APRIL XXX.

ANIMALS ARE CAUSES FOR MAN TO

GLORIFY GOD.

IT is not sufficient not to treat creatures improperly; we ought also to endeavour to make the best use possible of them. How then can that be, but by making them serve to glorify God! This all creatures do, but particularly the animated beings. In every plant, tree, flower, or stone, the greatness and glory of the Creator are visibly imprinted, and one need only open his eyes to see it ; but it appears with still more lustre in the animal creation. Examine the construction of one only of those animated beings. What art, what beauty, what admirable wisdom shall we find in it! and how will these wonders multiply, if we think of the almost infinite number and astonishing variety of animals! From the elephant to the smallest worm (which is only visible through a microscope), how many degrees! How many lines, which form one immense chain! What connection, what order, what relation between all those creatures! All is harmony! And if, at first sight, we think we discover any imperfection in certain things, we soon find it is only our ig norance, which has led us to form a wrong judge. ment. It is not necessary that every individual should make deep researches on this subject. It is not necessary to be a learned naturalist. It is enough to attend to the most familiar and the best known things before our eyes. We see, for example, a multitude of animals, all admirably formed; who all live, and feel, and move, as we

do;

do; who are, like us, liable to hunger, thirst, and cold, and consequently, require, as we do, that their wants may be supplied. To all those creatures God has given life; he preserves, he gives them what is necessary, and takes care of them, as a father of a family does of those that compose his household. Shall we not from thence conclude, that God has the goodness, the tenderness of a father? Shall we not also conclude, that we ought to love God, who is mercy itself? If the care of the Creator extends to animals, what will he not do for us? If he makes it his study to render the lives of those creatures happy and easy, what may we not expect from his beneficence! Let the cautious fearful man then blush at his anxieties; he who, as soon as he finds himself not in affluence, falls into apprehensions and fears that God will let him perish for want. That beneficent Being, who supplies the wants of so many animals, will he not furnish us with all that we require? Let us indulge another reflection upon the instincts of beasts, and take occasion from it to admire and adore that great Being, who so wisely combines the means with the end. As the instincts of animals all tend to their preservation, this appears most evidently in the love and care the beasts have of their young. Lord himself, to express the most parental cares, makes use of the image of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings. It is indeed a most affecting sight to behold the natural and strong affection the hen has for her young ones, and the constant care she takes of them. She never takes her eyes off them. She runs to their assistance at the approach of the least danger. She flies at the aggressor with courage. She hazzards her own life to save that of her chickens. She calls them,

Our

and

and encourages them by her maternal voice. She spreads out her wings to receive and conceal them. She neglects all sorts. of convenience to herself; and, in the most uneasy posture, she still thinks of nothing but the safety and welfare of the objects of her affection. Who does not here acknowledge the hand of God! Without the maternal care of the hen; without that instinct so strong, and so superior to every thing, the chickens, the whole species, would infallibly perish. Can it be said, that what the hen does for her young is done with understanding and reflection, that she judges reasons, foresees, combines, and draws consequences? Certainly not. And though, at first sight, every thing really seems to proceed from the tenderness and understanding of the bird; yet we must acknowledge in it a superior hand, which shews itself, without our knowing in what manner it acts. I think these two examples are sufficient for the purpose: Therefore, without enlarging more upon it, I shall content myself with concluding in a few words, That it is the duty of man to seek in the animals an occasion to glorify God; that it is an indispensable duty, which ought to be sacred to him, and is equally agreeable and useful.

THE END OF VOLUME FIRST.