STUDY IX. 221 



walk no more. Nature fpeaks to us by a hundred 

 thoufand voices. Which of thefe is now founding 

 in our ears ? What, will you adopt as the rule of 

 your life, the example of filhes, of quadrupeds, of 

 plants, or even of the heavenly bodies ? 



There are Metaphyficians, on the contrary, who 

 without paying regard to any one Law of Phyfics, 

 explain to you the whole fyftem of the Univerfe, 

 by means of abftraâ: ideas. But this is a proof 

 that their fyftem is not the fyftem of Nature, 

 namely, that with their materials and their me- 

 thod, it would be an eafy matter to fubvert their 

 order, and to frame another totally different from 

 it, provided one were difpofed to take the fmall 

 trouble which it requires. Nay, a reflexion arifes 

 out of this, which levels a mortal blow at the pride 

 of human underftanding ; it is this, that all thefe 

 efforts of the genius of Man, fo far from being 

 able to conftrud a World, are incapable of fo 

 much as putting a grain of fand in motion. 



There are others, who confider the ftate in 

 which we live as a ftate of progreffive ruin and ot 

 punifliment. They proceed on the fuppofition, 

 conformably to the authority of the Sacred Writ- 

 ings, that this Earth once exifted with other har- 

 monies. I readily admit what Scripture fays on 

 this fubjed, but I objed to the explanations of 



Commentators. 



