I was busy, and my little boy Charles, just seven years old, was playing about the room. All at once he ran up to me, and asked me to look at a little insect which was crawling upon a piece of paper in his hand.
Charles. Look, papa, at this insect: how very small it is! How fast it moves its little feet. Why did God make such a little thing?
Father. It is a Lady-bird. I will put it under the microscope, and you will then see something more than you expect.
C. Quick, papa, else it will fly away.
I put the insect under the microscope without hurting it. To the naked eye it did not appear any thing particular. Its back was red, with black and white spots; underneath, it was of a greyish colour.
On looking through the microscope I was struck with wonder. Its back, which had appeared so plain, was beautiful; the red part I found was covered with a sort of elegant feathers, all ranged in the most exact order; the black and white spots were as regular as the squares of a chess board, and were formed of something like scales, of the clearest white, bordered with others of a bright shining black; it was divided lengthways by a black line, and the two sides were exactly alike.
“How wonderful are the works of God,” I exclaimed, “Who would have supposed that this little insect was so beautifully and wonderfully made? How perfect are all His works!”
Charles was in a great hurry to see for himself. He looked several minutes without speaking, and then turned towards me with surprise.
C. Oh, papa, how beautiful it is! How wonderful that God should give a little thing like that such a beautiful shining dress. Did you see his head, and the scales on his back? They shine like silver or glass. How beautiful, how very beautiful!
F. My boy, since our heavenly Father is so great, so wise, and so powerful, since he has taken such care of such a little insect, think what care he takes of his children, whom he so loved that he gave his only and well-beloved son, Jesus Christ, to die for their sins, that those who believe in him may be saved from the wrath to come.