lyS STUDIES OF NATURE. 



every brook, every plant, every animal, would al- 

 ways be in it's place. Indolent and halighty Phi- 

 lofopher, who prefumeft to demand of Nature, 

 wherefore there fhould be a God, why demanded 

 thou not rather wherefore there fliould be men ? 



All his Works fpeak of their Author. The 

 plain which gradually efcapes from my eye, and 

 the capacious vault of Heaven which encompaffes 

 me on every fide, convey to me an idea of his im- 

 menfity ; the fruits fufpended on the bough within 

 reach of my hand, announce his providential care; 

 the voice of the temped proclaims his power ; the 

 conftant revolution of the feafons difplays his wif- 

 dom ; the variety of provifion which his bounty 

 makes, in every climate, for the wants of every 

 thing that lives, the Itately port of the foTefts, the 

 foft verdure of the meadow, the grouping of 

 plants, the perfume and enamel of flowers, an in- 

 finite multitude of harmonies, known and un- 

 known, are the magnificent languages which fpeak 

 of Him to all men, in a thoufand and a thoufand 

 difterent dialeds. 



Nay, the very order of Nature is fuperfluous : 

 GOD is the only Being whom diforder invokes, 

 and whom human weaknefs announces. In order 

 to attain the knowledge of his attributes, we need 

 only to have a feehng of our own imperfedions. 



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