of their species, comes irresistibly home to our understandings, as a proof of wise intention, not in themselves, but in the Unseen Author of their nature. Thus, when the bird builds its curious nest, and, having deposited its eggs, patiently broods upon them for the appointed time; and then, after the fostering warmth of her body has produced the callow young, when she tenderly watches over them, catering for them with the most assiduous toil, and teaching them to flutter their little wings, to sport in the liquid air, and to forage for themselves; in all this, it is impossible not to perceive, that, by whatever second causes such instincts are prompted, they can be no other than the original ordination of Creative Intelligence.

It is different, however, with the labors of man. He too, indeed, has his instinctive propensities, some of which have for their object the production and preservation of the species; while they lead, as we have seen, by necessary consequences, to important results, which he neither contrived nor anticipated; and, thus far, the argument is the same for him as for the brutes. But he is also endowed with rational powers, in virtue of which he speculates on the future, and, pursuing the conclusions of his own mind, lays plans on which he acts, and bends the powers of Nature to his will. It is in this way that he proceeds, in his agricultural schemes and employments. They are the fruit of his own skill. He has reasoned on the properties and functions of the soil, and of its vegetable productions, and on the vicissitudes and the genial powers of the climate; he has profited by his own experience and that of others; and thus he converts the barren waste into a fruitful field, and causes the desert to blossom as the rose. There is here something altogether different from instinct; and, in looking for the hand of the Creator, we find another, and seemingly independent, intelligence at work, which interrupts our view, and causes us to consider the matter more deeply. We have, however, but to turn back a single step. Who endowed man with his rational faculties? Who so contrived the soil, and the vegetable world, and even the seasons themselves, as to be subservient to the use of man, and under

the control of these rational faculties? Undoubtedly the same Eternal Being, who bestowed on the rest of the living world their instincts. Every thing, therefore, resolves itself ultimately into the appointment of Creative Wisdom.

But, besides this original creation, there is a superintending Providence, which guides, controls, and overrules all events, so as to render that in reality a providential occurrence, which appears, at first sight, to be the mere result of human ingenuity. Look, for example, at the invention of the steam-engine, which has caused, and is now causing, so great a revolution in human affairs, by bestowing on man such extraordinary powers. It was the Creator who endowed steam with the amazing expansive force which it possesses, and with the quality of instant condensation by cold. It is true, that these properties remained long unemployed,-that for many ages the steam poured uselessly from the tea-kettle and the caldron, and, though so familiar to man, was passed by without a suspicion of the benefits it was capable of conferring. But the powers were there, ready to be used when the progress of society demanded their aid; and the human faculties were, meanwhile, undergoing a discipline and a training, which sharpened their ingenuity, and added activity and enterprise to skill; knowledge accumulated, human wants increased, commerce extended, manufactures rose in importance. It was then that a force was required, which might give new energy to human exertions, and proportion them to the growing demands of society. This was sought for, and found to be at hand. Is any one so skeptical as to deny, that, though the steam-engine be the result of human contrivance, steam itself received from its Creator its extraordinary qualities, for the express purpose of becoming thus, at the proper period, subservient to the wants of man?

And what is human contrivance? Is it not the result of faculties impressed on the mind by the hand of the Eternal, and brought to maturity by the various adaptations, incitements, and suggestions of His providential arrangements? In every way, then, the invention in

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question may be traced, by a devout mind, to the Supreme Being, as its final cause.

Now, this is but an example of the operations of Providence, as they regard the rational creature. The believer sees the Divine Hand every where, and the light which is thus thrown on the operations of Nature, in connexion with humán reason, is most wonderful and edifying. But, although this view is altogether satisfactory to a mind already, by other evidence, convinced of the being and perfections of the Infinite Creator, I am by no means sure that the same train of reasoning can be brought to bear against the prejudices of the unbeliever, with a force at all equal to that which overpowers him in contemplating the blind, and yet intelligent and admirably contrived, operations of instinct. Here the intelligence and contrivance, as I have said, being, obviously, not in the animal itself, force us to look up to the Unseen Creator; but, with regard to the actions of rational creatures, it is much easier to rest in the second cause. An objector may say, “I see, in the human faculties, sufficient power and intelligence for the production of such a piece of mechanism, or for the contrivance of such an improvement; on the one hand are the materials, and on the other are the results of his ingenuity in operating upon them. I rest here, and see no reason to go further." When we are opposed by such an objection as this, we are thrown back upon the independent arguments from which Creative Wisdom and a Superintending Providence are adduced; and, convincing as the reasoning is to ourselves, we feel that it is not suited to such a frame of mind as that of our opponent.

