Rational Creation, Rev. James Brodie

Having completed our sketch of the Rational Creation, we shall now conclude with a few remarks on some of the pervading features, or characteristic marks, which we find in the work of God.

Some of these are so evident, that the most careless observer cannot fail to have remarked them; others do not so readily attract attention; but, at the same time, are eminently worthy of consideration, because of the assistance which they afford us, in studying the system of the Divine procedure, and the character of Him by whom the whole has been designed.

1. Wisdom of design combined with exquisite beauty and accuracy of execution.—This characteristic is so manifest, that no attentive observer can have failed to remark it. We find in every part of the Creator's work an adaptation of means to an end, a perfection of contrivance, that fills the mind with wonder, and bids defiance to any attempt at correction or improvement. At the same time, there is an elegance and accuracy in the execution which is equally worthy of the highest admiration. The most skilfully contrived mechanism of man's construction, even after it has received manifold improvements, is still full of defects and imperfections; but there is no defect or error to be seen in any work of God. The most carefully finished production of human art, when viewed through the microscope, is rugged and unseemly; but let us heighten the power of our lenses to the utmost of the optician's art, the more narrowly we scrutinize the objects which nature presents to our view, the more beautiful do they appear. When seen through the microscopic glass, the edge of the lancet appears rough and rugged as the teeth of the saw, the most accurately polished gem in the lapidary's store is as full of furrows as the new-ploughed field; but the sting of the bee, the spine of the thistle, and the side of the natural crystal, are as perfectly smooth, when seen through the glass, as when they are looked on with the naked eye. The most delicate fabric that is woven in the loom of man, looks in the microscope like the coarsest canvas, but the wing of the butterfly, and the flower of the plant, when similarly examined, exhibit such surpassing beauty, that the most careless observer is constrained to confess, that "Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." Similar remarks might be made in regard to every part of the Creator's work. On earth below, in heaven above, the same characteristic prevails, and supplies us with the most convincing proofs of the wisdom and power of Him who made the whole. The innumerable defects that are found in the most highly finished work of man, shew the weakness and ignorance of the mechanist by whom they are formed; the manifold evidences of consummate skill which are exhibited in every work of God, shew the infinite perfection of their Author, and clearly demonstrate, that "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts."

The same characteristic pervades the counsel and operation of the Lord, in devising and executing the work of Redemption. We have already shewn the wisdom and beneficence of its great and ultimate design, and when we find that every step taken for the accomplishment of this design, is characterized by manifold evidences of the same perfections, we readily acknowledge the beauty of every part, and the harmonious grandeur of the whole.

We must, moreover, remember, that the work of salvation is only begun, and it is not till it is all complete, that any device of God or of man can be fully understood. In a future state, when the whole of Jehovah's purposes shall have been clearly made known, we are assured that "by the church shall be known the manifold wisdom of God."

One striking illustration of this characteristic is found in the language and similitudes employed in the Word of God. We might have supposed that there was no necessity for the language in which the revelation of Jehovah's pleasure is made known being characterized by its beauty. The laws and statutes of earthly governments are written in language that is technical and harsh, and no one ever expects to find poetical images, or beautiful composition in a national code; but in the volume in which the Lord has communicated his will to man, we have poetry of the noblest kind, and writing of the finest style. Illiterate men were the messengers who brought it to perishing sinners, and the gospel, as a message addressed to the ignorant, is remarkable for its simplicity; but no similitudes have ever been employed more appropriate than those which we discover in the Word of God, no illustrations are anywhere to be found more beautiful than the parables of the Saviour, and no poetry has ever been penned so sublime as that of the Bible.

2. Uniformity of plan exhibited in the widest diversity of operation.—This peculiarity of the great Creator's work has of late been made the subject of frequent remark, and is eminently deserving of the consideration it has received.

When we direct our attention to the varied departments of creation, as exhibited by modern science, the mind is overwhelmed with the thought of its vast extent, and the seemingly endless diversity of its component elements. At the same time, however, we find analogies and resemblances pervading the whole, which enable us to arrange the multitude of creatures around us into determinate divisions, and clearly prove them all to belong to the same design, and to owe their origin to the counsel of the same Contriver.

