STUl)Y VIII. 



179 



Oh ! how fublime is that prayer *, how congenial 

 to the heart of Man, and dill in ufe among People 

 whom we prefume to call Savages ! " O Eternal ! 

 " Have mercy upon me, becaufe I am paffing 

 " away: O Infinite! becaufe I am but a fpeck : 

 " O Moft Mighty ! becaufe I am weak ; O Source 

 *' of Life ! becaufe I draw nigh to the grave : O 

 *' Omnifcient ! becaufe I am in darknefs : O AU- 

 *' bounteous ! becaufe I am poor : O AU-fuffi- 

 *' cient ! becaufe I am nothing.'* 



Man has given nothing to himfelf : he has re- 

 ceived all. And " He who planted the ear, fhall 

 *' He not hear ? He who formed the eye, (hall 

 '* He not fee ? He who teacheth Man knowledge, 

 *' fliall not He know ?" I fhould confider myfclf 

 as offering an infult to the underftanding of my 

 Reader, and Qiould derange the plan of my Work, 

 were I to infill longer on the proofs of the exift- 



* See Flacourf% Hiftoiy of the Ifland of Madagafcar, chap, 

 xliv. page 182. You will there find this prayer, embarrafled 

 with many circumlocutions, but conveying the meaning which 

 I have exprelfed. It is wonderfully ftrange that Negros flaould 

 have difcovered all the attributes of Deity, in the imperfections 

 of Man. It is with juft reafon that the Divine Wifdom has 

 faid of itfelf, that it refted on all Nations : Et in of?ini terra Jîetiy 

 &" 171 omni populo ; &" in omni populo pri?t!atu?n habui. In every 

 land, among every people, I fixed my flation ; and obtained 

 the chief place amidft the Nations. Ecci.es, chap. xxiv. 



N % ence 



