272 Natural Theology. 



forth before him, little impaired by the lapse of 

 countless ages, and bearing faithful records of ex- 

 tinct systems of vegetation which began and termi 

 nated in times of which these relics are the infallible 

 historians." 



What use of all this beauty when, as yet, there 

 was no intelligent being upon the earth ? He that 

 formed the eye, shall not He see? and He that im- 

 planted in man the love of the beautiful, shall He 

 not take delight in His own works? For His pleas- 

 ure they are and were created. But considering 

 man alone, we have a satisfactory answer. We have 

 before shown that in making provision for man's phy- 

 sical nature on the earth, his intellectual nature was 

 necessarily considered. The highest development 

 of man demands that he should study the earth's 

 crust. The coal and the metals are hidden there, 

 and he must find them. The remains of ancient life 

 are his land-marks. The crust of the earth is man's 

 possession, and there is the same reasoh why he 

 should find objects of beauty there, as that they 

 should be found among living forms. It is pleasant 

 to contemplate, these provisions made for man in 

 the early earth provisions prophetic of his exalted 

 nature, and of his progress in knowledge. 



In the slight sketch we have been able to make, 

 it must be apparent that ample provision has been 

 made, in every department of nature, to gratify the 

 love of the beautiful. The faculty of appreciating 

 has been given, and then special provision has been 

 made, in varied form and color, to meet the demands 



