22 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



frame, or graceful curves to its muscular covering ? ^ And 

 shall we think it beneath us to study what he hath not thought 

 it beneath him to adorn and place on this great theatre of 

 creation ? Nay, shall we extol those to the skies who bring 

 together at a vast expense the most valuable specimens of the 

 arts, the paintings and statues of Italy and Greece, all of 

 which, however beautiful, as works of man, fall short of per- 

 fection ; and deride and upbraid those who collect, for the 

 purpose of admiring their beauty, the finished and perfect 

 chef-d'oeuvres of a Divine artist ? May we gaze with rapture 

 unblamed upon an Apollo of Belvedere, or Venus de Medicis, 

 or upon the exquisite paintings of a Raphael or a Titian, and 

 yet when we behold with ecstasy sculptures that are produced 

 by the chisel of the Almighty, and the inimitable tints laid 

 on by his pencil, because an insect is the subject, be exposed 

 to jeers and ridicule ? 



But there is another reason, which in the present age 

 renders the study of Natural History an object of importance 

 to every well-wisher to the cause of religion, who is desirous 

 of exerting his faculties in its defence. For as enthusiasm 

 and false religion have endeavoured to maintain their ground 

 by a perversion of the text of Scripture, so also the patrons 

 of infidelity and atheism have laboured hard to establish their 

 impiety by a perversion of the text of nature. To refute the 

 first of these adversaries of truth and sound religion, it is ne- 

 cessary to be well acquainted with the word of Grod ; to re- 

 fute the second, requires an intimate knowledge of his works ; 

 and no department can furnish him with more powerful ar- 

 guments of every kind than the world of insects — every one 

 of which cries out in an audible voice, There is a God — he 

 is Almighty, all-wise, all-good — his watchful providence is 

 ever, and every where, at work for the preservation of all 

 things. 



But since mankind in general are too apt to look chiefly at 

 this world, and to regard things as important or otherwise in 

 proportion as they are connected with sublunary interests, 

 and promote our present welfare, I shall proceed further to 



1 Nat. Thcol 213. 