In the world, as at present constituted, we find all the plants with which its surface is overspread, and all the living creatures that make it their habitation, distinguished from each other, not only by external size and form, but by the more important properties of internal constitution; yet endless as is the diversity of character which they exhibit, they are all adapted to each other's support, and all belong to one great and harmonious design.

The records of the past exhibit, in receding array, the fields of former days, clothed with plants of antique growth, and peopled with animated beings of strange fantastic shape; but all this diversity of form and nature was regulated by the same general laws that now prevail. The herb and the animal derived their nourishment from the same sources that minister sustenance to the present inhabitants of the earth, and the herb yielded seed, and the living creature brought forth its young, each "after his kind," even as they do now.

This characteristic unity in diversity is curiously exemplified in the analogies that are found in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. We may refer, for instance, to the peculiarities that distinguish the class of the vertebrata. Their characteristic mark is their having a back-bone, which serves at once as a protection to the great spinal chord, and as a foundation on which the other parts of the animal edifice are erected. This peculiarity, and its accompaniments, are found in every creature belonging to the family we have named. The forms which the vertebral column assumes are strangely diversified, and the members which are attached to it are widely different in nature and in office. In the fishy tribes, we find the vertebral column without any other bone attached to it than the ribs and the bones of the head. In the mammalia, we find, in addition, the bones of the limbs, which differ but little in number and relative position, whether they support the legs of a quadruped, the wings of a bat, or the forefins and tail of a whale. In the tortoise, the vertebræ of the back are immovably affixed to the external covering of the animal, or rather may be regarded as themselves constituting the upper shell. But amidst all this variety of form, and with all this diversity of appendage, the vertebral column maintains its place, as the peculiar and distinguishing characteristic of the class, and wherever it is found, there we discover also a brain, and its appropriate system of nerves, and there we find corresponding peculiarities in the circulation of the blood, and in the organs of respiration.

The analogies that pervade the lower creation, shew us, that amidst all the vast variety which is exhibited in the animated tribes that people the earth, and in the vegetable productions which spring from its bosom, uniformity of counsel regulates all the operations of God. In every page of the wondrous volume which Nature holds up to our view, we recognise the handwriting of the same Almighty Lord. It is all one work, and it is all the work of one God.

Similar lessons are taught us when we turn our eye to the Firmament, and to the shining orbs that fill its space. In the solar system all the planets are, like the earth, of a globular shape; all perform an annual revolution round the sun; most of them have been ascertained to accomplish also a daily revolution on their axes, and there is reason to believe that all of them do so. All, therefore, have summer and winter, day and night. Several of them, moreover, have atmospheres, with clouds and vapours, winds and storms, like those with which we are acquainted. And however varied their size and position, we know that all their motions are regulated by the same general laws, so that they constitute together a complicated but admirably harmonious whole. In the facts discovered respecting the stars, further confirmation of the same truth is given. The alternate increase and diminution of the periodical stars, renders it extremely probable that they, as well as the sun and planets, revolve upon their axes. Herschel's observations on those that revolve around each other, have proved, beyond a doubt, that the laws of motion and gravitation, which regulate the planets in their circuit round the sun, direct, in the same manner, the motions of those far distant orbs. We also find that the light which comes from the furthest extremity of the visible creation, is refracted in passing through a lens, or reflected from a polished surface, in the very same manner as that which illuminates our world. It thus appears, that all the suns and systems which fill the immensity of space, are regulated in their movements by the very same laws that guide the floating dust; they are all acted upon by the same gravitating force that brings the wounded sparrow to the ground; and the light they emit, after traversing millions of miles beyond the power of man to calculate, is obedient to the same regulation that directs the feeble ray of the glimmering taper.

A similar characteristic distinguishes the dealings of God toward men in the work of their redemption. When we observe, for example, the growth of grace in the heart of believers, we find the greatest difference, not only in the manner of their conversion, but in the manifestation of its effects. One man is awakened to serious thought in early youth, another continues hardened in sin till he totters on the brink of the grave; one is impressed by some sudden and startling dispensation of Providence, another in the enjoyment of retirement and peace is gently, yet effectually, influenced by the small still voice of conscience addressing his soul; one man continues long in doubt and perplexity, another attains speedily to joyful assurance. In ten thousand different ways the Spirit carries on his work, but in them all there is the convincing of the conscience of sin and misery, the enlightening of the mind in the knowledge of Christ, the renewing of the will and the embracing of Christ.

