208 CONCLUSION. 



the nature of the animal's food. Here is & fitness of 

 which we are competent to judge, because it happens 

 to be too simple, involves too few principles, for us 

 to mistake. 



When the nature of the case brings it fully within 

 our knowledge, the arrangements we discover are in- 

 variably perfect. And when we consider how nume- 

 rous, how countless are the instances of this descrip- 

 tion, through all the multitude of living and organized 

 beings ; through all the complexity of their structure ; 

 through all the adaptations of their powers, physical 

 and instinctive, to their subsistence and comfort ; 

 through so many cases of wise and benevolent ar- 

 rangement in the vast compass of nature ; we cannot 

 reflect without the profoundest admiration, that in 

 proportion as our knowledge of any thing in creation 

 approaches to certainty, our perceptions of Divine 

 wisdom and benevolence are satisfactory and uncloud- 

 ed. What an argument for suffering no limitation of 

 our trust and adoration towards that High and Holy 

 One, of whom, and through whom, and to whom are 

 all things ! What a reason for bowing with devout 

 and cheerful acquiescence to the precept of our Sav- 

 iour, who suggested the same idea in commanding his 

 disciples, as to all future events, and all things occa- 

 sioning tjieir solicitude, to confide in that Being who 

 had so perfectly exhibited his goodness in cases with- 

 in their certain knowledge and actual observation ! 

 Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, nei- 

 ther do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your 



