M l 2go CROSCOPICAL E's 5 A y s.
brought acquainted with it by repeated trials; he has no innate
ideas, is unable to chufe what is proper for his food ; he cannot
form his voice to any articulate pronunciation, or to exprefs the
affeftions o f lo ve : whereas, the beaft, the bird, and the infcft,
are bom to all that knowledge which is neceffary. for the gratification
o f thofe defires, or that love which forms their-life ; and-
conlequently in the knowledge o f every thing relating to their
well being, their food, their habitations, the commerce o f the
fexes, their provifion for their young, & c .: from the impulfe o f
the pleafure arifing from thefe innate defires and affeftions, the
larva is alfo prompted to feek and afpire after a change o f its
earthly Hate. I f it were not foreign to the fubject in hand, it:
might.be eafy to-fhew, by a variety o f reafons, that this imper-
feftion o f man at his nativity conftitutes his real perieftion, and;
places him infinitely, i f I may fo Ipeak, above the brute creation I
for man is not created; relatively perfeft, but formed a recipient',
o f all perfe&ion;
From this view of things, we may, however, perceive that animals
are bom in order, and confequently the Divine agency-
influences or afts on them more immediately. The fame wifdom
which has conftrufted and arranged their various organs with fo
much art, that they may concur to one determinate end, direfts.
the animal towards this end. Hence it executes with precifion
the works we fo much admire: hence it feems to aft as if it was
capable o f reafoning. It is excited to all this by that adorable
mind which has traced out to every infeft it’s little circle, as he
has marked out to each planet it’s proper orbit. When, therefore,
we fee an infeft working a neft, a chryfalis, &c. we fhould view
it;
i t with relpedt, becaufe we are beholding a fcene behind which
the supreme a r t ist is concealed from our eyes.
We may hence, alfo, perceive that the operations o f infefts are
the ultimate refult-of the principles o f life, upon their organization,
which correfponds to the part they are to aft in the grand
machine o f the world; they are, indeed, but fmall parts, but
then thefe parts concur to produce one general effeft, by their
being interwoven with more important ones ; fo that the thread
ipun by a caterpillar has it’s relations to the univerfe as well as
the ring of Saturn.* But how iramenfe the number o f parts,
which are interpofed between this thread and the ring o f Saturn*
and between Sa tu rn and the worlds o f S yrius ! I f the univerfe
is one whole, the thread o f the caterpillar will alfo be
connefted with the worlds -of Syrius. How great mult that mind
be which can comprehend this immenfe chain o f various relations,
and can perceive them all to refolve into u n it y , unity mani-
fefted in J ehovah J esus ! It behoves us to remain in the place
that has been allotted for us, from. whence we can only difcover
fome links of the chain. One day we {hall difcover more, and
fee things more diftinftly : mean while we may oonfider thefe
proceedings of the mfeft race, which are fo diverfified and replete
with induftry, as an agreeable fpeftacle that furnifhes us with an
inexhauftible fource o f real pleafure, and ufeful inftruftion ; that
leads us to the Author o f the univerfe as it were by the thread o f
the caterpillar, and which makes us admire in the variety of their
means, and in their tendency to the -fame end, the -fecundity and
wifdom of the ordaining mind.
N n 2 As
* Bonnet’s Contemplation of 'Nature