When we direct attention to the character and condition of those who become the subjects of sanctifying grace, we find among them the greatest variety of natural dispositions and of outward circumstances. Some are rude and uncourteous, some are gentle and kind. When we observe the dealings of the Lord towards them, some are tossed on the billows of affliction, and some repose on the bosom of peace; some are tried, as gold in the furnace, and some hold on the even tenor of their way, with the sunshine of prosperity illuminating their path. But it is the same Spirit that worketh in every one severally as he wills, and the end in all of them is, "faith that worketh by love." The means employed for the strengthening of the soul may be as manifold as are the varieties of food on which animals are sustained, but all are made subservient to its nourishment and growth in grace. The means employed for the promotion of spiritual progress may be as diversified as are the limbs, and fins, and pinions, by which beasts, and fish, and flying fowl are severally carried on in their course; but the path of the believer is ever onward in the narrow way, and all arrive at last at their heavenly home.

The religious ordinances provided during the different dispensations which God has given to man, exhibit the same uniformity of purpose in a diversity of detail. The pompous ritual and multiplied sacrifices of the Mosaic time offer a striking contrast to the simplicity of the New Testament services; but the lessons which they teach are the same. Alike they declare the heinousness of sin, the weakness of the sinner, and the need that there is for the work of atonement.

In redemption, as in creation, uniformity of plan and object is exhibited in an endless variety of operation.

3. Harmony of effect produced by the action of dissimilar and antagonist powers.—Throughout the wide extent of nature's domain, we observe innumerable instances in which forces, that naturally produce results of very opposite kinds, are so nicely balanced, and so wonderfully adjusted, that stability and order result from their combination. We shall adduce some instance of this system of compensation out of a multitude that might be mentioned.

When we examine into the general properties of matter, we are led to conclude, that the component particles of every body are kept in their appointed place, by the attraction of cohesion on the one hand, drawing them together, and by the repulsion of elasticity, on the other hand, keeping them asunder. These forces are mutually opposed; we know of no natural connexion between them; but we find them always associated, and they are so wonderfully adapted to each other, that they give form and consistency to every solid substance that the earth contains.

We see a similar combination of attraction and repulsion preserving the planets in their course. Gravitation and the effect of their previous motion, which form the centripetal and centrifugal forces of the astronomer, are different in their nature, and contrary in their tendency; yet by their combination they produce that permanence and regularity which characterize "the harmony of the spheres."

In chemical compounds the same principle prevails. The burning acid and the corrosive alkali, form, by their union, the neutral salt; and deadly ingredients of opposite natures constitute, when combined, a useful and agreeable product.

We know but little of the imponderable agents, but in positive and negative electricity we see indications of two opposing forces, terrible and destructive when apart, but perfectly quiescent when combined. And in the radiation and absorption of heat, by all the substances of which we can take cognizance, there are traces, at least, of two antagonist properties, producing by their united and continuous action equality and harmony of effect.

In the organic world, the same system of compensation is abundantly manifest. We may allude, as an illustration, to the adaptation that we find between the growth of plants and the appetites and organs of the creatures that feed upon them. Animal and vegetable life may be regarded as two opposing powers, which, though they seem to be designed for mutual destruction, are made in reality to conduce to each other's support. All animals are either directly or indirectly sustained by the vegetable productions of the earth. At first, it might seem that by this arrangement every herb of the field must speedily be destroyed, but a compensation has been provided which transforms the seeming danger into a benefit and source of increase. The vegetable tribes are in their turn, nourished by the animal creation. The carboniferous gases exhaled from the lungs of living creatures, afford an abundant supply of the nutriment which plants absorb from the air through the pores of their leaves, while the decaying remains of bird and beast, and creeping thing, carried by the rain into the soil, supply their roots with the food which they extract from the ground. All life here below is nourished by death, and beauty and vigour spring from destruction and decay.

In the physical organization of animals, the same characteristic appears. Every position and every motion of their limbs results from the exertion of antagonist muscles, which, by their opposing action, move the bones backwards or forwards. Every secretion of the inward parts, and every chemical combination that is formed within, are, in like manner, the effects of a complicated process of absorption and emission.