In speaking, then, of agricultural improvements produced by human ingenuity, the only argument we can hold with the unbeliever, is this,-that there is an astonishing and obviously intended adaptation, in natural objects, to human wants, and to the powers and faculties of the human mind. The one is, in every respect, suited to the other; and in that suitableness there is Creative Contrivance. To this extent, at least, the infidel may be met upon his own ground.

EIGHTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

ORIGIN OF AGRICULTURAL LABOR.

THAT every thing is made for the use of man, is a sentiment not more proud and exclusive, than it is false; if, by this expression, be meant, that his advantage and enjoyment alone have been consulted in the formation. of the world. But, though the Creator, doubtless, regarded the welfare of each class of his creatures, when he called them into existence, and in this view they may be justly said to be created for their own sakes, yet He has so united all these classes together, as to form one great and harmonious whole, and, by most wonderful adaptations, has so beautifully adjusted all the relations, both of the animate and inanimate world, that every thing may, in a certain sense, be said to be created for all the rest. In this sense, the observation applies, with peculiar force, to man, the only rational being in this sublunary creation. Let us thus regard the various phenomena of Spring.

The general aspect of Nature, we have already noticed as a source of delight to the mind of man. The miraculous power, which, at this season of the year, seems every where to be exerted to call a dead world into life and beauty,-in the vegetable kingdom, the shooting of the tender blade, the expanding of the buds and leaves, the opening of the blossoms,-and in the animal kingdom, the variety of forms that are seen on every hand springing into life and enjoyment, with the instinctive habits and functions by which the different tribes are preserved and nourished,-while they afford a deep interest to the taste, furnish a never-failing subject for the exercise of the rational powers, and for the cultivation of the devout affections.

But there are active duties, also, which this pleasing season imposes on the human race, arising from that early sentence of the Creator, which included at once a de

nunciation, a permission, and a command, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." It has been justly said, that all the riches of the world arise from its vegetable soil, which forms the original nourishment of animal existence. But the soil may be improved by cultivation, and hence the utility of labor. Did it bring forth, indeed, spontaneously, all that was necessary for human subsistence, it would neither require nor receive that aid which is now bestowed on it by the skill of man. It is sheer necessity which first calls forth those exertions, whereby the curse is mitigated, and crops of useful grain are made to wave on the surface of the earth, instead of "thorns and thistles." The process is plain by which this necessity is created, and it argues, in no slight degree, the exercise of Designing Wisdom. In a wilderness, untouched by the plastic hand of man, the general state of vegetation stands thus : -there is a vast profusion of grass, and other succulent herbs, along with numerous seeds and fruits, fit for the use of the lower animals, who are incapable of agricultural labor, "who neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns." These, as our Lord beautifully remarks of the fowls of the air, are fed by our common Father; but, among that bountiful provision for them, there are comparatively few plants of spontaneous growth, on which man can subsist. There is nearly every where a sprinkling, as it may be called, of fruits and seeds, which he can use for food, but nothing more;-enough to afford nourishment to a few scattered families, but not enough for a numerous population. Exercise is necessary for the health, both of his corporeal and mental powers, and his native indolence must be roused by necessity. The scantiness of his natural food is, therefore, a wise provision, suited to the constitution of his present nature, and which cannot be too much admired.

To show its beneficial operation, I must mention another principle, which is common to man with the inferior creation,―the tendency to multiply the species up to and beyond the means of subsistence. This occasions want; and want stimulates industry and ingenuity. A few words