49 



so, is it not probable there are far more species of crea- 

 lures above than beneath us? since we are infinitely 

 more remote from the all-perfect Creator than from 

 the lowest of all the works of his hands'? 



" But here our thoughts are lost. We may conjec- 

 ture a iiftle ; but we know nothing. However, it is 

 enough that we know the^only true^God f and Jesus 

 Christ whom he hath sent." 



This reflection upon the scale of beings is pursued at 

 large by one of the finest writers of the age, Mr. Bon- 

 net, of Geneva, in that beautiful work, " The Contem- 

 plation of Nature/' When I tirst read this, I designed to 

 make only some extracts from it, to be inserted under 

 their proper heads ; but, upon farther consideration, I 

 judged it would be more agreeable, as well as profitable 

 to the reader, to give an abridgement of the whole, 

 that the admirable chain of reasoning may be preserved, 

 and the adorable wisdom and goodness of the great 

 Author of nature placed in the strongest light. 



INTRODUCTION 



I RAISE myself up to the ETERNAL REASON ; I 

 study his laws, and I adore him. 1 contemplate the 

 universe with a philosophic eye : I search into the re- 

 lations which by this immense chain constitute one 

 \vhole. I stop a while to examine some links of it, and, 

 struck with those marks of power, wisdom, and good- 

 ness which 1 discover therein, I faintly attempt their 

 description. 



