223 



animal by his appointed laws, and gives proper nou 

 rishmetitto each of them. 



Again, 3. It' the food of which one single ani. 

 mal partakes, be never so various and different yet 

 the same laws of motion which God has ordained in 

 the animal world, convert them ail to the same pur- 

 poses of nourishment for that creature. Behold the 

 little bee gathering its honey from a thousand flow- 

 ers, and laying up the precious store for its winter 

 food ; mark ho\v the crow preys upon a carcase : 

 anon it crops a cherry from the tree, and both are 

 changed into the flesh and feathers of a crow. Ob. 

 serve the kine in the meadows, feeding on a hundred 

 varieties of herbs and iiowers,yet all the different parts 

 of their bodies are nourished thereby in a proper 

 manner, every tioWcr in the field is made use of to 

 increase the flesh of the heifer, and to make food 

 for men, and out of all these varieties, there is a 

 noble milky juice flowing to the udder, which pro. 

 vidcs nourishment for yotiug children. 



So near akin is man, the lord of the creation, 

 in respect of his body, to the brutes that are his slaves 

 that the very same food vi!l comprise the fh*h ot' 

 both, and make them grow up to their appointe.l 

 stature. This is evident beyond doubt, in daily ex- 

 periments. The same bread corn which we eat at 

 our tables will give rich support to sparrows and pi- 

 geons, to the turkey, a.id the duck ; and all thefjwlg 

 of the yard ; the mouse steals it and feeds on it in 

 his dark retirements ; while the hog in the sty, and 

 the horse in the manger would be glad to partake 

 of it. When the poor cottager has nursed up a couple 

 of geese, the fox seizes one of them for the support 

 of her cubs, and perhaps the table of the landlord is 

 furnished with the other to regale his friends. JNor 

 is it an uncommon thing to see the favourite lap- 

 clog fed out of the same bowl of milk, which is pre- 

 pared for the heir of a wealthy family, but which 

 nature had originally designed to nourish a calf. The 

 L 4 



