Instinct leads the butterfly, as we have seen, to lay its eggs upon the
leaf of the very tree upon which the caterpillar, when hatched, will
feed--though its own food has been taken from flowers.
Instinct guides the swallow in its flight, as it leaves us in the autumn
for the shores of Africa; and the redwing on its way from its summer home
in the far North to winter in our warmer country--each arriving in its
appointed season.
[Illustration: THE SWALLOW.]
And so, as we study the habits of birds and beasts, we see how instinct
everywhere guides and directs them; but what this sense _is_ we cannot
tell. It has been well remarked, that all that can rightly be said of it
is, that it is "a guide which God, in His care for His creatures, has given
them, and caused them to obey."
We also noticed in reading these verses that until man was formed, there
was no lord over the Creation, but that to Adam God gave dominion over all;
nothing was expected, and he was owned as head, God Himself bringing the
creatures to him that they might receive their names from him, though Adam
himself was still under God, and every benefit with which the Creator
loaded him, only left him so much more bound to own His right over him.
As God has made us for Himself, He has given to every man, even the rudest
savage, something within him which reminds him of One to whom he of right
belongs; however far he may have got away from Him, or may have tried to
satisfy his conscience--that "eye of the soul"--by seeking to please some
idol-god which he has made for himself.
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