you will be inclined to agree with me that it would take both of us some
time to learn even their names, much more to know all about them.
The spine consists of twenty-four short bones, each with a little ring.
These vertebras are piled up one upon the other; for God has made our
bodies upright; our faces, are lifted upwards, and our eyes look straight
before us. These twenty-four little bones are closely and strongly bound
together, and between each one and its neighbour there is something so soft
and elastic that we can bend our heads, or move in any direction, without
the slightest strain or jar.
The head is most wonderfully built up, like an arch, of several bones
beautifully joined in a very strong and perfect way which carpenters call
"dove-tailing." We can understand why the head, which is so much exposed,
and is almost entirely occupied by the brain, should be so carefully
protected; for thought, memory, will, and what we can best express as
"consciousness of our being," all depend upon it.
Passing from head to foot, we find that our feet, which are not large, yet
must bear the weight of the body, are also made upon the arch-principle,
which has been found, like the hollow bones of the bird's wing, to combine
lightness and strength. The twenty-six bones are so fitted together that
this wonderful arch is quite elastic, as you can prove by moving your own
foot up and down.
The joints, where two bones which are to play upon each other come in
contact, as they do at the elbow or shoulder, are made in different ways.
The elbow only moves to and fro like a hinge; the hip and shoulder, like
a "ball and socket," move every way. You do not need to be told that each
kind of joint is found just where it is needed for the work it has to do;
for there is no mistaking or misplacing in God's workmanship, as there so
often is in the very best of _ours_.
I cannot at present tell you anything about the muscles, except that it is
by their means that we move arms, legs, head, eyes--every part of the body,
for bones cannot move of themselves, but are acted on by the muscles.
Nor can we learn much about the nerves, because the subject is very
difficult to understand. They come from the brain in the head, and from
that part of it which runs all down the backbone, through the little bony
rings of the vertebræ; and they are protected, because they are so very
delicate, and so precious to us, by a strong bony sheath. At first these
nerves are like coarse twine, but they divide and divide until they become
as fine as threads of white silk--almost as fine as the stronger part of a
spider's web--and they go all over the body, reaching to the very tips of
the fingers.
The first pair of nerves goes to the nose, for smell; the second to the
eye, for sight; and so on for hearing and taste. These are the nerves
called "sensory," which carry to the brain sensations from outside the
body. The "motor" nerves are those which take orders from the brain, to be
instantly obeyed by the muscles.
In the hand, which has twenty-seven bones--one more than the foot--and is
a more wonderful "tool" than any which God has given to the lower animals,
wonderful as _their_ tools are, the sense of touch is stronger than in any
other part of the body.
Suppose you put your fingers upon something very hot or very cold. "Quick
as thought," as we say, you draw them away again. But before you did so,
what had happened?
The nerves at the tip of your finger had sent a telegram straight home to
the brain, "Too hot!" or "Too cold!" and the brain had telegraphed back to
the fingers, "Keep out of the way of it!" whatever the hot or cold thing
may have been.
To think, even for a moment, of these lightning messages running backwards
and forwards, to and from the brain, gives us some little idea how very
wonderful the brain itself must be, and also how God has made one part of
the body to depend upon another.
Apart from the brain, the ear would be conscious of no sound, whether the
soft wash of the waves along the shore, or the mighty roll of the thunder
through the sky. On the other hand, none of these voices could reach the
brain if God had not "planted the ear," and formed it so perfectly to
receive the waves of sound which, striking upon its delicate little "drum,"
cause it to vibrate, and so are passed on by the nerve which takes messages
to the brain. For it is the brain which takes charge of every "impression"
conveyed to it by eye, ear, hand, nose, or palate; but _how_ these
impressions conveyed to the brain give rise to what we call "thoughts" and
"ideas"--this is one of the secret things which belong to God, and of which
He has not allowed the wisest man to say, "Oh yes, I understand all about
it!"
And there is another secret thing which cannot be explained. The heart has
been called "the fountain of life," because by it the blood, which is the
life of the body, is kept in continual motion, and sent to every part. How
little we think of it! But whether we are waking or sleeping, at work or at
rest, this busy fountain still goes on playing. We may hear the throb of
it, as it strikes against the chest, in its ceaseless working; and we may
count these regular "beats," and find that there are about seventy-five
of them every minute. It has been calculated that during an ordinarily
long life there are three thousand millions of beats without a break. But
what has set this fountain at work? and what keeps it going night and day
without any thought or care of ours, all our life long? Of all this it can
only be said, "We do not know; we cannot find out. God in His wisdom has so
ordered it."
Many years ago a doctor, who had observed very carefully, and thought much
about what he observed, found out that every time the heart beats, the
blood rushes from it into a great curved tube called an artery, and so
passes through tubes which, like the nerves, are constantly becoming finer
and finer, to every part of the body.
He also discovered that the blood takes its journey back again to the heart
by a different road: it does not return through these tubes, but through
softer ones, called veins. Thus far he could go, and the story of the
"circulation" of the blood is very interesting; but the _cause_ of the
heart's perpetual motion, and the blood's continuous flow, this he could
not discover.
Is it not wonderful to think that this rapid motion of the fountain within
us goes on so noiselessly that even a baby whose little heart has only just
begun to beat, is not disturbed by it, as he sleeps in his cradle?
To all the "higher animals" God has given both heart and brain. He has
also given them, in more or less degree, that mysterious sense of which we
have spoken before, and of which we have had so many proofs; a sense which
is not at all dependent upon reason or intellect, but is found in a less
degree in men than in animals to which reason has not been given.
