God, the Soul, and a Future State (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1873. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... NO WILD CAMEL TO BE FOUND. 51 VIII. THE CAMEL A SUPERLATIVE INSTANCE OF DESIGN. IF I had to select one creature out of all that God has made, to set before man, as unfolding 'for him the greatest proofs of the existence, power, wisdom, and goodness of God, combined, that could be displayed in any one creature--it would be the camel. "The ship of the desert," as the Arabs so significantly term it: the creature which is of such wondrous usefulness in the country where it is found. There is not a wild camel in the world; and it is believed there never was a wild camel--but that the first camels were given to the first men; and that the animal has been kept in a domesticated state, as we term it, from primeval times. We learn, you know, both from sacred and profane history; that the first men lived in the warm regions of the e, arth. Large tracts in these regions are often girdled in with broad belts of sand, interspersed with rocky and sterile spaces. God, 52 WONDROUS FEET OF THE HORSE. however, intended men to be travellers; and therefore He gave them an animal exactly fitted to be their beast of burden in the sandy and rocky desert. "But the Arabs have fine horses, sir " Yes: and if an Arab were to descend from the back of his "barb," and bind a burthen on its back, and compel it so to travel, it would speedily lose all its native fire and spirit, and be rendered a poor, useless creature. Or, if you could transport a horse, in a moment, from England to the desert, and try to make a beast of burthen of him there, you would fail. Your immense horse from London streets--the brewers' pride, with all his trappings and heavy iron shoes--would sink up to the chest in the loose sand, in some places. And if you were to try the experiment of a lighter horse unshod, and wer...