395 



fects of that wisdom displayed in the surrounding 

 creation ?' 



" The exertions of the intellectual part of all 

 living beings are spontaneously and invariably di- 

 rected to the pursuit of happiness; — it may mistake 

 the means, but never loses sight of the end. It is 

 in its turn made subservient to the preservation of 

 its material organs, by a dread of pain, an inherent 

 love of life, and fear of destruction. It is obliged 

 to attend to the calls of hunger and thirst, and is 

 most bountifully rewarded for all such attention, not 

 only by the gratification of the senses, but by the 

 endearments of social affection, the ties of parental 

 love, and of individual attachment ; in all which the 

 brutes are allowed to share, and thus to partake of 

 some of the best enjoyments of human nature ; as 

 we, by the cultivation of our higher powers, and 

 especially of our benevolent affections, raise our- 

 selves towards the divine. 



" Even the exertions necessary in the animal 

 world for self-preservation and self-defence, which 

 at first sight seem an evil in the creation, will be 

 found greatly overbalanced by good in the pleasures 

 derived from exertion, activity, and contrivance, 

 and the happiness which results from success. The 

 apparent cruelty by which some animals tyrannize 

 over their own species, or prey upon others, keeps 

 up the perfection of nature by removing the weak 

 and the sickly, and prevents the brute creation in 

 general from ever knowing the miseries of pro- 

 tracted sickness or old age. When they can no lon- 

 ger defend themselves, they are quickly removed. 



