176 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



minutes only, the perfons fubjeâ: to them might 

 lofe their reafon, perhaps their life. What would 

 be the cafe, then, if the Source of all truth, and 

 of all feeling, were to communicate himfelf to us 

 in a mortal body ? GOD has placed us at a fu it- 

 able diftance ftom his infinite Majefty ; near 

 enough to have a perception of it, but not fo near 

 as to be annihilated by it. He veils his intelligence 

 from us under the forms of matter ; and He re- 

 flores our confidence refpeding the movements of 

 the material world by the fentiment of his intelli- 

 gence. If at any time He is pleafed to communi- 

 cate himfelf in a more intimate manner, it is not 

 through the channel of haughty Science, but 

 through that of our virtue. He difclofes himfelf 

 to the fimple, and hides his face from the proud, 



*' But," it is aiked, " What made GOD ? 

 " Why fhould there be a God ?" Am I to call in 

 queftion his exiftence, becaufe I am incapable of 

 comprehending his origin ? This ftyle of reafoning 

 would enable us to conclude, that man does not 

 exift : for. Who made men ? Why fhould there 

 be men ? Why am I in the world in the eighteenth 

 century ? Why did I not arrive in fome of the ages 

 which went before ? and, Wherefore fliould I not 

 be here in thofe which are to come? The exiftence 

 of GOD is at all times neceflary, and that of Man 

 is but contingent. Nay, this is not all j the ex- 

 iftence 



