INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 211 



plagues, and torments never be finished? Was the whole 

 insect race created merely with punitive views, and to mar 

 the fair face of universal nature ? Are they ail, as our 

 Saviour said figuratively of one genus, the scorpion, the 

 powerful agents and instruments of the great enemy of man- 

 kind ? If you view the subject in another light, you will soon, 

 my friend, be convinced that, instead of this, insects generally 

 answer the most beneficial ends, and promote in various ways, 

 and in an extraordinary degree, the welfare of man and 

 animals ; and that the series of evils I have been engaged in 

 enumerating mostly occur partially, and where they exceed 

 their natural limits ; God permitting this occasionally to take 

 place, not merely with punitive views, but also to show us 

 what mighty effects he can produce by instruments seemingly 

 the most insignificant ; thus calling upon us to glorify his 

 power, wisdom, and goodness, so evidently manifested whether 

 he relaxes or draws tight the reins by which he guides insects 

 in their course, and regulates their progress ; and more par- 

 ticularly to acknowledge his overruling Providence so con- 

 spicuously exhibited by his measuring them, as it were, and 

 weighing them, and telling them out, so that their numbers, 

 forces, and powers being annually proportioned to the work 

 he has prescribed to them, they may neither exceed his pur- 

 pose nor fall short of it. 



From the picture I have drawn, and I assure you. it is not 

 overcharged, you will be disposed to admit, however, the 

 empire of insects over the works of creation, and to own that 

 our prosperity, comfort, and happiness are intimately connected 

 with them ; and consequently that the knowledge and study 

 of them may be extremely useful and necessary to promote 

 these desirable ends, since the knowledge of the cause of any 

 evil is altvays a principal, if not an indispensable, step towards 

 a remedy. 



I shall now bid adieu to this unpromising subject, which 

 has so long occupied my pen, and I fear wearied your atten- 

 tion, and in my next bring before you a more agreeable scene, 

 in which you will behold the benefits we receive by the ministry 

 of insects. I am, &c. 



1 Luke, X. 19. 



p 2 



