OBJECTIOXS ANSWERED. §7 



on this g^reat theatre of creation ? Nay, shall we ex- 

 tol those to the skies wlio bring- together at a vast ex- 

 pense the most valuable specimens of the arts, the 

 paintings and statues of Italy and Greece, all of which, 

 however beautiful, as works of man, fall short of per- 

 fection ; and deride and upbraid those w ho collect, for 

 the purpose of admiring their beauty, the finished and 

 perfect chef-d'ceuvres of a Divine artist ? IVfay we gaze 

 with rapture unblamed upon an Apollo of Belvedere, 

 or Venus de Medicis, or upon the exquisite paintings 

 of a Raphael or a Titian, and yet when we behold with 

 ecstasy sculptures that are produced by the chisel of 

 the Almighty, and the inimitable tints laid on by his 

 pencil, because an insect is the subject, be exposed to 

 jeers and ridicule ? 



But there is another reason, which in the present 

 age renders the study of Natural History an object of 

 importance to every well-wisher to the cause of Reli- 

 gion, Avho is desirous of exerting his faculties in its de- 

 fence. For as enthusiasm and false religion have en- 

 deavoured to maintain their ground by a perversion of 

 the text of scripture, so also the patrons of infidelity 

 and atheism have laboured hard to establish their im- 

 piety by a perversion of the text o^ nature. To refute 

 the first of these adversaries of truth and sound reli- 

 gion, it is necessary to be well acquainted with the word 

 of God; to refute the second requires an intimate know- 

 ledge of his works ; and no department can furnish 

 him with more powerful arguments of every kind than 

 the world of insects — every one of which cries out 

 in an audible voice. There is a God — he is Almighty, 



