82 EVOLUTION OP LIFE. 



Such, however, is the immeasurable distance 

 which exists between the universal Intellect of 

 Almighty God, and the mind of man, be- 

 tween the Creator, and the creature, between 

 the infinite Being, and the being which is finite ; 

 that the most perfect intellection, which pro- 

 ceeds from the energy of the purest Intellect, is 

 as the dust of the earth, when the one is com- 

 pared with the other ; his attributes can no more 

 be apprehended, by matter, in general, which 

 is destitute of life, than by vegetables, or by 

 brutes in particular ; by vegetables., which 

 possess vitality without sensibility ; or by 

 brutes, who have sensibility without intellect. 

 The brute himself, no more than man, who 

 leads the life of a brute, whose whole thoughts 

 and actions are directed to the gratification of 

 his senses, and whose senses are never gratified 

 until they are surfeited, can never, in that de- 

 graded state, obtain any perception of spiritual 

 things, any more than those among us, who 

 believe that there subsists within them, no other 



that, in the general scheme of Providence, predestination is 

 a' doctrine especially foretold by revelation, that shall be the 

 lot of the elect ; but the elect grossly deceive themselves, if 

 any there be who suppose themselves pre-elected ; the only 

 way they can make their election sure> is by religion, and the 

 performance of the duties it enjoins. It is not, therefore,j?flr- 

 ticular men that are elected, but men of a particular description* 

 which description the gospel has pointedly designated. 



