REFLECTIONS ON NATURE AND ART. 101 
longing to the natural sciences, is this, that they carry 
the mind from the thing made, to Him who made it. 
If we contemplate a beautiful painting or an in- 
tricate piece of mechanism, we naturally are led to 
admire the artist who produced them, to regard his 
superiority with respect, and to enquire who and 
what he is. We mention his name with honour, 
and take every fitting opportunity of extolling his 
talents. If such are the effects of contemplating 
human excellency, how much stronger will be the 
same train of thought and of feeling in the breast 
of every good man, when he looks into the wonders 
of the natural world, and thinks upon the surprising 
phenomena which it exhibits! When he sees that 
this globe is inhabited by incalculable millions of 
living beings, all different from himself, his pride 
will be humbled by this conviction, that the earth 
was not made for him alone. And when he finds 
that all these beings, however minute, or, to the 
vulgar eye, contemptible, have their allotted station 
and hold their distant course in the great operations 
of the universe, he is led to enquire into his own 
nature, and to look towards that Great First Cause, 
whose bounty created, and whose providence sustains, 
such hosts of creatures. Those pursuits, in short, 
which are most calculated to expand and elevate the 
mind, are unquestionably the most noble ; and none 
can be ranked above those which lead us to contem- 
plate the Deity ; to look, in fact, from the effect to 
the cause; and to be impressed with enlarged no- 
tions of that stupendous power and ineffable good- 
ness, which pervades all matter and all space. 
(50.) Such are the most striking advantages, in 
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