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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