2 INTRODUCTION. [Lesson r. 



with awful astonishment, the forked lightning in 

 vivid motion glancing through the wide expanse; 

 and have heard, with fear and anxiety, the tre- 

 mendous thunder, shaking the firmest buildings 

 with its pealing crash. When you reflect upon 

 these and other appearances in nature, what im- 

 pressions do you feel ? You who have considered 

 these things attentively will ingeniously confess, 

 that you are thereby led to conceive that there 

 must be some First Cause which produced, governs, 

 and regulates the whole. The most cursory obser- 

 vation will have induced you to entertain a high 

 opinion of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the 

 ALMIGHTY DESIGNER ; but I can assure you, my 

 young friends, that the more you reflect upon the 

 universe, in the display of its wonders and beauties, 

 and the better you are acquainted with it, so much 

 the more will be increased your reverence and 

 love of the Governor of all. 



Nature is but a name for an effect 



Whose cause is God. COWPER. 



Natural Philosophy is subservient to purposes 

 of a high and noble kind, and is chiefly to be 

 valued, as it lays a sure foundation for natural re- 

 ligion and moral philosophy; by leading us, in a 

 satisfactory manner, to the knowledge of the Au- 

 thor and Governor of the universe. To study na- 

 ture is to search into his workmanship : every new 

 discovery opens to us a new part of his scheme. 

 And while we still meet, in our inquiries, with 

 hints of greater things yet undiscovered, the mind 



is 



