308 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 
and instincts, suiting living creatures to exist and 
to enjoy existence in them all. From the glowing 
equator to the vicinity of the frozen poles, all nature 
is instinct with life and buoyant with happiness. 
On the dry land, the fields and the deserts, the 
woods and the forests, the valleys and the mount- 
ains, all teem with animation and are vocal with. 
joy. The waters, the lakes, the rivers, and the 
mighty ocean from shore to shore, bring forth and 
nourish their myriads of living creatures, different 
in kind, but united by a wonderful analogy into one 
grand and mighty chain of existence, all fitted with 
superlative wisdom to their respective habitations. 
Even the viewless air is not void of life and indica- 
‘tions of enjoyment; the feathered tribes there soar 
with the wings which all-bountiful nature has pro- 
vided, traversing fearlessly the blue expanse, and 
singing as they mount towards the clouds. 
Nor is it to be forgotten, that of all sublunary 
creatures. man alone is endowed with faculties 
capable of discerning the Creator’s hand in his 
works. Had not the human race been called into 
existence, all these magnificent provisions would 
have been unappreciated and unknown. The glo- 
ries of the Divine perfections would still, indeed, 
have been inscribed on nature, but among earthly 
existences there would have been no eye to read and 
no heart to feel them. Man has justly been called 
the priest of nature, and while from the seen he 
 yises to the unseen, from the temporal to the eter- 
nal, he ought never to forget that the high rank 
which has been assigned him implies a high respon- 
sibility ; and that, in proportion as his vision is en- 
larged and his faculties are exalted, his duties and 
obligations are, to an equal extent, increased. 
THE ‘END. 
