1852.] THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 13 



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? very powerful evidence of a great, intelligent, designing Mind. T° A» ) 

 cjp see the force of this point, we should endeavor to obtain enlarged, °ij 

 / comprehensive views of the universe. It is only by surveying the \ 

 parts separately, then by a higher effort of mind seeking to grasp the 

 whole, that we can arrive at those subtile, beautiful, endless relations 

 which bind ail things into one great whole, and forever stamp them 

 as the productions of one Great Mind. The chemical constitutions of 

 plants is the same as that of animals ; and indeed, all their elements 

 are found in inorganic nature. Then the form of the ultimate par- 

 ticles, of which plants and all matter is composed, is probably the 

 same. Now just conceive of the material universe reduced to these 

 homogeneous particles, all chaotic, motionless, clear. What but an 

 Infinite intelligence could lodge the rocks in their silent dwelling 

 place, build the mountains on their everlasting foundations — clothe 

 their naked limbs with garments of beauty ; or send the ox to browse 

 at their feet, and the eagle to perch on their heads. The vegetable 

 kingdom holds an intermediate position. There is inorganic matter 

 on the one hand, and the highest form of organization, the animal, on 

 the other. Now the inorganic is evidently to be regarded as a means 

 to something ulterior. Its office is to form a theatre and a sub- 

 stance, which by combination with the principle of life, curious 

 and beautiful orders of being are to be formed. But animals can- 

 not be formed directly from and sustained by matter in the inorganic 

 state. Their food must be organized. There then comes in the 

 agency of plants ; they stand in direct contact with inert matter, and 

 transform it into a state which animals can assimilate. Now it seems 

 unnecessary to point out the marks of design in this great arrange- 

 ment. They are sufficiently obvious. The globe was evidently in- 

 tended to sustain animal life, but this would be impossible without 

 the mediation of plants. In the order of creation, plants preceded an- 

 imals ; what but Infinite intelligence could see so far — determine and 

 arrange with such admirable precision. But leaving the boundaries 

 of the kingdom, we find numberless instances of the most consummate 

 skill within its own borders. For instance, in the structure of plants, 

 what can be more striking than the simplicity of the elements, and the 

 untold variety in the complicated results. A few little germs, differ- 

 ing but little in size and shape, constitute the elementary organs of all 

 plants. But their combinations how various and beautiful ! The root 

 that penetrates the earth, the stem that extends into the atmosphere — 

 the leaf that fans the element that surrounds it — the flower of every 

 imaginable color, the delicate stamens and pistils — and the seed, the 

 consummation of all. An architect can build houses of various forms, 

 with the same bricks ; but how few are his variations in comparison J? 

 (V/ with the wonderful variety in the domain of Flora. How inferior his G\ 



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