LETTER IX. 



BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



INDIRECT BENEFITS. 



JVlY last letters contained, I must own, a most melancho- 

 ly though not an overcharged picture of the injuries and 

 devastation which man, in various ways, experiences 

 through the instrumentality of the insect world. In this 

 and the following I hope to place before you a more agree- 

 able scene, since in them I shall endeavour to point out in 

 what respects these minute animals are made to benefit uf, 

 and what advantages we reap from their extensive agency. 

 God, in all the evil which he permits to take place, 

 whether spiritual, moral, or natural, has the ultimate good 

 of his creatures in view. The evil that we suffer is often 

 a countercheck which restrains us from greater evil, or a 

 spur to stimulate us to good : we should therefore consi- 

 der every thing, not according to the present sensations 

 of pain, or the present loss or injury that it occasions, but 

 according to its more general, remote, and permanent 

 effects and bearings ; — whether by it we are not impelled 

 to the practice of many virtues which otherwise might lie 

 dormant in us — whether our moral habits are not improv- 

 ed — whether we are not rendered by it more prudent, 

 cautious, and wary, more watchful to prevent evil, more 

 ingenious and skilful to remedy it— and whether our 



