40 CECDNOMY 



of our thoughts, are fo contrived, that they 

 c )iicur to make manifeft the divine glory, i. e. 

 the uirimate end which God propofed in all his 

 works. Whoever duly turns his attention to 

 the thincTs on this our terraqueous globe, muft 

 necefTariiy confels, that they are fo conne6led, 

 fo ch .ined together, that they all aim at the 

 faiiie end, and to this end a vaft number of 

 iniermediate ends are fubfervient. But as the 

 intent of this treatife will not fuffer me to con- 

 fider them all, i fliall at prefent only take no- 

 tice of fuch as relate to the prefervation of na- 

 tural things : In order therefore to perpetuate 

 the eflablifhed courfe of nature in a continued 

 feries, the divine wifdom has thought fit, that 

 all living creatures fhould confliantly be em- 

 ployed in producing individuals; that all na- 

 tural things fhould contribute and lend a help- 

 ing hand to preferve every fpecies •, and laflly, 

 that the death and deilrudion of one thing 

 lii ,uld always be fubfervient to the reflitution 

 of another. It feems to me that a greater 

 fubjedl than this cannot be found, nor one on 

 which laborious men may more worthily em- 

 ploy their induflry, or men of genius their pe- 

 netration, 



I am 



