spread their gilded wings in the air, that wavered in the breeze and
glittered in the sun, without any to make them afraid. Meantime, the
reptiles of every kind were equally harmless, and more intelligent than
they."

Referring to birds and beasts, he says,

"Among all these there were no birds or beasts of prey: none that
destroyed or molested another."

All this may be very beautiful poetry, such as one might expect from the
"fine frenzy" of a loving, lawless genius, but it is not Scripture, nor
is it science or philosophy. We have not a doubt but that God made all
things _right_,--that all His works were very _good_; the Scriptures
tell us that very plainly: but they do _not_ tell us that the things
named by Wesley constituted their goodness. _He_ thinks that the earth
could not be good if it had on its surface rough or rugged rocks, horrid
precipices, huge chasms, or dreary caverns, with impassable morasses, or
deserts of barren sands. _We_ think _otherwise_. _We_ think the earth is
all the _better_, and even all the more _beautiful_ for rough and rugged
rocks, for horrid precipices, huge chasms, and dreary caverns. So far
from regarding the rough and rugged rocks as deformities, we look on
them as ornaments. So far from appearing to us as an evil, they appear a
good. Even the impassable morasses, and the deserts of barren sands may
have their use. If man had met with nothing in the state of the earth
that stood in the way of his will or pleasure; if he had met with
nothing in the shape of difficulty or inconvenience, it would have been
a terrible calamity. All man's powers are developed and perfected by
exertion; and without exertion,--without vigorous exertion--he would
not, as at present constituted, be capable of enjoying life. Man cannot