are originally indebted to the plants and herbs, i. e. 

 to the earth for their support, arid their drink is the 

 watery clement. That all flesh is grass, is true, in 

 the literal as well as the metaphorical sense. Does 

 the lion eat the flesh of the lamb? Djth the lamb 

 suck the milk of the ewe ? But th-j ewe is nourished 

 by the grass of the field. Does the kite devour the 

 chicken, and the chicken the little caterpillars or 

 insects of the spring I But these insects are ever 

 feeding on the tender plants, and the green products 

 of the ground. The earth moistened with water is 

 the common nurse of all. Even the fishes of the sea 

 are nourished with vegetables that spring up there, 

 or by preying on lesser fishes which feed on these 

 regetables. 



But let us give our meditations a loose on this 

 entertaining subject, and we shall find numerous 

 instances of wonder in this scene of divine contriv- 

 ance. 



l.What rery different animals are nourished by 

 the i ame vegetable food ; the self same herbage or 

 fruits of the earth by the divine laws of nature and 

 provi ieuce. are converted into animated bodies, of 

 very different kinds. Could you imagine that half 

 the fowls of the air, as different as t iey are, fro in 

 the crow to the tit-mouse, shoull derive their flesh 

 and blood from/ the product i >ns of the same tree, 

 where the swine watch under ths b.mghsof it. and 

 are nourished by the fruit? Nor need 1 stay to take 

 notice what numerous insects find their nests and their 

 food all (he summer season from the same apples or 

 apricots, plumbs, or cherries, whica feed hogs and 

 crows, and a mind red small birds. Wjuld you think 

 that the black and the brindled kino, with the horses 

 both grey and bay, should clothe themselves with 

 their hairy skins of so various colours out of fie sane 

 green pasture where the bheep seed, and cover them* 

 selves with their white and woolly fl-ece ? And at 

 the same time the goose is cropping part of the ^rasg 

 to nourish its own flesh, and to array itself wittji 

 L 3 



