E E L S I N P A S T E. 537 



vigilant, to fupply the cravings of appetite. The lion is not niore terri- 

 fic in the foieft than thefe in the pool ; nor better provided with arnns for 

 affault, or (Irength for conqueft. What then (hall we fay to the ^ill infe- 

 rior creatureSj their prey? If to fome a grain of fand be a rock capable 

 of holding thoufands ; if a hair be a tube capable of inclofing thoufands— - 

 what are fuch as tremble at their afpecl, flirink from their terrors, 

 dread their approach, and fly from their devaftations ? Atoms of life ! for 

 what are you defigned ? what end do you anfwer in the rank of cxiftence ? 

 Without you were the chain of being imperfeft ? would there be a void, a 

 chafm, were you cxtind: ? Could no power replace you but what at firft 

 created you ? Muft the fame almighty Ikill, the fame omnifcient fore- 

 caft, the fame profound contrivance, appointment, an 1 determination, be 

 exercifed toward you as toward the higher ranks of creatures ? Where , 

 then is great or fmall ? where high or low ? where important or fubor- 

 dinate ? Were you placed as mazes to perplex mankind, as labyrinths to 

 embarrafs human thought? Yet much as you and your fellows furpafsour 

 comprehenfion, we ourlelves furpafs it more ; and when you, with all that 

 furrounds you, the globe you inhabit, every tribe which now occupies if, 

 which creeps or fwims, or runs or flies, when every relation which unites 

 you, every bond that binds you, when all, all (hall terminate and be 

 concluded, we fliall be but beginning our incelfant occupation of aU 

 cribing honour to Him, who was^ and is, and is to come. 



3 L a P R I N- 



