How sweet is the herbage for animals that browse! How tender and succulent the young leaf to the newly-awakened insect! How soft the green carpet which the Creator has spread, at once for food and for repose to the young quadruped! How balmy the air! How genial the mitigated rays of the sun! How smiling the blue sky! How serene the fleecy clouds! How lovely the earth, with its various shades of grateful verdure, and its profusion of flowers!

To man all these things are a source of varied and never-cloying enjoyment. His Creator has endowed him with that mysterious principle of taste, which philosophers have exercised their ingenuity in defining and analyzing, and which, on whatever principles of our nature it may depend, is assuredly an important gift of a bountiful Creator, bestowed expressly for promoting human happiness. In virtue of this gift, all the productions of nature become to him objects of gratification, and all its phases sources of enjoyment. If he turn his eye to the woods, the graceful birch, the venerable oak, the beech with its wide-spread branches and its soft green leaves, the poplar shooting its tall head to the sky, the humble holly with its glossy foliage, each has its own peculiar charm, and all combined, form one harmonious and interesting whole;-if he enter his garden, what a profusion of varied loveliness and sweet perfumes awaits him! Day after day, as the flowers successively

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