138 Natural Theology. 



see this apparent parental care most fully manifested, 

 we must examine the seed. In it is the germ of the 

 young plant. But that germ has no power at first 

 over earth or the gases of the air. It is shut out 

 mainly from both. For this helpless state a pro- 

 vision has been made. Around the germ, or in 

 some way connected with it, the parent plant gar- 

 ners the food which shall support the germ, till 

 large enough to provide for itself. The kernel of 

 grain does not fill till its germ is fertilized. But 

 when that is done, when a centre of life is formed, 

 a new plant is there ; and then the starch, and sugar, 

 and oil, are furnished by the parent stock for its 

 support. All this action is organic, but it is a per- 

 fect adaptation of means to ends. The machinery 

 by which the results are reached is as complete in its 

 structure and action as it is possible for us to con- 

 ceive of. This provision is not made in one plant 

 alone ; but, in some form, in all. 



It is not one kind of material that is provided, 

 but many. The work is not done by one method, 

 but by methods almost numberless ; and yet every 

 one of those methods commends itself most fully to 

 our judgment. There is not a single case in the 

 thousands that we could improve upon, for the wel- 

 fare of the plant. We cannot believe that this varied 

 machinery and these diverse methods result from 

 the development of some force in nature, or organ- 

 izing principle. -We cannot, without doing violence 

 to our own mental constitution, regard these as any 

 other than the provision of an intelligent Creator, 



