198 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the bowlings of ferocious animals demanding dieir 

 prey, could he have made fupplication to the ge- 

 nerous dog, and faid to him : Be thou my de- 

 fender, and I will make thee my flave ? Who 

 could have fubjeéled to his authority fo many 

 animals which flood in no need of him, which 

 furpafled him in cunning, in fpeed, in ftrength, 

 unlefs the hand which, notwithftanding his fall, 

 deflined him flill to empire, had humbled their 

 heads to the obedience of his will ? 



How was it poffible for him, with a reafon lefs 

 infallible than their inftindb, to raife himfelf up to 

 the very Heavens, to meafure the courfe of the 

 ftars, to crofs the Ocean, to call down the thun- 

 der, to imitate moft of the Works and appearances 

 of Nature? We are ftruck with aftoni (liment at 

 thefe thing's now : but I am much rather aftonilh- 

 ed, that a fenfe of Deiry (hould have fpoken to 

 his heart, long before a comprehenfion of the 

 Works of Nature had perfefted his underftanding. 

 View him in the ftate of naiure, engaged in per- 

 petual war with the elements, with beafts of prey, 

 with his fellow- creatures, with himfelf; frequently 

 reduced to fituations of fubjedtion which no other 

 animal could poffibly fupport ; and he is the only 

 being who difcovers, in the very depth of mifery, 

 the charadler of infinity, and the reftlefsnefs of im- 

 mortality. He eredts trophies 3 he engraves the 



record 



