Microscopic Germ. 173 



oak as a tree or as a germ, that through secondary 

 causes the sunlight, the air, and the rain should 

 expand into the oak? The microscopic germ, with 

 this force lodged in it, that determines the growth 

 of the oak, the form and strength of every fibre, the 

 outline of every leaf, the outward sculpture and in- 

 ward structure of every acorn that shall cover it for 

 a hundred years, is as much a proof of infinite wis- 

 dom and almighty power as the oak in its perfec- 

 tion. If one fails to be proof, the other must. If, 

 to go further, we were to suppose a single germ to 

 be plaeed upon this globe, which, with untold ages 

 for its development, should give rise to all the myr- 

 iad forms of vegetable and animal life, with all their 

 wonderful relations to each other, as the germ of 

 the oak develops into the tree; the root the stem, 

 the leaf, the flower, and the fruit, all unlike, but hav- 

 ing a relation to each other if we could believe \J( 

 that from one such germ all life upon our globe had 

 sprung, would it shake our belief for one moment i 

 God, or alter our conception of His character? Do 

 we look upon the trees and the animals around us, 

 upon our own bodies, as any the less the work of 

 God, or evidence of His existence and illustrative of 

 His character, because produced through secondary 

 causes, than they would be if they came full grown 

 from the hand of God, as we believe that Adam 

 came ? If one looks at his own body, and fails to 

 see so much of purpose there as to imply a designer, 

 then he would fail to see it if he were created full 

 grown. There is a certain kind or degree of seep- 



