and companion of
man; even the gigantic elephant has become docile, and the Indian
mother leaves her babe under its charge, that the monster may brush
away the flies from the sleeping infant with a branch.

We have dominion over the birds in the air, we have tamed the domestic
fowls and make them yield us their eggs, and we keep the pigeons about
our homes that we may kill their young; we snare and shoot them as we
will, their high flight and rapid wings are no protection for them.

We have dominion over the fishes of the sea, we strew the net and bring
them in for our food; we hunt the whale for his oil and for the fringe
of bone in his mouth; we dive into the sea after the oyster that we may
extract from it the pearl, and we strip the shell of its
rainbow-coloured scales to inlay therewith our furniture.

II. What follows from all this? Is not this enough to make man proud,
to exalt him in his own conceit? unfortunately it would seem so, but
the lesson I would draw from all this is, Render unto God that service
which is due to God, as all inferior creatures render unto you the
service you demand of them.

An old writer (Hugo Victorinus) beautifully says--"It is as though the
earth appealed to man, and said to him, See how He loved thee who made
me for thee. I serve thee because I was made for thee, and do thou
serve Him who made thee and me."

Suppose a king were to take you by the hand and lead you into a
beautiful estate, and say to you, "Here, I give you this mansion, with
the park and the fields, and the woods and the river, you may do what
you will with it, hunt, and shoot, and fish, and till the soil, and
pasture sheep, and cattle, I give it you all freely and entirely, I ask
of you nothing but that you will recognise me as your king and not join
my enemies in fighting against me." Then, I think, you would embrace
the offer with the greatest eagerness. Now this is just what God has
done to you; He has brought you into the world, and has given you power
over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the
sea, He has given you the earth to grow your corn, and on which to
pasture your cattle, He has given you dominion over the elements, and
all He asks in return is that you will recognise Him as the Giver, and
not join His enemies. "Render unto God that honour and homage that be
God's."

III. Balaam, the prophet and seer, rode on his ass to go to Balak,
king of Moab. God had forbidd