So I resolved to sing the praises of the Creator to the best of
my powers, and felt the more bound to do it, because I held that
such great and almost inexcusable neglect and ingratitude was a
wrong to the Creator, and unbecoming in Christendom. I therefore
composed different pieces, chiefly in Spring, and tried my best
to describe the beauties of Nature, in order, through my own
pleasure, to rekindle the praise of the wise Creator in myself
and others, and this led at last to the first part of my
_Irdisches Vergnügen_. (1721.)

His evidence from animal and plant life for the teleological argument
is very laughable; take, for example, the often-quoted chamois:

The fat is good for phthisis, the gall for the face, chamois
flesh is good to eat, and its blood cures vertigo--the skin is no
less useful. Doth not the love as well as the wisdom and
almightiness of the Creator shine forth from this animal?

For the rest, the following lines from _Irdisches Vergnügen in Gott_
will serve to give an idea of his style; they certainly do honour to
his laborious attempt to miss none of the charms of the wood:

Lately as I sat on the green grass
Shaded by a lime tree, and read,
I raised my eyes by chance and saw
Different trees here and there, some far, some near,
Some half, some all in light, and some in shade,
Their boughs bowed down by leaves.
I saw how beautifully both air and flowery mead