We have before noticed that by instinct and memory all the wants of the
brute creation are met; God has given them all that they need to teach them
to live, each in its own life, after its kind, and to provide for their
young ones; but He has not given to the "beasts that perish" the power of,
as we sometimes say, "putting this and that together," nor, as far as we
know, of learning by experience; although it does seem as if the spiders,
in making their webs, improve by practice.
Instinct teaches every living thing to get its own food, choosing that
which is suited to itself, and rejecting that which is not. It teaches the
bird or the insect to seek out a fit place in which to deposit its eggs, or
to make a nest or "homie" for them, even before they are laid; and it can
teach even such a free creature as a bird to leave for a time its airy
life, and to sit patiently upon its eggs, even carefully turning them, as
if it knew that the life of the unfledged nursling within the shell-wall
depended upon its being kept warm.
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.
God has also given proof of His "eternal power and Godhead" by "the things
that are made"--His glorious works in Creation.
Listen to what a Red chief, far away in North America, said to a missionary
the other day:--
"I have long lost faith"--this was his confession--"in the old paganism.
They know I have not cared for the old religion. I have neglected it. And I
will tell you, missionary, why I have not believed in our old paganism for
a long time.
[Illustration: NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS.]
"I hear God in the thunder, in the tempest, and in the storm; I see His
power in the lightning that shivers the trees into kindling-wood; I see His
goodness in giving us the moose, the reindeer, the beaver, and the bear;
I see His loving-kindness in giving us, when the south winds blow, the
ducks and geese; and when the snow and ice melt away, and our lakes and
rivers are open again, I see how He fills them with fish. I have watched
these things for years, and I see how every moon of the year He gives us
something; and He has so arranged it that, if we are only industrious and
careful, we can always have something to eat.
"So, thinking about these things which I had observed, I made up my
mind years ago that this Great Spirit--so kind and so watchful and so
loving--did not care for the beating of the conqueror's drum, or the
shaking of the rattle of the medicine man. So for years I have had no
religion.
"Missionary, what you have said to-day fills my heart, and satisfies my
longings. It is just what I have been expecting to hear about the Great
Spirit. I am glad you have come with this wonderful story; stay as long as
you can." [Footnote: From _By Canoe and Dog-Train_, p. 119.]
Nothing more than the fact that man was made, not like even an angel or
an archangel, but in the image of God, is needed to show how far beyond
and above every creature he was; and, as no creature owed so much to the
Creator, none was responsible to Him in the same way. No one had any right
over him except the One who had made him for Himself, his Creator, without
whom he would not have been.
"The ox knoweth its owner, and the ass his master's crib." (Isa. i. 3.)
God has made the animals faithful and affectionate, and there are many true
and touching stories of the way in which they have attached themselves to
those who have cared for them. A dog will devote itself to its own master,
and even give its life for him; but no mere animal has that within him
which can have to say to God and be in relationship with Him. And how sad
it is to think that the only creature of God who could know Him is the one
who has turned away from Him and listened to the spoiler!
At the beginning God could say of all Creation "_very good_"; though
there is a wonderful beauty still--beauty everywhere if we have eyes to
see it--He cannot say "_very good_" where decay, pain, sorrow, death are
all around; where we grow weak and old, and even while we are young and
strong, the most pleasant things tire us; where hatred and envy, shame and
fear--all the sad feelings brought by sin--exist in the heart of the last
and best of His creatures, to whom His voice and His presence once brought
only joy. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." And
who can say how terrible has been the change thus wrought?
Sad indeed is the wreck which Satan has made of God's fair Creation, but
a sadder wreck still is the man whom He made upright; and yet the day is
surely coming when round and round the throne of "Him that liveth for ever
and ever" shall echo and re-echo the words, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to
receive glory and honour and power; for Thou hast created all things, and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created."
God does not mend things, but replaces what has been spoilt or marred
by something far better. Even the poor earth, so ruined by sin and its
consequences, He will not mend; but He will make "new heavens and a new
earth" (never more to bear the marks of the spoiler's hand) "wherein
dwelleth righteousness."
But before the new heavens and new earth are created, a great deal will
take place upon this earth of which we have been speaking. The Jews, now
scattered in every land, will pass through much trouble, the lost tribes
will be found and restored, and the Lord will put down all His enemies, and
"reign in righteousness" as King over His once again united people Israel.
There will be a thousand years of wonderful peace, and Jerusalem will be
the centre of earthly blessing; for He says of it, "The name of the city
from that day shall be 'Jehovah Shammah' (the Lord is there)" (Ezek.
xlviii. 35); and again, "They shall call thee 'the city of the Lord'"; and
"Thou shalt call thy walls 'Salvation,' and thy gates 'Praise'" (Isa. lx.
14-18).
Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour now, will be with Him
when He thus reigns over the earth, for they will be caught up to be with
Him for ever, before the time of trouble (followed by earthly blessing)
begins. In those thousand years of peace even the animals which have so
long suffered through man's sin and oppression will share in the rest of
that happy time, and God's ancient people Israel, once more dwelling safely
in their own land, will sing many of the Psalms in His Word for joy and
happiness.
The following hymn speaks of that good time which is surely coming:--
"Hail to the Lord's Anointed,
Great David's greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed,
His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
To set the captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.
"He shall come down like showers
Upon the fruitful earth,
And love, joy, hope, like flowers,
Spring in His path to birth;
Before Him on the mountains,
Shall peace the herald, go,
And righteousness in fountains
From hill to valley flow.
"Kings shall fall down before Him,
And gold and incense bring;
All nations shall adore Him,
His praise all people sing;
For He shall have dominion
O'er river, sea, and shore,
Far as the eagle's pinion
Or dove's light wing can soar.
"O'er every foe victorious.
He on His throne shall rest;
From age to age more glorious,
All blessing and all-blest;
The tide of time shall never
His covenant remove;
His name shall stand for ever,
That name to us is Love."