374 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



fents to us, at once, the evils which are paft, and 

 thofe which are to come ; fhe furnifhes arms to 

 our parlions, at the very time when fhe is demon- 

 flrating to us their infufficiency. The farther that 

 fhe carries us, the more are the proofs which fhe 

 accumulates, when we come back to ourfelves, of 

 our own nothingnefs ; and, fo far from foothing 

 our pains by her refearches, (he frequently aggra- 

 vates them bitterly by the difcoveries which fhe 

 makes. Sentiment, on the contrary, blind in it's 

 defires, embraces the monuments of all countries, 

 and of all ages ; it is foothed to a delicious com- 

 placency, in the midft of ruins, of combats, and 

 of death itfelf, in contemplating an undefcribable 

 eternal exigence ; it purfues, in all it's appetites, 

 the attributes of Deity, infinity, extenfion, dura- 

 tion, power, grandeur, and glory ; it mingles the 

 ardent defires of thefe with all our parlions ; it 

 thus communicates to them a certain fublime im- 

 pulfe j and, by fubduing our reafon, itfelf becomes 

 the mofl noble, and the moft delicious inftinct of 

 human life. 



Sentiment demonftrates to us, much better than 

 reafon, the fpirituality of the foul; for reafon fre- 

 quently propofes to us, as an end, the gratification 

 of our groffeft parlions*, whereas fentiment is ever 



* Liften to the voice of reafon, is the inceflant admonition of 

 our moral Philofophers. But do they not perceive that they are 



putting 



