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. 



