AS RELATED TO RELIGION. 127 



of his intellectual nature. Its beauty of adorning, 

 its grandeur and sublimity, are the visible heaven of 

 his emotional nature. But its highest adaptation, 

 and that to which all others are subservient, is to 

 man as a religious being. So complete is it in this 

 respect so fully is a God, and a God for worship, 

 shown in even the humblest plant that clothes the 

 eartli that, to the sincere inquirer, 



" This world. . . .becomes a temple, 

 And life itself one continued act of adoration." 



On the common argument from special adaptation 

 for the existence of a God it is not necessary to 

 enlarge, because it has been so fully presented by 

 the ablest writers that it is probably familiar to all. 

 So far as we attempt it, of course we shall confine 

 ourselves to Natural History illustrations; and we 

 do not shorten the argument from any want of 

 materials, for they are abundant sufficient to 

 present that argument in its full force. Some have 

 considered this proof from natural objects unsatisfac- 

 tory ; but on this point we may say, that however 

 philosophers may speculate, there is in Natural 



