118 



A HISTORY OF 



ter. God made these perfect, because no 

 subordinate being could correct their de- 

 fects. 



When, therefore, we survey nature on this 

 .side, nothing can be more splendid, more cor- 

 rect, or amazing. We there behold a Deity 

 residing in the midst of an universe, infinitely 

 extended every way, animating all, and cheer- 

 ing the vacuity with his presence ! We behold 

 an immense and shapeless mass of matter, 

 formed into worlds by his power, and dis- 

 persed at intervals, to which even the imagi- 

 nation cannot travel ! In this great theatre of 

 his glory, a thousand suns, like our own, ani- 

 mate their respective systems, appearing and 

 vanishing at divine command. We behold 

 our own bright luminary, fixed in the centre 

 of its system, wheeling its planets in times 

 proportioned to their distances, and at once 

 dispensing light, heat, and action. The earth 

 also is seen with its twofold motion; pro- 

 ducing, by the one, the change of seasons; 

 and, by the other, the grateful vicissitudes 

 of day and night. With what silent mag- 

 nificence is all this performed ! with what 

 Beeming ease ! The works of art are exerted 

 with interrupted force ; and their noisy pro- 

 gress discovers the obstructions they receive: 

 but the earth, with a silent steady rotation, 

 successively presents every part of its bosom 

 to the sun; at once imbibing nourishment 

 and light from that parent of vegetation and 

 fertility. 



But not only provisions of heat and light 

 are thus supplied, but its whole surface is 

 covered with a transparent atmosphere, that 

 turns with its motion, and guards it from ex- 

 ternal injury. The rays of the sun are thus 

 broken into a genial warmth ; and, while the 

 surface is assisted, a gentle heat is produced 

 in the bowels of the earth, which contributes 

 to cover it with verdure. Waters also are 

 supplied in healthful abundance, to support 

 life, and assist vegetation. Mountains arise, 

 to diversify the prospect, and give a current 

 to the stream. Seas extend from one conti- 

 nent to the other, replenished with animals 

 that may be turned to human support; and 

 also serving to enrich the earth with a suf- 



ficiency of vapour. Breezes fly along the 

 surface of the nVlds, to promote health and 

 vegetation. The coolness of the evening in- 

 vites to rest; and the freshness of the morn- 

 ing renews for labour. 



Such are the delights of the habitation that 

 has been assigned to man ; without any one 

 of these, he must have been wretched ; and 

 none of these could his own industry have 

 supplied. But while many of his wants are 

 thus kindly furnished on the one hand, there 

 are numberless inconveniences to excite his 

 industry on the other. This habitation, 

 though provided with all the conveniences 

 of air, pasturage, and water, is but a desert 

 place, without human cultivation. The lowest 

 animal finds more conveniences in the wilds 

 of nature than he who boasts himself their 

 lord. The whirlwind, the inundation, and 

 all the asperities of the air, are peculiarly 

 terrible to man, who knows their conse- 

 quences, and, at a distance, dreads their ap- 

 proach. The earth itself, where human art 

 has not pervaded, puts on a frightful gloomy 

 appearance. The forests are dark and tang- 

 led; the meadows overgrown with rank weeds; 

 and the brooks stray without a determined 

 channel. Nature, that has been kind to every 

 lower order of beings, has been quite neg- 

 lectful with regard to him ; to the savage 

 uncontriving man the earth is an abode of 

 desolation, where his shelter is insufficient, 

 and his food precarious. 



A world thus furnished with advantages ou 

 one side, and inconveniences on the other, is 

 the proper abode of reason, is the fittest to 

 exercise the industry of a free and a thinking 

 creature. These evils, which art can re- 

 medy, and prescience guard against, are a 

 proper call for the exertion of his faculties; 

 and they tend still more to assimilate him to 

 his Creator. God beholds with pleasure that 

 being which he has made, converting the 

 wretchedness of his natural situation into a 

 theatre of triumph ; bringing all the headlong 

 tribes of nature into subjection to his will; 

 and producing that order and uniformity upon 

 earth, of which his own heavenly fabric is BO 

 bright an example. 



