ing and useful only in one respect. She clothes and adorns the earth with green, a colour most beneficial and agreeable to the eye, and adds to its beauty by diversifying its shades; for, though pleasing in itself, its charms are much increased by this happy distribution of shade. Each species of plant has its peculiar colour; landscapes covered with wood, bushes, plants, herbs, and corn, present a most beautiful scene of verdure, where the colouring is infinitely varied, and its shades insensibly blended, increasing from the lightest tints to the darkest hue, and yet a perfect harmony is always preserved."

But what is chiefly to be observed and admired in the diversities of nature is the adaptation of every thing to some particular use, and of all to the completeness of the whole system. There is nothing isolated, nothing useless. The two divisions of organized existence are formed for each other. Every plant has some corresponding tribe or tribes of animals which it supports, and to whose properties and modes of existence it is peculiarly adapted; if there are succulent leaves, there are caterpillars to feed on them; if there are flowers which secrete honey, there are bees and other insects to sip the sweets; if there are fruits, there are birds to feast upon them; if there is herbage, there are cattle to browse it; and if there is death, there are living beings which convert even this to the support of life by devouring the inanimate carcass.

There is here a complicated and most wonderful system; and this system is so nicely balanced, as I have elsewhere shown, that every part is preserved in its due proportion, and one species contributes to the benefit of all. It is, however, to man especially that this system bears reference. We have seen, in the course of our inquiry, how wonderfully every thing is suited to his use, and with what ease he is enabled to control and modify Nature in all its varieties, so as to accommodate it to his necessities, and cause it to contribute to his comfort

and prosperity. This is not the result of his own ingenuity, but of a scheme of infinite wisdom and beneficence planned for his benefit, and destined for the development of his faculties, and the discipline of his moral powers.

THIRTEENTH WEEK-THURSDAY.

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE ARGUMENT.-ADAPTATION.

THE great object of the present volume has been to consider the attributes of the Creator, as these are displayed in the full development of the qualities, powers, and faculties of natural objects, whether animate or inanimate. We have seen that these are all united together in a system marked with some very peculiar characteristics, the leading features of which, so far as these relate to organized beings, are growth, maturity, decay, death, and reproduction. To these conditions, whatever be their ultimate object, we find the whole scheme of sublunary things to be adapted. Their necessary concomitants are change, privation, infirmity, and pain. Without, at present, recurring to the religious view of the question, which amply vindicates this system by opening up to us those ultimate ends which revelation alone could unfold, let us look back on the ground we have traversed, that we may concentrate our argument, and see in what manner, under the restrictions we have mentioned, the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator have been established.

In the commencement of the "Winter" volume, I laid down two great principles as the objects of inquiry, namely, contrivance to avoid evils or to obtain advantages; and compensation for evils actually permitted or appointed. In the course of these three volumes that inquiry has been prosecuted, and I persuade myself that

I cannot be considered as saying too much, when I maintain that a system of such contrivance and compensation has been established by superabundant proof, and that thus the existence of a Being of pre-eminent wisdom and benevolence has been irrefragably demonstrated.

There is a view of the Divine operations, as displayed in creation, differing in some respects from both of these, yet in some measure including them both, which has also been pointed out, and, I trust, distinctly proved ;—I mean that which exhibits the scheme of the Creator, as a system of adaptation to certain conditions;—the contrivances and compensations being all so adjusted as to form a consistent whole, in which the various parts bear relation to each other, and conspire and harmonize in promoting one important end. We have an example of this in the sun,-the source of light and heat,— and in the various elements of which the atmosphere and the soil are composed, which all unite their powers and qualities in nourishing vegetable and animal life; or, taking the converse view, we find this principle exemplified in the beautiful and skilful adjustment of the properties of vegetable and animal life, to the influences of the soil, the sun, and the elements. The same thing may be said of the relation which subsists between the vegetable and animal worlds themselves, and between the various species which exist in both of these departments. It is a relation of adaptation. Plants are made for living beings, and living beings for plants. Between them, and among each other, there is the most marked and admirable adjustment, always bearing reference to the five pervading conditions already mentioned, of growth, maturity, decay, death, and reproduction.

As our mundane system, therefore, is all relative, the most striking way, perhaps, of exhibiting its perfection, is to make a supposition of some alteration taking place in any one of its relations. We shall uniformly find that a derangement in the system would immediately take place; that, what in itself might appear to be an

improvement would, in reference to the whole scheme, prove to be the very reverse; and that, in order to accommodate other properties or existences to that one change, the most extensive changes would be necessary, branching out into interminable relations, till the mind was lost in the pursuit of consequences.

66

There are some striking examples of the incongruity of such imagined alterations in St Pierre's Studies of Nature, and instead of seeking for them myself,-which were easy, for they are to be found every where,-I prefer making use of the speculations of that delightful, though sometimes imaginative writer. "For example," says he, complaints are made of death; but if men were not to die, what would become of their posterity? Long before now there would not have been room for them on the face of the earth. Death, therefore, is a benefit. Men complain of the necessity of labouring; but unless they laboured, how could they pass their time? The reputedly happy of the age, those who have nothing to do, are at a loss how to employ it. Labour, therefore, is a benefit.-Men envy the beasts the instincts which guide them; but if, from their birth, they knew, like them, all that they are ever to know, what should they do in the world? They would saunter through it without interest, and without curiosity.

"The other ills of Nature are equally necessary. Pain of body and vexation of spirit, which so frequently cross the path of life, are barriers erected by the hand of Nature, to prevent our deviating from her laws. But for pain, bodies would be broken to pieces by every shock; but for distress, so frequently the companion of our enjoyments, the mind would become the victim of every sickly appetite. Diseases are the efforts of temperament, to purge off some noxious humour. Nature employs disease, not to destroy the body, but to preserve it. In every case, it is the consequence of some violation of her laws, physical or moral. The remedy is frequently obtained by leaving her to act in her own way.

The regimen of aliments restores the health of our body, and mental regimen tranquillity of mind. Whatever be the opinions which disturb our repose in society, they almost always vanish into air in solitude. Sleep simply, and of itself, dispels our chagrin more gently and more infallibly than a book of morals. If our distresses are immovable, and such as break our rest, they may be mitigated by having recourse to God. Here is the central point, to which all the paths of human life converge. Prosperity, at all seasons, invites us to his presence, but adversity leaves us no choice. It is the means which God employs to force us to take refuge in himself alone. But for this voice, which addresses itself to every one of us, we should soon forget Him, especially in the tumult of great cities, where so many fleeting interests clash with those which are eternal, and where so many second causes swallow up all attention to the FIRST.'

THIRTEENTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE ARGUMENT.-FUTURE EXISTENCE.

In the previous paper it has been shown, that the system of creation is perfect in its relations, insomuch, that were any of its circumstances to be altered, far greater inconveniences than actually exist would necessarily ensue; or, in other words, that, taking the general scheme as we find it, the evils which result from it are at the minimum, and the advantages at the maximum. But still the question recurs, is the system itself wise and beneficent? In this inquiry there is much more difficulty than in the other; and, in order to answer it, we must have clear views of the ultimate object and intentions of the Creator. It is an inquiry which the natural philosopher has often blinked, and on which he has never successfully entered without the aid of Reve

* Study viii.