An arrangement precisely similar, regulates the animal appetites and desires. Conflicting passions and emotions constitute the motives that excite animal activity at one time, and check it at another. In the lower creatures these instinctive feelings, are so regulated that they need no controlling power; the appetite of the moment is of itself a sufficient guide. In man, reason and conscience are superadded for the purpose of directing and restraining the animal emotions, and act as antagonist, powers to every desire that may at any time be unduly excited.

A similar system is manifested in the providence of God towards his rational creatures. In those who have been made the subjects of converting grace, and more especially in the saints made perfect, and we have reason to believe in all the higher orders of intelligence, the affection which leads them to desire the gratification of their own will, and the promotion of their own enjoyment, unites in blissful harmony with the seemingly antagonist principle of devotion to God. The concurrence of these two distinct and apparently opposite emotions, is strikingly exhibited in the prayer which our Saviour offered, when in prospect of his mortal agony he exclaimed, "Not my will, but thine be done." That regard to his own enjoyment, which is inseparable from the nature of a created being, led him to seek deliverance from suffering, while the higher principle of devotion, which binds the creature to the Creator, controlled his longing, and the two emotions combined, led him onward in the course appointed him by his Father.

The astronomer contemplates with admiration the beautiful arrangement by which the heavenly bodies are kept in their destined path, and points to the wonderful balancing of opposing forces, by which this perfect regularity is produced, as one of the most signal proofs which the visible universe affords of its almighty Maker's skill. In like manner, when we study the laws which regulate the universe of mind, we find the combination of apparently opposite emotions producing in every righteous being a peaceful and happy result. That emotion which has reference to the desires and interests of the creature exhibits a counterpart to the centrifugal force which we find influencing the motions of the heavenly bodies. It seems at variance with the feeling of devotion, and if left to itself would carry the affections farther and farther from God; but combined with the reverential love of the Creator, which, like the centripetal influence of gravitation, draws the soul nearer and nearer to Him who is the great centre of attraction and source of delight, it stimulates to the diligent performance of appointed duty, and to the successful pursuit of appropriate enjoyment.

Some trace of a similar principle may be found in the coordinate operation of the seemingly antagonist doctrines of God's predestination and man's free-will. The freedom of will which is given to man, and the determinate purpose and foreknowledge that belong to God, manifest to each other an antagonism, if we may so term it, which bears a strong resemblance to that which we so often observe in the visible creation. And this seeming contrariety of influences produces a harmony of result in the moral good of rational creatures, exactly corresponding to that which is seen in the motions of the heavenly bodies, and in the other combinations to which we before referred. The apparent incompatibility of the immutable purpose which reason and Scripture ascribe to the Creator, with the freedom of action and consequent responsibility which are given to intelligent creatures, has been to many a source of perplexity and a cause of distrust; but, if rightly examined, it affords us one of the most striking evidences we possess of that uniformity of counsel which extends through all the operations of God, and which manifests itself alike in creation and in redemption.

4. Modification of inferior properties by the superinduction of higher principles.—This subordination of the lower properties to the higher we find exemplified in all the different departments of scientific research.

The mechanical properties of matter, as they are usually termed, enumerated in the first section of the work, are generally regarded as holding the lowest rank. They include those repulsions and attractions which are common to all the material creation; and the characteristic we have just mentioned, is evidenced by the fact, that, whenever these general properties of matter are combined with the properties which are not so universally diffused, we find them modified and controlled. The attraction of cohesion, for instance, is modified and changed by the influence of chemical affinity; and the power of gravitation over the particles of a fluid is counteracted by the effects of capillary attraction, in so far as that attraction extends.

These peculiar properties, again, which thus influence and change the general properties of matter, are, themselves, similarly affected by the imponderable agents, and the effects of organization. Chemical affinities are sometimes neutralized, and at other times reversed, by the application of heat or electricity; so that many compounds are resolved into their primitive elements when cast into the furnace, and substances which were long regarded as simple bodies, are decomposed under the influence of the galvanic trough. The action of organization in exciting and modifying the chemical properties of the substances on which it acts, is equally remarkable. If we direct our attention to the operations connected with the growth of plants, we find in every seed a laboratory in which processes are carried on, which the most intelligent of our chemists is neither able to imitate nor to comprehend. And from the vegetable laboratories that are found in the various organs of the growing plant, we have a vast multitude of products, varying in attributes and form, which no human skill has ever been able to produce.

