THE EARTH. 347 



to him ; to the savage uncontriving man, the 

 earth is an abode of desolation, where his shelter 

 is insufficient, and his food precarious. 



A world thus furnished with advantages on one 

 side, and inconveniencies on the other, is the pro- 

 per abode of reason, is the fittest to exercise the 

 industy of a free and a thinking creature. Those 

 evils which art can remedy, and prescience guard 

 against, are a proper call for the exertion of his 

 faculties ; and they tend still more to assimilate 

 him to his Creator. God beholds with pleasure 

 that being which he has made, converting the 

 wretchedness of his natural situation into a 

 theatre of triumph ; bringing all the tribes of 

 nature into subjection to his will ; and producing 

 that order and uniformity upon earth, of which 

 his own heavenly fabric is so bright an example. 



PART II. OF ANIMALS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



A COMPARISON OF ANIMALS WITH THE INFERIOR 

 RANKS OF CREATION. 



HAVING given an account of the earth in general, 

 and the advantages and inconveniencies with 

 which it abounds, we now come to consider it 

 more minutely. Having described the habitation, 

 we are naturally led to inquire after the inhabi- 

 tants. Amidst the infinitely different productions 



