UNITY OF DESIGN. 639 



around us, on every side, influences of a still 

 more subtle kind, which " eye bath not seen, nor 

 ear heard," neither can it enter into the heart or 

 imagination of man to conceive. How scanty is 

 our knowledge of the mind ; how incompre- 

 hensible is its connexion with the body ; how 

 mysterious are its secret springs, and inmost 

 workings ! What ineffable wonders would burst 

 upon us, were we admitted to the perception 

 of the spiritual world, now encompassed by 

 clouds impervious to mortal vision ! 



The Great Author of our being, who, while he 

 has been pleased to confer on us the gift of 

 reason, has prescribed certain limits to its 

 powers, permits us to acquire, by its exercise, a 

 knowledge of some of the wondrous works of his 

 creation, to interpret the characters of wisdom 

 and of goodness with which they are impressed, 

 and to join our voice to the general chorus 

 which proclaims " His Might, Majesty, and Do- 

 minion." From the same gracious hand we also 

 derive that unquenchable thirst for knowledge, 

 which this fleeting life must ever leave unsatis- 

 fied ; those endowments of the moral sense, 

 with which the present constitution of the world 

 so ill accords ; and that innate desire of per- 

 fection which our present frail condition is so 

 inadequate to fulfil. But it is not given to 

 man to penetrate into the counsels, or fathom 

 the designs of Omnipotence ; for in directing his 



