4 CREATION OF ANIMALS. 



But it was not the will of the beneficent Crea- 

 tor to leave such a blank and blot in his creation ; 

 before he created man in his own image, and en- 

 throned him king of the new-made world, he 

 decreed that his dominion also should be an 

 image of his own, over innumerable creatures of 

 every form and grade, each in its place entrusted 

 with a peculiar office and function, and furnished 

 with organs adapted to its work, contributing to 

 its own and the general welfare; so that all 

 should operate, " though each in different sort 

 and manner," to accomplish the great plan of an 

 All-wise Providence. 



What was the precise order of creation in the 

 animal kingdom is no where clearly revealed in 

 Holy Scripture; and we can only conjecture, 

 since the most perfect animal, and he who alone 

 belonged to the spiritual and invisible world by 

 his soul, as well as by his body to the visible, was 

 created the last, that the progress was from those 

 that were at the foot of the scale to those that 

 were at the summit. We are told, indeed, in 

 general terms, that on the fifth day, at the divine 

 bidding, the waters, hitherto barren and unten- 

 anted, produced abundantly " the moving crea- 

 ture that hath life," and fowl to traverse the firma- 

 ment. In an instant, in obedience to that quick- 

 ening word, by the operation of Almighty Power, 

 and under the guidance of infinite Wisdom and 

 Goodness, the boundless ocean with all its tri- 