There is so little as yet known of the subject, that we must speak with great caution in regard to the effects of the appetites and desires of the animal nature upon the material organization. We think, however, that sufficient evidence was formerly adduced to shew that the higher power modifies the lower. And all must allow, that, in the living creature, there is added to the organization which is common to animals and plants, an influence of a higher and nobler kind.

In the human constitution, our intuitive consciousness teaches us that reason and conscience, the peculiar prerogatives of our race, are placed within us for the purpose of regulating and directing the lower faculties and animal propensities.

We cannot, therefore, hesitate in coming to the conclusion, that there is, in nature, a system by which the lower properties are placed in subordination to the higher, whenever they are brought into combination. The mechanical properties of matter, as they are usually termed, are controlled and modified by the action of the imponderable agents, and these, in their turn, are subordinated to the influence of organization. In animals, we find the principles of organization combined with the appetites and faculties peculiar to sentient beings, and, in some measure, modified by them; while in man, the animal emotions are regulated by reason and conscience, the peculiar attributes of the intelligent soul.

In like manner, Scripture informs us, that an unseen but almighty power restrains, in all men, so long as the day of mercy lasts, the innate perversity of the carnal mind, while it sanctifies and renews the heart of the believer. This influence of the Spirit, superinduced on the affections both of the animal and rational nature, is a manifestation of the same method of procedure which we observe in all the inferior departments of creation.

In the promise made to the people of God, that they shall be "partakers of the divine nature," we are led to expect a still more blissful and more glorious instance of the characteristic to which we now refer.

With all reverence, we also remark, that in the nature of our Lord, "the first-born of every creature," in whom Deity is superinduced on humanity, we behold the most wonderful and glorious of all conceivable examples of the union of inferior properties with higher principles.

5. Gradual development of Design.—While we utterly reject the development hypothesis, as it has been termed, and regard the arguments which its advocates employ as futile, and their conclusions as absurd, we do not disown or overlook the fact, that in very many parts of the work of Creation, there is a gradual development of the Creator's design. In every instance of vegetable growth, there is a slow and gradual unfolding of the ultimate purpose. "The earth bringeth forth fruit of itself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." A similar process may be observed in the growth of animated creatures. In the feathered tribes, for instance, there is first the egg, then the unfledged nestling, and after a time, the full-plumed bird.

This development is peculiar to the higher departments of creation. It is seen in the growth of the plant, and in that of the animal, and is still more strikingly manifested in the gradual unfolding of the faculties of the human mind; but it is not exhibited in the lower orders of being. In the inorganic creation the only process at all resembling it, is the formation of crystals through the agency of the attraction of crystallization, in which, however, though we find an increase of size, there is no development of design. Stones are not developed, and mountains do not grow through any inherent property of their own. We also observe that while individuals spring from microscopic germs, and gradually attain to their destined size, there is no truth in natural history, or in geology, more clearly established than the fact, that species and genera, as such, do not grow, but are created.

We further remark, that there is no corresponding process of decay. The tree that has braved for many generations the tempest's power, has limb after limb torn away by the blast, becomes hollow within, and finally falls before the storm, but it does not become a sapling again. Man, loaded with years, finds his faculties fail one after another, and we may speak of his state as a second childhood, but the process of his decay bears no analogy to that of his early growth.

Our inquiry into the system pursued in the work of nature, leads us therefore to conclude, that in creatures belonging to the higher departments of creation, there is a gradual development of their powers, and of the Creator's design in regard to them, until they reach their maturity; but when their destiny has been accomplished, there is no corresponding decline. The footprints of the Creator bear no mark of a retrograde movement, as if he had changed his purpose, or sought to reverse his work. Step by step we trace his march, and find it still an onward course.

