"If we examine the glorious works of the creation, and reflect on the paternal care and wisdom of the Almighty, displayed in the preservation and increase of all ranks and kinds of animals; that even the most direful and noxious, have such a proportion in the scale of life, as is most agreeable to the ends of His divine providence; that the limits He hath prescribed to each, extend so far and no farther; and that each species shall multiply in such abundance or scarcity, as are best adapted to preserve, by a just equilibrium, the harmony of the universe: When, I say, we behold this, the mind can scarcely forbear crying out, under a rapturous sense of conviction, "every thing is good." It is to this end we see the strong are permitted to prey on the weak; and that the number of the latter increase in a proportion sufficient to supply the wants of the former; it is to this end we see some feed on herbs and plants, some on fruits and seeds, and some on flesh; each being furnished with appetites and powers, suited to their respective ways of life: and it is to this end, we see those of the most minute kinds, abounding in a degree far beyond those of the first magnitude. The knowledge of the insect kingdom illustrates this observation beyond all possibility of doubt; and the number that may be bred from a single pair, in many species, would exceed all credibility, if it was not to be proved by any person who {94}would take the trouble. The wonderful increase that only two summers would be capable of producing among many of them, if each egg was to yield its respective insect, is amazing. The world itself, in a few years, would be incapable of affording plants sufficient for the nourishment of one single species.[29]