LIFE. 
INTRODUCTION. 
“ The works of the Lord are great but we must not 
estimate this greatness by their actual dimensions ; else a 
man would be of less importance than a hippopotamus, and 
the Bass Rock would be immensely more valuable than 
either. It is a greatness not measurable by rule and line; 
not to be determined by bulk and weight ; it is to be 
estimated by far other qualities, — by the relative import- 
ance which the objects bear to each other, by the variety 
and complexity of their parts, by the elaborateness with 
which they are constructed, by their fitness for the pur- 
poses which they are destined to subserve, and especially 
by the degree in which they shew forth the power, wisdom, 
skill, and goodness of Him who made them for His own 
glory. Many of the animals of which we are about to speak 
are so minute that the unassisted eye takes no cognisance 
of their presence ; yet most of these, — perhaps all, if we 
were able to investigate them, — are so curiously fashioned, 
A 
