THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 147 



press on your minds that no creature, however 

 weak and ignoble it may appear, is left unpro- 

 vided and defenceless to take its chance in the 

 struggle for existence. Each is endowed by its 

 Creator with bodily and mental attributes, most 

 perfectly adapted to its sphere of action. The 

 humble worm is furnished with innumerable 

 hooks to enable it to penetrate the soil, and to 

 turn up those little hillocks or casts which you 

 must have seen, and which enrich the earth. 

 The spider spreads its beautiful network to 

 catch its prey, showing an industry and perse- 

 verance equally extraordinary ; while the little 

 bee flits about from morning to night in search 

 of honey, with which to store her hive, hasten- 

 ing from flower to flower : thus fertilising blos- 

 soms in her flight, and rendering the fields and 

 gardens gay with flowers and productive of 

 fruit. And here I cannot help quoting part of 

 a speech made lately at Leeds by one of our 

 Ministers, Lord Palmerston, on this interesting 

 subject. He said: "The contemplation of 

 these organic beings must fill the mind with 

 admiration at the amplitude of the creation, and 

 of the care and skill and wisdom which h*ye 