The same principle of progressive development is very evidently manifested in the whole work of man's redemption. If we direct our attention to the change that takes place in the converted soul, we find the kingdom of God in the heart, "like the mustard seed sown in the soil," or "the leaven hid in the meal," advancing from a seemingly small original, till, by slow degrees, it reaches its perfection. The believer makes continual advances in spiritual attainments, from the time when the first anxious thought enters his mind, till, in full assurance of hope, he is able to say, "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." He is at first "the new-born babe, desiring the sincere milk of the word," and passes through many an intermediate stage of the spiritual life, before he reaches "unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." And, in the promises made to the people of God, we have an assurance that, in the eternal world, there shall be a continually progressing joy, and an unending advance "from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

If, again, we consider the manner in which the Lord has revealed his character, and made known the way of reconciliation, in the different dispensations of grace, we have abundant evidence of the same principle of progress. In the patriarchal ages, the nature of God was not fully revealed. "I appeared," he says, "unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." The way of the sinner's approach was dimly shadowed forth, by rites and ceremonies, few in number, and imperfectly explained; and the duty which God requires was only taught by the dictates of conscience, and the counsels of uncertain tradition. Under the Mosaic dispensation, the character of the great Creator was more fully declared, the method of access was more clearly revealed, the law appointed for the guidance of our conduct was distinctly proclaimed, and its sanctions fully exhibited. After the Saviour had perfected the work of atonement, a new and better dispensation began. The perfections of God and the way of reconciliation "are now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." The nature of the duty required is not only taught us by explicit enactment, but illustrated by the Redeemer's example. In a future time, we are led to expect that a still brighter revelation of Jehovah's will shall be given. We are informed that a season is coming, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," and in which Jehovah says, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Some have been inclined to regard the lengthened period that elapsed before the light of the gospel was made to shine upon the world, as inconsistent with the infinite wisdom and goodness ascribed to the Lord. We see, however, in this gradual unfolding of his nature and will, a mode of acting precisely similar to that which is so widely exhibited in the work of creation, and tending more and more to confirm the conclusion that creation and redemption are all one work, designed by the counsel, and executed by the power of the same omniscient and gracious God.

6. Subordination of the interests of the individual to the preservation of the species, and to the wellbeing of creation at large.—When we look to the different works of God, we see, on every side, abundant evidence of the Creator's desire to preserve the creatures which he has made. This is shewn in the adaptation of their various organs to each other, in the circumstances in which they are placed, and in the relations which they bear to the creatures around them. In regard to animals, it is shewn not merely in their bodily conformation, but in their various faculties and emotions, and more especially in the instinctive feeling of self-preservation, which, in ordinary cases, is so strong, as to justify the use of the adage which speaks of it as "the first law of nature."

We find, however, that when the comfort and preservation of the individual come into competition with the general good, there are abundant tokens to shew us that the latter object is to be preferred. In a large proportion of our annual herbs, the exhaustion of its vigour, in the perfecting of the seed, may be regarded as causing the death of the parent plant. If a root of the common oat, for example, be prevented from flowering, by cutting off the stems that are successively formed upon it, it will continue to live for several years. Some annual and biennial flowers, which, under the gardener's care, have had the organs of fructification transformed into petals, acquire a permanence, when thus doubled, which they did not possess in their natural state. But though there is reason to consider the production of seed as thus inducing the death of the plant, the energies of nature are evidently directed with a special reference to that end. In some of the insect tribes, the gratification of the reproductive appetites is speedily followed by death, yet, even in such cases, these instincts are strong and irrepressible. In animals of the higher classes, there can be no doubt that the exhaustion incident to the bringing forth of their young, and the watchful care which their progeny require, are injurious to the vigour, and hazardous to the life of the parent. The emaciation of the brooding bird, and her frequent destruction, when attempting to defend her helpless young, are familiar illustrations of the statement we have made. In all these cases, however, the parental instinct prevails, and comfort, health, and life, are all hazarded for the sake of the rising race. In other words, the Creator, who implanted these emotions in the parental heart, intimates, by their manifestation, that the interests of the individual are to be regarded as subordinate to the preservation of the species.

Similar inferences may be drawn from the relations which we see established between animals of prey and the creatures on which they feed. Strange as it may seem, they are mutual benefactors, and the destruction of the individual tends to the good of the race, as well as to the general benefit of the whole. When we see the feathered songster seized by the hawk, while pouring forth its woodland note, when its cheerful music is exchanged for the shriek of agony, and its painted plumage is stained with blood, and scattered on the ground, we are apt to took on such a scene as if it were an unaccountable anomaly, an accident out of keeping with the plan of a beneficent Creator. But a little reflection shews us that it forms a constituent part of that all-wise plan which, in every case, makes the interest of the individual subordinate to the wellbeing of the whole; which has appointed sorrow and destruction as the means of ministering to the greater enjoyment of the greater number; and which