HOW MARVELLOUS AND MYSTERIOUS. 15 



and all created things, in accordance with certain ' laws of 

 nature/ instituted from the beginning. Well, be it so : 

 what then ? All the wonders which we see around us are 

 none the less marvellous and mysterious ; for what a Law- 

 giver must that be whose wisdom planned, and whose 

 power put into execution, those primary laws, by which 

 the planets roll on in their courses, through centuries of 

 centuries, and by which a feather is made precisely as it 

 was in the morn when Adam first listened to the song of the 

 newly-created bird ! Yes, if we have but attentive and 

 believing faculties ; if we 



Go abroad rejoicing in the joy 



Of beautiful and well-created things, 



And love the voice of waters, and the sheen 



Of silver fountains leaping to the sea ; 



And thrill with the rich melody of birds, 



Living their life of music ; and are glad 



In the gay sunshine, reverent in the storm, 



And find calm thoughts beneath the whispering tree ; 



And see, and hear, and breathe the evidence 



Of God's deep wisdom in the natural world 



we shall assuredly confess, with Cowper, that 



In the vast and the minute we trace 

 The unambiguous footsteps of a God, 

 Who gives its lustre to the insect's wing, 

 And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds. 



We have dwelt somewhat at length upon the construc- 

 tion of a single feather. If this be so wonderful, what 

 must the whole covering be of one of those l free tenants of 

 land, air and ocean,' that fill our ears with melody, our 

 hearts with thoughts of heaven, and our eyes with visions 

 of beauty ? The downy breast, so soft, and warm, and 

 smooth ; the glossy head and back, impervious to wet ; the 

 tail, that nice steering apparatus of the air navigator ; and 

 the wings, those exquisite pieces of machinery, with their 

 muscles and tendons, like cords and pulleys, to turn the 

 sails ; those light yet strong pinions, with their overlap- 

 ping lamince, formed to catch and hold the wind, and to 

 support in mid-air the free creature, which darts swiftly, 



