POISONOUS PLANTS. 189 



" Believ'3 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 

 shalt be saved." 



Notwithstanding the marks of the Divine 

 goodness and bounty that are everywhere mani- 

 fest in the vegetable kingdom, there is, never- 

 theless, much which shows us that this is a 

 fallen world the abode of fallen creatures. 

 Why, else, do we see the numerous tribes of 

 poisonous plants, eliminating their deadly 

 juices, ready to deal death and destruction to 

 every one who tastes them ? How, else, can we 

 reconcile the presence of such plants as the 

 upas, the manchineel, the panghinia of Mada- 

 gascar, the woorali of South America, the 

 dumb cane, the frightful nettles of Java, and a 

 multitude more, in a world which abounds in 

 proofs of the Divine love and mercy ? God 

 has stamped the inscription upon the globe, in 

 characters which all may understand, but 

 which none can erase, that man is a fallen 

 creature that lie has incurred his Maker's 

 frown ; while yet that Creator in wrath re- 

 members mercy, and still provides food and 

 comforts for the creatures who have rebelled 

 against him. 



The universal decay of plants, their death 

 at the appointed time and in these latitudes 

 the fall of the leaf from most of our trees 

 reminds us of our own mortality. " As for man, 

 his days are as grass : is a flower of the field, 

 so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over 

 it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall 

 know it no more. ?; 



