THE CORN-FIELD. 15 



tion that we cannot but conclude that nothing 

 has been made in vain, every created thing 

 being designed to fulfil some wise and bene- 

 ficent purpose. People very frequently ask, what 

 is the use of botany ? When they speak thus they 

 mean to say, " What good can accrue to us from 

 the study ? " Show them that they may learn 

 from it some new and useful property of a certain 

 herb, and they are content to listen ; tell them 

 that they may by examining a leaf catch a glimpse 

 of the creative and protecting wisdom of God, and 

 they are content to leave the study to others, who, 

 they say, are more curious about such things than 

 themselves. Thoughtless selfishness is at the bot- 

 tom of this. They are willing to learn all that 

 science can teach them, if they can thereby heap 

 up another bushel in their barns, but that which 

 merely adds to the glory of God, they do not think 

 it worth their while to inquire into. It was for 

 an equally selfish reason that the heathens wor- 

 shipped, with peculiar solemnities, the Goddess of 

 Corn, and thought but little of the imaginary 

 deities who presided over those natural objects 

 which seemed to them to be of little use. If 

 their crops were to fail they knew that they would 

 be exposed to great inconvenience, and they en- 

 deavoured to propitiate by offerings her whom 

 they supposed to watch over their corn-fields ; but 

 it mattered not whatever else went wrong ; they 

 could not see what end the inferior plants and 

 animals answered in the universe, and therefore 

 took no interest in them. 



We, however, who have fallen upon better 

 times, should be actuated by no such narrow 

 motives. Our blessed Saviour has taught us that 



