AMERICAN ARC ALL 251 



vided with that useful membrane which is generally 

 assigned to ruminating animals to such as seek 

 their food, not only on commons and in meadows, 

 but among brushwood, and are consequently liable, 

 without some protection, to have their sight injured 

 by coming in contact with sharp twigs or prickly 

 shrubs. 



One truth is indelibly inscribed on all the won- 

 ders of creation that as a father careth for his 

 children, so the Most High sustains and cherishes 

 all which He has made. This truth is marked on 

 every leaf; it is written on every flower; it is made 

 known by every insect -that flies from one blossom 

 to another. It is proclaimed in the song of birds, 

 in the whisper of the wind, in the murmur of waters 

 running swiftly. It resounds from one end of the 

 universe to another, and lest men should doubt it 

 amid the sin and misery of their fallen state, it 

 is recalled to their remembrance by every living 

 creature that wings the air, or crosses their daily 

 walk. The world is filled with mementos of the 

 love of God, but we too frequently neglect them. 

 Naturalists, or rather I should say, the admirers of 

 things created, for the sake of Him who created and 

 sustains them, have kept alive this blessed truth, 

 amid the clash of contending systems and the for- 

 getfulness of that sacred book which brought the 

 knowledge of " life and immortality to light/' We 

 owe much to them; and though it be true of natu- 

 ralists that their lamps glimmered faintly amid the 

 darkness of paganism, and that they threw their 

 faint and tremulous light but a little way into the 

 obscurity of the middle ages, the light was still pre- 



