GULF STREAM, CLDIATES, AND COMMERCE. 61 



are regulated by circulation ; but the chief regulators are, on the 

 one hand, winds ; on the other, currents. 



16-t. Order and design. — The inhabitants of the ocean are as 

 much the creatures of climate as are those of the dry land ; for 

 the same Almighty hand which decked the lily and cares for the 

 sparrow, fashioned also the pearl and feeds the great whale ; He 

 adapted each to the physical conditions by which his providence 

 has surrounded it. Whether of the land or the sea, the inhabit- 

 ants are all his creatures, subjects of his laws, and agents in his 

 economy. The sea, therefore, we may safely infer, has its offices 

 and duties to perform ; so, may we infer, have its currents, and 

 so, too, its inhabitants; consequently, he who undertakes to 

 study its phenomena mnst cease to regard it as a waste of waters. 

 He must look upon it as a part of that exquisite machinery by 

 which the harmonies of nature are preserved, and then he will 

 begin to perceive the developments of order and the evidences 

 of desigm : viewed in this light, it becomes a vast field for study 

 — a most beautiful and interesting subject for contemplation. 



165. Terrestrial adaiJtations. — To one who has never studied 

 the mechanism of a watch, its main-spring or the balance-wheel 

 is a mere piece of metal. He ma}^ have looked at the face of 

 the watch, and, w^hile he admires the motion of its hands, and 

 the time it keeps, or the tune it plays, he may have wondered in 

 idle amazement as to the character of the machinery which is 

 concealed within. Take it to pieces, and show him each part 

 separately ; he will recognize neither design, nor adaptation, nor 

 relation between them ; but put them together, set them to w^ork, 

 point out the offices of each spring, wheel, and cog, explain their 

 movements, and then show him the result; now he perceives 

 that it is all one design ; that, notwithstanding the number of 

 parts, their diverse forms and various offices, and the agents con- 

 cerned, the whole piece is of one thought, the expression of one 

 idea. He now rightly concludes that when the main-spring was 

 fashioned and tempered, its relation to all the other parts must 

 have been considered ; that the cogs on this wheel are cut and 

 regulated — adapted — to the ratchets on that, &c. ; and his final 

 conclusion will be, that such a piece of mechanism could not 

 have been produced by chance ; for the adaptation of the parts 

 is such as to show it to be according to design, and obedient to 

 the will of one intelligence. So, too, when one looks out upon 

 the face of this beautiful world, he may admire its lovely scenery. 



