Life, in all its forms, from the
lowest to the highest, belongs to God.
But perhaps you are asking why I said that we do not in the Story of
Creation read anything about _life_ till we come to the work of God on the
Fifth Day. Are not the trees and plants alive? Do we not say of a blasted
tree or withered flower, It is dead?
It is quite true that plants have a life which shows itself as we have seen
in their growth, and even in some "sensitive" plants, by their shrinking
from the touch. In the wheat-fields the order of the unfolding of the life
of a plant "whose seed is in itself," may be seen, as we watch "first the
blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear." But this life is
very different from that of the lowliest animal which has power to feel and
to give expression to its feelings, power to move from place to place, and
which shows in its own way of living an intelligence which is not seen in
the very highest forms of vegetable life. At the same time it is true that
in their lowest forms animal and vegetable life approach each other so
nearly that it is often difficult to say where the one ends and the other
begins.
But without the plants and their ceaseless work, as the "sleepless
universal providers of the earth," as they have been called, all animal
life would fail and die; for they are the means by which all the
nourishment which is contained in earth, air, and water can be made of use
both to themselves and to the animals.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210