Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

his strength is recruited-is made to characterize the lot of Issachar and his descendants

Issachar is a strong ass,

Crouching between two burdens.
And he saw that the rest was good,
And the land that it was pleasant,
And he bowed his shoulder to bear,
And became a servant to tribute.

The ignoble and rapacious disposition of the wolf is in most perfect accordance with their history employed to describe the character of the Benjamites,

Benjamin is a ravening wolf ;

In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And in the evening he shall divide the spoil.

The extreme jealousy with which the she-bear protects her young, not permitting either man or beast to intrude upon her solitude with impunity, gives great force to this symbolic description of millenial happiness,

And the cow and the bear shall feed;

Their young ones shall lie down together.

How awful is the picture of desolation described by Jeremiah as consequent upon the death to which Judah was exposed when we remember that the wild ass dwelling as he does upon the most barren and arid regions can ordinarily subsist on the scantiest fare.

The wild asses stood in the high places,
They snuffed up the wind like dragons;

Their eyes failed because there was no grass.

The paternal care and kindness of God for his creatures is beautifully illustrated in the following reference to the habits of the eagle:

As the eagle stirreth up her nest,
Fluttereth over her young;

Expandeth her plumes; taketh them;
Beareth them upon her wings;

So Jehovah alone did lead him,

And there was no strange God with him.

Perhaps the litigated question whether the power in carrion birds of discovering their food resides in their visical or nasal agency may receive some light from Scripture. Thus in Job 28, 7 it is said:

There is a path which no fool knoweth,

And which the eye of the kite hath not seen.

But it were an endless task to attempt to bring to view the innumerable allusions to the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdom.

But as your time and patience have been sufficiently taxed, I will not enter into those details which might in themselves be agreeable. I trust however that what has been said will have some influence in increasing your interest in this Society; in promoting a taste for the study of Natural Science; and in directing your minds to the Sacred Volume not only as a Code of Morals and a Guide to everlasting truth, but also as containing a field of the most varied and delightful natural beauty.

49-VOL. VI.

LECTURE

ON THE

Practical Utility of Astronomical

Science.

BY THE

REV. THOMAS SMYTH, D. D.,

of Charleston, S. C.

« AnteriorContinuar »