insects; the spider catches many insects, and eats them; tne dragon-fly also devours insects.

Beasts live on the land-birds in the air -fishes in the water-reptiles and worms on land, in the earth, and in water; insects live every where-on land, in the air, in water, in earth, in wood, in shells, among rocks. They eat all kinds of animal and vegetable substances, flesh, skins, leather, fish, flowers, roots, leaves, paper, &c.—many suck the blood of living animals, and many feed on putrid carcases. All parts of the earth abound in insectsthey are more numerous than beasts, birds, fishes, or plants. It was not necessary that plants should be as numerous as insects, for twenty or thirty different kinds of insects may feed and do feed on the same kind of plant. God has appointed all insects their food, and their uses-they are all fed and preserved by his care. All

the works of God praise him-" beasts and all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowls."*

THE CREATION OF MAN FROM DUST.

After the heavens and the earth were created, and the lights of heaven, and the plants and animals which were to live upon the earth-God created man. God created man on the sixth day, after his other works were finished. "God formed man of the dust of the ground."+ The earth-clay, stones, coal, iron, and other earthy substances, have no life, they cannot move from one place to another. They are earth or dust;-if we take a piece of coal, or clay, or iron, burn it, beat it, or grind it, to destroy it, we shall see that it cannot be destroyed, it will be changed into dust. Plants live and grow, but they

Psalm cxlviii. verse 10. + Genesis c. ii. verse 7.

All

do not move about the earth from one place to another; they live a short time, then they fade and die, and they are changed into dust. The animals which are on the earth, in the air, and in the water, live, grow, feel, and move. animals die; some live years, some a few months, some a few days; they all die, they are all changed into dust. We could not destroy the substance of a plant, or an animal;-if we were to take a piece of wood, or a piece of flesh, or even the wing of a butterfly, we could not destroy it; if we were to burn them, the ashes or dust would still remain. God alone can create, -he alone can destroy. The body of man is dust-it will die--his head, his limbs, his heart, his muscles, his bones, his whole body, will become dust. The parts of the body of man are like the parts of the body of some animals. A horse has a head, limbs, a heart, muscles, bones, and other bodily parts, like man. A horse

can see, hear, feel, smell, taste, as man can, and he can move about from place to place, like man, All animals, large and small, know how to live, and what to do, and none are idle or useless; they all obey the will of their Creator-they all fulfil the use for which they were created-they all have instinct, which God has given them. Animals do not know right from wrong, as we do. A cat does not know that it is wrong to steal meat, instinct teaches it that meat is good for food. Man knows more, much more, than the beasts, the birds, and other creatures ;-because when God had formed man of the dust of the earth, "he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." God did not breathe into other creatures the same breath of life—he gave plants to the earth, light to the sun and moon, fishes to the seas, and fowls to the

Genesis, c. ii. verse 7.

firmament; he gave food to all animals ; but to man he gave all things; and he gave to man alone the breath of life, which made him a living soul. Animals have not souls; they cannot think of things which are right, and things which are wrong, as man can; we cannot teach animals knowledge, as men, women, and children can be taught; animals cannot speak, nor understand language, and they cannot commit wickedness, as man can, because they have not the knowledge of good and evil; they do not know God's law,-they have not a living soul within them to teach them what is right, and what is wrong.

REASON GIVEN TO MAN.

Men, women, and children, are called human beings; they know more than animals. A young child knows that it is wrong to steal, to lie, to be disobedient; a deaf and dumb child, or a blind child,