V. LETTER V. DIVINE KINDNESS IN THE FLOWERS AND FRUITS - NO LETTER MY object in the preceding LETTER has been, as it will be in the continuation of the subject in this, to select and notice those phenomena of the Vegetable Kingdom, which will give you a just and enlarged idea of the principles on which it has been formed, and of the peculiar nature which has been purposely assigned to it. It is necessary that we should have right notions of the system on which our Earth has been framed, and of the plan and purposes of all its departments, in order to perceive what the Divine Mind has intended by our terrestrial creation, and thereby to judge more soundly on the great component whole. This knowlege will assist us to appreciate His ends and operations in the course of nature which He has established, and in the direction and application of His providential economy to ourselves, as well as to our inferior fellow-creatures. The more fully we know and the more justly we think on the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, we shall be the better prepared to comprehend the principles and the history of His dealings with the Human Race. This World is manifestly not our world only. We are linked in it with innumerable fellow-beings, of very varying kinds and qualities. They are cotenants with us of our common Earth. We cannot live in it without their association and services. V. Relations therefore subsist unceasingly between us, LETTER which cannot be destroyed without destruction to ourselves; and from this view of the real state of things, it is an object of great intellectual interest and importance to become acquainted with the most material phenomena of these classes of animated nature, however dissimilar and subordinate they seem to be to our more gifted Order. Do not therefore think me tedious if I particularize a few more facts on this curious subject, with such reflections as have arisen on a mature consideration of them.. From all the circumstances thus far enumerated, we may infer That the Vegetable classes have been created upon a system of progressive improvability-and also of an indefinite productiveness, which can be increased to the utmost extent of any probable human demands upon it. That the application of human skill, care and diligence to educe these beneficial results, has been made the condition of their appearing; but that these valuable qualities will never be exerted in vain on this interesting Order of beings. That human welfare and comfort have been a principal object of the Creator in designing and producing His Vegetable World, tho it has been also made subservient to animal subsistence; and that these are peculiarly connected with the cultivation of it. Animal food leads to the animal habits of hunting and pasturage; both of which, tho pleasing as occasional employments, yet when made the character and chief pursuits of a tribe or nation, tend to animalize our nature and arrest our social progress. Ancient Scythia, and the modern Tartars and Arabs, V. LETTER and North American Indians, are commentaries on this principle. Agriculture and gardening, and their consequential occupations, accustom the human mind to the quiet, patient, contented, domestic, social and civilizing habits, on which human happiness and improvement mainly depend. The Vegetable Kingdom, in its varied flowers, foliage, stems and graceful and delicate expansions; in its playful branches and gentle movements, and in its multiplied fruits and useful products of numerous sorts and of universal application, display a peculiar goodness, liberality and kindness in the Divine Mind towards His human race-a desire to please, to interest and to amuse us with the most innocent, continual, accessible and gratifying enjoyments. For, plants peculiarly address themselves to three of our most used senses-the taste, the smell, and the sight; while the ear is also soothed by the whispering of the branches,' and the touch by the softness of the verdant and floral foliage, and of most of the fruits. We see that the consolidated wood supplies us with numerous conveniencies of private and public use; and from plants has arisen that most needful and comfortable of all things beyond the limits of the torrid zone-the grateful warmth and use of our domestic fires. Even in this respect we may perceive that there has been a benevolent foresight and provision specially exerted, in order that this daily com As school-boys, we have all felt how truly and how sweetly Αδυ' τι το ψιθύρισμα καὶ ὁ πίτυς, αἰπολε, τήνα Sweetly the whispering leaves and waving pine Idyll. 1. V. fort might continue to accrue to us, after our dif- LETTER fusing population should have levelled the forests which supplied the fuel. Buried in the earth just deep enough to remain unknown till wanted, that primeval vegetation, which was overwhelmed and uprooted by the deluge, has during its long sepulture become converted into bituminous coal, sufficient to yield us fire for all our purposes, tho every wood should be consumed, and mankind last for more ages than they are likely to continue." In this beneficial supply of a mineral so invaluable, we have an instance of a great destruction directed by a prospective benevolence, to prepare and produce for a future age, one of the kindest additions to human comfort. What a demonstration of the most deliberate goodness presiding amid the most awful displeasure! It is of peculiar importance to our reasoned comfort to that happiness which we derive from our intellectual convictions-that we possess, in the beauties and blessings of the Vegetable creation, such universal and exuberant witnesses to us, of the benignity and philanthropy of the Divine Creator. 2 COAL has been hitherto found most extensively in the British Islands: the next in importance is near Liege. It is also in Misnia, Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Upper Styria, and France. It has been discovered in America in various parts, and also in China, the Birman Empire, Great Tartary, and New South Wales.-'It is probable that nothing is yet wanting in many other parts of the world, but knowlege, industry, wealth, and the stimulus of want, to prove that it is a far more common substance than it has hitherto appeared to be.' Dr. M'Culloch, Geol. v. 2. p. 308. Thus it is almost every where made and kept ready to come to human knowlege and use in each country, as soon as it shall be wanted; and if any one district does not possess it, that can be abundantly supplied by its neighbours who abound with it. Such has been the extraordinary provision made for human enjoyment, as it was foreseen it would be wanted. It is disclosed to human search, just at the times when the discovery is most serviceable. V. LETTER They not merely reveal His general goodness, but real love and sympathy towards mankind—a personal kindness to us, intending to be so and acting as such merely to please us. The flowers, fruits and foliage; the forms, qualities and motions, of nature's verdant kingdom, in all their luxuriant diversities, have been purposely made what they are, purely to give us the pleasure they excite, and the benefits they convey; for if our mere subsistence had been alone His object, we see that grass, hay, straw, acorns, and sawdust, would have answered that purpose. What the Savage lives upon in full strength and activity, every child of man could subsist on; and be as happy as all the animated tribes appear to be.3 But He has not so dealt with us. We never act towards each other, in our kindest moments, with that inventive, foreseeing, and persevering benevolence, which has been exerted by our Maker in the formation of His Vegetable system: and this benefaction is still in all regions reproduced at every vernal and autumnal season. But not one single plant or flower could have existed, unless its qualities and products had been specially designed and resolved upon beforehand, and the needful consideration exerted, as to what variation of means and organization would occasion the specific result. Every flower we handle, is an evidence to us of this particular anteceding How little and how simple a diet would have supported human life in comfort and activity, we see from this passage: 'A LAPLANDER will go thirty miles thro swamps and rocks; take a draught of milk, sleep in his wet clothes, and rise the next morning as fresh as when he began his journey.' Everest's Journ. thro Norway. Mr. E. speaks warmly of the Laplanders' high state of health and spirits ; which he ascribes to their total absence of mental anxiety, to their few and simple wants, and to their hardy habits. Ib. |