112 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
cruelty to the beasts of the field is to them an 
amusement. Seeing, therefore, that unassisted rea- 
son is totally incompetent to solve this momentous 
question, we are naturally led to enquire into the 
truths of religion, to see whether they will explain 
this apparent anomaly. Here, then, we find every 
difficulty solved, and every doubt removed. Man 
discovers that the chief design of his creation is, that 
he should enjoy an immortal happiness in a higher 
region ; and that he is placed upon this earth, not as 
necessary to its well-being, or to perform a part in 
its regulation, but as one who is undergoing a state 
of probation; who is journeying, indeed, as a stranger 
and a pilgrim ; but who is provided with those means 
and aided by that assistance which may finally 
secure the great, the glorious designs of his Maker. 
(59.) It may be questioned whether the above 
train of reasoning, agreeable alike to logical de- 
duction and to indisputable fact, could thoroughly be 
entered upon by any one who was not a naturalist, 
or, at least, who had not an intimate acquaintance 
with some of the most remarkable phenomena of 
the animal kingdom. Hence it is manifest how in- 
timately the study of nature is connected with the 
truths of religion. Every philosophic argument 
which can be drawn from the material world, in 
corroboration of the books of Scripture, will tend to 
bring those who doubt, to investigate their pages 
more closely ; while those who already believe their 
divine inspiration, will have that belief strengthened 
and confirmed, rejoicing that sound philosophy 
bears witness to those truths which they feel to be 
immutable. 

