354 GOODNESS OF GOD IN THE BEAUTIFUL- 



crawling about the glass, not one manifested the least 

 inclination to beconte adherent, or to grow into a 

 Polype. Indeed, they differed in appearance from 

 those first produced, for these were all true planules, 

 being elongated and produced at one end into a blunt 

 point, with considerable power of change in the 

 outline. 



When we look at a lovely object like this, we are 

 conscious of a positive enjoyment, arising from the 

 gratification of our sense of beauty ; a sort of appe- 

 tite, if I may so call it, implanted in our nature by 

 the beneficent Creator, expressly for our satisfaction. 

 The garden which the Lord God prepared for unfallen 

 man was furnished wdth " every tree that was pleasant 

 to the sight," as well as " good for food." And surely 

 it is not too much to suppose that even in the Infinite 

 Mind of God himself there is a quality analogous to 

 this in us, the sense of material beauty, the approval 

 of what is in itself lovely in form and colour and 

 arrangement, and pleasure in the contemplation of it ; 

 distinct from and independent of the question of 

 relative fitness or moral excellence. If such a suppo- 

 sition needed proof, I would simply adduce the pro- 

 fuse existence of beauty in created things, and refer 

 to the word that "For His pleasure they are, and 

 were created." 



But there is another point of view from which a 

 Christian, — by which expression I mean one who by 

 believing on the Lord Jesus Christ has passed from 

 death unto life, and not one who puts on the title as 

 he would a garment, merely for convenience or cus- 

 tom's sake — looks at the excellent and the beautiful 



