LESSONS THEY TEACH. 147 



we understand but few of them, and are unable to 

 perceive all the ends they are intended to effect. 



We behold enough, however, to incite us to 

 know more, and above all to teach us to adore 

 that mighty Being who has not only arrayed in 

 all their beauty the lilies of the field, but has con- 

 ferred such qualities and functions on the plants 

 that adorn the fields of the great deep, as tend to 

 evince at once His beneficence in providing for 

 the wants of the millions that wander " through 

 the paths of the sea ; " and the exuberance of His 

 skill and power in dispersing at the same moment 

 in inexhaustible profusion and luxuriance forms of 

 vegetable life which flourish in consummate grace 

 and beauty, although far removed from human 

 eye amid the abysses of the ocean. 



