STUDY X. 267 



namely, to GOD himfelf. The only charafter, 

 which effentially diftinguifhes Man from the ani- 

 mal, is this. He is a religious Being. 



No one animal partakes with him of this fu- 

 blime faculty. It may be confidered as the prin- 

 ciple of human intelligence. By it Man is ex- 

 alted above the inftinct of the beafts, fo as 10 be 

 enabled to form a conception of the general plans 

 of Nature ; and which led him to fuppofe an or- 

 der of things, from having caught a glimpfe of an 

 Author. By it he was emboldened to employ firs 

 as the firfl of agents, to crofs the Ocean, to give a 

 new face to the Earth by agriculture, to fubjeâ: 

 all animals to his empire, to eftablifli Society on 

 the bafis of a religion, and to attempt to raife him- 

 felf up to Deity by his virtues. It was not Na- 

 ture, as is commonly believed, which firft pointed 

 out GOD to Man, but it is a fenfe of the Deity, 

 in Man, which has indicated to him the order of 

 Nature. The Savages are religious, long before 

 they are Naturalifts. 



Accordingly, by the fentiment of this univerfal 

 conformity, Man is ftruck with all poflible con- 

 formities, though they may be foreign to him. 

 He takes an intereft in the hiflory of an infeâ: ; 

 and if his attention is not engaged in behalf of all 

 the infeds which furround him, it is becaufe he 



perceives 



